Citadel Studios’ upcoming Ultima Online-inspired MMPORPG, Legends of Aria, will be coming to Steam Early Access in (roughly) October. That’s probably the biggest news to take away from this update concerning important dates and scheduled events for the game that was published early on in August.

Notably, the game’s servers went dark in early September:

On September 4, we’re going to go dark, and close general access (though rest assured, testing will continue – more on that later).

We’ve been carefully collecting the feedback since the summer began, and it’s been pretty consistent. We know we need to work on loot, memory leaks, client stability, and finish the systems (missions, crafting orders, achievements) that give new players some way to get going.

Another thing we need is a population, a critical mass of players to make the world feel alive. The number of players who are simply waiting for the wipe (and the Steam release) is staggering! We need to prevent burnout, to focus on the issues that affect everyone, and to make sure everyone is recharged and ready for a fresh start.

The race for housing plots is real, and we want everyone excited to hit the ground running when Head Start begins.

I guess land rushes are going to become a fixture of crowdfunded MMOs now, aren’t they?

Moving on, the update also discusses the release on Steam:

Of course, what everyone wants to know is “when.” The answer is…we aren’t 100% sure. The exact date, besides “October,” is up in the air. (We still have to get final approval from Steam, among other things.) We will have it nailed down sometime in September, and announce it as soon as we’re sure so you can be ready. We will open the servers to our founders and backers, and then one week later, launch on Steam Early Access.

…

Going to Steam is the natural next step for a game that began with crowdfunding and needs a critical mass of population in order to succeed. Also, we’ve heard from a lot of players for whom Steam is THE access point, either because of payment processing or just preference.We want our final wipe, the true beginning of the story of Celador, to be as widely available as possible.

In fact, it would seem that October 4th is going to be a “big news” day for the game:

On October 4th we are announcing our Steam Early Access and Final Wipe launch date with a bang!

Our new game trailer will usher in everything on the 4th and we will be firing up the first of two contests we have planned for the lead up to launch. Additionally, our NDA experimental testing starts at the top of the month. Let me tell you that October will be much juicier than you may have anticipated. It’s gonna be ‘yuge.

In addition to the new video, we will also be fielding interviews and Q&A sessions; updating blogs and websites; and generally ramping up for Early Access in November. Most of the information will cover the systems we are planning to include for the Steam release such as a major iteration of the Karma system that fixes problems from previous releases.

We will also be talking about our housing changes and how we will be separating land ownership from houses, which opens the door for other types of structures. In turn, opening the door for more elaborate player markets. We also want to discuss our shiny new PvE mission system to provide content to those that want a more guided experience.

The feedback I’ve gotten from the few people I know who play Legends of Aria has been universally positive, so it’s exciting to see this Ultima-inspired title nearing its release. Citadel Studios seem to have a good plan in place; here’s hoping the move to Steam will net the game a bump in its player base.

Oh, and if you were curious about joining the game’s Community Admin Program once it resumed, you’ll want to take a look at this bit of news, and reach out to the person whose contact information is included therein.