Gylden Hunters, we want to start by thanking you all once again for your enthusiastic participation in BETA 2! Over 200,000 Gylden Hunters joined this test and provided us with invaluable feedback. BETA 2 was an unforgettable experience for us. We faced the sweet challenge of scaling up servers to accommodate a steadily growing number of online players, as well as the unexpected chaos caused by a large-scale influx of cheaters. More importantly, we had the chance to play Mistfall Hunter alongside you in a real gaming environment and better understand your experiences. These invaluable insights will help us refine our development process and deliver a more stable and exceptional gaming experience for everyone.
During BETA 2, we gathered thousands of pieces of feedback through various channels, including surveys, community feedback forums, and feedback bots. After intensive internal discussions, we have now roughly outlined our plans for future optimizations and development. Thank you for your patience!
I. Key Issues Raised by Players:
Class Balance:
We aim for every class and build to have distinct characteristics, which is why we've designed a wide variety of class skills, talents, and equipment affixes. However, this has made achieving balance a significant challenge.
As many of you noted in your feedback, our current class balance has notable issues, such as certain classes having overpowered one-shot capabilities with specific builds (e.g., Elemental Sorcerer), some classes possessing skills that cannot be countered, and others lacking sufficient gameplay depth and variety.
As an extraction RPG, our top priority is to ensure balanced escape rates across all classes. To that end, we're sharing a summary of class escape rates in different modes following the balance adjustments on April 30:
From this perspective, there are indeed some imbalances in class performance, but the overall situation remains acceptable. Adjusting balance is highly complex, as even small changes can have far-reaching impacts. Therefore, we do not plan to implement sweeping changes. Instead, we will address the issues identified using relevant statistical data to make a series of targeted adjustments, including but not limited to modifying and adding new skills and talents for each class. These adjustments are not just aimed at resolving balance issues but also at continuously enriching the combat experience. Detailed changes will be announced gradually in the future.
Energy limitations make combat feel less satisfying: As a game with rich PvP elements, we want players to make thoughtful decisions during combat and achieve victory through strategic planning and skillful execution. To support this goal, we designed a stringent Energy penalty system. However, based on current feedback, these penalties may be too harsh, making combat less enjoyable. We will make a series of adjustments to the Energy system, aiming to improve the fluidity and excitement of combat while maintaining the strategic depth.
Unfair Matchmaking: We will comprehensively optimize the matchmaking system, prioritizing combat ability as the primary criterion and equipment quality as a secondary criterion. Matchmaking rules are one of the most important components of the game, and we welcome feedback from all perspectives as we continue to optimize and adjust the system.
Cheating and Teaming Before the next test, we will conduct more thorough anti-cheat testing. Additionally, we are developing features to reduce the success rate of teaming at its source and implementing automatic detection mechanisms. We are also working on a reporting system that will improve the feedback and processing workflow for related issues during the next test. While our preparation for these issues in this test was insufficient, we are confident in delivering a fairer gaming environment in the next test!
Latency and lag issues: For the next test, we will add European servers and relocate the Asian servers to Singapore to better accommodate a broader range of players.
Before this test began, our internal testing had already identified some causes of lag. However, due to time constraints and the complexity of these issues, we were unable to resolve them entirely. For the next test, we will allocate more time to performance optimization and explore the possibility of further lowering the minimum system requirements.
Inventory Overhaul: We will redesign the Inventory system by introducing new mechanics and optimizing restriction rules to make the looting process more flexible.
II. New Content for the Next Test:
A new build for the Seer class, along with female characters for all classes, will be introduced in the next test.
New Stage Modes: Through the new stage modes, we aim to achieve the following: simpler modes will provide low-risk, stable rewards, while more challenging modes will offer high-risk, high-reward gameplay, giving players more options and a more thrilling gaming experience. The new modes are planned to include solo and trio matchmaking. However, we currently do not plan to enable duo matchmaking due to concerns about player numbers during the testing phase and the complexity of balancing classes. We hope for your understanding.
New Escape Methods: While we find the current escape system featuring Returner Woodlings, Souls of Return, and Gyldenmist engaging, relying solely on this single escape method feels somewhat limiting and overly dependent on randomness. Therefore, we will introduce additional escape methods to provide players with more options. Additionally, we plan to implement mechanisms to prevent situations where the final showdown ends in mutual destruction or leaves no time for looting.
The next test will also introduce new bosses, equipment, systems, and more. We'll keep you updated—stay tuned!
III. Next Test Schedule:
For the next test, all Steam accounts that participated in previous tests will automatically retain their test eligibility. We will announce the specific schedule for the next test at a later time, so please stay tuned!
Finally, thank you all once again for your love and support for Mistfall Hunter! We look forward to starting the next test soon!