Hello players! This is Project ZETA team.
From September 4 to 6, we’re here with our second Global Community Test (hereafter GCT), running for three days from Friday 20:00 to midnight on Sunday.
Carrying the passion and generous feedback players around the world showed us in the first GCT, along with the energy we felt on-site at gamescom, the ZETA team has made this build sturdier than ever.
In this GCT, two new heroes join the Aran Plateau.
Grand Inquisitor Azrakel is an assassin who excels in chaotic battles.
He can enter the heart of the enemy formation with Form Shift, let enemy abilities slip past with Phase Collapse, and turn the tide of battle in an instant with an ultimate that executes low-health enemies.
Super Hero Nova Crash is a melee fighter who disrupts enemy formations.
Charge in bravely with Crash Drive, suppress enemies with Crash Knuckle: Breaker, and shatter the enemy formation with Justice Smash.
We look forward to the new engagements these two heroes will create.
The play experience we worked hardest on for this test is 'a closely contested match.' We added the new Bounty system, which reflects growth gaps between players in rewards, and the Shard compensation system, which gives trailing teams appropriate support, and we redesigned the kill rewards of key objectives such as Kierro, Mugante, and Popo/Qwickie to become strategic choices in engagements.
We also refined the overall flow of the Aran Plateau, including Inner Zone terrain changes, more Prism Boss spawns, and sequential monster spawns, designing a battlefield where teams that have fallen behind can still find a way back into the fight. We hope you'll pull off thrilling comebacks in matches where the outcome stays unknown until the very last moment.
Overall progression convenience has also greatly improved.
Set your CODEX purchase order and ability level-up order in advance in the lobby's Build settings, and in-game, your CODEXES will be purchased and enhanced automatically and your abilities will level up automatically, letting you focus solely on combat. On top of that, we made controls feel smoother by halving every hero's Dash cooldown and unifying combat and non-combat movement speeds, and we carried out broad balance adjustments so that each hero stays truer to their intended role.
Battlefield readability has been raised another notch.
Improved indicator designs and the new Ground Guide make ability aiming more comfortable, refined visuals let you instantly recognize states such as Execution, Unstoppable, and Invincible on health bars, and revive timing cues along with an improved Top Info Panel help you read the flow of combat faster.
For those meeting ZETA for the first time, we prepared the hero unlock system, where heroes join one after another, along with renewed How to Play guidance and a revamped game results screen.
Beyond that, changes that began with player feedback await you throughout, including spectating and replay improvements, the CP (Influence Points) system, and the Shop.
There is still much polish left to add, but through this GCT we want to hear a wide range of player opinions and make ZETA even more solid. We truly treasure every single piece of feedback you send us.
As always, we will keep updating steadily so we can keep ZETA's Promise to create a 'Multi-Team Tactical Arena' where players can fully unleash their skill and wit. We owe it all to you. Thank you.
New Hero - Azrakel
Grand Inquisitor Azrakel joins the Aran Plateau.
New Hero - Nova Crash
Super Hero Nova Crash joins the Aran Plateau.
Ground Guide
To make ability targeting easier, we added the Ground Guide, which lets you visually check and pre-set the starting point of an ability.
It is enabled for heroes with position-based abilities, and you can set the Ground Guide's location by moving the camera. It can be turned off in the Options; when disabled, the indicator's initial position is centered on yourself, as before.
Aran Plateau
We refined the terrain and overall flow of the Aran Plateau so that growth gaps between players and between teams are reflected in rewards, and a path back into the fight stays open until the very end.
The terrain layout of the Inner Zone and the Outer Boss Zone has changed, and the Gate at the entrance of the Inner Boss Zone has been removed. Photon Transporter locations have changed, Speed Pads have been placed, and some Brush has been adjusted.
More Prism Bosses now appear in the Outer Zone, and Prism Bosses other than Nazan now also appear in the Inner Boss Zone. Monsters spawn in sequence, and when a team revives after being wiped out, they revive at the spot with the fewest enemies nearby.
We redesigned the kill rewards of key objectives such as Kierro, Mugante, and Popo/Qwickie to become strategic choices in engagements.
Mugante: Grants a tactical buff on kill. It charges while you move, and while in the Charged State, hitting an enemy hero with a basic attack or ability deals fixed damage and reduces their movement speed.
Roamer: On kill, increases the Shards you earn from killing monsters and heroes.
Kierro: Increases movement speed on kill.
Bounty: Reflects progression gaps between players in rewards. For players who have earned more Shards than the average, their defeat bounty increases incrementally.
Shard Compensation: Reflects progression gaps between teams in rewards. Based on the gap, the Shards a trailing team earns from killing monsters and key objectives increase incrementally.
The monsters at the Aran Plateau's 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions and the elite monsters on the outer edge have new appearances. The fill-up telegraph effect that previously applied to only some monsters now applies to all of them, so you can visually tell how much time remains before a pattern triggers.
Builds
You now enter the game with a build already selected. Set your CODEX purchase order and ability level-up order in advance in the lobby, and in-game, Auto-Purchase, Auto-Enhance, and Auto-Level Abilities will support your progression according to your build, letting you focus solely on combat.
[Build] has been added to the lobby's top menu. For each hero, you can set the order of up to 4 CODEXES to purchase and the order of ability level-ups, and every hero comes with a [Default] build composed of recommended CODEXES and ability order. The Shop has been reorganized into two tabs, Recommended and Shop, and when you gain Ability points, your abilities level up automatically in your selected build's order.
Heroes
We carried out wide-ranging balance adjustments so each hero stays truer to their core role.
Every hero's Dash cooldown has changed from 30 sec to 15 sec, Dash movement speed has increased by 30%, and its travel distance has increased by 1m. Dash can now be used even while an indicator is up, and we improved the feel of basic attacks.
HUD and Visuals
We refined the visuals so that states such as Execution, Unstoppable, and Invincible can be recognized instantly on health bars, and improved revive timing cues and the Top Info Panel so you can read the flow of combat faster.
Arrow and pillar design elements have been added to mark an indicator's center point. The Top Info Panel now shows whether each enemy is carrying a Prism, whether their ultimate is ready, their current Health, and their Level.
You can now tell whether it is an ally or an enemy reviving, and also see when they will revive.
A new effect now plays on the scoreboard when a Prism is successfully scored, and the center-screen notification displays the team info together with the hero.
PvP Match
With no divide between normal and ranked play, competition on the Aran Plateau takes place through a single PvP Match mode.
The results of every PvP Match are reflected in CP (Influence Points), each player's competitive score. All players start at 1,000 CP and gain or lose CP based on their final match ranking.
Safe Match: Safe Matches have been added so players newly joining the Aran Plateau can learn the game without pressure. Safe Matches apply up to Account Level Lv.7, and CP does not decrease in this range. Since there is no CP loss, feel free to take on challenges to your heart's content.
This test also improves the matchmaking system as a whole, and since matching conditions are checked in finer detail, queue times may be somewhat longer. Solo players and party players are matched with similar compositions whenever possible.
The Game Results screen has been reworked so you can more easily review the match's results and your progression after it ends. Finishing a match grants Account XP and Crowns regardless of your ranking, and Crowns can be used to purchase Emojis in the Lobby Shop.
New Player Onboarding
For those meeting ZETA for the first time, we prepared the hero unlock system and renewed How to Play guidance.
When you first start the game, you begin with a starting set of heroes, and new heroes unlock one by one as your Account Level rises.
Reaching Lv.8 unlocks all remaining heroes at once, and in the Training Grounds, every hero is available regardless of unlock status.
To ease first-time players into ZETA's world and combat, a trailer video now plays when the game launches, and comeback-related content has been added to How to Play. On the hero select screen, heroes recommended for beginners now display a Recommended mark.
Lobby
The lobby carries changes that began with player feedback, including the Shop, Career, and social features.
The mode cards have been organized into two, PvP Match and Custom Match, and the matchmaking queue UI has become a thin bar at the bottom of the screen that no longer blocks your view. In Custom Matches, you can find the room you want in the room list to join or spectate, and in the Training Grounds you can practice combat against bot heroes alongside the training features. You can watch Replays from your own or a friend's Match History, and the Lobby Shop, Career, Whisper, and Mailbox have been added.
Resolved Issues
General
Fixed an issue where the camera view very rarely rotated when an indicator was shown via an ability-key input.
Fixed an issue where, for some follow-up abilities usable within a set time, the aiming indicator did not disappear after the usable window ended.
Fixed an issue where Path Guiding pointed in directions that were not the actual destination, such as a camp exit or a farther Ballast door.
Fixed an issue where the lost portion of the health bar was not displayed when taking damage with a Shield active.
Fixed an issue where the shatter effect did not play properly with a Shield active.
Fixed an issue where, after reviving from death, the death effect remained persistently visible on the nameplate.
Fixed an issue where the description text for owned buffs was displayed abnormally.
Fixed an issue where AI minimap icons were displayed abnormally in certain situations.
Fixed an issue where Custom Matches could not be spectated.
Fixed numerous issues where spectating features did not work properly.
Replaced potentially confusing terms and voice lines in the Tutorial's ability level-up mission.
Fixed an issue where Miracle of Lazarus T4's ability damage reduction effect disappeared immediately after it triggered.
Heroes
Fixed an issue where ranged heroes' basic attacks passed through their targets.
Fixed an issue where Yufei Shen's Dash was reset when Fighting Spirit activated.
Fixed an issue where Isamu's Ability 3 did not trigger on ranged heroes' basic attacks.
Fixed an issue where Senes's model appeared blue at long range.
Known Issues
We have identified the following issues in this GCT build and will address them quickly.
Changing the ping palette while using a charging ability makes the ability unusable.
When a later CODEX in your build's auto-purchase order is purchased manually, it is not enhanced first.
Stepping on a Speed Pad while Auto-Move is active stops Auto-Move.
Enemies within certain areas of Nova Crash's Enhanced Ability 1 and Ability 4 indicators do not display the hit outline.
Enemy and ally outlines occasionally do not appear even with the Show Outlines option turned on.
Azrakel's Ability 1 displays the same damage value for both Blade of Declaration and Inquisitor's Pursuit.
The Movement Speed increase from Mika Mist's Passive, Uptempo, is displayed as 7% instead of 4%.
In certain language settings, the Custom Match name is displayed incorrectly.
Voice chat does not work properly after reconnecting from a network disconnection.
In a Custom Match room lobby, host-only controls appear enabled for players who are not the host.
In Custom Match, the Join and Spectate buttons are not disabled for rooms that cannot be joined or spectated.
When a match ends early because of a surrender, the early end time does not appear in the match history.
When aiming Nova Crash's Ultimate at certain terrain in the Training Grounds, the landing point indicator appears red even where landing is possible.
Vesper bots do not attack enemies in combat, and bot attack responses do not work properly in general.
When attacked by a monster, bots do not fight back and remain idle.
While spectating, clicking a player's portrait in the report window does not open the menu, making it impossible to report them.
Pausing while spectating in the matchmaking queue freezes the time displayed on the matchmaking wait UI.
While spectating, switching your view to another player while the Low Health effect is playing shows the Low Health effect regardless of that player's actual health.
Entering spectate mode on a match already in progress leaves the Top Info Panel hidden.
While spectating, the Execution Threshold line does not appear on the health bar of a target that can be executed.
While spectating, the Tab info window does not update until the timeline is adjusted
We were lucky to develop Project ZETA until now, thanks to your play and feedback.
From September 4 to 6, we wish you the best of luck on the Aran Plateau!