I was busy for a couple of months, so I’m backtracking to some Developer K Notes for the September 95.17.KR patch.

How are you guys? Greetings from your PD.
I’ll be detailed in this month’s notes.

Last month, many of you gave me feedback on the Labyrinth update (i.e. “finally a good patch”), and it made me happy to read all of your comments. They have motivated me to develop it further and give you an even better patch. Let me dive into the September patch notes.

Corruption Corridor

This is side content for intermediate and advanced users who are well-off in the game, but feel bored by their plateued growth. You should think of it like Super Slayer Mode. Basically, it is similar to Slayer Mode, but is separate from the current Slayer mode. Let’s summarize it.

Entry Tickets

Tickets are found as dungeon loot all over Altera, and the dungeon consumes 300 FTG. Tickets are mostly untradeable, although there is a rare chance to get a tradeable one. The higher the dungeon difficulty, the more tickets you can get. The extra tickets are untradeable. We plan to increase the methods of obtaining these tickets, such as through quests, Goblynn’s Fav Box, and mercenary missions. At this time, however, the only way to get them is through dungeon drops.

With regards to your content needs and team compositions, entry tickets are an extremely important item. From a development standpoint, we wanted to make them only untradeable to simulate growth. However, we also added tradeable tickets due to the positive effects they can have on our trickle-down economy.

You may be worried that this will end up like Slayer Mode where everyone is spamming it and not doing anything else, but since tickets only drop in normal content and the amount of tradeable tickets is limited, people will be forced to run other content after a while.

Players & Difficulty

Corruption Corridor is a single-player mode where mercenaries and pets can be summoned. The difficulties are Normal, Master, and Abyss, which are calibrated to the 25th, 40th, and 50th floors of Labyrinth.

The difficulty is slightly higher and balanced in favor of the long term rather than the current average stats. The fake bosses will follow combat patterns rather than rely on gimmicks. I think the content will remain relevant if we maintain the tension.

Reward Acquisition & Index

The reward is a box that randomly drops Goddess Equipment, and a key is required to open the box. The keys can be purchased with 1000 Lebrium Points or found in gold chests at the end of dungeons with a small chance.

While it would be nice if the box dropped Goddess Equipment right away, we determined that Lebrium Points were not being used enough, so we decided to add these boxes. Of course, it can be stressful if the keys were only linked to Lebrium Points, so we have tried to balance the system with an appropriate rate of key drops.

We hope that these keys will fix the lack of enthusiasm for the current Labyrinth boxes.

Goddess Equipment

Goddess Equipment has various skill buffs for each class. It initially has the same stats as Calypso Tier 2 +0, and when enhanced to +10, it has the same stats as Calypso Tier 3. Its skill effects make it as effective as Scylla Equipment.

Goddess Equipment sits slightly above Scylla Equipment, but it is difficult to determine which equipment is stronger at certain enhancement levels. Goddess Equipment is more difficult to obtain, and can be destroyed after +10. As such, its growth rate is better than Scylla, but the risk is greater. And that is pretty much it. Please see the patch notes for more details and let me know if you have any questions.

PVE Ranking System

Actually, the basis of the ranking system was created last year, but it got delayed for some reason. Now it has finally been completed and upgraded. Since it is basically like any other ranking system, I will not discuss it in detail. The contents that are in this first version are Forest Dragon Nest, Green Dragon Nest, and Trial Nest. The top 1000 players for each are shown.

Expected Effects

We hope that the ranking system increases the loyalty of top players and sets a standard for beginner and intermediate players, and that it serves as a “strategy reference list” that beginners can take interest in. At the moment, the system does not notify you if you land on the rankings, but hopefully you will not want to look at it too much. We will address these problems in subsequent patches.

We are also creating a function that will allow everyone to give Encouragement or Likes to the weekly top players.

Second Trial Nest - Granom

We are preparing a patch that will update the Trial System with the addition of Granom Trial Nest.

Entry Restrictions by Day

We know from past experience that you will try to do both Trial Nests in one sitting. This tends to lead to speed runs, which makes people more stressed and angry. Therefore, the two trials will open separately on different days of the week, and you will have to schedule your gameplay accordingly.

Rewards

The Lebrium Point rewards from Kairon Trial Nest will also be applied to Granom Trial Nest, so you can earn two times the Lebrium Points per week. However, the Crystal Point drops were excessive, so we reduced them by 1/2.

Additional Trials

We have added trials that require more in-depth teamwork, so you will have lots of fun. You might experience the bitter taste of failure if you laugh these trials off.

Golden Goose Discount Removal

As I mentioned before, the Golden Goose Discount has been removed. I apologize for the sudden removal of this long-standing system, and we will try to mitigate the damage to players who still have the effects in place.

Main Reason

Golden Goose Badges were designed to be rare, but they have dropped for a long time and exacerbated the distribution of wealth. Advanced players do not have to do much to maintain the discount, and even more players have the discount for enhancement purposes, which has devalued the enhancement system.

Follow-Up

First, we have removed the NPC store discounts and sell price increases, and we will not provide an alternative method for these functions. I apologize for the unilateral effects.

Second, we have applied the 50% enhancement cost reduction to all enhancement costs in the September patch, making it more enjoyable for everyone. We do not want the enhancement system to decay any further.

Alliance Point System Change

The Alliance Point System has been left on the back burner for a long time, and has a lot of defects, so we plan to revamp the system during the second half of this year. There have no new NPCs added to it since 60 cap, and the types of alliances are too restrictive. We will change the system to developing relationships with [Alliance Reputation], rather than consumption of Alliance Points. I will provide more details when they are ready.

Dragon Nest Contents - 2nd Half of the Year

Below is a summary of the second half of the year. I should have done this earlier, but there are a lot of complicated parts and some ambiguous ones.

Step 1

First of all, you will enjoy regular content while increasing your stats through the Tier System. If you want to speed up your growth, you can play Slayer Mode on the side.

Step 2

By the time you are finished with the tiers, you will feel like your stats are plateauing. If you are up for the challenge, you can attempt the 8-man Dragon Nests for the best equipment. However, avoiding these raids is not the end of the line. While Dragon Weapons have high growth potential, they can be replaced by slowly enhancing Scylla or Goddess Equipment.

Step 3

Once you have fully enhanced your tiered equipment, you can farm appropriate content for your level and challenge Corruption Corridor. Create a character that is stronger than anyone else through skill-enhancing items that drop from Corruption Corridor!

Etc.

Whenever you can, check out the Adventurer’s Board, complete various missions that suit your playstyle, and earn cash items. When you explore every aspect of the game and enjoy a variety of experiences, you will find yourself wearing plenty of pretty and powerful cash equipment.

Comparison of Dragon & Goddess Weapons

Dragon Weapons have a lower growth potential than Goddess Weapons because they can be farmed. However, as you enhance Dragon Weapons, they will eventually surpass Goddess Weapons.

Afterword

I planned to write these Developer Notes a little faster this month, but here I am, pushing the deadline again. Sorry.

It was raining everyday this week, but I liked it because it became warm in the evenings. I hope you all are enjoying yourselves. Now it is time to finish up the notes for September. Thank you for your feedback.

P.S. If possible, please leave a comment so I can respond to your feedback.