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The Game Design Document has been uploaded and will be updated as the project goes on. The lead developer has encouraged anyone who wants to leave feedback to do so via Google comments.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ertP8qj5q5NQ00vv83H689F8cnNmQ5RNxfTMtfkjwM/edit?fbclid=IwAR2mzJDh7aBHTlpgCCDZROvAtE7Bd9sZRFsVvqdaEhSt9ao7Z3VVlVge-Vg

Road Map

So some bad news and some great news. First off the bad news

Gabe (Phaernun)06/13/2020
@here Hey everyone, I'll be covering this in greater detail on Monday, but we'll be ending development on the video game side. We've looked at and discussed our options extensively, turning this every which way to see if there is an option we overlooked - but in the end we do not see a reliable path forward. The challenges have become too steep in the current climate, and as a result the risks are too high for us to put in the time and money to continue in hope things may get better in time.

Sadly the Project Alona team will not be continuing with their project at this time. However, as luck would have it through a random google search I found a project that has currently in development for over two years which aims to do what Shards Online originally promised when it comes to moddabilty (Yes you can write in a 5th edition rule set). Even better luck the project director is a fan of Neverwinter Nights. The plan is to do a kickstarter in early next year while releasing the first of their demo modules in a few weeks. The name of this project is called Reworld Online: https://www.reworldonline.com/

You can join their Discord channel to keep up with all the latest stuff.
https://discord.gg/ZWFnmY


MassivelyOP feature

https://massivelyop.com/2020/07/05/procedural-gen-mmo-reworld-online-teases-coming-test/

Thought I would drop in to let folks know that the Palanai team has transitioned from Legends of Aria to becoming their own independent company so that they may pursue their vision more freely. See the announcement below

Gabe (Phaernun)11/06/2019
@everyone As some of you may have heard, this year our team has begun a grand adventure. While we are still a ways off before we feel ready to announce our project to a wider audience, we do want to involve this community in our development process early on. So without much further ado - we would like to give you a glimpse of what we are working on.
Project Alona is our main project. It is a third-person, fantasy CRPG. The game will not only include a singleplayer campaign, but our team is also dedicated to providing players with powerful, easy-to-use modding tools to allow them to create their own singleplayer experiences for the community, as well as build and run their own Persistent Worlds. The game is being developed in Unity.
Project Zephyra is a tabletop product closely related to our game's development. Being developed by a part of our writers and game designers in a collaborative effort with the rest of the team, we are working on a Campaign Setting that will allow players to dive into our world with their friends around a table and roll some actual dice.
The information on release dates, specific features, the rulesets and or content of our Campaign Setting will still need to wait a while. We are not yet ready to share the details on these. However, as consolation, we will start introducing you to two key members of our adventuring party.
First up is one of our bards. Stephen Nowland is the lead narrative designer on Project Alona, and the creative force behind our Singleplayer Campaign's story. He is the author of the Aielund Saga and Ballard Trilogy novels. Some of you may also know him from the Neverwinter Nights community as 'Savant', the creator of the popular Aielund Saga modules.
We also want to introduce you all to one of our mages, 'Ectoplasm'. Chris is the technical director and lead programmer on Project Alona. Chris joined us from the gaming industry, where he has spent several years as an engine developer. There are few people who are as passionate about the modding tools and community server support as Gabe (Phaernun). Chris certainly gives him a run for his money on that front.
In the coming weeks and months, we will start introducing you all to more members of our adventuring party, who we are tackling these beasts projects with. We would also love your feedback on what kind of development updates you would like to see. Be it blogs or development streams (technical or otherwise), Q&A sessions with members of our team, or updates here via discord.

+1 completely agree. It doesn't make sense for something like cooking to be limited to a specific set of classes.

Though I am still getting my feet wet with the new setting like everyone else I am very much enjoying v5 so far. I wish there was more direction for new players as it seems like you are pretty much thrown in without any real sense of direction. That's not a bad thing per say but if you're a new player who isn't familiar with EFU I would feel lost after getting past the first puzzle.

Fair point

I had no trouble with the controls myself, if you purchased a copy of the game you can download the newest client for yourself and see.  The 5th edition ruleset will further modify the controls so it handles similarly to NWN.

Haven't had this much excitement since the days of CoA v3. I always wanted to see EFU do a city setting and you guys nailed it

While the new chapter has certainly already brought a lot of people back, it might be good to send a mass email via the forums to let people  know who haven't checked in for awhile . It's been done a few times in the past

Gonna have a lot of reading to do I see :)

On the subject of controls:
I have learned that the team who is responsible for creating the 5th edition ruleset has confirmed the possibility to mod the control scheme to give a similar feel to NWN though not an exact replica. Also here is a very early preview of the custom GUI being designed for the 5th edition ruleset. Merry Christmas EFU

I can only imagine the nightmare that would be questing on NWN mobile

The Expanse series is definitely good.  It is very Arthur C. Clarksian in it's realistic approach to space fiction.

Ditto

I've been meaning to read Malazan but given the length and number of books I don't have the time :( The Expanse series is worth checking out; there is already a TV series which is on its 4th season. Think Battlestar Galactica and a Song of Fire and Ice in one.