Player Spotlight: White Willow








Who is your bestest friend of all time in Illy?


Who is your arch nemesis?





GM Rikoo

Player Spotlight: TheDiva




Why do you play so often?




What advice would you give to aspiring players?



What is your favorite part of Illy?


What is your least-favorite part of Illy?


What will it say on your Illy tombstone?




See you next time!

Player Spotlight: Kumomoto






Stay tuned to GC… I tell them periodically!






Who is your favorite player? Why?


Who is your nemesis? Why?


What is your greatest achievement in Illy?


How would you like to top that achievement?

Not sure we can!

Thanks again to Kumo! 


GM Rikoo

Player Spotlight: Martilicious


How long have you been playing?








Give me a good Illy memory.


Give me a bad Illy memory.



Who is your in-game nemesis?


Who is your RL nemesis?



See you next time!

Player Spotlight: Fiona!

filterI have heard that there is a player named Fiona Withadot. Are you flattered that someone is impersonating you? Why would they do that?

There is?? Where?!?! I have heard of this upstart. She is barely a dot on my radar. I have also heard that a few dwarves like her. Shameful. She thinks she is all cute with her pointy ears… I will catch her one day and show her what orcs do to elves. 🙂 As to why she would impersonate me, obviously she has no life.

If you had one thing to say to your enemies, what would it be? (You can curse. Don’t worry, I’ll change all of the curse words to the words BUNNY BUTT.)

I have enemies? Where?? Is it that impersonater? Did she say something? Don’t listen to her, she’s nuts. I mean how can you listen to someone who claims to be a Saint? See, I didnt curse and you dont have to use Bunny Butt to cover it up. Which, by the way, totally replaces any curse word. 🙂

Be honest: You come to socialize, conquer, trade or all of the above?

haha Depends on who you ask. I want to say conquer but if you ask my alliance mates they will probably say socialize. Secretly, I want all the gold. 🙂

If you had a beeeelion dollars, what would you program into Illy?

I think a Navy would be pretty cool. Ships, subs, gun ships, battle stations. (Wait, battle stations? Is that a Star Wars reference? hehe) Could you imagine a fleet of ships 100k strong coming at you? That would look pretty awesome on the water. Green and red getting ready to clash. And ahem… Audrey’s quest more…ummm solvable…..

What do HATE about Illy? Be honest or we will know and then we will attack you with mammoths.

Rikoo…. I’m an orc, mammoths don’t scare me, now your guards… that’s another story. What do I hate about Illy? Can’t say theres anything I hate, but things that can get annoying… not being able to recall harvesters in a 90 second window. Spider NPC’s are pretty scary, I never hit them. I avoid them. I dont want spider parts in my inventory…. Spider fangs?? Ugh. I do, however, have mammoth parts…. 😀

How many times have you made a mistake in Illy? Tell us about one of those times.

Ha! If I had 1 gold for every mistake I made, I would have a few million collected by now. Recently though, (rolls eyes and a few curse words) I had a scout army that just got back home. 1 troop, 5k scouts (not the cheap ones either) I then sent an army out to a horde of rats. I realized about 10 min before they hit that it was my scouts. Sigh.. Plus side, gold was in the black for a bit. 🙂 I did a moment of silence for them, it was tragic.

Which other MMOs do you play? If you do play others, what do you like to do in those other MMOs?

Honestly, I have never really played other MMOs. Illy is my first one. I have looked for other ones since starting Illy and frankly none compare to this game. Illy has spoiled me for all other games. I also notice playing this game im a bit more fearless than I used to be. So when I look at other games, I look for ones that have good fighting. Because, it’s fun!

How many dragolichs would a dragolich drag if a dragolich could drag wood?

I pondered this question awhile. Then I got a headache, had to lie down. Got up took some asprin and still didnt know what you asked. So I googled it. I was clueless as to what a dragolich was, turns out if it weren’t for google I still wouldn’t know. So my guess is….42 🙂

Thanks to Fiona for being a great player! Congrats!

Player Spotlight: Nikon!

154271_465973513510_5416275_nWhy do you play Illyriad? Be honest!

Why do I play? Apart from griefing people in GC or to sing stupid songs and get blamed for nearly everything? lol. Nah, I started playing almost 3 years ago as a refugee from Kingdoms of Camelot.

I liked the idea of being able to siege and not being ‘ported on’ as its called in KoC. (Being ported on means someone can teleport a city right on your doorstep to unload every single attacker, and you don’t have much of a hope being able to defend.)

So, a few of us came over… I’m one of only a couple who have stayed and have enjoyed it ever since. It’s mostly the people from around the world who I’ve come into contact with, who ACTUALLY like me and chat to me, that’s the main reason I’m still here. Also, getting 10 cities.

You’re a member of one of the 1238 branches of the Crow players. What does it all mean?

It means we’re all after your soul, devil GM man!!! Honestly nowadays I don’t know what it all means. I just know mCrow is a fantastic alliance to be involved with, with THE best AC going around. Never have I been involved with such a great group of people that I consider my friends. Also, the Crows hang around just to prove Epidemic wrong about the Crow Civil War.

Why do people say they blame you? For what? Tell me so you can be in trouble.

WELL. That all started one Monday morning Australia time. I tried to log in as I normally do but could not. Something wrong on the server end, I guess. I sent a message to Jane DarkMagic about it. Immediately after she went into GC, I’m told, and told everyone that I had broken Illy and that they should #BlameNikon. It’s stuck ever since. And yes, I know, it’s a sucky story.

Why do you often say “GM Rikoo is probably the coolest person, ever!”

Oh really? I must have a chat with my sitter then, or Rill was blabber-mouthing again thinking, I’ve said something I didn’t! Honestly, you’re an OK kind of guy, and doing alright with your mammoths and stuff.

If you had all the time and MONEY in the world but for some strange reason decided to continue to hang out playing Illy instead of travelling the world, what would you want to accomplish?

Getting at least 10 cities would be first. I’m a slow player and only have 8 cities after almost 3 years. I would also try to start a war over me… I mean, who doesn’t want to try that? lol

I asked this of the last spotlight, but who is your nemesis?

Soldier of the Cross. He is such a suck-up. Always wants to be cool like me. He tries so hard to get me angry, but in the end he is simply a clown. We were both T? graduates about the same time, and the both of us gave poor LadyLuvs alot of grey hairs!

How often do you attack something in game? Do you wish there were more attacks in game?

Three or 4 times a week or so. There often isn’t much around that I would want to attack. As for having something else to attack, I do wish that the factions were live, but not only to attack.

I do hope that it will be used for an Illy world-wide event, maybe where factions go and try to either undermine Sigurd or become the new leader of Illyriad. Something like that. On my profile is a link for what I think factions should be or do, check it out. i can actually do smart things 🙂

Thanks to Nikon for taking the time to answer my questions! Next time you see him, blame him for something.


Player Spotlight: Ravana!







Name a time in Illy when you did something you regretted.











Thanks to Ravana for being such a creative player! Congrats!


Player Spotlight: King Korr!

King KorrThis time, the Player Spotlight goes out to King Korr. I received quite a few nominations for the player so hopefully his answers won’t be horrible. If they are, siege him and then bring me his gold! MUAHAHA!

I’m kidding. He seems like a great guy and wonderful player!

Answers below. Thanks KK!

How long have you been playing Illy?

I have be a royal in the land of Illyriad for two and a half year’s now. In that time I saw and faced many horrors including the naked Elf Forest and discovering what a trout slap is. (We don’t want to know – Rikoo)

When you first played, what do you remember thinking first?

My very first thought was ‘what have I stepped in to?’ — as compared to the other games I had played online before Illy, they were quite simple while Illy has a lot of depth to it. There are still mysteries that have yet to be solved, and I am still learning things about the game to this day.

Why do you think people have nominated you for Player Spotlight?

I’d like to think it’s for the help I give members in Wheel of Time or Heroes of the Horn, as they are the main two alliances I have been in. I would even help members with tasks that would require me to leave the alliances for a period of time. Plus, I sort of keep the Mule Master from getting up to any trouble …

It’s more than likely I let the maidens get me in to trouble and mischief in alliance chat. As my fellow alliance members will tell you, I am a quiet and shy person and I never lead anyone astray ( /me looks over shoulders to make sure TheDiva, LadyDianna and Kylinneira ain’t in ear-shot!)

If you had developer powers…. no, scratch that – if you had MORE than developer powers and could make the game do anything, what would you like to add to it?

One simple word: DRAGONS!

Okay let me expand on that. Illy is a land with magic and fantasy creatures in it yet there isn’t a dragon in sight! We have all type of units to use spear, sword, bow and mounted troops but as of yet no aerial troops. Just think if players could assign dragons to their armies… it would add a whole new level to the game! Each race could have their own type of dragon, and humans have firebreathing (which would be good on plains. Dwarves could have drakes which suit mountains and the same with elves and orcs.)

I would also make a quest of it so players have to got through certain steps to unlock the research such as finding hidden knowledge so their saddle makers and mages could learn how to safely control the dragons without having them eating your people. You could also have a handicap so for each dragon you have, you lose a certain amount of food or cow production.

I’d also like to  allow troops to move via way points! Like, being able to send troops from A to B to C without having to go back to A would be a massive time saver and wouldn’t have a big an impact on the game.

How important do you think PvP is to Illyriad?

I’d say quite important, as it’s another layer to explore and master in Illy. If you’re attacking a player or another alliance, each involves different things to make sure you have a chance of success. Even if you are attacking, you still have to think of defense for your troops that will be sieging cities, unless your goal is not to capture but to make sure your target can’t rebuild their stockpile of troops to hit you back.

If they do hit you back and you or your alliance loses all your troops, it’s making sure to have supplies set up to make sure you can rebuild quickly enough.

Why do you play Illyriad? You can be honest with me. Go ahead.

The people, the community in Illy is great. In the time I’ve been playing I’ve meet some great people who I talk to outside of the game. Even though I have been playing for two and a half years I’ve yet to find or hear of another game that has a community that is so friendly and helpful. Newbies are sometimes wary of the great greetings they get when they start as they think we only send the res if we get something in return, which is sort of true as each player that stays and grows adds to Illy, which mean’s we all gain!

Where can Illy improve the most?

Magic! Magic in Illy is so badly under-used and developed, like we have a magetower but yet can not recruit mages to accompany troops or to bewitch cities on the far part of the map (make them like traders with increasing upkeep the more you have). It would give those that want to explore the magical part off Illy more depth from the game.

You have a choice between the biggest and most powerful armies in the game or the largest and most profitable trade business; what do you choose?

Armies every time! I have answered the call of the Viking and it’s seeped into my blood!


Thanks again to King Korr for answering our questions. Now, go bug him in game!

GM Rikoo


Player Spotlight: Jane DarkMagic!




Your name is evil. Why is your character SO EVIL?









I’ve never been caught thieving, and I will admit nothing.





Player Spotlight: StJude

StJude poopsHow did you find Illyriad, and what made you give it a try?

I had just come off a 23,360 hour long stint of World of Warcraft and decided I should probably start paying my mortgage and eating something other than thai basil fried rice from the local takeaway. After some time, once I had begun to recognize that sunlight was my friend, and that blinking occurs naturally, I wandered instinctively back over to my Dell Optiplex 745 and searched for some old browser based games of Risk.

While splendidly losing Brazil (because some other clever bugger had taken Australia first), I gazed distractedly at the sidebar banner ad. I lamented the lack of barely clad, large chested maidens beckoning me to “Come Play Discreetly, my Lord”. I did see the words “deep strategy” though… that got my blood pumping and made me swoony. By this stage, South America was lost and with it my 2 army bonus.

Deep strategy, eh?

So, I signed up. I immediately liked the slower pace of the game and after playing for a while loved the idea of real loss and therefore real risk. I figured this slower pace would force me to step away occasionally and encourage my re-integration with society. The map was huge and I was quite taken with the regional aspects and persistent state of the game. I headed over to the forums, saw some excellent posts in the long forgotten “Bitter Sea” and the rest is history.

Do you ever dream of doing particular things in game that you cannot do now?

Seriously, sending emails with multiple recipients and a CC option would make me quiver at the knees. Barring that, I’m fairly partial to the military side of things. There have been some brilliant suggestions made already on the forums that I would love to see implemented regarding region control in the form of capturing nodes. I would also like to see defensive options added to a city under attack. Things like additional fortifications (other than walls) that are the *sole* target of siege engines. I’d love to have an option to sack a city once the siege is successful. Total destruction of a city should take a significant investment to achieve. It should take months to raze what takes months to build.

Give me a good war story.

A lot of players think or thought that the Baughb account and StJude account were played by the same person. I’m not sure I can do much to persuade those of that mindset otherwise. Early on, he and I were introduced to a player who would later be known as Gaia Nutella Tulips. It was due largely in part to his recruitment efforts that I joined the fledgeling alliance, “Havoc Unleashed” in Kumala. There was an “incident” and shortly (in Illy terms anyway) thereafter Baughb and I went our separate ways from Havoc. We were both interested in the “Deep Strategy” side of things that Illyriad had to offer and we took advantage of this separation to explore this “Deep Strategy” thing with our former alliancemates. Things were rather silly, all things considered. Our declaration of war was over the top, frivolous and laced with more sarcasm than the number of caravans sent by Global Chat to unwary newbs. There was some good banter and funny exchanges between us and several members of Havoc amidst all the drama. What I think speaks more about our intentions than anything, is the surprising and daring move made by Gaia Nutella Tulips in the middle of the war. GNT, as he will now be referred to for the remainder of the story, still maintained his relationship with Baughb and I,

He frequently exchanged friendly in game mails with us, but never betrayed his alliance by providing insight or intel on their plans. We developed a good rapport I think and we did a good job convincing GNT that there was no malice involved. We were in it for the fun of the competition and GNT recognized that. Someone else can fill in the rest of the details, but GNT informed his alliance leader (Jonny112) that he was going to be leaving “Havoc Unleashed” and joining the Baughb and StJude circus. Even while he was a member of our merry little band, he remained tight lipped regarding any information he might still hold regarding his former alliance. He was truly a class player and as extremely fun loving guy. It was folks like GNT and his antics that kept me logging in to the game and one of many reasons I wanted to come back. We never really took ourselves seriously and this alliance switch mid war, all in the name of fun was one of my favorite moments in the game.

Give me a good newbie tip.

Illyriad is like prison, I advise finding the biggest and baddest alliance and/or player and making a bold statement. Once you have established your dominance, the prison yard is yours. That, or find a player much smaller than you and take all their stuff. Most importantly, be sure to declare your sovereignty over an area. Research siege weapons ASAP and use them to clear the area of rabble rousers and anyone who rustles your jimmies. The Illyriad community respects and encourages this kind of aggressive and forward thinking behavior. Your mailbox will be flooded with invites to various well renowned alliances and you will wake up in the morning to an inbox filled with digital high fives and attaboys.

If that’s not your cup of tea, join a training alliance while you get the lay of the land. This is a unique phenomenon in MMOs as far as I can tell. I’m not aware of any other games doing this.

Give me 500 million gold.

Give me an Illy T-Shirt with Stormcrow and Thundercat dressed as a sexy fire marshall and a lusty B2B Integration Solution Architecture Analyst II, all while parading King Sigurds head on a stake and we have a deal. 1200 prestige is also on the table. Singles only please, I want to tuck them into the waistband of GC.

How has Illy changed the most over the years?

Wow, interesting question. Illyriad is more than the sum of its parts. I think the greatest change I have observed is how knowledgeable the overall player base has become. There is a pretty good understanding of the mechanics of the game with a lot of good tools available to help with decision making.

Name something that you think should be changed or tweaked immediately.

The siege mechanic and a limit to the number of troops that can occupy a tile. I’d also like to see a scaling cost for troop upkeep that increases the larger your city is. I cheated, sorry, that is more than one “something”.

I like War.


Thanks to StJude for participating in the Player Spotlight! If you would like to nominate someone, please send your reasons to!

GM Rikoo