Citadel Studios have just published the February Community Newsletter for those who have been following development on Shards Online. As per usual, Derek Brinkmann’s opening letter in the update neatly summarizes the remainder of the content therein:

There is so much going on at Citadel Studios right now, I don’t even know where to start! Our core team’s focus is split into to major areas: Clusters and Catacombs. In addition, our new animators have been working on some major improvements to character animation and we have a team of people working on our shiny new official game trailer!

Our release this week lays the groundwork for the ability to connect regions together. I’ll be launching an experimental cluster for our playtesters to try out this week. It’s still a long ways from being ready, but it feels so good to finally be able to leave Celador (even if the maps you are going to aren’t finished yet!)

Catacombs content is quickly coming together. A dungeon that changes its layout randomly is a really fun concept to work with. (See Designer’s Den below) We’ve put the finishing touches on the 6 new clothing/armor sets, and we’ve begun to create the mobs and encounters that will populate the ever changing lower levels.
Our animators have made some big improvements coming in the next build (0.3.3) as well. Humanoid characters will sheathe their weapons when they are out of combat and they have special animations based on the type of weapon they are wielding. To top it all off, we have a slew of new animations both social and combat that will be adding to the game over the next few months. I can’t wait to be able to /salute!

The reason we were able to bring on some animator talent and hire an outside company for an amazing trailer is because of your support. Every pledge (new and upgrade) we receive makes the game that much better. We won’t let you down!

The update also contains details about some new pledge rewards for backers of the game:

Looking for that extra incentive to upgrade your pledge? Because our game is not free to play and players can run their own servers, we have refrained from selling castles and player owned towns. Instead, we have some great pledge rewards in the higher tiers that focus on exclusive and dynamic content.

Founders World (75$+): All official servers will have a special map that only Founders supporters can travel to. The Founders World is a magical bar/club floating in the depths of space. The NPCs here will sell custom items (potions,recipes,etc.) that can not be obtained anywhere else. There will also be a one-time quest line that involves obtaining items from all over the world of Shards Online for an exclusive reward.

Founders World VIP (100$+): Within the Founders World, there is a back room that is only available to the Collectors Edition level. Aside from being the coolest, most exclusive place in the universe, it also has a merchant that sells some items that can’t be found anywhere else.

Featured Server (200$+): Once our game is live on Steam, lots of community servers will be looking for ways to get attention. Every two weeks, we will offer two people at this level the opportunity to feature a server of their choice. The feature includes a write-up on shardsonline.com and the server will be highlighted and pinned to the top of the community server list.

NOTE: The admin of the server you select must agree to be featured!

Live Dev Event (300$+): Citadel Studios devs will appear on the server of your choice (official or community) and run a 1 hour community event. We will have a list of custom events to choose from (Town Invasion, PvP Tournament, In-game Wedding, etc).

Was that a none-too-subtle dig at Shroud of the Avatar there in the introductory paragraph?