Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
Spiral Knights debuted its Beta version in late 2010.
On April 4th, 2011, the official version hit the web to rave reviews. Great music, Great visuals, stable 3D overhead view, yadda, yadda, yadda all made it a wonderful game instantly loved by a several hundred thousand players.
A few notes here. The game ran on mist energy. Every player got 100 mist every 24 hours, and elevators cost 10 energy per level. Also, there was no auction house.
That same month the first costume items were offered – Rose Regalia.
Trade chat got added in this first month and the Wild West economy was launched. Because there was no auction house, trade chat used to scroll by almost faster than you could read it.
Gradually the range of weapons and armors and the Haven was expanded. At this point the only entrance to the Clockworks was thru the gates in the Arcade.
May, 2011 – Arsenal items became bound – ohnoes! (This was way before Punch and Vise, so unbinding was not an option. Later, unbinding was added at quite a high price.)
May, 2011 – Training Halls got added to Havens – cool beans!
May, 2011 – An auction House – it ain’t eBay, but it’s a helluva lot better than nothin!
June, 2011 – Spiral Knights joins Steam.
June, 2011 – A new boss – Snarbolax – my favorite of all the levels! Love that shield and bomb, too.
July, 2011 – A fourth boss – Roarmulus Twins gets added. Previously, there were only Jelly King and Lord Vanaduke.
July, 2011 – Weapons can now get up to 3 Unique Variants.
July, 2011 – Punch and Vise set up shop in Bazaar. Whoopee- gimme dat triple max! Wow, that’s a lot to unbind stuff, but at least we can do it now. Merchanting returns with a vengeance.
August, 2011 – King Krogmo and the first PvP mini-game are added – Blast Network (aka Bomberman). Bombhead masks are all the rage, and since it’s PvP, rage-quiting, rage-cursing, and rage-raging are all the rage, too.
September, 2011 – More rose Reglia colored costumes.
September, 2011 – Lockdown gets added. Huge addition to the game! Let the toxic guild wars begin!
October, 2011 – Prize Wheels and Lockboxes and Accessories gets added. Another huge addition to the game.
October, 2011 – Treasure Vault sub-forum gets created.
October, 2011 – Halloween event.
November, 2011 – Three Rings, the company that created Spiral Knights, get acquired by Sega. (Cue Deathstar music)
November, 2011 – Shadow Lairs got added. Finally some really difficult levels with a some cool but nearly completely useless armors added. (Well, snarbolax armor is pretty cool.)
November, 2011 - Arsenal Stations get added, making loadouts for each level possible. Previous to this, you had to wear the same gear thru an entire stratum, which is why stratum followed a theme.
November, 2011 – Finally, we can change our personal colors!
February, 2012 – Dragon Wings get added to the game, first accessory with animation. (Maybe some auras had it already.)
February, 2012 – Missions got added – a significant tutorial making the game much more accessible to new players. Prestige points were also added at this time. Arcade becomes a forgotten part of Haven.
February, 2012 – Operation Crimson Hammer – the first (and only) expansion that needed to be purchased, for $4.95 I believe, although now it can be purchased with energy from another player.
March, 2012 – Valkyrie Wings get added to the game.
March, 2012 – New rank missions. These are fun.
April, 2012 - Mirrored Lockboxes, the first new kind of lockbox, appear in the game. These contain new eye and height options.
June, 2012 – Party Finder added, a semi-useful addition.
June-September, 2012 – One Danger Mission a month got added – yikes these can be tough.
August, 2012 – Shard bombs gets sharded. Bombers weep.
November, 2012 – Guild Halls vastly expanded and furnishings added. Previously guild halls were just one room. memorial sword, shield and furnishings handed out
April, 2013 – The user interface and icons receive a face lift.
May, 2013 – Shield Bash added. (oh, and dash, too – not that I ever use it.)
July 2013 – Battle Sprites get added.
July, 2013 – Mist energy gets removes from the game, and the elevators become free.
December, 2014 - The long-(and I mean REALLY long)-awaited gunner update finally arrives. Saddle up, pardner! It's time for a shootout!
If anyone can fill me in of errors or information I’m missing, I’d appreciate it.
For more precise details, see the Release notes on wiki.
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Release/all
Shadow Lairs got added around November 2011 and could only be available from iron lockboxes.
Missions got added on February 22, 2012. Operation Crimson Hammer got added in later February.
All NORMAL bosses got added some time around the first three month the game was out.
When the auction house was added (sometime in the first month of game release), all equipment that had heat became bound. Eurydice joined the team of community managers at around the same time.
Every April 4th or so was the game's anniversary. In April 2013, the UI was changed and many players raged about it (they had their fair reasons though).
At July 30th, 2013, Mist Energy was removed along with the addition of Battle Sprites.
On every second Wednesday (not 100% sure on this) in December, Winterfest begins, and it ends in the first week of January.
Knight Dash and Shield Bash were released on May 22, 2013. With these new skills came the Stormy Promo.
The Ghosts in the Machine Danger Mission was released with the Surge Promo on September 19, 2012.
Guardians Armor Pack Released on July 13, 2014.