Future of the Iron Realms
What does the future hold for the Iron Disciples?
Valheim, like many other games, has a shelf-life. I’m not insinuating that its time is up anytime soon since Iron Gate is continuing to push out content…I’m saying its inevitable and I like to plan strategically. I’d like to start expanding beyond Valheim. Perhaps we could continue to have a Valheim server, or two, as a secondary parallel project aside whatever our main focus/game/gameserver is. Obviously Valheim is what brought most people to the Iron Realms so I’d like to keep it around. But I am ready to move beyond it being our main focus.
So, what’s next for the Iron Realms and all of its Disciples? What would the player base like to see next? What about the Admin Team? What makes the most sense? These are questions I consider often…so what better way to survey these audiences than to put these internalized questions out into the world wide web? That’s where you come in…
Let me know in the comments below or in the discord your thoughts after you finish reading this blog on what you think the future should hold for the Iron Realms.
My current wants and desires are leading me down another very niche road…but I could foresee exponential amounts of enjoyment if I pursue it as my main focus. I’d like to delve into the world of MMO private servers once more. I spent years building a WoW Server many years ago…peep these SUPER OLD videos from my YouTube channel … don’t judge them too harshly – hah. But I reminisce often of those times, more than I’d like to admit. Similar to how I reminisced so much about Life is Feudal and then we launched the ‘Iron Realm’ LiF:YO server which caught some traction, but eventually died out quickly because it is so niche. Is the pathway down the MMO Private Server route going to be faced with the same fate?
A picture of my mortal character playing on my solo WoW Private server where I have already created hundreds of quests, NPCs, custom bosses, items and more! Little known fact - This NPC is based on a character in my upcoming fantasy novel!
This spring I do plan on launching an invite only Private Server for Space Engineers! The intention behind this server is to play with a fixed group of friends and community members for a short period of time. During this playthrough, which will only last 1-2 months, I will be streaming it live on my twitch channel. Of course, if the entire community would like a permanent(ish) Space Engineers server, then we could make that happen in the future also. For now, this short server will be intended for content creation specifically. Space Engineers multiplayer, not unlike Valheim’s, is affected in detrimental ways when there are a lot of players and a lot of things happening on the server at once.
Finding enjoyment in creating new things is not hard for me. Sustaining said enjoyment is another discussion - one I’ll likely write a whole article on. Over the past few years, I’ve burnt myself out on Valheim, if I am going to be honest. On one hand I am tired of the game’s limitations, its multiplayer networking functionality and the other server owners and their weird snobbiness…especially if they have some type of following. On the other hand, I was hoping by now that I would have some others as compassionate as me emerge from the community and want to take over Valheim gameservers to some degree. That just hasn’t happened, to no one’s fault but my own – I suppose. Its hard to find someone as compassionate and as driven as you are about the things you care about. I’m sure they exist, somewhere…but even then…who’s to say we would even work together well? Maybe it would be exactly the opposite and we bump heads on all of our unique ideas and visions of what we think a game, server, or anything should be. I’m getting a bit off track here…so lets bring it back around.
Initial roadmap for the Iron Realms. Green text means it was completed.
You can see the 2025 Roadmap here, and I have no plans on removing any items from this roadmap. Given my recent circumstances as it pertains to moving across the world, some of these may be delayed. That is to be determined since I just found out today that ‘they’ lost part of my shipment that contained all of my computer setup (and my wife’s). I don’t know exactly what is lost or if it will be found…but that’s just the reality of the situation currently. In the end, its all just stuff…a means to paving the pathway for things I enjoy. It can easily be replaced if needed. However….replacement can take time. Which seems to be a resource I have a lot of currently…hence why I am putting my thoughts into another blog.
To put all my cards on the table, I am looking at bringing up a new MMO private server. I haven’t quite settled on which game or emulator I’d like to pursue since some research is still required. I’ve spun up an old WoW Server on my personal laptop and have been messing around in there a bit. I feel fully comfortable with running another WoW Server…but where’s the fun in that? I know I could do it, no issues…so the challenge is near non-existent. My mind drifts towards a TERA Private server, an MMO I loved very much (Check out these old clips of me playing the retail version here…from NINE YEARS AGO!). The massive monster battles, action oriented combat, etc…an MMO server could be the blank canvas I need to execute all the crazy ideas I have bouncing around in my skull. As I said, I have to research more…I’m not sure of the support the emulator for TERA has, what language its engine runs on, etc. Right now, its just a thought…an enticing thought.
Scouring the web, I haven’t found too many other private servers/emulators in the MMO genre that have caught my attention. The two that stood out were WoW and TERA. There were others I found, but most were 2D/Platformer-esque MMO’s which weren’t ever really my jam. Either way, the thought of delving into the unknown to create new things bring me a level of excitement I haven’t felt in some time. On top of all that, I will finalllllyyyyyyy begin settling down as I near retirement. Its still surreal to me, but I have begun to piece together things that will never move again…that sounds weird. You have to understand that my perspective comes from someone who has been in the military longer than they haven’t been in the military. Settling down in one location is an absolute dream for me. With that being a possibility very soon, it allows me to begin to build an epic server box. Top of the line hardware pieced together over time to host an unlimited number of servers one day. Massive player bases, insane server-wide events, and more…it all lies within my grasp.
And…its all for you.
You awesome people who continue to stick around and hang out with me and my creations in the digital world whether its gameservers, livestreams, blogs or whatever. I may not be the best at showing my appreciation but just know that I care about each of you and the time you spend doing the aforementioned things more than you know. I look at you that have been around for a long time like family. Those of you that have struggled in real life and felt comfortable to voice it to me - I’ve reached out and offered help where I could. That’s because I mean what I say when I say I do care about all of you…and everything I do is to create situations or environments to cultivate unique memories and experiences, even if its in digital worlds.
I say all this to say…we’re just getting started.
See you in the digital worlds!
