Dear friends, Today we are making a huge step for our project — making it freely accessible for everyone. [i]Unfortunately, it took us far more time to negotiate all the terms of free access with Steam than we had expected. We also were denied the “Free Weekend” programme. But we still found a way around this situation.[/i] [b]Why free access?[/b] [list] [*]just like you we realize that the world of Reign of Guilds cannot develop with its current online even taking into account that Steam doesn’t include the number of players from all platforms;[/*] [*]we’ve said it more than once that we want to give new players a chance to try the game for free, at least in the confines of tutorial locations (Rivulet Island);[/*] [/list] [b]What are the limitations of the free version?[/b] [list] [*]Only 1 character per account;[/*] [*]Restrictions on the exit from Rivulet Island;[/*] [*]Greater progression of the Island Tax;[/*] [*]Can’t create guilds;[/*] [*]Can’t use customization items (skins and animations);[/*] [/list] [b]Restrictions on the exit from Rivulet Island?[/b] [list] [*]We still made it possible for the players with the free version of the game to leave the island after completing a quest for each character on the account;[/*] [*]We think that all the players who want to try the mainland should have this opportunity;[/*] [*]Basically, it gives people the possibility to play the game for free;[/*] [/list] [b]What is Rivulet Island at this moment?[/b] [list] [*]As a rule, new players spend 30 to 50 hours to leave the island with their first character;[/*] [*]The island gives opportunity to learn the game mechanics in nearly absolute safety and get yourself beginner money and equipment;[/*] [*]To make the beginners’ experience even richer, we’ve reworked the crafting system in several previous patches, making it available from level 1 on with any Vocation, and adding all that is necessary for it on the island;[/*] [/list] [b]DLC “Commoner” and DLC “Knight”?[/b] [list] [*]DLC “Commoner” was added to lower the threshold for players who want to enter the kingdom of Dwarrhan. It is relatively cheap but still includes a number of restrictions;[/*] [*]DLC “Knight” is distributed to all the players who purchased the base game earlier. It is a version of the game free of any limitations;[/*] [/list] [b]Summing up[/b] This step is very important for our project, and we did as much as we could to add the free version of the game in such a way so that the former base game (currently DLC “Knight”) doesn’t lose its value. To draw the line, we’d like to add that we are going to spend a good half of our time to improve the beginner experience of our game, working on the tutorial locations, quests, map, and making easier a number of core game routines. With all due respect, Atlant Games team