Letter from the game director - Hi guys!

I've had the pleasure of working together with Colin ”Means” Cragg for years now though sometimes it feels longer (; .

During this time the development team has achieved things that others said was impossible, and we've had great fun while doing it! When I look through the old patch notes I smile and remember all the things that he has pushed us to pursue.

For the past eight years, Rubi-Ka has been there for me. I started on my own as a complete noob, but I was quickly accepted by the community and invited to a generous organization.

One of the first memories I have was a bidding game in the chat channel. I had been out hunting, and coming back to my home town with my backpack full of loot.

Amongst the things that I had found was a pair of Kelarr sunglasses. I was tempted to keep them as they looked really cool, but I really wanted some credits.

Wts Keelarr Sunglasses pst.

I didn't know what pst meant, but hey – everyone else did it. I got a reply from a guy offering 500 k credits. 500 thousand credits. Wow, I almost fell of my chair. Shortly after I got another reply, 1 m credits. One, million credits! I almost choked. The bidding went on for a little while before I finally sold the glasses to someone that proved to be happy just helping out a noob. By then I was already sold on the game. What a generous community!

I even remember the name of the guy that bought the glasses. (:

Later on, I was in one of those large organisations that held recurring alien raids in our city. I was still a froob, but I was invited to join the raid as a tour of our city. They invited so many people that we filled up three teams, so instead of waves we had swarms of aliens, coming at us in a constant stream.

I will never forget shouting BONZAII into the chat, those action filled 45 minutes that followed, and how everyone worked together to save the world!

What I love about AO is the vast world of fun complexity that Rubi-ka has to offer. I still to this very day keep various text documents with character setups, calculations and item wish lists on my computer – and I'm probably not the only one.

There is however a big difference in fun complexity and random confusion, going forward I hope to make Rubi-Ka more accessible to new and returning players.

Players should be able to begin playing and enjoying all that AO has to offer before they become hopelessly lost.

In January, I will write my first monthly update in which I will begin sharing my plans for 2012. A monthly update , where I can share the team's passion, visions and acomplishments with you!

The the things you – the community are doing for AO is truly inspiring! Every day you remind me of why I love my job.

So it's time for me to be there for Rubi-Ka, and I hope you are as excited as I am about all the things that are coming this next year!

Waldgeist edit: German Translation