Hello, Driftmaster:
By now, you’ve likely caught wind of some thrilling updates about our upcoming test for the War Game Festival in these two articles:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3142050/view/512955743573377461
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3142050/view/512955743573377758
With the test just around the corner, we, the development team, want to seize this moment to dig into some deeper, design-driven details: what changes have we made over the past 40 days? Warborne Above Ashes is far from flawless—our initial test with players exposed plenty of issues, many of which we’re still tackling. So, beyond the shiny new features and content, if you’re curious about the game, we’d love to share a more granular look at our thought process as developers.
If you joined us for the last test, you’d probably agree on one thing: the previous version of Warborne Above Ashes felt incomplete. This time, our mission is crystal clear: to deliver a true Warborne Above Ashes experience—a full, immersive season. This will be a comprehensive stress test for the entire game, but it’s also your golden opportunity to dive into the total war on the chaos planet.
Drawing from the feedback you gave us in March, we’ve wrestled with several core challenges over these 40 days:
● Delivering a more complete game experience
● Preparing for more Driftmasters
● Improving game balance
● Enhancing the experience for Driftmasters at every stage
You’ll notice that every tweak in this War Game Festival test orbits around these issues. In the sections below, we’ll walk you through our approach to solving them. We’re still polishing things up, but if this memo helps you feel the dev team’s vision in the revamped Warborne Above Ashes, then we’ve hit the mark.
Building a Complete Warborne Above Ashes
From fully implementing six factions to fine-tuning various gameplay elements, we’ve covered a lot in past articles. But what we haven’t unpacked is this: why these specific changes?
For an MMO, every test has a distinct purpose. If the March test was about letting you taste the adrenaline of ZvZ warfare on the chaos planet, this War Game Festival test is the real deal—a full-blown, month-long, multi-faction war season.
This demands more content to fuel a prolonged conflict. Spatially, whether it’s the six factions you can pick from or the expanded planetary map, everything is crafted to plunge you into the chaos of war.
We’ve also rolled out a new teleportation mechanic: Echo-Rift. These strange phenomena, scattered across the planet, let you teleport to specific spots—sometimes once, sometimes multiple times—and pop up randomly on the map. Whether you’re catching a quick ride or plotting a “visit” to another faction’s turf, they inject a fresh spatial twist.
More critically, the planet’s heart—the Scorchforged City, which you couldn’t touch last time—is now up for grabs. With enough time and war resources, you can finally claim this ultimate prize.
Time-wise, a 30-day season calls for diverse gameplay to keep resource gathering efficient and engaging. That’s why we’ve layered in varied content like Warband ranking rewards in Veinhold Extraction and new, high-risk Veinholds. These PvPvE additions not only flesh out Warborne Above Ashes but also let us tweak gameplay balance for a more electrifying ride.
Content, though, is just the bedrock. We know that welcoming more Driftmasters while keeping the experience smooth is a real-world challenge. For any MMO, it’s a tough puzzle—next, we’ll break down how we’re piecing it together.
Balance and Trade-offs: New Server Population Mechanics
If you were with us in March, you’ll recall the queuing headaches that plagued everyone. No one wants to twiddle their thumbs while the battle rages—and it was a major sore spot.
Worse still, the War Game Festival is set to draw an even bigger crowd. To dodge a repeat disaster, we’ve made overhauling our server queue logic our top priority. In short, we’ve reshaped it around a few key sub-goals:
● Prioritizing the War’s Protagonists
In a limited battlefield, deciding “who gets in first” is tricky, but we can probably agree on this: the two main warring factions are the stars of the show. So, we’ve introduced a “strategic priority” system. During war times, the two factions with the greatest strategic stake in a battlefield get first dibs. They’re the protagonists—but we’ve also carved out room for third-party “disruptors.” After all, who doesn’t love a wild card?Even more vital: Warbands outrank factions. Those holding or bordering the battlefield get top-tier access. They’re the stars among stars. Gear up to defend your frontline turf!
● Ensuring Fairer Matchups
We’ve also tackled non-war skirmishes—those sudden clashes that can snowball fast and often turn lopsided. When these encounters hit a certain scale, war-time rules kick in, adjusting the power balance via priority access.
● Might Makes Right
Forget Legion Ranks—now, your Power calls the shots for battlefield entry. Stronger players get in quicker, facing tougher foes but reaping bigger contribution rewards. High risk, high reward—it’s our take on fairness.
● Battlefield Kick Mechanics
Yes, they’re still here (and yes, we’re still working on clearer communication about them—sorry!). We prioritize booting offline or idle players, but in dire straits, we’ll ensure the main factions, Warbands, and top warriors get their chance to shine.
As for those infamous server queues, we’re expecting a solid upgrade—but we’ll be keeping a close eye on your experience during the test, ready to make urgent tweaks if needed.
A Healthier Game Ecosystem
Beyond queues, more Driftmasters mean fewer resources per player. To fix this, we’ve rolled out a dynamic respawn system: resource refresh times now scale with player density in your area, so you can take down your Fire-Eater faster.
But a bigger player base also shakes up the game’s ecosystem. Thankfully, with your March feedback in hand, we’ve built systems to keep Warborne Above Ashes thriving.
● Catch-Up Mechanics
As we’ve hyped, Warborne Above Ashes is a 24/7 battlefield you can jump into anytime. But in a month-long season, how do latecomers keep up? Meet the LaterShop: this enigmatic vendor peddles items like level tickets and Exergy to fast-track your early growth. Depending on when your Warband joins, you’ll earn catch-up points. As promised, you can dive into the fight anytime without lagging behind—just join the war!
● Fairer Rewards
In March, Harvester Hub rewards left us wanting—we don’t want your hard-won victories snatched away. For this test, the Warband with the highest contribution claims the hub. And rewards? They’re getting more inclusive: most Warband-related goodies, not just from hubs, will land straight in your mailbox. You can even send your top warriors to Veinhold Extraction, boosting your whole Warband with leaderboard rewards.
● Numerical Balance
To keep this memo from dragging, we’ll save the gritty number-crunching for later patch notes. But rest assured, we’ve overhauled everything—base stats, Drifters, skills, war tools. Balance is a marathon, not a sprint, and we’re eager for your feedback.
Lastly, let’s talk something near and dear to all of us: fairness in Warborne Above Ashes. We want small Warbands and solo players to revel in the chaos too. To that end, we’ve poured just as much effort into optimizing individual experiences as anything else—trust us on that.
A Friendlier Chaos Planet
Contradictory? Maybe. But as a 2025 MMO, we’ll admit Warborne Above Ashes has room to grow for less mainstream Driftmasters. Beyond epic wars, there’s still plenty of fun to be had.
● Warbands and Logistics
If you and a few pals just want to kick back in Warborne Above Ashes, we’ve eased the growth curve—step up as vital rear-guard merchants. In a drawn-out war, managing resources and logistics can outweigh capturing a stronghold. We want you in on this, so we’ve added trading and logistics systems. Our aim? To spark stable, win-win alliances between frontline Warbands and smaller support crews.But trade convoys won’t glide by unscathed. We insist players escort their goods, turning “supply lines” into a strategic layer—every trade and transport is ripe for disruption.
● Warbands and Logistics (Continued)
Once your crew scales up, our Warband quest system takes over, dishing out tasks like expanding your Warband or testing new combat styles. Through these rewards, we want your group to evolve into a powerhouse “Warband” on the planet.We’ll be watching this new system closely and tweaking it as needed to nail our goals.
● Everyone’s Experience
We’re obsessed with the first 20 hours of Warborne Above Ashes, so we cherry-picked March feedback from newbies. Some changes might seem small, but you’ll love them:
The big one? New Driftmasters can pick from 12 Drifters right off the bat, with beginner-friendly recommendations tagged. We want every newcomer to have a deep pool of roles to choose from.
We’ve also tuned progression systems like Mastery, Hypercharge, and Battle Infusion. For instance, Mastery caps now tie to your Driftmaster level. Patch notes will dive deeper, but if you grow smoother this time—free of tech or Tier snags—we’ve done our job.
We’ve tossed in little conveniences too: an anti-stuck feature, easier storage, streamlined Warband management. This is just the beginning!
In Closing
The dev team has been juggling way more over these 40 days, but like this already hefty memo, we can’t cover it all. Still, Warborne Above Ashes isn’t some small-fry project. If you’ve read this far, you can feel our ambition: to forge an eternal post-apocalyptic battlefield.
Thanks for sticking with us. Now, there’s just one thing left—grab your weapon and charge the enemy!