Developer Notes #11

Greetings, Star Guardians.

This is PD Koo of .

Through the recent AMA, many Star Guardians shared a wide range of opinions and feedback with us.

As we conducted the AMA, our development team was also able to once again take a closer look at which aspects of the current gameplay experience Star Guardians find inconvenient, as well as the directions of improvement you are hoping for the most.

Moving forward, we will continue to create opportunities where we can regularly hear from you directly and respond to your feedback.

Based on the various opinions shared by all of you, including through the recent AMA, we prepared this update to introduce improvements that could be applied as quickly as possible.

This update is scheduled to be released sequentially over the course of two weeks.

Overall, Part 1 of the update is being prepared with a focus on reducing fatigue and the burden of repetitive gameplay currently felt throughout the game, while also improving progression paths so that existing content can be enjoyed in a more meaningful way.

In addition, Part 2 of the update will introduce more diverse gameplay experiences for Star Guardians through new events, systems, and content.

In this Developer Notes, we would like to share the direction of this update, along with the major improvements scheduled to be applied in the upcoming update.

■ Part 1 Update Details

✦ Engraved Equipment System Improvements

We have seen many Star Guardians reaching the stage of farming Engraved Equipment after progressing through the Main Quest.

However, as the current Engraved Equipment system determines both quality and passives randomly, obtaining both high quality and the desired passive at the same time currently requires a considerable amount of time.

In particular, we have seen many Star Guardians repeatedly crafting equipment for certain heroes in order to obtain desired passive levels.

However, as this process continues over time, we have also seen progression becoming increasingly focused on crafting for only a small number of heroes, rather than encouraging players to build and utilize a wider variety of heroes.

As is designed around the experience of growing multiple heroes while utilizing various Attributes and team combinations, our development team believes that the current limitations surrounding Engraved Equipment quality and passive acquisition do not fully support this intended gameplay experience.

Accordingly, in this update, we plan to introduce a new system that will allow players to reset the quality and passives of existing Engraved Equipment, enabling players to make more meaningful use of the equipment they are currently using.

Through this new feature, we hope to provide a progression path where players can gradually improve and refine their existing equipment without needing to craft entirely new Engraved Equipment each time.

1. Engraved Equipment Quality & Passive Level Change Features Added

New items that allow players to separately change the quality and passive level of Engraved Equipment will be added.

As the performance difference between Engraved Equipment can currently vary significantly depending on passive levels, we would like to provide a feature that allows players to reroll passive levels using materials that are more accessible, rather than repeatedly crafting the same Engraved Equipment by consuming the limited ‘Brilliant Engraving Seal’.

These items, used for changing quality and passive levels, can be obtained through Crafting. We are also preparing to allow them to be crafted using ‘Transcendence Essence’ and ‘Sunstone Alloy’, materials already used for crafting ‘Remnants of the Rift’.

In addition, these items will also be available at a certain probability from boss rewards in \[Abyss] difficulty Boss Challenges and Dungeons, allowing players to continuously have opportunities to make adjustments.

In addition, a separate special item will also be introduced that allows players to increase equipment quality with guaranteed success. As this item provides a guaranteed quality increase, it is planned to be obtainable only in limited quantities through events and similar content.

Through this, we hope to create an environment that supports more stable and continuous progression based on the equipment players are currently using.

2. Reduced Crafting Material Requirements for ‘Remnants of the Rift’

With the addition of the quality and passive level change features introduced above, the usage of ‘Sunstone Alloy’ is also expected to increase naturally. Accordingly, we plan to adjust the crafting materials required for ‘Remnants of the Rift’ as well.

Among the currently used crafting materials, ‘Sunstone Alloy’ will be replaced with ‘Sunlight Flower’. Through this change, we hope to increase the usefulness of ‘Sunlight Flower’, which is currently only used in the Masteries of specific heroes, while also making ‘Remnants of the Rift’ easier to obtain.

In addition, not only ‘Sunstone Alloy’, but also the required amount of ‘Transcendence Essence’ will be reduced from 80 to 40, while the required amount of ‘Polish’ will be reduced from 75 to 50.

Additionally, the drop rate for ‘Transcendence Essence’, which can already be obtained without consuming Cube Keys when defeating Dungeon and Boss Challenge bosses, will also be increased. Through repeated gameplay, players will be able to obtain ‘Transcendence Essence’ more easily than before.

✦ \[Hell] & \[Abyss] Difficulty Time Limit Removed

Previously, \[Abyss] difficulty served as the highest-difficulty content prior to the addition of ‘Timespace Junction’.

However, with the addition of ‘Timespace Junction’ as a new challenge-focused content mode, and as many Star Guardians are now repeatedly playing existing \[Abyss] difficulty content to farm equipment and growth materials, we believe it is necessary for \[Abyss] difficulty to better fulfill its role as content focused on stable progression and farming.

Accordingly, through this update, the time limit for \[Hell] and \[Abyss] difficulties will be removed. In addition, with the removal of the time limit, records will be updated to display actual clear times, even beyond 00 seconds.

✦ \[Abyss] Difficulty Dungeon Route Improvements

Many Star Guardians shared feedback regarding \[Abyss] difficulty dungeons, mentioning that not only the time limits, but also the travel routes during repeated gameplay felt somewhat lengthy.

In particular, we found that after repeatedly playing these dungeons multiple times, the process of traveling to the boss often felt more tiring than the boss encounters themselves.

Through this update, the starting location in the \[Abyss] difficulty of Ferzen Mines will be changed so that players can immediately begin the battle against Long-dead upon entering the dungeon, allowing the final boss encounter to be accessed without going through the mine cart sequence.

To help reduce player fatigue, certain \[Abyss] difficulty dungeons will have their routes adjusted through this update so that boss battles can be reached more quickly. 

✦ Higher Difficulties Added to the ‘Mastery Growth Dungeon’ & ‘Gold Dungeon’

We have noticed that many Star Guardians are repeatedly hunting Elite Monsters in the \[Abyss] difficulty of other dungeons in order to obtain Gold.

In particular, as the ‘Gold Dungeon’ was only available up to \[Nightmare] difficulty, there was not a sufficient difference in Gold acquisition efficiency compared to the \[Abyss] difficulty of other dungeons, despite using the same Cube Keys.

As our development team has also seen that many Star Guardians are using these dungeons specifically for Gold farming and Mastery progression, we plan to add new \[Hell] and \[Abyss] difficulties to both the ‘Gold Dungeon’ and the ‘Mastery Growth Dungeon’ so they can more clearly fulfill those roles.

In addition, the \[Hell] and \[Abyss] difficulties of the ‘Gold Dungeon’ and ‘Mastery Growth Dungeon’ will consume the same number of Cube Keys as other difficulties when obtaining rewards, so please keep this in mind while playing.

■ Part 2 Update Details

Part 2 of the update is being prepared with a different focus from the improvements mentioned above, centering more on providing diverse gameplay experiences and elements that can be enjoyed together with other Star Guardians.

In particular, we have seen that many Star Guardians exploring Britannia are looking forward not only to progression and challenge-focused gameplay, but also to experiences where they can enjoy content and interact with other Star Guardians.

Through this Part 2 update, we plan to further support these experiences by introducing new events, cooperative gameplay, and community-focused systems.

✦ ‘Echoes of Hearts’ Seasonal Event Open

The first seasonal event introduced through our previous roadmap, ‘Echoes of Hearts’, will soon begin. Through this event, we plan to introduce a small-scale event story along with a new event dungeon.

This event dungeon is designed as content where two players cooperate to solve puzzles and mechanics while progressing through the dungeon.

We prepared this event to provide a different kind of experience from existing combat-focused content, allowing Star Guardians to cooperate and play together in a lighter atmosphere. While the content can also be enjoyed solo, playing together with another Star Guardian will allow for a smoother and faster clear experience.

Through this event, we hope you will be able to experience another side of Britannia’s charm in a more casual and lighthearted atmosphere.

✦ Dungeon \[Party Matchmaking] System Added

Alongside this event dungeon, a Dungeon \[Party Matchmaking] system will also be added so that Star Guardians can more easily play together in existing content as well.

Currently, players must either manually form parties or recruit members separately, which has created a certain barrier to entry, especially for those looking to play content with random players.

As our development team believes that a more natural environment for enjoying content together with other Star Guardians becomes increasingly important as more cooperative content is introduced, this update will add the Dungeon \[Party Matchmaking] system to allow players to form parties and enjoy content more easily.

✦ Region Chat and Auto-Translation Features Added 

Alongside the Dungeon \[Party Matchmaking] system, the previously restricted Region Chat feature will also be unlocked.

Currently, communication outside of parties and Knighthoods is largely limited to emote-based interactions, making it difficult in many situations to quickly form parties or communicate with other Star Guardians on the spot.

In particular, while Star Guardians from many different regions are already playing together in the global environment, we also understand that natural communication can still be difficult due to language differences.

Accordingly, we are preparing to allow players to more freely recruit party members and communicate through the Region Chat in major locations such as Liones Castle. We also plan to provide an auto-translation feature that will automatically translate messages based on each player’s selected game language.

As the auto-translation feature will also be available within the ‘Find a Party’ interface, we hope this will allow Star Guardians from different language regions to enjoy party play together more easily.

Through this feature, our development team hopes to provide a more natural experience where Star Guardians can play and interact together more freely throughout Britannia.

✦ Boss Challenge and Timespace Junction Leaderboards Added

We are also preparing to introduce the ranking system previously mentioned through an earlier Developer Notes.

We have seen that many Star Guardians are continuing to challenge bosses faster than anyone else while researching and experimenting with a variety of strategies, and we believe there is a need for a system that can showcase these gameplay experiences in a more meaningful way.

In this preseason ranking system, rankings will be determined based on clear times for \[Abyss] difficulty Boss Challenges and Timespace Junction content.

In addition, at the end of each ranking season, players will be able to obtain special Titles based on their rankings in each content category.

At the same time, we are also fully aware that some Star Guardians may feel burdened by competitive elements. As such, this content is being prepared with a focus on honorary rewards that showcase your strategies and gameplay, rather than rewards tied to essential growth materials.

✦ Combat Assist Mode Added

Many Star Guardians with a wide variety of playstyles are currently enjoying . 

In particular, we have noticed that Star Guardians who are less familiar with action games, as well as those playing in a mobile environment, are experiencing difficulties with using Tags and Dodges at the appropriate timing.

As content becomes more difficult, players are required to utilize not only attacks, but also Tags, Dodges, and skill combinations simultaneously. Our development team is also aware that this can make the overall control difficulty feel relatively high.

Accordingly, we plan to add a Combat Assist Mode feature so that Star Guardians who are less familiar with action games can more easily adapt to combat and continue progressing through the game.

This feature is designed to simplify the control of hero attacks and skill usage, and will be provided as a separate option that can be turned ON or OFF.

Combat Assist Mode will first be applied to mobile devices, and based on how Star Guardians utilize the feature, we will review expanding it to other platforms in the future.

Through this feature, we hope more Star Guardians will be able to enjoy the battles of Britannia without feeling burdened by the controls.

✦ Elite and Field Boss Respawn Improvements

We have noticed that many Star Guardians are repeatedly reconnecting through the login screen in order to hunt Elite and Field Bosses for specific materials.

At the same time, we also found that repeatedly going through loading screens and reconnecting during this process has been contributing to player fatigue.

In particular, given the current gameplay flow of many Star Guardians, this style of gameplay has naturally emerged as a way to farm materials more efficiently, and we believe there is a need to improve this experience in a more natural and comfortable direction.

Accordingly, we plan to shorten the respawn time after rewards are obtained from Elite Monsters and Field Bosses, allowing players to continue repeated gameplay more smoothly without unnecessary reconnection processes.

In addition, through this update, we are also preparing further convenience improvements, such as allowing insufficient material bundles to be used immediately and reorganizing the item categorization structure within the Workbench to be more intuitive.

We will provide more detailed information regarding these improvements through a future notice.

Rather than simply focusing on adding new content, this update is being prepared with a stronger emphasis on improving and refining the actual gameplay experience of our Star Guardians.

Even after this update, we plan to continue introducing various improvements based on existing content.

In particular, we are preparing improvements for ‘Timespace Junction’ that will separate recommended heroes by sector, allowing a wider variety of heroes to be utilized according to the characteristics of each sector.

Our development team continues to closely follow your gameplay every day, and we consistently see many Star Guardians enjoying their adventures across Britannia in a wide variety of ways.

Whether it is progressing through growth content far more quickly than expected, experimenting with new combinations and strategies, or sharing feedback regarding inconveniences experienced during repeated gameplay, all of these efforts have been a tremendous help to our development team.

Of course, we are also fully aware that there are still many areas that need improvement, and many aspects that we must continue refining moving forward.

Even so, we will continue listening carefully to the feedback you share with us and do our very best to create a Britannia that can be enjoyed together for a long time to come. We sincerely thank all Star Guardians for always being with us.

Thank you.

Sincerely, 

PD Koo