June Kingdom Lifecycle Events – Merge, SYC, + more!

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Welcome to our first Kingdom Lifecycle Migration Month! In this blog we will:

  • Revisit the Kingdom Lifecycle initiative and its goals.
  • Define what a Kingdom Lifecycle and Month of Migration are
  • And finally, announce the Kingdom Merge and Stake Your Claim event dates and kingdom pairings for June.

Let’s jump into it!

Little Steps, Big Goals

“Kingdom Lifecycle” might not be an unfamiliar term to older players. Over the years we’ve taken on several projects in this vein– 

  • Our first task was to overhaul the Kingdom Merge tech, optimizing merges to take minutes instead of hours.
  • Last year we developed Stake Your Claim, a new lifecycle event to resolve the limitations of Kingdom Merge for our largest and oldest kingdoms. 
  • This year we set our sights on auditing all the remaining pieces that go into a lifecycle- making small but meaningful changes to the process, establishing a more consistent cycle, and patching any holes we find along the way.

The first small step towards increasing the transparency and predictability of our gameplay/event cycle for players is to introduce this concept of a “Month of Migration,” marking the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next. All mid to elder-aged kingdoms will get evaluated at the end of a cycle, at which point all those deemed ready will either merge or participate in Stake Your Claim during the Month of Migration.

We want to enable the Lords and Ladies of Westeros to effectively plan for their future, advocate for their needs/wants, and empower our team to act on those in ways that lead to better kingdom pairings and fun gameplay overall!

While each step we roll out for this initiative will (hopefully) not feel overly disruptive on its own, the hope is that each will cascade into the next, laying the groundwork for some bigger lifecycle event plans down the road (Some sooner than others- stay tuned!) 

Letters

What is a Kingdom Lifecycle?

The Kingdom Lifecycle is a tool to ensure kingdoms are healthy, with fresh competition and activities to participate in over time. When a kingdom merges or participates in Stake Your Claim, it starts a new cycle, potentially moving into a new lifecycle phase.

Phases

Early Kingdom Phase: A Brand New Kingdom is born! 

  • Everyone starts on the kingdom as level 1 players.
  • All regions begin locked and open up over time 
  • New Kingdoms are excluded from special events for the first two weeks of their life and from special Seat of Power PvP events until all their regions have unlocked.

Midlevel Kingdom Phase: After several months, a brand new kingdom is eligible to become a Merge Kingdom.

  • A Kingdom Merge event is where two or more kingdoms are merged into a single, new kingdom.
  • After a merge, your existing Keep is randomly placed on the new combat map with a Peace Shield and a randomized Allegiance tag.
  • All regions in the new kingdom begin locked but open up at an accelerated schedule 
  • Once a kingdom reaches this stage, they are also eligible for special events like War For The Throne.

Elder Kingdom Phase: Eventually, kingdoms will merge several times, becoming Elder Kingdoms.

  • Elder Kingdoms have undergone multiple Kingdom Merges and are eligible for a new type of merge event: Stake Your Claim.
  • Stake Your Claim (SYC) is an event where one or more kingdoms are broken into two or more new kingdoms. Unlike Kingdom Merges, players may choose which new kingdoms they want to migrate to. 
  • After SYC, All regions on the new kingdom will begin locked but open up at an accelerated schedule

What does this mean for you? 

Kingdom lifecycle initiatives are an ongoing project for us.

Early to Mid Level Kingdoms can expect minimal changes at this stage. Kingdom Merges will still be announced monthly for kingdoms that are eligible.

Elder Kingdoms are where players can see the most straightforward change to the schedule. Rather than evaluating elder kingdoms monthly to determine which are ready for a merge or Stake Your Claim event, we aim to assess all Elder Kingdoms only on Months of Migration, creating a predictable cadence. 

June will be the first Month of Migration, and we currently expect the next to occur in October This scheduled evaluation does not mean we will not still check-in or take action in-between evaluation months if deemed necessary. However, we aim to make these big moments more predictable, making deviations from the established cycle rare.

We’re also leaving room for player feedback to influence how often Migration Months are needed. Are SYC and merges coming around too fast? Too slow? Let us know!

June Announcements

Without further ado, here is the Kingdom Lifecycle event schedule and kingdom pairings for June 2023!

Kingdom Merge  – June 14

Merge Pairings:

Stake Your Claim – June 23-26

SYC Pairings:

Let Us Know What You Think!

Head on over to the #Merge-and-Stake channel on Discord to discuss with other players and give us your feedback! 

We have also opened a permanent Pairing Feedback survey that players can use to share feedback on specific pairings announced, pairings they want to see, or if you feel your kingdom requires a merge/SYC in between announcements. You can find the form here or pinned in our Discord. 


Remember to also check out the #Kingdom-lifecycle announcement channel for official communication about these events. Instructions on embedding this announcement channel into your own server can be found here.

We wish you all good luck in the battles to come!