☕Tomo’s Teatime(◡‿◡) #17

# Tomo's Teatime - Shall We Talk?

Hello, everyone!
This is Director Tomo. Thank you for coming to today's teatime.

Ereb has finally joined us in the GrandChase universe. It seemed like just yesterday where we were filling up notepads with ideas for Iris and Ereb, it's amazing how fast time flies! In a way, it was a short journey, but for our team, it was quite the project. While we're relieved to have completed one of the major updates we had planned, we can't help but feel a little empty knowing there are a few things we wish we could have done better. At the same time, we're both excited and nervous to take on our next update.

To stay true to the development team’s commitment to fill this year with even more content than last year, we’ll pull ourselves together and continue doing our best to make GrandChase a game full of updates you’ll look forward to every time throughout the second half of the year.

Today, I’d like to walk you through the update roadmap from this coming September through the first half of next year. There are quite a few items to cover, so this may be a little longer than usual, but I hope you’ll take your time and read through it. It would take quite a while to explain why we’re preparing each update and what we hope to accomplish with each one, so today I’ll just give you a brief overview of the bigger picture. We’ll go into more detail in future Teatime sessions and continue the conversation from there.





We’ve prepared this roadmap around two main directions. The first is refining older systems to create a better gameplay experience, such as the combat power formula, resolution improvements, and DirectX 11. The second is adding more content, including expanded Awakenings, new dungeons, and new job advancements for existing characters. In between, we’ll also be preparing events such as PvP tournaments. Please note that the roadmap is subject to change depending on circumstances, and new updates or events may also be added along the way.


1. September 2nd - The Start of a New Update

■ Ereb Awakening

Ereb’s Awakening will be added. Ereb’s skills are currently comfortable and fun to use during the leveling process, but there have been some concerns about certain controls feeling inconvenient and the [Ruin Blade] mechanic becoming less effective in later content. Since Ereb is still missing the stats gained from the Awakening Core as well as two additional skills, it was inevitable that he would be weaker than existing characters. If he had been stronger than other characters even before Awakening, I imagine that would have caused its own share of problems. With this Awakening update, Ereb will become even stronger. We’re already looking forward to seeing it ourselves.

After returning to Aernas, Ereb begins using the power of Ruin more frequently to save his friends, making the Forgotten One’s temptation grow stronger. Through his Awakening, he comes to understand how to harmonize the powers of Protection and Ruin. We plan to reflect this trait in his new 4 Bar Special and Awakening Special. Since our main concept for Ereb was for players to strategically master the [Ruin Blade], we plan to further enhance the [Ruin Blade] build through his new 4 Bar Special, making it more fun to play.

Since Ereb’s Forgotten One has only appeared as a voice during his growth journey, some of you have been looking forward to seeing the Forgotten One make an actual appearance. I’m curious to see whether they’ll finally show themselves this time.


■ Total Battle Power Formula Improvement

The Total Battle Power formula that players have been asking about for a long time will also be improved. Total Battle Power was originally designed to serve as an indicator of a character’s strength and provide feedback on their progression. However, over time, certain stats that have little direct impact on actual combat began accounting for too much of the increase, while some stats were not reflected at all. As a result, the system was no longer functioning as intended. We’ll be addressing these issues with this update.

As the formula changes, some stats may end up contributing less to Total Battle Power. We’re working hard to refine the new formula as much as possible to minimize the impact of these changes.


■ Jumping Event

A Jumping Event will also be added. We prepared this event to help new and returning players who started playing around the 5th Anniversary and Ereb updates, as they may find it difficult to complete their Hero Collection. With just a little gameplay, players will be able to easily level a character up to Level 90.

However, since GrandChase does not allow players to level multiple copies of the same character, we’re concerned that players who have already leveled all their characters may not see much benefit from the event beyond some growth support rewards. Since this event is intended to give more players an opportunity to play and enjoy the game together, we’ll continue making improvements as the event progresses.


■ Expedition Event, Fluffy Costume Suit Coordi Re-Release

The Expedition Event and the cute Fluffy Costume Suit Coordi will be making a return. Since the Expedition Event is returning after quite some time, we’re planning to improve its rewards so that players have even more to look forward to. We’ve always wanted there to be a system in the game that rewards players for leveling multiple characters, so we’re also taking this opportunity to test making the Expedition Event permanent. If it does become a permanent feature, though, we’ll need to adjust the rewards accordingly… What do you think?


■ PVP Tournament

On September 18th, the North America PvP Tournament will return for the first time in a while. As our first regional tournament, we hope you’ll show it plenty of support. We’re also preparing to hold PvP and PvE tournaments regularly in the future. The South America PvP Tournament will follow on September 25th, with the Asia PvP Tournament taking place on October 2nd. We hope you’ll get to experience the unique excitement of each region!


2. September 23rd

■ Aernas Guide Level Expansion

"The Aernas Guide is being expanded once again, now up to 1,000,000 Combat Power.

In fact, the Aernas Guide was planned from the very beginning to extend all the way to 1,000,000 Combat Power. However, since the system includes a large number of missions and rewards, we decided to first provide content up to 500,000 Combat Power rather than opening everything at once. We wanted to make sure the system was stable through actual live service before expanding it to the next stage.

The Aernas Guide is meant to be more than just a way to receive rewards. Its most important role is to help you find your next goal and figure out how to progress when you’re not sure what to do next. With this expansion, we hope you’ll be able to set goals in the higher Combat Power range and continue growing naturally along the way.

We also want to continue adding more systems that let you earn various rewards while playing the game. We hope you’ll see this expansion to 1,000,000 Combat Power as another step in that direction.

We’ll keep thinking about and preparing ways to make the growth process clearer and more enjoyable for everyone."


■ Season 11 Coordi Set Effects

Season 11 Coordi Set Effects will be added. We introduce a new season at regular intervals, and adjusting the new stats so that they don’t become excessive while still feeling meaningful to those who obtain them is a delicate process that requires careful consideration. We hope to return with Season 11 featuring designs that you’ll be even more satisfied with.


3. October 14th

■ Awakening Expansion (Temporary Name)

Following last year’s Awakening update, an Awakening Expansion update is planned to further improve the overall combat system. At this point, we felt that simply adding stronger Awakening Specials would not be meaningful, so we chose not to take that approach. Instead, we’re focusing on adding strategic enhancements to existing combat cycles while improving balance between character jobs.

"In the first update, the Awakenings for Elesis, Ai, Amy, and Lin will be expanded.

As we mentioned before, we’ve been looking into character balance as part of Season 2 of the Land of Judgment. While doing so, we found that there were some characters whose balance would be difficult to improve through simple skill number adjustments alone.

So, alongside the Awakening expansion update, we decided to improve some of their existing class skills and also create new types of skills for them. We really want to make sure that you can enjoy and raise the characters you love without feeling like you have to give them up because of performance differences.

We’ll continue making improvements going forward, so please look forward to them! Once all of these Awakening expansions have been released, we hope you’ll be able to enjoy raising and playing your favorite characters even more."

Awakening Story Dungeons will also be added. We felt that having Awakening happen solely through the system itself wasn’t ideal, so we plan to incorporate an Awakening Story Dungeon into the Awakening process. This will serve as an epilogue to the story of the new dungeons that will follow, so we hope you’ll enjoy it casually.


■ 16:9 Resolution Transition

The default resolution will be changed to 16:9. When GrandChase was first released, 4:3 was the standard aspect ratio, but we’re now overhauling the resolution to better suit today’s predominantly 16:9 display environment. This is something we’ve been aiming to do for a long time, but the amount of work involved has been enormous compared to the end result, so it kept getting postponed. Now that we’ve completed a major update, we’re planning to secure enough development time and make the transition as quickly as possible. Since a longer development period could result in a gap between content updates, our goal is to complete the transition as quickly as we can.

Once implemented, you’ll be able to make better use of the wider screen. However, there may be some missing or awkward elements during the transition period immediately after the change. We’ll do our best to minimize these issues, but we’ve made this major decision knowing that we’ll need some time after the update to continue fixing and improving things. As this will also lay the groundwork for future UI design and structural improvements, we’ll make sure to prepare it carefully.


4. November 4th

■ Lire, Decanee, Jin, Rufus Awakening Expansion

We selected the characters based on data collected from a variety of dungeons. First, we prioritized characters that need improvement, while also considering their significance and balancing the overall development schedule. We’ll do our best to polish everything carefully and make sure the improvements turn out well.


5. November 25th

■ New Story Dungeons

The story will continue in a new region. This time, rather than introducing a new character, we’ll be focusing on the existing GrandChase members and their stories. We’re refining the story to make sure we can properly convey their journeys.


6. December 16th

■ End of the Year Thank You Event

We will prepare an End of the Year Thank You Event to wrap up the year. Just like last year, we'll be holding the event to express our gratitude to all our players. We'll share more details when the time comes.


7. First Half of 2027

■ Change to DirectX 11

"We’re working on improving some of the older engine systems related to graphics. We’ve been preparing this update for quite a long time, so for now, you may not notice a huge difference beyond some optimization and performance improvements. Even so, we believe this will be an important step toward making the game more stable and improving its performance in the long run.

We’re changing the existing rendering structure to help with optimization, and we also believe this will give us a much better foundation for adding new graphics technologies and improving the game’s visuals in the future. It’s a big challenge, but we decided to take it on because we believe it will be an important step for the future of the game."


■ New Job Advancement for an MP Character (Character Name to Be Revealed Later)

We’re planning to add a new job advancement for one of the existing characters. Since this is an MP character, it will be their 4th Job. While some players are fond of these older characters, there are also those who haven’t been able to raise them due to their weaker performance or difficult controls. However, changing the existing characters themselves could take away some of the unique nostalgia to the 'classic' experience, and we’ve found that some players may even dislike such changes. So instead, we’re planning to address this by adding a new job to an existing character, bringing them in line with the standards of more recently added characters. The requirements for obtaining the new job, such as the required level or job advancement conditions, may differ from those of the existing characters. Since this will require a workload comparable to developing a new character, we hope to make it meaningful enough to serve as a foundation for adding new jobs to more characters in the future.



■ Final Words

Seeing everything together like this, it ends up being quite a bit. That also means there's a lot for us to prepare and keep an eye on, so we'll take things one step at a time.

Please understand that the schedule may be adjusted slightly depending on the development process. If there are any changes, we'll let you know as soon as possible.

Thank you as always for your continued support of GrandChase.

See you again at the next teatime.

Sincerely, Tomo



■ Coupon

Coupon : EREBAWAKEN0902
Coupon Period : Until September 2, 2026 (Wed) Before Maintenance
Coupon Item: [Event] Seal Breaker Scroll x10