The Short to Mid Term Future of Eterspire

I don’t know if that title is the best choice for this post, but honestly, I don’t know much about blogging. Hi, I’m Lartu! I’m the original creator of Eterspire, and these days I’m more or less the project’s director. I’ve sometimes used the title “Creative Director,” but the actual title on my business card is “Head of Strategy.” I’m in charge of making sure the game keeps growing, the company runs steadily, and that everyone working for us is as comfortable as possible.

In any case, welcome to the first entry of the Eterspire Developer Blog, a space where our team will share progress updates and offer a behind-the-scenes look at how the world of Eterspire is built! We’ve started this blog because we want to give players a deeper insight into how we create Eterspire, the reasons behind the choices we make, and how things are going.

The Stonehollow Workshop Office

I wanted to inaugurate this blog by talking about the current state of the game, and its near and not-so-near, but also not-so-far-away future. Let me begin by saying that we want to make Eterspire the #1 best-ever mobile MMORPG. That's the end goal. The potential is definitely there, and our amazing team can make it happen. Absolutely no doubts.

Myself, I’ve been a mobile gamer my whole life. I mostly played on handheld consoles, and I know that portable games can be just as great as their desktop counterparts (or even better, but that's a different discussion). I feel this is an underrepresented perspective in the mobile industry, though, as most mobile MMORPGs lean heavily into a predatorily monetized, autoplay, low-quality standard that many people, myself included, don’t enjoy, and that has given mobile games a bad reputation in general. In a way, this is what has made Eterspire stand out so much, as we do our best to stay away from those practices, while at the same time trying to run an economically viable, sustainable company. That is, sometimes, not easy at all, but we’ve been successful so far and our course isn't changing anytime soon. This is the game we want to make.

But we also have to be realistic. If we want to turn Eterspire into the number one mobile MMORPG, there are definitely things we need to improve.

Common pain-points (yes, we are listening!)

Sometimes it’s hard to make players feel like they’re being listened to. We constantly read the Eterspire Discord and discuss the topics you’ve been bringing up. But most of the time, those discussions happen internally, indoors, and no acknowledgment that we’re paying attention reaches our players until a requested feature or change has already been implemented.

There are many points that have been repeatedly raised by our community that we haven’t addressed yet. We’re incredibly thankful that you’ve stuck with us for so long while patiently waiting for them, but we want to improve our communication so the trust you’ve placed in us doesn’t begin to erode while waiting for changes that don’t arrive as quickly as you’d like. Let’s hope this post is a first step in the right direction.

Huge maps imply lots of time wasted running around.

In any case, I’ve been babbling too much, so let’s cut to the chase: the game needs changes in some major areas.

Long-time players talk about the game not feeling like a true MMORPG, and social features feeling subdued; like not being able to share mobs with other players or see their HP. Aiming during combat can feel hard and clunky. There are so many equipment tiers that upgrading them doesn’t feel worthwhile.

Not to mention that there’s also little incentive to grind in zones outside of the Spire or Sunset Keep, since monsters elsewhere are too far apart, require too much jogging across the map, or don’t draw aggro as easily. And you’ve also been consistently asking for new lifeskills, such as Woodcutting or Cooking, which is a whole different can of worms (we’ll put a pin in that for now and revisit it in a future post, where we can go into more depth on the design).

New players also complain that distances are too long and movement feels slow, especially during the early moments of the game, where maps like Oakridge Crossing are very large and offer little to do beyond walking from point A to point B. The Main Quest, especially in its early stages, is often seen as a series of inconsequential fetch quests that revolve around objectives that are too far apart. 

There are a lot of things going on. And these are all things you do all the time, so naturally, they’re also issues you’re dealing with all the time.

The fact of the matter is that all of that criticism is absolutely valid. Eterspire is, first and foremost, a grinder MMORPG that revolves around fighting monsters, getting loot, upgrading your gear, and then either moving on to more monsters or advancing to the next area. In between, you can complete side quests and participate in lifeskills, of which there is currently only one, and it’s not very useful. That’s the core game loop (CGL) of the our game, and it's constantly being interrupted by features that disrupt it in a way that's no fun at all.

Features that break the CGL

What personally annoys me the most, and I know it annoys many of you too, is that the game includes a number of mechanics that actively work against this core game loop I’ve just described. Without going any further, elements like miscellaneous items filling up your inventory, or having to go back to town just to upgrade your gear, break that loop. You’re in the zone, right in the heat of battle, and suddenly you’re not, because your next objective is five miles away.

Having to run from map A to map B for five minutes while chasing the next beast you’re supposed to slay interrupts the action. The game ends up constantly punctuated by chores outside the core loop that disrupt the flow, slow down the action, and just aren’t fun for most players. They certainly aren’t for me either!

Some types of runes are a left-over from earlier Eterspire
designs that don't necessarily make sense in the modern game.

There’s no point in making a game that revolves around a very clear loop, and then adding things that not only pull you away from it, but ultimately make the experience worse as a whole. Because let’s not forget that Eterspire is, first and foremost, a mobile game. Mobile games are meant to be played in short bursts. You can play for ten hours straight if you want, and some players do, but the game must also feel fun and rewarding if you’ve only got five minutes while sitting on the bus or waiting in a queue.

For a play session to feel rewarding, you need to make progress toward a goal or achieve something within that session. The chances of that happening grow smaller and smaller the more time you spend doing chores instead of actually engaging in rewarding activities, which, for the most part, live within the core game loop.

Having to go back to Stonehollow to use an Exalt Rune, unnecessary, just to upgrade your equipment from +3 to +4, unfulfilling, then going to Thorogud to upgrade it, disruptive, then returning to where you were, delaying, and finding the monster group you want to engage with… it simply isn’t the best experience possible. How can we be the #1 mobile MMORPG if we don’t provide the best experience possible?

This is a game, people! It’s supposed to be fun! And these unfun elements become even more damaging when you consider that the early game is where these pain points are felt the most, making it harder for players to stick with us after the first day or two.

Players who make it through the first week tend to stay with us for the long run. Eterspire has an incredibly high engagement rate among long-term players compared to other mobile MMOs, but our early retention is laughable. And it shouldn’t be! Again, it’s a game. It’s supposed to be, first and foremost, fun!

The current state of Eterspire updates

We’re also aware that, for some of you, updates have started to feel a bit stale. We’ve been releasing side quests, and players do love them. They’re a big part of what makes the world of Aetera feel alive. But at the same time, we’ve been continuously introducing new maps that don’t address the core game loop issues mentioned above (as far as new maps can address them), and that players usually only visit once or twice before heading back to the Spire or Sunset Keep to continue the grind.

Our latest updates focus mostly on new maps and side quests.

Part of this is because we’ve been training the new members who recently joined the Eterspire Content Development Team, hello Naza and Wendy! Creating new maps is the first step in that process. Lucas, our most senior Content Developer, has been leading the effort, teaching them the ropes while also writing and implementing the side quests we’ve been releasing. Tozy, our new Content Development Manager, has also been doing a great job organizing the team, even as he settles into the role himself.

In the meantime, our Engineering team, along with myself, has been focused on improving the game’s performance. I’m sure you’ve noticed that since v69, Eterspire runs much, much better. Yes, we’re still dealing with some crashes here and there that we’re working to iron out, but the game now consumes far less battery, heats up your phone much less, and even runs again on my old 2nd Gen iPhone SE.

A huge amount of work has gone into this, because no one is going to start or keep playing a game that constantly freezes, suffers from lag spikes, overheats their phone, or drains their battery. For a long time, I avoided playing Eterspire while riding in an Uber because I was afraid of reaching my destination with almost no charge left. That’s no longer the case, and that’s huge!

We've also spent a lot of time making combat more interesting.

But these are also, in a way, invisible improvements that, while extremely important, don’t address other areas where the game is lacking, or the other points the community has been consistently raising. We’ve been working hard to lay the foundations for a better Eterspire, but that also means we haven’t been able to introduce some of the features you’ve been requesting, or fix other things we know the game isn’t doing right.

But we will get there!

What's next, then?

I feel like this post has been a bit of a bummer. I’ve pulled back the carpet, and the dust we’ve been hiding under it for so long is now everywhere. But in a way, this is refreshing, because we know the game does many things right, and we can now clearly point to some of the areas where it falls short. So the next step is obvious: to fix them.

Early 2026 Roadmap

This is the roadmap we released for Early 2026. It’s not set in stone, some things may change, but overall, this is the plan our content team will follow in the upcoming updates. For starters, we’ll do our best to introduce maps where it actually makes sense to spend time grinding. Some of the old maps may be updated as well.

When it comes to the other issues affecting the core game loop, especially disruptive elements like Exalt Runes, Purge Runes, excessive equipment tiers, having to return to town to upgrade your gear, or simply having to walk too much, we are actively evaluating our options. We'll have multiple meetings this week to talk about this. Out of all of these, walking distances are the hardest to fix. We need to decide whether to make the world of Aetera smaller and denser, or to tackle the problem from a completely different angle. Please let us know your thoughts about all of this!

On a personal note, I think a smaller, denser world makes sense for a mobile game, where you should be able to move from point A to point B within a short session. At the same time, this isn’t something I’d want to rush into without proper deliberation, and it would be a very time consuming task.

We’ll keep you posted. As for Thorogud’s affairs, I believe one of the best solutions could be allowing players to upgrade their equipment from anywhere, and testing the game without negative equipment modifiers or upgrade limitations (i.e., items that require Exalt Runes to be upgraded to +5). I’m confident this could remove a huge portion of the friction that currently interrupts the core game loop.

We’ll have to test and see!

For your peace of mind, I’d like to clarify that any work we do to fix existing content will not affect the cadence or content of our regular updates. None of these changes will fundamentally alter the game. We want to make CGL better than it currently is, not different. The game you are playing will still be here, no one will lose any progress, and no content will disappear. We simply want it to become better, more engaging, and more fun.

Conclusion

If there’s one thing I’d like you to take away from this post, it’s that we are always listening to your concerns and suggestions. We read them, we discuss them across our teams, and we actively plan ways to reflect your voices in the game as soon as possible, while also keeping a close eye on our metrics and working hard to lay stronger foundations that will allow Eterspire to grow and flourish in the future.

We know our updates don’t always include everything you’d like to see, and that sometimes we revisit and rework existing features instead of adding new, and often highly requested ones. There’s only so much we can take on at once while keeping the game stable and moving forward. We want Eterspire to still be around in ten years, and that means making long term decisions, even when they’re not the most immediately exciting. It's accepting that we make mistakes when designing the game, and taking the time to fix them.

In the end, that’s what makes Eterspire better for everyone!

In any case, thank you for reading! I don’t think future posts will be as long, we are still figuring out what shape this blog will take. This post is essentially a collection of topics we’ve been discussing over the past few weeks. I know it doesn’t cover everything you’ve been bringing up, like lifeskills, but we’ll definitely revisit those in future entries.

And if you’d like to discuss this post in the comments or on Discord, we’ll definitely be paying attention!

Also, please answer this poll:

(I hope the poll above is showing up, our poll provider isn't having the best day and it sometimes takes aaaaages to appear, sorry about that)