ANYTHING IMPORTANT
Brelshaza gold reward is being reduced. Brelshaza 1-3 Hard mode gives 2000 gold per gate, and the 4th gate every other week is worth 3000 gold.
Kayangel Hard is worth 6500 gold now.
Akkan Normal is worth 7500 gold now.
For the Brelshaza meteor DPS cut, they're changing the meteor so that only the first meteor is based on HP. Every gold meteor after that is based on time, so if you're fast you can outpace the meteors.
Regarding Brelshaza, the G1 and G3 (now G2) nerfs, aimed towards improving the experience for new players.
- G1 dogs in the part where everyone is split into groups of two, they no longer have a shield so you can quickly kill them now.
- There will only be 1 star, 2 squares, and 2 diamonds that need to be killed now to pass the shape mechanic in G3.
- No change made to G4 (now G3).
Regarding Vykas, G3 DPS pause.
- It's now possible to skip some mechs in G3 Vykas with enough damage.
Regarding Voldis, G2 death ball maze.
- Internal statistics show that the second gate is more difficult than the last gate (in terms of deaths/wipes).
- They will add a better visual/indicator that shows where the death balls will drop. Those balls pretty much instakill you if they touch you and it was hard to tell where they would land as you ran towards the boss (thank god, in the west you should have this by the time you get the raid).
Regarding Thaemine's difficulty level.
- G1 and G2 aren't meant to be cripplingly difficult (against Thaemine's captains). It's meant that you're able to actually complete them without fatigue weekly.
- On the other hand, there is a severe difficulty spike starting from G3. It's not meant to be completed without great trouble, even on subsequent clears.
- The fights against Thaemine himself will introduce new types of patterns and mechanics that they haven't used in previous raids.
- Thaemine's G3 is comparable in difficulty to the initial prog of Brelshaza G6. However, Brelshaza G6 was mechanic/gimmick heavy, whereas Thaemine is more heavy on normal pattern (high complexity regular attacks).
- Thaemine's G4 on the other hand is on another level of difficulty beyond either of those. The developers believe it'll take over a week for the first clear to appear (for reference, Brelshaza's first clear took 3 days). They think it'll take 2 days for people to arrive at the 3rd gate. Gate 3 has three different phases within that gate according to one of the developers.
- The group that defeats Thaemine first will actually get a special reward. They'll be recorded if they're able to defeat him in the first week, and there'll be something else (unmentioned). This is the very first time they're doing a first clear kind of thing for something that wasn't a Hell Guardian.
- A unique title reward will be given to the first 10 groups that can take down the boss in the first week.
- There is also a special trophy and statue for the stronghold for the first ten clearing groups. Three types of rewards based on your placement.
Gold rewards for the actual raid (normal mode):
- G1: 3500
- G2: 4000
- G3: 5500
Gold rewards for the actual raid (hard mode):
- G1: 5000
- G2: 6000
- G3: 9000
- G4: 21000
*Reminder, G4 is completed every other week. It's not weekly.
There is a rare drop mount reward. It's a reskin of the Halloween chair mount fashioned in Thaemine's throne. That reward is specific to G3 (probably like wings from Kayangel or pet from Akkan).
G4 has another mount reward which is Thaemine's horse. There's two variations of it. One variation is a rare drop from G4, the other is a random auction loot in G3 (that's kinda cool).
Regarding the new vertical progression system that comes from Thaemine's raid, Transcendence:
- Difficult to explain it. It seems complex, but the developers say it'll be easy to get used to it once you actually do it.
- This system is in every city, not just Rohendel.
- The five armors can be Transcended (not weapon).
- You have to clear as many blocks as you can using the cards provided to you.
- There are blocks that have additional effects when destroyed. There are two rerolls as well.
- The center block is a trap block that spawns more blocks in if you break it (so you either risk it or dodge it, or try hope that you don't hit it with probability).
- The cards can be upgraded which can improve the probability of breaking the blocks. There are also legendary cards that have special power. The demonstration shows that the card ignores the center trap tile.
- When all the blocks have been destroyed, the gear is transcended and gains additional stats. The less you use, the more powerful the stat gain.
- If you brick the Transcendence, you can retry. Apparently, the restoration material can be moved across roster, so if you clear the raid on an alt you can move it to your main.
- Stones of Chaos will become roster-bound on all characters. The Stones of Chaos is used as a catalyst for this system as well (just like elixirs).
Raid Notes:
G1: Takes place on the ground. First boss is kind of like a morphing lady. She takes on a lot of different forms, emphasis on stagger ability.
G2: Takes place on the road to Baratron (floating debris). Travel down a road while dodging the boss. The boss itself is a wombat. The fight features shifting angles.
G3: Takes place within Baratron itself. Thematically, the arena is devoid of color and light.
Looks like there's a new clash mechanic that seems unique to each class? In this example, the Arcana is blocking his attack with tarot cards, but in the trailer we saw the Gunlancer blocking with his shield. Seems similar to Susanoo from FF14.
They're uploading high quality/high resolution artwork onto the website for people to download (which they almost never do).
Gameplay trailer of the raid looked pretty intense, we'll dissect it later.
QA internal testers seems pretty confident that players will be able to overcome G1-3. The main challenge for G1-G2 will be adapting new types of mechanics to pass them.
But they're also pretty despair about G4.
Seems they're putting a lot of hints? Easter eggs? In the music, especially in G3/G4.
They're implementing a new Hyper Express extension called Thaemine Road which helps support the growth to 1580. It continues the progression after the Super Mokoko support to 1540.
I guess this actually gives you notable support to 1580 instead of that dinky growth box.
Yeah this feels kinda more like Akkan Road, zz.
Interesting, this express includes things that speeds up the Brelshaza gear time gate, Kayangel material upgrade time gate, and Akkan gearing time gate. Just 2 weeks of Brelshaza for full Brelshaza gear, 4 weeks for full Akkan gear.
You can skip level 2 set bonus now. No Kakul-Saydon is actually needed anymore.
The character that is on Thaemine Road gets 2x Artisan's Energy per failed hone. Okay, so you get tickets that makes it so you can tap quality without using Stones of Chaos. Same RNG. wrrr
Card support? They're going to primarily be helping players to build Deep Dive/Plan sets. They're going to just speed up the growth of these sets so people have a usable set early on, but LOS gatekeeping still exists so it'll have to be just a temporary stepping stone. At least the legendary cards in that set progress you towards LOS, anyway.
Guardian raid is 1630. Has gimmicks related to sound/sonar.
Apparently, the rewards are noticeably higher compared to Gargadis before it. To offset the higher battle time that the fight will likely require (amount of Leapstones is 2x over the previous boss).
A portal has been added to Foggy Ridge that teleports you near the entrance to the opposite side.
1630 Chaos Dungeon has noticeably higher material rewards as well.
Fate Ember gold max from 1630 is 200,000 gold (1610 was 100,000).
Regarding Chaos Gate revamp.
- 16 player content.
- All servers in the region match into this content now, it's not server specific anymore.
- Wave-based monster attack content (like group Chaos Dungeon).
- Not equalized. Multiple different level brackets accordingly.
- As mentioned previously, reward is direct. There is no Secret Map afterwards. Reward type from Ghost Ship has also been merged into this content as well.
- Seto can appear as a 'Hidden Boss' and has special rewards such as Fate Embers when defeated.
Stronghold updates:
- New stuff to facilitate mini-games in the stronghold.
- New themes.
- New furniture.
- New trophies.
- New cosmetics to redeem for pet cookies.
- Mannequins to showcase outfit presets.
- Able to hang up screenshots from the game.
Roadmap:
September
- Thaemine Raid
- Transcendence System
- Thaemine Road
- Veskal Guardian Raid
- Gate Removals
- Legendary Season 3 Outfits
- Stronghold Updates
October
- Class Balance Patch
- New Chaos Gate
- New Music Box Collectibles
- Battle Item Tab
- Outfit release month.
November
- 5th Anniversary outfits
- 5th Anniversary event
- Transformation skins for transformation classes, this includes Artillerist turret. Actual wheelchair skin?
- Hell Hanumatan (non-equalized) - as previously mentioned, Hell Legions will remain equalized, all Hell Guardians will be unequalized from now on.
To iterate, they want Thaemine's Eclipse update to feel "big budget AAA" like major console games in terms of presentation.
Absolutely insane cinematic trailer. Literally does not fall short to anything Blizzard or Riot quality. Looking forward to watching that again on YouTube at higher bitrate cause that was kinda pixelated though.