WISHING WELL UPDATES
Due to our larger update plans that we've been pushing towards, our smaller wishing well updates have been neglected as of late, leading to a rather large stockpile of unreleased pets and items. We'll be looking into doing some more regular smaller content updates to tackle this stockpile!

MERCH PLANS
Regarding our plans for merchandise, we'll be holding some polls to see what everyone wants to see first and also providing info on future merch logistics so stay tuned for that at some point!

CUSTOM BATCH STATUS
Due to our workload last month, the current custom batch is a bit delayed. They'll be completed some time this month!

• Nineve (#46) and Elkcrown (#3063) became Dappervolk's first ever Community Managers!
• Morphine (#35897) and Musicality (#39022) joined the official Moderation team!
• speckledplanet (#5301) bolstered our team of Writers!
  

• This included edits to all NPC dailies, 118 new items, and 4 new pets to hatch and alchemize.
• This was our fourth installment in a total overhaul of the dailies on Dappervolk to streamline the gameplay loop and make it feel rewarding for players.
• All future towns are intended to follow this style of balancing, so this was a major step in bringing us a bit closer to introducing new towns and continuing the Main Quest. 
  

The Frog Pond and it's current sole resident - Paulie, is a permanent area introduced as a place to spend Potatoes in a new shop full of new items. It will be gradually added to for future expansions to both Paulie's shop and future NPCs with a new variety of wares to buy, and stories to read. 

• Paulie made a splash by releasing his shop in two parts alongside a Gathering Event that helped kickstart players' Frog Coin stock.
• After both parts were released he introduced 22 new items, 6 new pets, and several secret "wiggler" trophies to collect!
• His pond will be seeing some much awaited new life in the near future.
  

 

• Their shop became the permanent home of the Avatar Calendar items, and they brought with them 17 new clothing items and one new pet hatching item!
• They also contributed a new quest to earn Carnival Tokens through in their ingredient hunting quest "Of Distilleries and Procurement."
  

Our new Community Managers put their heads together and introduced more routine official contests that take place outside of major event seasons to provide some fun and regular community engagement.

• We decided that these contests would award a special currency to be used in a brand new shop, Nico's Boutique, which has served as a new location for fancier items and pets to be released through.
• So far, 27 new items and 3 new pets have been released through the Boutique.
• It has served as an additional location for past seasonal content to be hosted as well. 
  

We have been slowly planning merch designs in the background in order to spearhead our future marketing projects to bring more activity to the site when we're ready! So far, our planned list of merch includes but isn't limited to:

• Stickers
• Prints/Art Zines
• Enamel Pins
• Plushies (With Makeship in the future)
• T-shirts/Apparel
  

2024 saw some major updates to Dappervolk's backend coding and security. We updated the following over the course of a few months after extensive compatibility testing:

• PHP version
• MYSQL
• Laravel Version
  

A new feature that was made easier to implement with some of the coding updates done over the course of the year was our News Polls system.

• These polls have made it easier to access the community's collective sentiment regarding a variety of subjects.
• It will remain a cornerstone in allowing the Staff team to ask for feedback without demanding users engage with longform discussions on the forums.
• We're looking forward to hosting more Polls soon as the need arises!
  

We introduced custom markdown to Dappervolk's text editor which allows players to use tags and have the site call item and pet images with tooltips upon mouseover. The tooltip includes the item name, its description, and how many are owned along with other applicable info.We pushed the Clothing Diary feature which allows the user to look up any wearable item on site and see its preview on an avatar skin of their choice. Shortly after its release, we expanded its functionally to include a small search button that when clicked, automatically takes you to the Trades Market in search of that item. It then also received an update to search by stat affinity!

• This includes item tooltips, the clothing diary, and when tagged on the forums with Dappervolk's new markdown system.
• This was a longstanding request from the community dating and certainly one that feels good to finally have completely ironed out. 
  

• Multiple quest hand-in pool updates over the course of the year
• Oran's Accessory Vault was implemented for users to "abandon" or retire accessories the no longer want
• Backend optimization to decrease Tradesmarket load time
• Many food and hatch items were converted into totems to allow better personalization of pets' profiles
• The Custom Archive pages received an update to include a modal that provides ownership information, name and description, and a preview of the custom without the user needing to search through the owner's profile page.
• An archive was created for Seasonal Shard Pets to reduce the size of news posts and provide a single location to view all recipes and pets.
• Numerous other small backend fixes and optimizations
  

 We added a total of 76 Atelier items and 22 Salon items in a large Nico's Shop update, this included several items worked on in streams as well as numerous wishing well items completed by our team.Our long awaited Vaer Balancing update marked the last of our major town rebalancing projects.

• This update was also our largest, as it also included an additional Main Story epilogue and all 6 NPC Affection Milestone side quests.
• We released a total of 135 new items into the NPC shops and 10 new pet species, 5 of which are fantastical and the rest quaint.
• To celebrate this achievement, we also hosted a Gifting Event during this time called "Poe's Shell'ebrations"
  

• Tradesmarket Revamp & Updates - Stock lots, QoL updates, Optimizations
• Peddler's Port Update - New content for existing NPC's
• Peddler Content Update - New Peddler area with new shops & NPC's
• More Ad Theater Fixes & Updates
• Guild Balancing Update - Balances to EXP gain, updates to existing systems, etc
• Various QoL fixes
• Thalies Event - Aiming for September this year, whether we can complete this depends on multiple factors/pipelines
• Vaer Event around December
• Frog Pond Update - New NPC, stories, items & pets to collect
• Pet Accessory Market 
• Custom Market 
• Block System Update 
• Turnip Shop Updates 
• Email Newsletters 
• First Merch Run - We're looking at doing merch in batches of preorders, and accumulating enough surplus to market the game at various conventions/venues! 
• More Major Marketing Pushes - More content & events on social media, Collaborations, etc
  

• Donate Neapolitan Cake to help the community reach collective milestone rewards
• Knead others' pets to gain great biscuits
• Collect your pets' biscuits once fully baked
• Obtain Pearl Trinkets to make purchases in The Pearl Gala Gift Shop which opens June 21st 12AM DVT
• All new shop items this year should be obtainable with 1-2 weeks of regular event participation
  

This year our art team has whipped up some of their sweetest but not too sweet treats to celebrate Dappervolk's anniversary. You'll find these 25 flavourful new items stocking in the Pearl Gala Gift Shop, along with 3 new pet species!
They can be obtained in the following ways:

• Participate in the Great Anniversary Bake Off
• Agnes' Daily Gift Quest
• Officiator's Official Token Exchange Quest
• Random Events
• Random Alchemy
• Starry Night Minigame
• Adventuring
• Participate in the Anniversary Dress Up Contest
• Collect Biscuits from your own fully kneaded pets
  

They can be obtained in the following ways:

• Participate in the Great Anniversary Bake Off
• Knead other users' pets! You can use this thread to knead the pet above you.
• Collect Biscuits from your own fully kneaded pets
  

Custom Maker Giveaway - A new giveaway will be held on site as well as social media for two lucky winners!

Year End Review - Our overview of the last year's updates and activities as well as our updated future priorities list is going up in a couple of days in another news post!

 

• The ingredients to make the hatching item can be found in Pai, Agnes, and Oran's shops' Bonus Prize pools.
• The item alchemy recipe is available in your recipe book and shown above.
• This Seasonal Pet will remain in the shops for 3 months and rotate out at the end of August to be replaced by a pet for the next season.
• Seasonal pets are obtainable annually on a rotation! The hatching items can be alchemized at any time of the year.
  

 

• Speak to the First Mate at the Shipwreck to begin the quest "The Captain Behind the Curtain"
• There are 5 quests in total, to be unlocked in succession.
• 2 quests will be repeatable, allowing for progression and accumulation of currency.
• The Neat Ship Shop is stocked with Aeolin items and will be open all month, taking Sand Dollars as currency!
• Other than quests, Sand Dollars can also be obtained through Random Encounters, Adventuring, and Vaer Sea Forage.
  

DAPPERVOLK 5TH ANNIVERSARY
Our 5th Anniversary is coming up next month! We're excitedly preparing for this with new content and event fun times. Get ready for a sweet treat!

NEW CONTENT: PEDDLERS
We're steadily chugging along with progress on new content, particularly with our upcoming merchant town, which will alleviate some of the pressure on Nico's shop stocks as well as introducing new shops and reward pools to the game!

STAFF STATUS
Over the last while, some of our staff have been inundated with IRL circumstances which has preoccupied them, this has caused our presence on site to be a bit lacking. We're aware of this and while we regroup, are also working quietly in the background on our various work loads. We're hoping to kick things back into full gear as soon as we're able. Thank you very much for your understanding in the meantime!

• Speak to Lian at the Lotus Pavilion to begin the seasonal quest "A Drop in the Lake"
• There are 3 quests in total to be unlocked in succession.
• "The Lotus Festival" is a daily repeatable quest which can be completed 4 times per day.
• Lian's Temple Stall is open again for the month of April!
• Stocked are Signi's items, with 1 new item available!
• Signi's seasonal currency "Ceramic Scale" can be obtained from seasonal quests in the Lotus Pavilion as well as through several other regular site mechanics.
  

TRADESMARKET UPDATE STATUS
We're in final testing for the search engine update and are currently working on a new lot type, which will be followed by the custom and pet accessory markets.

FUTURE CONTENT
Our writing and art teams are hard at work on several new updates. These are being worked on concurrently at the moment, but we're not sure what will be finished for release first. Here are a few planned content updates we're currently working on!

• A new merchant's town with various new peddler NPC's
• Story and content updates to the Frog Pond
• Seasonal Deity Content for the remaining Deities that don't have questlines yet
• New Main Storyline planning
  

• Speak to Lula at the Spiralwood to begin the seasonal quest "Into the Spiralwood"
• There are 3 quests in total to be unlocked in succession.
• "Festival of the Slumbering Snail" is a daily repeatable quest which can be completed 4 times per day.
• Winding Shells are the currency for Lula's Festival Booth, obtained through seasonal event quests in the Spiralwood, Random Encounters, Random Item Alchemy, Starry Night Minigame, Adventuring Rewards
  

TRADESMARKET UPDATE STATUS
We're currently in the process of testing search filter revamps, which is in the internal testing stage at the moment and will likely be pushed to the site before other aspects of the major revamps.

DISCORD UPDATES
Our progress on these updates has expanded to a look at some policies on site as well as rule updates on the Discord in order to bring both the site and the server more in line with eachother.

We're also planning some fun features to be added alongside moderation tools such as auto role assignments (pronouns, dv character class, etc) and utilization of some of Discord's server features for new members.