Happy New Year!
With 2024 having dawned, I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on the road travelled so far, the current state of Empire War, and what is in store for the future. This will be a bit of a ramble, but it's what you get from Tobberz and why you love me... hopefully.
The Road Travelled
In November we celebrated our 11th Anniversary - a mighty achievement for any institution, let alone a community Minecraft server. This beautiful place, created by @sjoerdtim over a decade ago, has survived and indeed prospered well beyond his, or my, expectations. Such prosperity would never have been possible without a brilliant staff team and loyal players.
It has not been an easy road by any means. Way back in late summer 2016, the server shut down apparently for good with the demise of what we now call "v1". As many have noted, however, Empire War has now been up for longer since the 'closure' than it was beforehand. Indeed, many of today's players have no memory or knowledge of that first server.
Empire War v2
The server was restarted by @sjoerdtim in late December 2016, following some community efforts led by the likes of @StealWonders and others. It was a fresh start, with everything beginning again from the ground up. Over the next few months, Tim, Steal, and a few others worked immensely hard to get v2 going. It prospered well for a number of years, and I somehow ended up ascending the greasy pole to the position of Administrator along the way. However, a variety of reasons meant that Tim and I took the decision to close the server at the end of 2019. I said at the time that if the server were to return, it would be as an entirely re-coded, new server, built from the ground up in Java (not Skript) - a 'v3', if you will.On the 3rd of January 2020, v2 closed, as had v1 before it. Or... did it?
Empire War v3 v2.1
Thanks to a certain evil little virus, the whole planet ended up stuck inside a few months after v2 had closed. With many having nothing much to do, it seemed a good time to fire up the servers again in March 2020 and let people play temporarily on v2 - just for a month. Of course, it didn't end up being 'just for a month'.
I realised that for our vision of v3 to truly come to pass, we needed income to develop the server. As such, v2 returned with a disclaimer of "this is only here so we can eventually transition to v3". The effort was a long one, and is not yet done by any means. However, by the summer of 2023 the developers, led now by the glorious @Cotander, felt that v3 development had reached a stage where we could finally enter Open Beta. As such, a few months ago v2 was put to rest, after a beautiful six-and-a-half years of operation. May it rest in the hearts and minds of all its players.
The Current State of Empire War ('v3')
What a great achievement this past year has been. I have been largely absent from the day-to-day development of v3, but the likes of @Cotander and, most recently, @LimeeFox have made pivotal progress on server development throughout 2023. Without their hard work and dedication, we would be nowhere near where we are today. I thank them, and the rest of the staff team who have worked on the non-development aspects of the server.It has been a long time since Empire War has been as secure as it is now: we have a large and dedicated staff team, a strong financial situation, and a well-coded plugin with room for oodles of future development. Thanks to you - our players - for your immense patience over the past few years: be assured that your patience will be, and has been, rewarded.
Here's a visualisation of the past four years of development:
The Future
We are still very much in Open Beta, and will remain here for the foreseeable future. The server will continue to only be open at weekends while major development is ongoing. However, plans such as the upcoming Eriador Update represent rungs on the infinite ladder of development into the future: we have a lot of excitement in store.This year has a lot to offer: I am especially looking forward to the summer, and the subsequent 12th Anniversary celebrations. I am looking forward to seeing you all in-game over the coming 12 months!