9th Age fans, there is a lot ahead for the 9th Age, and here is your chance to get an early look at lies ahead.
An eye in the crystal ball: future releases of T9A+80
Von Calisson, Sep 23rd 2016
Dear Community,
As a project, T9A is committed to associating with you regularly. We wish to keep you informed of upcoming developments, and to update you as they change.
Last month you received a presentation of our plans at that time: Changes to the Rules, Army Books and Project Structure.
Since that day, we have delivered the announced hot fix on 2nd September, as scheduled. We hope that you appreciate the slight improvement in the balance of the game.
The project structure is evolving in a satisfactory manner, as announced.
Now let's discuss the future. Plenty to talk about!
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Evolution of the rules.
We have carefully evaluated all the improvements considered for V2.0. Many very valuable ideas here, but it proves to be a bit too much to be ready before the end of the year.
On the other hand, we understand the need to update all Army Books in order to address identified issues. We wish to present them, along with some updated rules, in time for our first official international masters tournament, in Herford mid November: T9A Masters.
This is why the Board has decided to proceed, as close to schedule as possible, and to deliver a new version of the rules along with updates for all of the Army Books.
The only difference is that it will not yet be the stable version 2.0 we all hoped for, but an intermediate step: V1.2.
October (in principle, 25th): Release of Rulebook V1.2.
The rules will include, among other changes, the reorganization of army structure and a full redesign of the Paths of Magic.
All Army Books will be updated to V1.2 accordingly. The change will also include new balance fixes to Army Books, complementing those already made in September (buffs, nerfs, other small changes). Units' customization options will decrease with a focus on unrepresentable options.
You will be given explanations about those changes in the days before the release.
How long will V1.2 last? A few months. It is not that we like instability, and we wish that V1.2 worked perfectly, but let's be realistic, there will be a need for a few adjustments, and V1.3 should be delivered in February/March.
Then the rules will be frozen at least until the end of summer.
Towards V2.0.
As soon as the ETC is over, somewhere in August 2017, we hope to be able to deliver the last step before V2.0. Let's call this V1.99.
When public testing has confirmed that the game has achieved the expected quality (barring unavoidable minor fixes), it will become V2.0.
This V2.0 should be the long awaited stable version of the game Fantasy Battles: The 9th Age.
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Release of the background.
We have made fantastic progress on the background everyone has been avidly waiting for.
We're not there yet, but we're getting close.
At the present pace, we are confident that it should be released on December 24th, maybe earlier.
Our first Full Rulebook, with all the artwork and background, should therefore be delivered under version V1.2.
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Quick starter.
Well aware that the concept of the game, with its myriad of possible customizable army lists, makes it a little bit difficult and possibly intimidating for newcomers, we have developed a quick starter ruleset.
The target date for that simplified version of the game is soon after the release of the Full Rulebook.
It will be a stand-alone game playable independently, which will teach the basics for T9A.
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Army books update.
We have designed a four-month cycle, for the update of a few army books at a time. See New Process for Army Design and Balancing!
We have assembled most of the production teams, and we just started one army book for testing out the process.
The first AB cycle should be in full motion during the cycle winter-spring 2017.
This Cycle will address four army books: DE, DL, ID and WDG.
DL and WDG will receive the full army book upgrade. DE and ID will remain slim (rules overhaul, but still no background yet).
The rules for all 4 Army Books should receive extended internal playtesting, followed by 1 month of external playtesting.
April 30th is the target date for the official Release of the 4 Army Books: Dread Elves (slim), Daemon Legions (full), Infernal Dwarves (slim) and Warriors of the Dark Gods (full).
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Please remember that the intentions stated today may change tomorrow due to facts of life, in particular since we depend on our beloved volunteers to accomplish all of the above. What would be surprising would be to see everything done as planned today!
Your comments will be read by the team with high interest.
The 9th Age team thanks you for your support and hopes to see you in always increasing numbers!