Originally posted by Davro in #dev-updates / Heartwood Online Discord:

Dev Log #2 - Winterforge Is Live, Back to Shadowfang

Winterforge went live yesterday.

Thank you to everyone who jumped in immediately, reported issues, shared screenshots and generally turned the game into festive chaos faster than we expected. While Winterforge this year doesn't hold a ton of content, we intentionally want our main focus right now to be Shadowfang. Because we know that's what you're all waiting for.

Back to Shadowfang

With Winterforge shipped, we're fully back on Shadowfang.

At this stage, Shadowfang is less about experimental groundwork and more about bringing the remaining pieces together:

• Systems being polished and tightened up
• Content being finalized and integrated properly
• Bugs being hunted down
• Performance and edge cases being handled

This is the part of development that’s hard to show off but absolutely necessary. A lot of the work happening right now won’t look exciting in screenshots, but it’s what allows the update to actually scale, perform well, and not fall apart once it’s live.

Dev Logs Going Forward

Dev logs aren’t meant to be announcements or hype drops.

They’re meant to be:

• A quick snapshot of our focus right now
• A way to let you know we're alive and working actively on Heartwood
• A place where we can talk about direction to keep you all in the loop

Some dev logs will be short. Some will be boring. But they all serve the same purpose, keeping you, the community, in the loop.

Thanks for playing Winterforge, thanks for the feedback so far and thanks for sticking around while we push Shadowfang toward the finish line.

More soon.

Link:https://heartwoodonline.com/news?id=23

Originally posted by warby in #announcements / Heartwood Online Discord:

❄️ Winterforge is live! ❄️
Holiday jingles can be heard in Heartwood again, as the Winterforge holiday has begun! This year, townsfolk are reporting a brand new pastime sweeping the land... snowball duel mechanics. Challenge your friends and rivals to see who has the best aim.

And as for familiar faces… well, a few naughty elves have slipped back into town. Whether they’re here to “help” or just cause mischief is anyone’s guess.

Bundle up, jump in, and enjoy the festivities!

Originally posted by Davro in #dev-updates / Heartwood Online Discord:

Dev Log #1 - Communication, Shadowfang and Winterforge

We’ve been talking internally for a while about how we communicate with the community and the truth is: we haven’t been as transparent as we should have been.

Updates often went quiet, features were worked on behind the scenes without much visibility and information mostly came out right before a patch dropped.

That's going to change.

Dev logs are one of the first steps, small, honest glimpses into what we’re actually working on, even when something isn’t finished yet. No big marketing push, no polished announcement. Just… dev stuff.

Shadowfang

During Shadowfang development many core systems of the game have gotten optimizations and refactors to enable us to do more going forward.

One major issue we ran into was performance on the larger Shadowfang map. The old system used massive colliders that were being processed every physics frame, which tanked performance.
We’ve now reworked how collisions are handled on the map, which not only fixes the issue but also lets us supports much larger maps than before. You may see a slight performance improvement in other areas as well.

Aside from that, we’re putting the final details on the map, polishing new features and mechanics and pushing through the usual phase of development where everything feels broken. We’re now finally past that stage and things are coming together quickly.

Shadowfang ETA? Early 2026.

Here’s a preview of one of many new features in the upcoming Shadowfang update:

Enchanting(Preview)

Enchanting is a new crafting skill where you create magical enchantments that can be applied to your gear to boost its stats. Each piece of equipment has a number of upgrade slots based on its rarity and each enchantment fills one of those slots.

Once all slots are full, you can keep enchanting as much as you want, new enchants will simply overwrite one of the existing slots at random. This creates a simple “roll until you’re happy” system where you can chase the perfect set of stats on your favorite items.

And without giving too much away, there may be ways to make things a little less random once those slots are full.

Winterforge

The big focus right now is prepping the Winterforge event set to go live next week.

Expect festive chaos, seasonal rewards and of course: snowball fights.

We're fully expecting players to organize unofficial snowballs tournaments and honestly, we're looking forward to it.


Thanks for sticking with us and welcome to Dev Log #1

Link:https://heartwoodonline.com/news?id=21

Originally posted by JerryPie in #announcements / Heartwood Online Discord:

🎃 Pumpkin Festival — Final Day!
The lanterns are starting to dim and the last of the roasted gourds are cooling… The Pumpkin Festival will be wrapping up in 24 hours! If you haven’t yet joined the hunt, sampled the magic pumpkins, or helped stir the cauldron, now’s your final chance to grab your festive goodies before the magic fades for another year.

✨ Don’t miss out — visit the pumpkin cauldron, collect your treats, and celebrate the end of the festival in style.

See you under the lantern light, Heartwood!

Originally posted by JerryPie in #announcements / Heartwood Online Discord:

🎃 The Pumpkin Festival Returns! The lanterns are lit and the scent of roasted gourds fills the air once again across Heartwood! But this year, rumor has it the Royal Guard has finally caught the infamous Darian… or have they? While the guards scramble to uncover the truth, you can lend a hand (or cause a little chaos) by sampling the festival’s new batch of magic pumpkins! Visit the pumpkin cauldron to help mix things up.

✨ Each bite alters your appearance, letting you blend in (or stand out) as the chase for the real pumpkin culprit continues.

Happy Pumpkin Festival everyone!

We're working to improve how news is stored and delivered on the Atlas and older posts may be temporarily unavailable. Please pardon the interruption as we carry archived news to the new system and make further adjustments from there.

While you're here, check out the new searchable News Archive section or the new Calculators section!

Heartwood’s second Dryad Bloom Festival has drawn to a joyful close after another season of lively celebration! Flora and Linden have gathered their wares and departed, taking the Dryad Blooms with them until next time. For now, the special event items (Blossom Branch and Fireworks) remain, but not for long. Be sure to enjoy them before they vanish as well!

[Edit 9/13] - Heartwood servers were reset today to remove the lingering temporary event items.

Originally posted by Davro in #announcements / Heartwood Online Discord:

Today we mark the end of our second Dryad Bloom Festival! The community did an incredible job putting together so many memorable events that made this year's festival special. Speaking of the community, we'd also like to give another shoutout to our first group of Heartwood Community Builders. Congratulations again to everyone who received the mark!

Last but certainly not least, we had one very special community member who was Blessed by the Gods for their service to Heartwood.

During our awards ceremony for recognizing Heartwood Community Builders, we also introduced a special Community Member Spotlight where we recognize some of the great things an individual has done. We felt everyone here would agree that the first person who should be recognized is our one and only... Head Moderator, Alex! Alex has been with us from the very beginning of our journey with Heartwood and has since been a beacon for the community.

We want to give a special thanks for your service to the community. Everyone is very grateful for your presence here, especially Brutus.

With that, we conclude our second Dryad Bloom Festival! Happy Anniversary to all.

As part of Heartwood’s 2-Year Anniversary celebration, a special recognition ceremony was held in Redwood last weekend (23 August). The event honored several standout community members, players whose contributions and spirit have helped shape Heartwood into the world we know today. Each of them received the prestigious Community Builder legacy mark, a lasting symbol of their impact.



In addition, GM Alex was recognized with the unique Blessed by the Gods mark, commemorating his extraordinary dedication and support since the beginning.



Join us in celebrating their efforts and share your gratitude when you cross paths in Heartwood. May their marks remind us all of the power of community in shaping Heartwood’s story!

Originally posted by warby in #announcements / Heartwood Online Discord:

Anniversary Event Is Here!

It’s that time of year again, adventurers — the annual Heartwood Anniversary has arrived! As the great constellation passes over Heartwood again, the 2nd Dryad Bloom is upon us. Celebrate with us in-game as we mark another year of battles, friendships, and unforgettable moments across the world of Heartwood.

Honoring Our Community

During the anniversary, we’ll also be taking a special moment to recognize some of the incredible community builders who’ve helped shape Heartwood into what it is today. Please join us near the fishing hole located near the fishing NPC's as we hold a ceremony to thank a few notable players.

• Recognition Ceremony
  August 23, 2025 12:00 PM
• Location (Server)
  Redwood, fishing hole near fishing leaderboard & fishing NPC's.

Don’t miss it — come celebrate, show your appreciation, and be part of another memorable milestone!

Originally posted by Davro in #announcements / Heartwood Online Discord:

Patreon Memberships Ending

With the Shadowfang update just around the corner, we’re preparing for the transition to our new in-game membership system. As part of that, Patreon memberships will be disabled starting May 1st. Shadowfang is NOT launching on May 1st.

If you were an active patron at any point between April 1st and April 30th, you will still receive your exclusive mount and hat. However, please note that the yellow name and world shout will stop working after May 1st, so keep this in mind if you're thinking about subscribing in the final days of April.

Shadowfang Release Date: TBA

Don't worry, we will give everyone a heads up as it gets closer so you have time to ask off work, call in sick, or quit your jobs.

Thanks for your support, and we can’t wait to show you what’s coming next.