nce again it is time to say good-bye to a year full of events in Tibia. A good time for us community managers to go on a journey through 2012, to call to our minds what has happened this year.

Looking all the way back to January, we remember the 15th anniversary of Tibia with a smile on our faces. The beginning of 2012 feels like one big party in retrospective, even though some unexpected bugs occured in some of the many ingame events that happened during that time. For example, there was a running wild Mirade, who went on an unfortunate killing spree around Thais, causing over 8000 casualties. Or do you remember the super evil Skyrr who simply refused to be killed by players, however, killing several players himself instead?
After the celebrations, we were happy to see that over 80 % of poll participants voted that they all in all liked these events, at least partially.

These ingame NPC raid events were not everything that happened during the celebrations, though. We also took all of you back to Tibia's past, for example, by opening up the island Nostalgia, on which you could have a look at some old Tibia graphics, and also very old guilds received a special reward.

Apart from the 15th anniversary, Tibia also reached another milestone in January 2012, the magical number of 100,000 Facebook Fans. This number is really amazing, and so are you! We are really grateful for your support!

After all this action in January, which lasted even half way through February, it became a bit calmer.
Tibians used this quiet time to focus on their true inner colour with the help of a personality test, designed especially for brave Tibian adventurers. If you have missed out on this test, we invite you to take it now, it has not grown old in the meantime.

Tibians had regained their energy after these more inward directed days in February, and provided us with many awesome home construction ideas in the Dream House contest in March. We had 76 pages of new house proposals. The content team then built the best suggestions into the Tibian landscape. With the summer update, the new houses were ready and waiting for new home owners.
You had forgotten all about this? Have a look at the winning ideas and check them out ingame. Maybe a house of your dreams is still up for rent!

Before the summer update though, April started of with the spring patch, in which we addressed some problematic issues. Just to name a few, the two world changes Liquid Black and the Hive were made independent from each other, and we tried to address some unwanted effects of the lag and kick situation in Tibia. While this new mechanism alleviated the situation for some players, we still receive plenty of feedback that there is still quite some room for improvements concerning this topic.
On a brighter side, the new event Spring into Life happened for the very first time in Tibia in April. Driven by a nice adrenaline rush, many players joined this new dragon egg hunt and boosted their experience by dealing with some dragon hatchlings.

May really was under the weather at first, admittedly. Dominant words in the news in this month were technical connection problems. They turned into double XP, double skilling and free blessings. Double XP and double skilling even came up twice in May. First as a form of compensation, however then, as characteristic traits of the new preview game worlds. While this project had been planned quite some time before May actually, we publicly announced Aurora and Aurera that month. Curiosity in the community about this new game world type was high, and many players participated in the naming process.

In June these worlds were finally born then. Ever since then, a community has been developing there. Players are levelling up quickly, trying to catch up in levels and strength with players on other game worlds, in order to get ready for the first preview phase.
Along with the preview game worlds, premium scrolls were introduced to Tibia in June. While the restrictions and conditions under which these scrolls can be transferred into the game caused quite a bit of a confusion in the beginning, the premium scrolls are well accepted in the meantime. Many players have already made use of this new feature.

To pass the time till the summer update, you and us, we wrote a nice story together in the beginning of July. In a A Fate Yet Unknown, you voted on the development of the story and the fate of the hero.
With the summer update then, Gnomes were discovered in Tibia, and challenge dungeons were implemented, for example. Also, offline training was added to the game and has had a pretty big impact on Tibian lives. It is a feature that many use nowadays, and many also discuss it pretty critically - still today.

Following the summer update, a sad news spread in August. Chayenne, one of Tibia's first content designers, announced her farewell. In her Farewell contest many players posted nice and heart-tearing stories. This was once again a time at which Tibians showed what a creative crowd they really are.
The Tibia Flash client had some news in August as well. It finally let go of its beta label. So - dramatising a bit, we could say that for both, for Chayenne and for the Flash client, a new chapter in life opened up in August.

The top topic with which September started, was the presentation of your feedback from two feedback forms in which we had asked what you like and what you dislike about Tibia. Around 6000 players had submitted their feedback. Now, three months later, these results are still valid, and they have been valid for quite a while already, too. We hope that we will succeed one day in eliminating the biggest problems and that we will be able to strengthen the positive aspects as well, so that you can have a positive gaming experience in Tibia for a long time.
Apart from the botting situation, which is constantly being worked on, another problematic topic in Tibia will be tackled soon. In September, we already introduced you to our rough plans for PvP. Now at the end of 2012 we can announce that the preview phase for this concept will start soon on Aurora and Aurera.

With the autumn patch in October, we revised the punishments and the progression in Tibia. Players now see a conduct level on their account page instead of their former criminal record.
Another feature that came with the autumn patch was the new global inbox, for example, making mail delivery a lot easier for Tibia's postal services.

After the autumn patch, things were immediately put on the right track for the winter update with another contest. A name for a new race in Tibia was chosen with your help. So once the winter update is published, a new rat race named Corym will roam the Tibian lands.
Other things that will come with the winter update are already known to you when this article will be published. So - here is just one question: Do you like the new look of Venore?


After the winter update, we kind of expect things to quiet down. It is winter in the northern hemisphere, Santa will be visiting the Tibian lands soon, and we will all be curious about what the year 2013 will have in store for us, ingame and in real life.
Gamewise, some of the major points of interest in the beginning of 2013 are, of course, working on improving the things you named as the most pressing problems. The botting problem will remain a major topic, the PvP preview phase will, of course, be closely monitored and a successful new system will hopefully come from it. And we will already be preparing the next spring patch.
Another thing that will happen in the beginning of 2013, our entire office will move! We will still reside in Regensburg, Germany then, however, in a completely different office building.
What are you up to? What are your plans for the beginning of 2013?

With this article, we also want to take the opportunity to thank you all for being part of the Tibian community, for constantly providing us with feedback and sharing your emotions about the game with us. We are honoured to have such a passionate and creative community in Tibia! We, of course, wish you all a very nice ending of 2012, an awesome start into 2013 and Happy Holidays on the way!

Have fun in Tibia!
Your Community Managers