Title aside, I have to say I love when MMO developers surprise me with updates. For example, a few years ago Jagex released the long awaited player owned houses on Runescape with the advertisement simply stating players would be allowed to “sit on chairs.” For many of the previous few skills, aside from Dungeoneering and Summoning, the skill releases were fairly large surprises. Perhaps it is the idea that, by not giving any information as to upcoming large updates, the company can remove the player-driven hype factor that precedes releases, and the unrealistic expectations that come with it.
So I imagine many players on Aika Online were pleasantly surprised when the latest patch went live, introducing the “lead nation” system. With this new update, the “lead nation,” as calculated by the system, will be unable to form alliances for the week that it is the lead nation. Afterwards a new nation will be picked for the next week, and the cycle will continue. This is to ensure that lead nations can’t partner with just as powerful nations in order to dominate the playing field.
Not to point out Aika Online and Runescape specifically, as there are plenty of MMOs that have surprised with major updates. I’m not part of the group that attains unrealistic expectations, nor do I necessarily assume the worst out of an impending update, but I do prefer surprises to long, drawn out teasers and trailers.
MMO Fallout 