Developer's Note: Upcoming Update and Improvements Notice

To The Westerlands, Land of Lions

Casterly Rock and Lannisport: A Kingdom Built on Gold, The Price Paid in Gold

Greetings, Lords and Ladies.

This is the Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Development Team.

First of all, we sincerely appreciate all our Lords for your continued interest and valuable feedback.
 

Today, we would like to share details regarding the upcoming August 19 update, featuring the new land of the Westerlands, 

along with our planned shop structure revamp and news about Season 2.

We will provide further details on the full update in an upcoming notice.

The North prides itself on endurance, the Reach on abundance, and the Stormlands on being unbending.

As for the West, it boasts of only one thing, gold.

The gold mined from beneath the Rock made a single House into kings. 

After the last King of the Rock bowed before Aegon the Conqueror, this gold never diminished.

The reason the West is so powerful is not because they have many soldiers, but because they are always able to pay what is owed.

While creating this land, we never lost sight of that one principle.

As you journey through this kingdom, you will come to understand why the people here act the way they do, without needing a single word of explanation.

Casterly Rock is not a castle; it is a mountain.

Carved into a massive mountain overlooking the Sunset Sea, this fortress has never fallen.

When we designed this castle, we started with one simple principle. The player would never be able to conquer this place.

Therefore, the first thing you see in Casterly Rock is not a golden hall or a lion emblem.

Instead, it is wet stone walls, iron bars, and the sound of flowing water.

You will start at the very lowest depths of this castle.

Once you emerge above ground, the castle reveals a different side of itself.

In the outer courtyard, soldiers spar with each other, laughing and shouting back and forth. In front of the inner gate, 

a narrow yard is enclosed by castle walls on all sides.

A guard stops a passing villager and says, ‘This is where we trap the fools who come to attack the castle and put them to the sword.’

Instead of telling players why Casterly Rock has never fallen, we wanted that one sentence to speak for itself.

There is one name in this castle that no one speaks aloud.

Only the oldest servants know it, and if you ask it, they change the subject instead of answering.

The identity behind that name is hidden throughout the castle. You will have to uncover it yourself.

Emerging from the Rock, you arrive at Lannisport.

As the third-largest city in Westeros, following King's Landing and Oldtown, it serves as the primary gateway where the wealth of the West 

and goods from around the world gather. This was one of the regions we spent the most time bringing to life.

The High Street(Provisional name) is lined with goldsmiths' workshops, and ships constantly cycle through the harbor. 

But beneath the waves lie the remains of the fleet that once guarded the West, now reduced to ash on the ocean floor.

In Barnacle Yard(Provisional name), nobles gather with invitations in hand, offering their bids.

Turn a single corner, and you find yourself in the Rat Hole(Provisional name).

They follow their own rules that have nothing to do with those of the City Watch.

In this city, you are a wanted fugitive. A frontal assault will not be easy.

The way through this city will not be won by force, but by strategy.

• Disguise: Snatch clothes from a washing line and slip into the crowd. Yet, tread carefully, as some already recognize your face.

• Rooftops: Leave the guards behind and take to the rooftops. From high above, a completely new route reveals itself.

• Distraction: Turn a merchant's uproar to your advantage, slipping past the streets while drawing attention away.

• Borrowed Names: Wear another’s identity. Enter the auction house, receive an invitation to a stranger's feast, 

or throw yourself into a passing cart to slip out of the city.

Step outside the city, and another side of the West awaits.

Tax collectors searching through villages, farmers begging for their crops to be spared, and a miller’s unfinished journal recording 

that lions have come down from the hills once more. How Lannisport built its glory becomes obvious after walking only a single day outside the city.

Jaime Lannister is the one who will cross blades with you directly in this region.
 

When designing this duel, the question we wrestled with the longest was, What conversation should follow after victory?

What words would a man who has borne the weight of the name 'Kingslayer' his entire life choose for the one who defeated him, 

and whether those words could undo a command already given.  We rebuilt the entire encounter around finding those few lines.

Tywin Lannister never directly appears before you in this region.

Across the Westerlands, his name is heard only through the mouths of others.

Conversations break off simply because he despises being kept waiting; drawn swords are lowered as all await his judgment.

His name rests upon the proclamations posted at checkpoints and the tax decrees delivered to every village.

A single name that never reveals its face, yet presses down upon an entire realm.

When you step into the West, that is the very first thing you will feel.

Tyrion is present there, but in a different way.

The cisterns and drainage systems of Casterly Rock still function perfectly today.

Long ago, the lord of the castle assigned their maintenance to one of his sons.

Managing the castle's water and waste was hardly a position fitting for a lord's son.

Yet as you walk through those dark tunnels, you will begin to notice who kept this place running.

In a hidden alley of Lannisport, a name has been completely erased from all records.

Whose name it was, why it was removed, and who wiped it away we leave that for you to discover.

As you piece together these fragments, you will look deeper into why Tyrion Lannister became the man he is, 

a question the original story never fully answered.

We did not intend to provide an answer. We wanted you to ask the question yourself.

On August 19, the Westerlands will open, bringing a new stage of growth with it.
 

When we introduced World Difficulty Lv.5 on July 29, we designed that stage as the point where players could take their Tier 4 equipment up to Legendary.
 

For those who have spent the past month preparing for what comes next, we are opening two new stages at once.

• World Difficulty Lv. 6 & Lv. 7: Two new World Difficulty levels will be added.
• Tier 5 Equipment: A new equipment tier will be added.
• New Challenges: Challenge Wormwalks stages from 36 to 45 will be added, along with stages 6 and 7 of the Capstone Dungeon.

Our principle has always been to add five new Challenge Wormwalks stages whenever a new World Difficulty level is introduced.
 

Raising the difficulty means little if there is nowhere to test the strength you have gained.
 

Without new challenges to overcome, a higher growth ceiling is nothing more than a bigger number. 

Equip yourself in the Westerlands and challenge the new limits that await you.

※ Detailed information, including unlock requirements for each difficulty level and recommended Might values, will be shared in the upcoming patch notes.

On July 28, we shared our first advance notice regarding the Iron Bank Marks revamp.

Today, we would like to share more details on the direction this overhaul is heading.

We want Game of Thrones: Kingsroad to be a game that walks alongside you for a long time, rather than a short-lived title that quickly fades away. 

To achieve this, we concluded that our top priority must be to lighten the financial burden you experience while enjoying the game.

Your growth should be driven by how much you enjoy the game, not by how much you spend. This single principle will serve as the foundation for our future direction.

• Iron Bank Marks, which were previously available only through purchase, will be removed.

Going forward, you can purchase the items you want using the Golden Dragon earned through gameplay.

This will apply to many items currently available in the shop, including costumes and mounts.

• We will increase the amount of Golden Dragon you can earn through gameplay.

We felt that simply making these items available to purchase was not enough.

We will ensure that players can earn enough Golden Dragon to afford them solely through playing the game.

• We will reduce the total number of items in the shop.

We want to ensure you never have to browse the store worrying about falling behind, leaving only what truly matters.

In the future, we will continue to refine the experience so that every day you spend in Westeros feels truly meaningful and adequately rewarded.

※ For detailed schedules regarding the shop revamp, please refer to the \[[url="https://forum.netmarble.com/got_en/view/3/426"]Iron Bank Marks Revamp Schedule Advance Notice[/url]].
 

We are carefully reviewing all the support and feedback you have shared with us during Season 1. In particular, 

we deeply sympathize with the frustration and disappointment you may have experienced regarding ranking fairness and content difficulty.

We are currently aiming to launch Season 2 in early September. Prior to the new season, a Pre-Season will begin on August 19.

• Pre-Season: A Moment to Catch Your Breath Between Seasons
After Season 1 ends, a Pre-Season will run for about two weeks until Season 2 launches. During this period, season-related indicators and UI will be cleaned up, 

providing time to prepare for the upcoming season. This structure reflects your feedback regarding the lack of a moment to catch your breath 

when one season transitions immediately into the next.

• 4-Week Regular Season Structure
Starting with Season 2, each regular season will run for 4 weeks, followed by a 2-week Pre-Season. This adjustment is designed to lighten the overall pace of each seasonal cycle.

We are actively incorporating your feedback regarding ranking fairness and difficulty into our upcoming season designs. 

We will share specific improvements and new seasonal content in detail through a separate Developer Note prior to the launch of Season 2.

A Lannister always pays his debts. The moment you step foot into the Westerlands, you will have a debt to pay.

Every day our Lords and Ladies spend in Westeros is an irreplaceable source of strength for us. Both myself and the development team will do our utmost 

so that we can continue this enjoyable journey together for a long time.

On August 19, we look forward to meeting you beneath Casterly Rock and in the alleyways of Lannisport. The rest of the West will await you next.

Sincerely,

JANG
Executive Producer of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, and the Development Team

※ Please note that the contents and details introduced in this note are subject to change depending on development progress.