published on the Spanish server (google translation)
Hello everyone,
I'm delighted to share with you our plans for the future of Forge of Empires,
especially our vision for 2024 . Our approach aligns with InnoGames' strategic vision, and for Forge of Empires our goal is to
"Find the right balance between engaging gameplay and strategic depth; providing each archetype with an epic and engaging player experience without compromising the integrity of the game." All while striking a balance between accessibility for new players and depth for experienced players."
Based on your feedback, we have identified
key areas of improvement and innovation :
- Reduce repetitive tasks: Our goal is to streamline army management, improve the donation process in Large Buildings, and improve messaging.
- Guild Improvements: Recognizing the role of guilds in player retention and deeper exploration of the game, we plan to overhaul guild search features and expand guild activities.
- City Focus: We will continue to support and improve the city building portion of the game, a key enjoyment factor for many.
- Expand competitiveness: Exploring competitiveness between worlds and adding seasonal challenges will create more dynamic interactions between players.
- Reward System: Introduce new avenues for relevant rewards outside of events.
Addressing these goals will likely take 2-3 years, but our priority is to create a smoother, more engaging experience while maintaining the integrity and financial sustainability of the game.
Our immediate priorities are:
- New reward areas: Diversify the rewards and add depth to the game.
- Improving user experience: focusing on reducing frustration in interactive features.
- Improved social gameplay: Improve guild integration for new players and improve guild functionality.
For 2024, we have some interesting improvements:
- Event Evolution: We are refining our top 10 events, accompanied by mini events and challenges. Each event will be supported by a selection of mini events or challenges. For the most part, they are based on quest lines that are designed to help you in each event and put the focus on areas that can make a difference for you - and give you access to more rewards - in both the mini event and the main event. .
- Cultural Settlements: The introduction of the Polynesian settlement and a reset of rewards in all settlements. We will also be making some general improvements to the entire cultural settlement system, improving game balance.
- Guild Expeditions: We will be introducing 5 new difficulties with a smoother difficulty curve and more frequent transitions between offensive and defensive upgrades. We'll make the later levels deliberately difficult so that you have a goal to work towards for the next two years.
- Guild Battlegrounds: Implement various improvements (boosts) and overhaul the league settings and matchmaking system.
- Quantum Raids: A new hero raid system, details of which will be revealed later.
In addition to these major updates, we will be introducing smaller features throughout the year with a focus on transparency and community engagement.
You may have noticed that we are discussing adding both offensive and defensive improvements to more features, this will vary the gameplay but will also stop the "one size fits all" city designs we are seeing. We want to inspire varied gameplay and varied city settings, and also allow us to offer rewards in multiple directions rather than just pushing power gains higher and higher. This also means that guilds will need players from both factions, so to speak, to contribute to the guild-based features and really stand out. Overall, I think this will be better for the game in the long term, although I'm aware that it will cause some controversy in the short term.
We also plan to hold two "Community Sprints" in 2024. These will be dedicated periods where we will focus on implementing changes requested directly by you, our players. Our community managers will give you more details soon, including a voting process to determine the topics.
Like everything, this should be taken as a living document. As the game and the industry change, we have to react to those changes. That means we can alter our trajectory and not do some of the things described above. As we want to maintain more constant communication on our part, we will keep you as informed as possible in case something changes.
Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. We are committed to making Forge of Empires not only last but thrive over the next decade and beyond. Stay tuned for more news from us!
Best wishes,
Matt (Product Manager, Forge of Empires)