Greetings from the Summoners War Dev Team!
We’re back with the second [Developer’s Preview].
First, we sincerely appreciate your overwhelming interest and feedback on the first Developer’s Preview.
Updates such as the Hall of Magic improvements, World Arena Monster Info menu, and Rune/Artifact management enhancements were implemented in February, and we are thrilled to see your positive response.
We also look forward to your excitement about the upcoming Siege Battle revamp, which is scheduled for a late March update.
Today, we’re here to share details about the 11th Anniversary Update.
As we prepared to celebrate 11 years of Summoners War, we took a step back to reflect on the game and discuss improvements to make it more engaging.
Through careful deliberation, we’ve planned a series of updates spanning April and May introducing major revamps to Arena, Arena Interserver Battle, and Rift Raid/Dungeon, along with various QoL improvements and system updates.
To thoroughly cover these changes, we’ll be releasing two Developer’s Previews dedicated to the 11th Anniversary Update.
This preview will focus on the Arena and Arena Interserver Battle revamps, along with Monster and background art renewals scheduled for April.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the second [Developer’s Preview]!
* We are reviewing the introduction of a new Arena League only for new Summoners to help new Summoners enjoy the content better.
* We are also working on restructuring the Arena League system to address rank disparity and balance issues caused by different server populations.
1. Rookie League for New Summoners
- Many new Summoners struggle to enjoy Arena due to the gap in experience with veteran Summoners. To address this, we will introduce a rookie league exclusively for new Summoners.
- Summoners will automatically be placed in the Rookie League upon entering Arena for the first time and will remain there for at least four weeks. Afterward, they can choose to stay in the Rookie League or move to the regular Arena League at their own pace.
- To encourage progression, rewards in the Rookie League will be adjusted, making it a stepping stone into the regular Arena League. Additionally, one-time milestone rewards will be available for reaching specific ranks.
- Like the regular Arena, the Rookie League will have its own grading system and ranking structure, with rank tallying and victory point compression occurring every two weeks.
2. 10,000-Player Arena Leagues
- Currently, the difficulty of achieving certain Arena grades varies significantly based on server population.
For instance, reaching Punisher ★ requires placing in the top 1,000, making competition much tougher on servers with higher population.
- To address this imbalance, Arena will be restructured into multiple 10,000-player leagues. After each Arena season ends, Summoners will be grouped into leagues of up to 10,000 active players.
For example, if 78,400 Summoners are playing Arena on a server, they will be assigned to one of eight leagues of around 9,800 players.
- With this structure, each league will have its own ranking system to ensure that grade distribution remains consistent across all servers. This means that if a server has eight leagues, it will also have eight Legend players.
3. Arena Tallying & Victory Point Compression Cycle Update
- Currently, Arena tallying is conducted weekly, whereas victory point compression occurs every two weeks. This schedule has caused confusion among Summoners regarding the timing of point compression.
To improve clarity, tallying and compression will now both occur once every two weeks.
- We are also carefully reviewing adjustments to tallying rewards to ensure that their value remains consistent with this new cycle.
4. Arena Interserver Battle Revamp
- Currently, Arena Interserver Battle selects the top 10,000 Arena players from each server, which creates a more competitive environment for highly populated servers.
- To address this, instead of selecting 10,000 players per server, 2,500 players from each league (excluding the Rookie League) will qualify.
We expect this measure to allow more players from densely populated servers to qualify for Arena Interserver Battle and encourage fairer competition among leagues.
- With this change, Arena Interserver Battle will be a showdown between two 2,500-player teams from different servers, instead of a server-wide competition.
- The Interserver Battle schedule, previously spanning five weeks with a three-week break, will now align with the new two-week Arena cycle.
- These changes are scheduled to go live in mid-April, following the conclusion of the current Arena Interserver Battle season.
* As Summoners War celebrates its 11th year, we believe it’s time to revisit and improve some of the early Monster models and background art.
1. Monster Model Renewal
- We will gradually update the models of some of the oldest Monsters in the game.
- The first batch includes 13 Monsters: Slime, Shroomy, Surprise Box, Howl, Elemental, Garuda, Inugami, Joker, Vampire, Undine, Dragon, Oracle, and Chimera.
- These updates will not be a one-time renewal but a continuous improvement process, with the next round planned for late 2025.
- Along with visual upgrades, their skill animations will also be improved. However, only base Monster models will be updated, and Transmogrifications will remain unchanged.
- To showcase these updates, please take a look at the before-and-after comparison image.
2. Arena Background Art Renewal
- Over the years, we have gradually updated various in-game backgrounds, such as Garen Forest, Mt. Siz, and the Cairos Dungeon update in 2023.
- In April, we will renew the Arena background, including defense towers and mini zoom-in view of defense towers, to enhance the overall Arena experience.
* The Siege Battle map changes, victory point adjustments, and tournament rule updates shared in the first Developer’s Preview are now in the final stages of development. More details will be provided in a dedicated Siege Battle season notice.
* Additionally, two key improvements are in progress, as listed below.
1. First Turn Skill Assignment for Siege Defense Decks
- After testing this feature in Siege Battle Tournaments and Special Matches, we have decided to apply it to the regular Siege Battle season starting late March.
- We will continue to monitor key Siege Battle metrics and refine this feature as needed.
2. Siege Battle Rune Separation Under Review
- We are considering introducing a separate Rune system for Siege Battle to reduce management burden and improve convenience.
- The plan is to add a dedicated Monster menu for Siege Battle, similar to World Arena, allowing unique Rune presets for this mode.
- However, several challenges need to be addressed before we proceed:
1. Increased database load from managing additional Runes.
2. Unlike World Arena, Siege Battle requires storing defense deck Rune data even for inactive players, requiring a different approach.
3. As this development will take time, we will share more details once we finalize a feasible solution and timeline.
We hope you enjoyed the second [Developer’s Preview]!
Our team is working hard to bring fresh energy to Arena and in-game visuals, just as spring breathes fresh energy into the world.
We’ll continue to share our development insights and future direction, while actively listening to your feedback across various community platforms.
Your input is essential in shaping the future of Summoners War.
Please stay tuned for the next Developer's Preview, covering the 11th Anniversary Update Part 2.
We appreciate your continued love and support, and we look forward to bringing you more exciting updates soon!