Greetings from the Summoners War Dev Team!
Before we dive into the details, we first want to thank every one of you for showing such great support and interest in our collaboration with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Gwent, in particular, received many positive feedback from our Summoners - so we would like to talk first about the Gwent update that will be available via v8.2.6 update.
▶ Free Mode - Play Gwent repeatedly without limits!
With this Free Mode, you can play Gwent continuously, allowing you to try out different decks and fun elements.
In each battle, you will face an opponent with random factions, skills and card decks.
This means that there will be a variety of decks composed in the Free Mode. Your key to victory will be analyzing the opponent's deck and operating your deck strategically.
Free Mode is added to the menu where the weeks are displayed, and the game rules stay the same.
You will earn a small amount of Mana Stones as a victory reward.
We've prepared this Free Mode so you can play against different decks in a more enjoyable way, so please try out the new mode and play Gwent!
▶ New Stage Limit Condition
As you clear Gwent week by week, you will see your Gwent card collection filling up.
You would probably have all the cards by clearing up to Week 6.
Starting Week 7 (Mar. 11th), we want to add a limit condition for each stage to give a twist to your play environment.
We intended to improve Gwent by adding Free Mode and new play conditions so that Summoners can continue to enjoy the game in a new context.
Try playing Gwent while using various cards featuring Summoners War's unique Monsters.
Now, we would like to discuss the main update features that will also be available via v8.2.6 update.
▶ Rune QoL Improvement
: [Rune Management] A sub-property search feature will be improved to help you find Runes easier and faster.
: [Rune Selling Exclusion Settings] You can now set up the Rune selling exclusion settings with the main property and Rune number.
▶ Hall of Heroes Available While the Repeat Battle is On
▶ [Cairos Dungeon] Abyssal Floor is No Longer Seasonal Content
We will walk you through each main feature discussed above, starting with the Rune QoL.
■ Rune QoL Improvement
▶ [Rune Management] A sub-property search feature will be improved to help you find Runes easier and faster.
: You can now select up to 4 sub properties, and a feature that allows you to search based on the sub property's stats will also be added.
As you can see in the image above, a screen UI will be changed to display up to 4 sub properties selected.
You may have noticed that sub properties also have detailed numerical values displayed.
With the new sub property detailed search pop-up, you can search for Runes by type, priority and numerical value of each sub property.
The priorities of each sub property are searched in the order of 1 - 4, and the sub properties with the highest priority are applied in the search results.
▶ [Rune Management] You can now select multiple Rune sets to search.
Right now, you can select either one set or all sets to search.
With the new update, you will be able to select multiple sets of your choice to search Runes.
▶ [Rune Management] "Don't show this again today" checkbox is added to the confirmation pop-up that shows when changing Runes.
▶ [Rune Selling Exclusion Settings] You can now set up the Rune selling exclusion settings with the main property and Rune number.
In order to enable more exact and detailed filtering, we've introduced settings for the main properties and each rune number.
▶ [Rune Selling Exclusion Settings] Tabs in use / not in use can be distinguished based on the setting status.
Improvements have been made to identify tabs with the current settings saved and tabs that are deactivated due to no sell exclusion settings.
Following the v8.1.4 update, the drop rate of Runes in Cairos Dungeon increased greatly. And the importance of the Rune management function used for searching and selling the Runes you acquire has also increased greatly.
We intend to continue to consider and create enhancements to the Rune management function so that you can handle Runes easily even after this update.
We will now update you on changes to the structure of the Hall of Heroes.
■ Hall of Heroes can be played while you run the Repeat Battle.
Hall of Heroes is a limited-time dungeon that opens once a month in Cairos Dungeon, which is frequently played by Summoners whenever it is available.
We will be improving this dungeon so it can be played while you are running other dungeons through the Repeat Battle.
▶ An icon is exposed in the battle world map when the Hall of Heroes is open.
As you can see, Hall of Heroes can be entered through a separate icon menu, similar to the World Boss menu, instead of from the list of dungeons in Cairos Dungeon.
▶ You can now enter and play in the Hall of Heroes while running the Repeat Battle.
You will be able to auto battle from 1st floor to 10th floor. It's similar to you playing in the Trial of Ascension while running the Repeat Battle.
You can play each floor manually or go from the 1st to 10th floors in auto while the Repeat Battle is on.
This feature will be applied starting from the March Hall of Heroes.
■ [Cairos Dungeon] Abyssal Floor is No Longer Seasonal Content
We informed you about the seasonal system of Abyssal Floor from the RELOADED notice and dev notes.
We've been paying close attention to see if the Abyssal Floor update is happening too frequently, if the difficulty and rewards are balanced, and even more, if the seasonal system is suitable for the content.
We constantly improved the content by adjusting the update cycle, difficulty and rewards via the second major update and v8.1.4 update, and thought that now was the appropriate time to discuss the seasonal system in depth.
In the instance of Cairos Dungeon Rune farming, which is one of our game's fundamental features, we believe the best course of action is to build a solid deck and then evolve it into a deck that can clear dungeons faster.
When designing and growing a deck like this, there are contradictory components of the dungeon's concept that change at regular intervals. We were worried if this would detract Summoners from enjoying and developing the clear deck.
As a result, we believed that allowing Summoners to build a deck to fight against bosses and then evolve it into a more advanced deck would make the Abyssal Floor more enjoyable.
After considering this, we would like to change the Abyssal Floor to a non-seasonal system similar to the remaining floors of the Cairos Dungeon, allowing Summoners to continue to improve their deck based on their current strategy deck.
Instead, we intend to give Summoners with the enjoyment of constructing new decks and overcoming stages via distinct content updates other than the Cairos Dungeon.
This is all we have for today's note.
The details discussed today will be available via v8.2.6 update, so please stay tuned.
(This note is intended to help you understand the upcoming update in advance. As development and testing are still underway, we ask you to understand that the actual update may differ from what we shared in this note.)
We will continue to consider and work on numerous enhancements so that Summoners can have a more enjoyable playing experience.
We are continually listening to Summoners' voices and working to improve the game, so we would appreciate it if you could provide feedback through various channels.
Thank you.