Happy New Year's Doctors! We have an exciting 2023 to look forward to: both in terms of content and speedruns!

We have a couple new things to discuss, so let's get into it.

New Discord Server

To start off the new year, @Cesith and I discussed and agreed for the creation of a Discord server solely for the Arknights speedrunning community. Prior to this, the Discord community was hosted on Cesith's personal server. However, we had agreed that the community needed its own place to call home.

Everyone is welcome to join the Arknights Speedrunning Discord, whether you are a speedrunner or a fan. The Discord will slowly grow and develop over time, so what better way than to check it out in its infancy!

Come join us today: https://discord.gg/gMKprFepFe

New Updates for Categories

Recently, we saw a massive update on Global servers including the release of Stationary Security Service, Integrated Strategies updates, and the Lingering Echoes event. The moderator team continues to look for new opportunities for new categories that the community is interested in. As always, feel free to suggest new categories in the Discord, but let's cover some stages that are definitely coming up.

• Integrated Strategies has a major upcoming update and we are excited to continue curating the leaderboards for this popular category.
• LE-6 was the latest PRTS Runs that was added along with a community contest. We continue to actively look for new PRTS Runs to add to our individual level leaderboard.
• Stationary Security Service currently has a soft launch right now under Miscellaneous. We are currently awaiting an upcoming balance patch that will nerf the Danger Levels that will make enemies avoid scaling too high, too quickly. Feel free to submit your runs now and come back later to improve your time! Stay tuned for the official release!

New Contests

Like the recent LE-6 contest to start off the new year, we are planning to continue with new contests with prizes later this year. Contests will range from the small LE-6 contest to larger milestones like the 100 Unique Runner Contest. Look forward to it!

Closing Thoughts

We are very excited for 2023 and look forward to how the community can continue to grow! We got loads of new in-game content, community contests, and new categories to try out. Older categories are also getting new tech, like New Account runs may be able to utilize the IS2 battle pass with OP (keep your eyes on these categories).

I want to give a big shoutout and thanks to Cesith for curating the community for over 1 year and is still actively assisting the community to this day! Cesith has been very understanding and open-minded about these leaderboard changes. Without him, Arknights speedrunning may not be in its current state. Make sure you follow him on his Twitch or subscribe to him on his YouTube!

I also want to give a shoutout to our current moderators: @Hinabu and @LeSot. Thank y'all very much for continuing to curate the leaderboards! Y'all are doing some massively important work.

And finally, thanks to you, the player! Whether you speedrun or not, thank you very much for supporting this community along!