Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore, an MMORPG developed and published by Gellyberry Studios, has been in the spotlight recently for its ambitious attempts to correct their post-launch gameplay experience. Since its launch, the game has faced a number of challenges that the developers are actively working to address. Their official Discord channel has been the primary platform for communicating their ongoing dedication to the game’s development, from both a technical and design perspective.
Initially launched with a core team of four, Gellyberry Studios announced a significant upscaling of their workforce. They are onboarding a series of new team members including three Game Masters, two Game Designers, a Database and Netcode Specialist, and two Senior Software Engineers. This expansion aims to smooth the gaming experience, create fresh in-game content, optimize client-server interactions, and ensure the game's long-term stability.
The expanded team at Gellyberry Studios is well aware of the game's ongoing issues, such as XP exploits and crafting complications. They've reportedly created an approach to alleviate these issues, including banning players exploiting XP glitches and modifying skill levels for bugged crafting. However, to preserve player progress, they have decided to not resort to server wipes, but instead implement regular server data backups and rollback options to maintain integrity after fixing exploits. That doesn’t mean that the game will certainly be rolled back, but it gives some insight into what might happen if additional exploits throw off the gameplay even more than it already has.
The team has also recently deployed Patch 1.6, which brought a range of technical fixes and game enhancements. It included fixes for the "Toxic Cleanse" ability, adjustments to crafting mechanisms, UI tweaks, and graphic enhancements. The patch also introduced new spawn points, fiber processing stations, forges, crafting stations, and personal storage spaces across different settlements. Significant balancing and vocational changes also marked a major part of the patch, as Gellyberry continues to balance Ethyrial for fair gameplay.
However, despite these efforts that have been ongoing for more than a month, the player feedback on Ethyrial's Steam page reflects an overwhelmingly negative sentiment. Many players express dissatisfaction with the game's current state, as acknowledged by Gellyberry themselves, indicating that the implemented changes have not yet had the desired effect in improving the experience.
While Gellyberry Studios is putting forth commendable efforts to revamp Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore, the player reception underlines that there's still a significant journey ahead. The game's current trajectory, the dedication of its expanded team, and the candid acknowledgement of its shortcomings show that the team is striving to improve. We hope to see Gellyberry succeed in correcting the game in the near future.
