Greetings everyone, this is Ham Yong Jin, PD of ArcheAge.
April has come, and watching the flowers in full bloom decorating the roads cannot but make us realize that spring is here.
The weather is warm during the day, but beware not to catch cold as it's still cold at night.
In this Update Preview, we'd like to introduce you the combat balance adjustment and new Swiftblade Ancestral skills that will be updated on April 14th.
We will also share our improvement plans for daily quests and the Arena content.
* Below contents are currently in development and can be subject to change upon actual release.
■ Combat Balance Update & Matchmaking Cancellation Penalty |
1. Skill Balance Adjustment
We are receiving a variety of opinions from our players via in-game or community channels, and making improvements on certain skills on a monthly basis.
This April, we are planning to improve those effective skills that were not usually chosen by the players because of their low usage, and therefore allow different skill combinations.
After many considerations, we have also decided to lower the balance of certain highly efficient skills such as Defense and Madness skills as below.
Table 1. April Combat Balance Adjustment List
Skillset |
Skill Name |
Changes |
Spelldance |
Dance of Debuff |
Debuff effect (Melee Skill Damage) -25%, Mana consumption increased by 10% compared to before |
Malediction |
Grasping Void |
Cast Time decreased to 1.2 sec Applies to up to 15 targets Mana consumption increased by 9% compared to before |
Grasping Void: Mist |
Cast Time decreased to 2 sec Mana consumption increased by 9% compared to before |
|
Grasping Void: Flame |
Cast Time decreased to 1.2 sec Applies to up to 15 targets Mana consumption increased by 9% compared to before |
|
Gunslinger |
Trigger Happy |
Damage increased by 6% compared to before Mana consumption increased by 5% compared to before |
Collateral Damage |
Damage decreased by 9% compared to before |
|
Collateral Damage: Quake |
Damage decreased by 10% compared to before |
|
Swiftblade |
Dusk Shroud |
Added a 20% Evasion Rate when the caster is inside the Dusk Shroud Mana consumption increased by 5% compared to before |
Defense |
Revitalizing Cheer: Stone |
Max Health Increase effect was decreased to 40% |
Witchcraft |
Earthen Grip: Quake |
[Debuff] Earthen Grip's duration (Rank 14) was decreased to 12 sec (6 sec for PvP) |
Sorcery |
Frigid Tracks |
Frigid Tracks (Buff) duration was decreased to 7 sec. [Debuff] Deep Freeze duration was decreased to 6 sec (3 sec for PvP) |
2. Addition of 2 New Swiftblade Skills
Swiftblade skills are difficult to control as they entail a lot of combos given their nature.
Hence we are planning to reduce this difficulty and fatigue by changing certain skills into continuous effects.
We are also planning to add a new form of skill based on the improvements that have been made to the restricted usage of "Fleeting Footsteps" given the skill's long cooldown.
Table2. 2 Swiftblade Ancestral Skills
Skillset |
Skill Name |
Changes |
Swiftblade |
Fleeting Footsteps: Gale |
The Gale effect will reduce the cooldown and change the effects that are applied to your enemies. Can use Reverberate to stack. > Mana Cost of Swiftblade Skills -40% |
Primal Strike: Wave |
The Wave effect will change the skill to have an increased Swiftblade skill damage effect. Can use Reverberate to stack. > Swiftblade Skill Damage +5% |
3. Addition of Matchmaking Cancellation Penalty
We will be introducing the matchmaking cancellation penalty, an issue that has been often raised by our players.
Please beware that from now on, the activation of a penalty due to any deliberate entrance cancellations and delays will restrict your entrance to the arena for a certain period of time.
However, although we tried update this system as quickly as possible, fixing the issues that have arisen during the development is requiring more time than expected,
so we are currently aiming to have it updated on April 21st (Sunday).
We will also make sure all the necessary fixes are applied even after the cancellation penalty update.
■ Improvement Plans |
We have been continuously receiving opinions of the weekly quest reset day being inappropriate from various community channels.
ArcheAge has been serviced for many years, and to many of our adventurers the current play style might be more than familiar now.
Given such a situation, the question as to whether we should change the already familiar reset day was a hard question to answer.
1. Change of Weekly Quest Reset Day
While the Weekly Quest reset days will stay as is, we think there needs to be an improvement for the pressure many players feel when they form their raids on Mondays when the Weekly Quests reset and for the fact that players currently need to endure a schedule that goes beyond an hour.
Hence, we will first update the Diamond Shores- Reedwind - Sungold Fields - Exeloch weekly quests to reduce your fatigue even by a little.
We will integrate the existing 4 quests into 2 quests, and increase the quest rewards to keep track of late joiners. (expected on Apr. 21)
2. Faction Competition Improvements
Though we considered removing the Faction Competition content and increasing the rewards for other content,
in the end we decided that we should first provide the players with improvements for the current content.
Therefore, we will be increasing the rewards for the Cinderstone Moor and Ynystere Faction Competition within April.
We hope to hear your feedback.
3. Drill Camp Arena Improvements
In the long run, we would need to improve the supply/consumption of the Kyrios Badge, but we will quickly be making the improvements below for now.
First, we will be changing the time at which you can enter it, and also how you enter it.
However, we have concerns that leaving it open for 24 hours may lead to an increase waiting time for matches, therefore we will be looking into the data (such as the number of players, time at which players use the arena, etc.) and then apply the changes such as whether or not it will be opened regularly.
Based on the data, we will plan and implement the changes in April.
If the party matchmaking system is removed, then players will not be able to play on the same team as their friends or Guild members.
Therefore we will first check out how the players are playing the content after the Arena cancellation is applied on the live servers, and then evaluate the situation.
■ Lastly... |
We, the development team, are trying our best to address and fix the inconveniences players are experiencing as quickly as possible.
We are always looking through various community channels and watching our partner influencers,
but we would also like the players to use other communication channels such as our Discord to let us know your suggestions.
Lastly, we are currently running the Rock'n'Scroll event in order to assist your growth.
Yet there were many players who provided feedback about needing more gems, so we will be providing an additional Event Gem.
The gem will be given out through the Marketplace for Patrons in ArcheAge and available for all on ArcheAge: Unchained through the update on April 14 (Thurs.), so we hope you participate!