If you follow the development of Shards Online closely — which I should be doing a better job of — you’ll no doubt be aware that the game’s main server, Shards of Arla, underwent a complete wipe on September 23rd, 2016. This was to clear the way for the game’s new Alpha Preview, which is now live.

A summary of what the Alpha Preview brings to Shards can be found in the most recent Community Newsletter that Citadel Studios put out:

Pre-Alpha 3 Release 5 marks our final patch before Alpha and will bring a wealth of content, tweaks and bug fixes to Shards Online in preparation for our milestone Alpha Launch:

• Player Parties and Group Looting.
• Fishing – Who is going to be the first to catch a rare Golden Aetherfish?
• The Prizm Lounge – Founders Tier VIP Club with Exclusive Items / Quests
• (PvP) Criminal System – Risk vs reward through criminal and murderer player flags.
• (PvP) Guild Allegiance – Pledge yours guilds in allegiance to the Gods of Water or Fire and claim victory in their name!
• (PvP) Combat Balance – major revisions to spells, abilities & damage.
• New Spells and Combat Abilities: Greater Heal, Poison, Cure, Onslaught, Leap and more.
• User Interface Overhaul: Mini-map, Containers/Backpacks, Crafting, Skills/Abilities, Guild interface & Buff bar added!
• And much much more.

Alpha Tier supporters can try out the build on our Test Server now using the experimental build on the dashboard. For the full patch notes, head to our News Section.

Or, if you prefer, here it is summarized in a handy reference image:

Still yet more information about all the changes that Alpha Preview 0.3.5 brings to Shards Online can, of course, be found in the official patch notes, which are entirely too voluminous to excerpt here effectively.