You might have been wondering why we’ve been pretty quiet since mid-January. Rest assured, we’ve been hard at work on IdleMMO, making sure everything we release is as seamless as possible.

To be honest, this update wasn’t meant to be this big. As I mentioned on our public roadmap, we planned to release updates in smaller, more manageable chunks. But as we worked on this one, it kept growing – bit by bit – until it reached a point where releasing it in a more complete state just made more sense than putting out something half-baked.

Honestly, I wasn’t even planning to write a blog post for this update – these things take up a lot of time. But given the size of the update, I felt it was necessary. That said, to keep things manageable, I’ll just be briefly touching on some of the new features.

Before we dive in, I want to make one thing very clear: nothing here is final. Everything is subject to change right up until release. We’re always tweaking things, always listening to feedback. Sometimes, we’ll sleep on a feature, wake up the next day, and think, “Hmm… this isn’t quite what we envisioned.” And when that happens, we’re not afraid to go back to the drawing board.

Many of the screenshots include placeholder data, so keep in mind that values, names, and other details may not be final.

Guild Halls

Guild Halls will serve as a central hub for guilds, providing access to key features – including Assaults, which we’ll cover later in this post.

Building a Guild Hall won’t be easy. Guilds will need to gather a significant amount of materials to construct one. While we can’t dive into the exact material requirements just yet, the goal is for Guild Halls to act as a large item sink, so expect the costs to be substantial. Logs and bars will play a big role in this, giving them much-needed utility in the game.

Stockpile

The guild stockpile is a dedicated pool of resources that can only be used for the guild hall and its components. Unlike a bank, once resources are contributed, they cannot be withdrawn. These resources are essential for maintaining and upgrading guild structures, such as repairing components of the guild hall.

Guild Components

We’ve designed Guild Halls to be as modular as possible. This not only makes it much easier for us to add new features in the future – since we can simply drop them in without overhauling existing mechanics – but it also gives guild leaders more flexibility in managing their halls.

Guilds will be able to add components to their hall. These components essentially unlock different areas within the guild, ranging from minor quality-of-life upgrades to major new mechanics. Some will be small quality-of-life changes, while others will introduce entirely new ways to interact with your guild.

To add a component to the guild, the guild hall must have a free slot. If the guild hall does not have a free slot, you can either remove an existing component, or build a new slot which will cost resources.

Guild components decay over time, meaning they’ll require upkeep. If a component’s condition reaches 0, it will become unavailable until it is repaired. However, don’t worry – decay happens at a relatively slow rate, so you won’t need to constantly spend resources just to keep things running.

Repairs can be done at any time, and the amount of resources required depends on the component’s current condition. However, keep in mind that while a component is being repaired, it won’t be accessible, and any benefits it provides will be temporarily disabled.

For example, if a guild has a Conquest Banner component – which allows them to perform Assaults – they won’t be able to launch assaults while the component is under repair. Repairs might take a few hours, so proper planning will be key.

Teleportation Beacon (Component)

The Teleportation Beacon is a Guild Hall Component that allows guild members to teleport to the Guild Hall’s location at a significantly reduced cost. The exact reduction depends on their Guild Mastery level – and if they’ve reached level 100, teleportation is completely free.

Mission Table (Component)

The Mission Table is a small quality-of-life component that streamlines the process of generating guild challenges. Instead of requiring a guild member with the necessary permissions to set them up manually, the Mission Table automatically generates challenges for the guild.

Campaign Board (Component)

The Campaign Board allows guilds to schedule up to 10 raids in advance, so there’s no need to wait for an ongoing raid to finish before setting up the next one.

We’ve also made an improvement to the raid scheduling system – instead of being limited to just 12 hours, raids can now be scheduled up to a month in advance.

Unity Seal (Component)

The Unity Seal is a guild component that lets guilds create a custom 3-letter guild tag, which will be displayed next to every member’s username. For those who prefer a cleaner look, this can be toggled off in the settings page.

We’re also exploring a way to make guild tags more dynamic based on seasonal rankings. For example, the top guild of the previous season might receive a golden tag as a mark of prestige. However, we’re still finalizing the details, so this feature may not make it into this update – it could be introduced in a future one instead.

Energizing Pool (Component)

The Energizing Pool is a guild component that provides a temporary, time-limited boost to all guild members. To activate it, the guild must spend Guild Marks – once activated, the pool remains active for X hours.

During this time, any guild member can enter the Energizing Pool and receive free boosts at no personal cost. These boosts remain active until the pool expires.

The strength of the boosts is directly tied to the guild’s Mastery Experience – so if you have a low Mastery level, don’t expect anything too powerful. On the other hand, higher mastery levels will make the Energizing Pool a valuable tool.

Guild Assaults (Conquest Banner Component)

Guilds have the option to apply a Conquest Banner component to their guild hall, unlocking the ability to launch assaults on various locations in the game. Once an assault is underway, any enemy a member defeats within that location contributes experience points to the guild. In addition to standard guild experience, members will also earn Guild Mastery experience for their efforts.

For example, if my guild is assaulting “Bluebell Hollow” and I take down 120 scaled goblins, earning 15,000 EXP for myself, my guild will receive 1,500 EXP – 10% of what I earned. On top of that, I’ll also gain 1,500 Guild Mastery EXP.

Guild experience is directly tied to the amount of EXP a character earns, meaning the stronger the enemy, the greater the reward for the guild. This system encourages players to take on higher-level NPCs or scale lower-level enemies upward for a bigger payoff. The more EXP you personally gain from a fight, the more your guild benefits.

When a guild assaults a location, they’re not just racking up experience – they’re also fighting for control. The guild with the most kills in that location by the end of the season will be declared its ruler in the following season, gaining exclusive boosts for the entire duration.

For example, if Guild A and Guild B are both battling for dominance over Bluebell Hollow, and Guild A secures more kills during their assaults, they’ll be crowned the occupiers of Bluebell Hollow for the next season. This means they’ll enjoy special boosts, but only within that region.

Guilds can claim multiple regions at once if they’re feeling ambitious, but strategy is key. Since only one assault can be launched at a time and each assault costs marks to initiate, it’s important to plan carefully. Spreading forces too thin or burning through marks too quickly could leave a guild unable to launch future assaults.

We’re also looking at adding equipment to assaults in the future. For example, guilds might be able to construct a Trebuchet using materials from their stockpile, giving them an edge in battle. This could mean small perks, like a slight boost to the percentage of EXP a guild earns per kill. However, we’re holding off on sharing too many details just yet, as this feature likely won’t make it into the upcoming update due to time constraints.

Idle Times Improvement

From the very beginning of IdleMMO, we set out to make it a little different from typical idle games. One key choice was keeping idle times shorter than usual to encourage some interactivity and make the game more engaging. And while we’re still committed to that vision, we’re making a small adjustment.

We’ve come to realize that shorter idle times, while meant to enhance engagement, haven’t always worked in the way we expected. Instead of creating a fun, interactive experience, they’ve led to some unintended consequences. Some players have developed unhealthy habits – like waking up in the middle of the night just to avoid missing out – while others feel frustrated because they simply don’t have the time to check in every few hours. And honestly, that’s completely understandable.

During the early stages of the game’s beta release, we introduced a somewhat controversial mechanic called the Exhaustion System. The idea behind it was simple: we wanted to discourage players from constantly checking in and instead give them a reason to take a break. In a way, it was our way of saying, “Hey, you’ve been playing for a while – maybe step away for a bit?”

It seemed to work. In the first few weeks, around 60% of players who played for more than 20 hours stopped just shy of that mark. But ultimately, it wasn’t an ideal solution. The biggest issue was that it felt like we were punishing players for enjoying the game, which is the last thing we want to do.

The Exhaustion System was always meant to be temporary – a stopgap until we introduced better ways to extend idle times. We’re actively working on that now, and one of the key ways we plan to improve this is through the upcoming Housing system.

However, since the Housing update is taking longer than we initially expected (it’s been over a year since release), we felt it was important to address this issue sooner rather than later. We don’t want players feeling frustrated while waiting for a long-term fix.

So, in the next update, we’ll be making some key changes to improve the experience. Here’s what’s coming:

• We’ll be increasing the base idle times.
• We’ll be completely removing the exhaustion mechanic.

Now, don’t get me wrong – this isn’t going to be a massive change. The increase won’t be huge in the grand scheme of things, but our approach is shifting slightly. Instead of keeping idle times as restrictive as they’ve been, we’re opening up to the idea of making them longer than we originally planned – but in a way that still encourages active gameplay.

Think of it as both an incentive to play and a reward for those who have been engaged for a while. For example, if you had asked us a year ago how much houses would increase idle time, we probably would have said “a couple of hours at most.” Now, we’re considering going a bit beyond that.

I won’t throw out exact details just yet – nothing is finalized – but I wanted to give a heads-up that we’re making a small pivot. IdleMMO likely still won’t have idle times as long as some other games, so don’t expect a “set it and forget it” experience. But at the same time, we don’t want to hinder progress or encourage unhealthy habits. Instead, we want to reward players who actively engage with the game while still making it feel fair.

When to expect the update

We’re aiming to have everything wrapped up between mid March and the end of March at the latest. Our goal is sometime during the month – ideally sooner rather than later – but we’re taking our time to get it right. And, well… if history has taught us anything, it’s that we’re not exactly the best at sticking to timelines!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!