The bad news for Atlas fans is that the game’s next major patch will be delayed until mid-March or late March. The good news is that it’s targeting some of the major issues preventing people playing solo or in smaller groups from enjoying the game, with a specific aim at the game’s offline raiding mechanics. As it stands, the game both makes it easy and rewarding to attack other players’ resources while they’re offline, since that means little to no defense of those holdings and full rewards. Changes are planned to encourage players to instead engage while their opponents are online and able to react.
Changes are also being worked on for land ownership, including things like upkeep and certain still-to-be-determined limitations. The changes are planned to be rolled out for testing before they go live for everyone, so you can see what sort of impact they’ll have on the game as a whole. Still, it’s a nod to players who may not be playing in a large group but still enjoy the game; let’s hope they work well.