Crowfall is about to take its next step into a larger world. The PvP MMO announced that it’s preparing to layer a live environment on top of test and internal servers as part of its move toward an eventual release. The live environment will feature a more refined and persistent build than what players are used to seeing on the more experimental test server. It will strive to stay up 24/7 as much as possible, be available to a wider pool of backers, be more stable, and be wiped only when absolutely necessary.

The team indicated that this server is a big deal for the development and testing, representing another major step forward: “The live environment will eventually become the live game. We will only wipe it when absolutely necessary and it will be up all the time (outside of normal maintenance). This deployment is one of many necessary transitions that will get us to launch.”

Meanwhile, the studio is also rearranging some Kickstarter backer rewards that are no longer relevant.

“One of the rewards that no longer makes sense, given our current design, is the ‘Reserve Unique Character Name’ that was available to Bronze pledge package (or higher) Kickstarter backers,” ArtCraft explains. “Our system has changed in such a way that character names are no longer unique; account usernames are used as the unique Crow identifier in the game universe. (Note that we have also separated this from web log in, which now uses your email address to alleviate security concerns, and soon this will change for the game log in, too.) Since account names are already unique, this reward is obsolete, and we’ve decided to replace this former reward with the Arkon Greatsword Relic.”