25th Developer Notes: New Character Pack and H2 Update

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Hello there, fellow Brown Dust enthusiast! I must say, it’s a pleasure to read your thoughts and feedback. As a developer who’s been working tirelessly since the August summer update, I can relate to the exhaustion you mentioned. But just like how a good cup of coffee kick-starts my day, your insights and passion for this game have truly invigorated me!

Hello. This is Brown Dust 2 PD Jun-hee Lee.

Today, I am excited to bring you updates about our latest Character Pack, our roadmap for the second half of this year, and insights from our development team regarding your survey feedback. This communication will also cover the content unveiled during today’s stream, as well as other details we had to postpone due to time limitations.

New Character Pack: Contract Wars

It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! The Character Pack is getting an update!
The 7th Character Pack’s theme is “Contract Wars,” depicting characters in office life.
The following is the overall lore of Contract Wars:
In the Carta City, the background setting, all contracts are signed in a unique method called “Contract Wars.”
Each sales employee of a company must compete against others to win a contract.
In this city, Seir, a new salesperson of a large company named Ghenar Industry
will need to survive in the war with her colleagues.

Initially, Seir is shy and uncertain, but with assistance from her colleagues, she transforms into a competent employee within the company. Stay tuned for Seir’s charming and inspiring journey!

New Seasonal Event: Carta War Z

As a devoted follower, I’m thrilled to share some exciting news about an upcoming event:

In their quest, Seir and his team aim to pinpoint the source selling the zombie virus to obtain the cure. However, an unexpected twist arises when it’s revealed that Luvencia suffers from a debilitating fear of zombies. To make matters worse, one by one, Seir’s companions are bitten by zombies and they become separated. Will Luvencia conquer her phobia to find the cure, save the city, and reunite with her friends? Join us in this seasonal adventure to discover the outcome!

New Fiend Hunter Boss: Abomination

Introducing Abomination, formerly a regular human transformed into a fearsome creature due to an unusual concoction. This new adversary takes on the role of a Fiend Hunter Boss.

New Characters & Costumes

In the game Contract Wars, a quartet of characters will be introduced: Seir and Nebris who are the fresh sales representatives, and Luvencia and Michaela serving as their respective sales managers. Furthermore, you’ll finally get to see the long-awaited costumes of your company employees!

New Employee Seir

For the newly hired employee, Seir, here’s her work attire.

Seal Snatcher Luvencia

At Luvencia, a sales manager known for her bold and tenacious attitude, the employee uniform is styled to reflect her fierce personality.

Queen of Signatures Michaela

Michaela, a woman who exudes tranquility despite her fondness for potent weaponry, dons her work attire. Meanwhile, Luvencia presents a tough exterior, but Michaela, with her wealth of experience and insight, steers her team with an easygoing approach. Similar to how her swimsuit costume has a vulnerability, this one too possesses a certain flaw, but it’s compensated by the immense firepower she wields as a magic damage dealer.

New Employee Nebris

The employee costume of Nebris, who makes others let their guard down with her playful and mischievous smile.
Like Seir, she is a newcomer to the company, yet her skillful and relaxed atmosphere
makes one wonder if she is truly a beginner in her career. Similar to other costumes, Nebris’s costume is designed to be a damage dealer with Wind property.
She has the mechanics to produce more firepower in certain conditions.
 

As a devoted fan of Nebris myself, I’m thrilled to share that there’s some exciting news coming your way in December! We’ve been working diligently to prepare something special for all of us, and we can hardly wait for you to see it. More details will be unveiled soon, so stay tuned and let the anticipation build!

November Pickup Information

The three popular seasonal events from previous years are set to return in November, ahead of our 1.5-Year Anniversary update in December.

To start, the summer-themed event Click! Click! Summer is set for a return. Much like its Berserker counterpart, this event offers a hunting period that lasts just one week, skipping the usual preparation phase. Yet, you’ll still be able to earn rewards equivalent to two weeks of participation. Rest assured, we’re committed to ensuring the Fiend Hunter event runs smoothly without any hitches.

The second seasonal occurrence is titled “Say Yes!

To wrap things up, we’re excited to announce that “FIREWORKS MEMORIES,” initially released halfway through last year’s winter season, will be making a comeback! Additionally, the “Nightmare Winter” event pack, which debuted during the same period, is also set for re-release. This heartwarming tale revolves around Eclipse and Celia dressed as bunny girls, a story that resonated with many. In this special edition, Diana and Rou will also be showcasing their enchanting appearances. Keep an eye out, as the “Nightmare Eclipse” and “Masquerade Celia” costumes will be available for collection on our 1.5-year anniversary. So, hang in there just a bit longer!

The next section will be about improvements implemented after the October 31st update.

Tower of Salvation Improvement
Here are the improvements for the Tower of Salvation.
They are based on the suggestions provided by the players in the last survey.

Initially, you can join two artifacts according to a specific pattern to produce a single, upgraded artifact of higher quality.

Next up, you’ve got the Codex, where you can peruse details about every artifact displayed on the Tower of Salvation’s main menu.

Third, we have new artifacts.
20 new artifacts will be added.

The Tower of Salvation is set to experience one complete cycle with the mentioned enhancements implemented, after which it will become fully integrated as standard regular-season material.

Enhancements to Global Buffs

As a gamer, I’ve temporarily paused the global boon in the game for now, but fear not! The bonus effect remains active only within the ominous walls of Evil Castle. This specific boost won’t follow a cycle for properties, instead, it amplifies the damage across all property types in Evil Castle. Keep conquering!

In our upcoming update, we’re enhancing the “Finish Quick Quest” feature, allowing for smoother transitions through the challenging stages in a game pack. Once you’ve completed the normal level of the main quest within the pack, you’ll have the option to move directly to the harder difficulty, with the “Quick Quest” button becoming active for seamless progression.

Clicking on the “Carry Out Quick Quest” button instantly finishes all your field movement tasks without any narrative impact. You’ll have to tackle the battle quests individually to overcome the challenge.

Enhancement of Combat User Interface for Easier Understanding:

In the upcoming updates, characters filters will be added to menus that previously lacked them:

Next, we will talk about the direction for future updates.

Based on the analysis of the survey results, feedback from the community, and collaborative discussions among both the development and business teams, we’ve determined our path going forward.

First, we will take a look at the update status for the past 500 days (about 17 months).

14 game packs have received updates in total: 6 Story Packs, 4 Character Packs, and 4 Event Packs. Since the implementation of the seasonal event system towards the end of last year, we’ve updated a total of 13 events with narrative elements. New content like Fiend Hunter, Last Night, Tower of Salvation, and Guild Raid has been added since September last year. As for expanding my character, I can enhance them through Potential, Engraving, and Awakening.

Previously, there were numerous expressions of worry about the scarcity of content. Lately, though, our attention has shifted towards addressing players’ exhaustion from engaging with the newly introduced content and enhancing their character development. Consequently, we are committed to alleviating your fatigue and improving the quality of the game content.

Here’s one way to rephrase that in simpler, more natural language:

We’re primarily concentrating on developing packs, characters, special event stories, and mini-games in the near future. Originally, we aimed to release a new pack every month, but with the arrival of our seasonal event system later in 2023, we’ve shifted to updating packs approximately every 6 to 8 weeks. Given the enthusiasm from our users about pack updates, we intend to speed up their release rate next year.

To make our stories more engaging during special occasions, we plan to boost their content starting from our 1.5-year milestone, meaning you can expect a significant surge in storytelling related to seasonal events.

During this season’s event, we present mini-games as part of the main quests you encounter in the field. We aim to offer a larger selection of mini-games to enhance your enjoyment even further.

Apart from our ongoing efforts, we’re also working on creating engaging content that enhances character appeal through their interactions and personal narratives. Simultaneously, we ensure top-notch quality in illustrations and cutscenes that have won the hearts of countless players. Initially, Nebris, a character you may recall, will be the one to receive this enhanced content.

Our strategy, in a nutshell, is to create top-notch and engaging content that’s optional rather than compulsory. This is the guiding principle we intend to adhere to when producing content moving forward.

We’ll share the findings from the 500th Day Celebration livestream survey in a different post later on.

Which summer season update’s character skill cinematics do you prefer? (Feel free to select multiple options if they apply, or leave it blank if you have no preference)

Initially, the popular choice for character cutscenes after the summer update was believed to be Morpeah. However, it was Teresse who emerged victorious, with Morpeah and Eclipse close behind in second and third place respectively. It’s important to note that we found all characters impressive in their scenes.

What characters from the summer season update are the most entertaining and efficient in combat? (Choose all that apply, or leave empty if none)

Afterward, it’s about who excels in the arena’s combat.

Q. Share your thoughts on the Engraving and Awakening system.

Hereafter, we delve into the players’ perspectives on Inscriptions and Awakening:

Question: What are your thoughts on the possibility of procuring Engraving and Awakening materials from either the Golden Thread Store or the Powder of Hope Market?

In the community, the upcoming survey was a hot topic of conversation.

A. What are your thoughts on incorporating items that boost growth, such as the Tear of Goddess, Torch, Engraving materials, and Awakening materials, into bundles or premium offerings?

In our discussion, it was clear that the game’s business model was a hot point among the community. We believed that understanding global users’ opinions on this matter was crucial.

After taking note of this matter, I checked the comments I made in past broadcasts. In those conversations, I mentioned that Potential, Engraving, and Awakening were not intended to establish a new business model or encourage users to spend more. Instead, they were designed to give players the joy of seeing their characters continuously evolve.

It’s possible some players might have assumed that Tears of Goddess or engraving and awakening currencies could only be acquired through in-game currency and wouldn’t consider them as part of a new business model. If this was how you perceived my proposition, I regret any confusion caused by not making my point clear enough.

In my view, I believe certain elements in the game are pay-to-win (P2W) aspects. To clarify and avoid confusion, let me share my thoughts on this matter.

I propose that these items could be sold in either the Golden Thread Shop or Powder of Hope Shop since they can be obtained using in-game currencies. Additionally, it might be suitable to include these items in special offers during specific timeframes. However, this doesn’t imply that the shops will immediately offer more materials or introduce new products.

Regarding packages, encompassing growth currencies, we’ll tailor their creation by taking into account the unique situations of different participants, aiming to provide them at the most favorable level feasible.

It’s clear that the problem might confuse users, leading to a less than ideal experience. Rest assured, we plan to tackle this issue in our future product development efforts.

Q. Share any additional thoughts on the Guild Raid (open-ended question).

As a dedicated gamer myself, I’ve noticed a recurring concern from fellow gamers worldwide – the existence of “free riders.” At first, we kept the Guild Raids relatively easy by not implementing rankings or providing limited info. However, those who have poured countless hours into clearing the Guild Raid voiced concerns about managing their guild members effectively due to the lack of comprehensive data. To address this issue, our first step was to open up the entire contribution rate, enabling players to share some details about the Guild Raids among themselves.

Other suggestions were also presented: Enhancements to the user experience, confusion about the game rules, simplification of the raid challenges, among others. We acknowledge that these points raise valid concerns. Rest assured, we will take your feedback on board and work on further improving the content.

Q. Tell us what you’d like to see in the future (Open-ended question).

What struck us upon analyzing the worldwide user opinions was this: Users from various regions shared strikingly similar concerns, and surprisingly, these issues align quite closely with the direction our development team had been considering.

To clarify, we’ll primarily concentrate on characters and narratives, with growth aspects not being part of our immediate plans. Rest assured, you can expect ongoing UX enhancements. Regarding any service-related issues that may arise, please accept our apologies and know that we prioritize providing a reliable, bug-free experience for you.

In response to your requests for diverse paid options, we’re working on creating a range of package combinations that offer great value.

That is it for today.

It was great catching up with you after such a long time, and our chat by the stream was truly enjoyable.

With that, we will wrap up today’s notes with a gift.

[Developer Notes Gifts]
– 600 Dia
– 40 Cooked Rice
※ You can collect your Developer Notes Gifts from your Mailbox until October 28th, 2024 (Monday).

Thank you.

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2024-10-25 15:38