Introduction
First, let me thank you on behalf of all of us at Poros/Booming for your passion. We understand that you have been asking for specific changes in the ecosystem and some fundamental game mechanics. It is important for us to take these requests seriously and carefully consider every piece of feedback for impact and feasibility. We appreciate our community immensely for wanting to improve the game alongside us, and we want to assure you that we are working diligently behind the scenes. We will build a better experience that you can enjoy for years to come.
As we recently took over from MyGames, we have come to understand a lot of your concerns much better and are working hard to analyze and implement as much as we can. But it's not just the game itself, it's also how we interact with you as a community that will be elevated from now on. Building a unified world of Conquerors Blade with players around the globe, all playing with the same passion for the game. We will have more to say on this in the coming days and weeks.
The community letter recently published to the Discord "Feedback Channel" covers a lot of ground, and over time we want to address all of the topics in that letter. CB is a game with a long history, an established player base, and economy. This means that some game mechanics are deeply ingrained and cannot be completely reworked without disrupting the intricate ecosystem and economy. Our approach is to gradually improve these aspects to avoid causing any shocks. In other aspects, we can take more immediate actions, such as balancing unit values, better community engagement, or enhancing the new player experience.
To help us in this endeavor, we have hired a new team of experts based in the US with extensive experience in game publishing and product management. This team will focus on developing the ex-MyGames regions of CB. This significant step demonstrates one of the ways we are increasing our commitment to improving the game, listening to the community, and enhancing the overall product.
Given the numerous topics mentioned in the community letter, we cannot address everything at once. Today, I will focus on the following areas:
- Community Engagement
- New Player Marketing
- New Player Experience
- Early Gameplay Experience
- Territory War "Rules of Engagement"
- Game Balance (Heavy Armor & Unit Balancing)
In our next update at the end of August, I will address:
- In-Game Economy & Monetization
Additionally, in future updates I will address:
- Crafting Mechanics & Doctrine Alchemy
- Territory War Mechanics
- Game Balance
- Unit Balance
- Ranked Game Mode Philosophy
These topics require more time for thorough review and development. We appreciate your patience and will provide more updates in the future. This is just the beginning, and we sincerely hope you stay with us on this journey.
Your Feedback makes a difference
Even before the reception of the community letter, and us crafting an initial response, I want to highlight the work our dev team has put in to fullfill requests from our community. Some highlights from the past 2 months:
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Better balanced seasonal units
- Sunward Phalanx has been universally received as well balanced and brining tactical depth to the battlefield
- We focused on strength and weaknesses of this unit type and aimed to emulate their impact on the battlefield
Reward different playstyles- We now rewards MVP badges and points based on specific contributions during battle (Highest Support / Highest Damate / Highest Points / Highest Match Contribution)
- You are now rewarded for playing defensively when necessary, capturing important points and switching up your tactics during battle
Make "Leadership Doctrine" (LDS) accessible to everyone- Now you can earn temporary and permanent LDS by simply playing the game
- Reach levels 100, 300 and 500 to earn the much coveted Leadership Doctrine
- A doctrine that required a lot of luck to obtain, is now available even for early stage players
- Leveling the playing field to decrease the power gap between long time players and newer players
Introduced a new map this season- We are working on increasing map diversity with future updates even more
We hope this gives you a sense of how important your feedback is to us, even if we can't always realize all of your wishes. That said, please keep giving us valuable feedback!
Community Engagement
We recently hired two new Community Managers, restarted our social media engagement, and launched our CBL tournament. We are investing in the game's ecosystem and ask for your patience as the new team members familiarize themselves with the environment. Please feel free to reach out to them with any issues.
As we are moving to communicate much closer with our community a key pillar for us is to be more transparent and interactive with you. We will institute monthly community surveys to gauge how we have been doing and how you are rating our progress in interacting with you. These results will then be published with recommendations on how we can improve.
We are also hiring a new part-time Community Manager to specifically manage our Territory War game mode for the EU & AM regions. If you know anyone or if you want to apply yourself, please reach out to the CMs on Discord!
We are hosting the Conqueror's Blade League, our e-sports competitive series, which hasn't run in over three years. This event aims to provide the community with a healthy competitive scene and engaging content, giving competitive players a goal to work towards. You can follow everything CBL HERE and watch the streams for the EU / AMS region HERE. Over the past few weeks we've had thousands of people tune in live, wither over 700ccv at the same time and an average of 500ccv over the course of 9(!) hours each sunday. This generated over 20,000 watch hours just on our channel, which is a record for us. The interest is there and CBL is an important part of our ecosystem, which means it will also get some more attention on how we approach the "Ranked Mode" in general to make the playing field more even.
In addition to online events, we aim to improve our brand and community engagement through in-person industry events. Our first stop is Gamescom on August 25th in Cologne, Germany. If you'd like to participate, you can sign up HER E. If you want us to be at any event near you, please reach out to the mod or dev team on Discord!
New Player Marketing
We are heavily investing in attracting new players, and our efforts have just begun. We are now advertising the game across all major online platforms like Google and Meta. Expect to see more ads from us in the future!
We also recently launched a new creator partnerships program, providing our content creator community with a centralized place to manage their performance, communicate with us, and access content for their audiences. So far we have over 150 creators in our program and have engaged with 50 more that are new to Conquerors Blade, in order promote the game. This generatred thousands of new players already over the past 2 months and we are expanding this program continously.
Additionally, our creator partnerships team is launching paid campaigns to expose new audiences to CB and attract a larger player base. If you have any favorite streamers you'd like us to work with, please contact @confire on Discord. This is just the beginning.
If you are a creator or know someone interested in joining our accredited content creators program, they can sign up HERE.
Even while just building our foundation, we have already seen our efforts pay off and the daily active users have grown steadily in our European and American servers.
New Player Experience
- Current Issues: We observed that previous guides failed to effectively teach key operations such as commanding corps, utilizing corps skills, and managing stiff controls. As a result, players struggled to learn and master these essential actions.
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Upcoming Updates: To address this, we are introducing two new levels: "Battlefield Practice" and "Unit Exercise."
- In Battlefield Practice, players will learn critical battlefield elements (e.g., supply points, ladders, deployable equipment) and basic mechanics of being a general in CB.
- In Unit Exercise, players can freely experience all units and practice their skills with unit abilities.
- These levels will be continuously expanded, and additional playable content will be developed in the near future.
Enhanced Guidance: We will implement guidance prompts during the novice period to help players better understand and interact with their units.
Launch Timeline: Released on the 8th of August 2024.
Community Guidance: A super important topic is also veteran guidance for new players. We absolutely appreciate your assistance in showing newbies around and act as guides together with us. If you have any ways, you think, we can implement an official buddy program. Do let us know.
Early Gameplay Experience
- Current Issues: Some gameplay experiences lack fluency, such as the need to remain stationary for bandaging, with any movement interrupting the process. Additionally, certain specializations have imbalanced combat intensity during the novice period, with noticeable disparities in damage capabilities between new and experienced players.
- Key Mechanisms: Like the phased charging effect of longbows, lack sufficient prompts and guidance.
- Update Plan: Selected content will be updated within two to three weeks, with continuous optimization of the early gameplay experience. Significant changes will be implemented leading up to the next season.
Territory War
- Player Feedback: Many players are eager to participate in the "Territory War" gameplay but are hindered by a lack of guidance and enforcement of rules.
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Rulebook System: We will introduce a rulebook system to gradually clarify game rules during combat.
- The first edition will cover the rules of "Territory War" online gameplay, simplifying the understanding of "Territory War" and territorial warfare.
- Future editions will expand the content and include appropriate strategies. We welcome players to contribute to creating our rules and strategy system.
- To compliment our rulebook or "Rules of Engagement", we want to know you opinion on certain proposed rules and what other rules you might find useful in "Territory War".
Hire a EU based Community Manager that enforces rulebook and works with community on the improvement of Territory War.- This is a part time role, ideal for students or those in the community who have some extra time they want to devote.
- This is a paid contract role for 6 months, that requires in-depth knowledge of Conquerors Blade and Territory War.
- The specific purpose is for this person to be the Game Master of TW in EU and AMS.
We also have our operations team on duty during TW to assist players who encounter issues or need immediate support to enforce the rules of TW.
Launch Timeline: The rulebook for "Territory War" gameplay is expected to be released this season. We are currently in the process of hiring a CM for Territory War. If you think you are the right person for this role, please reach out to
Balance
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Current Issues: Heavy armor is too dominant (>50% of classes) and especially the Sword & Shield class is too commonly encountered on the battlefield. New seasonal T5 units are too strong and skew the balance of the game.
- Heavy Armor: Currently, there are balance issues, particularly with sword and shield generals, which account for over 20% of the total appearance rate. We are adjusting the values of the Longsword & Shield class to reflect a more appropriate balance on the battlefield.
- Long-Range Classes: Some long-range classes that have been weak for an extended period will be buffed and reintroduced.
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Infantry Balance: Men-At-Arms are currently the meta and we aim to have a usable unit pool that is more diverse. Currently >10% of all Small Shield unit picks are Men-At-Arms. We are aiming to balance this by buffing other units and adjusting values for the Men-At-Arms. Balancing infantry units also means we are targeting the heavy armor / sword & shield meta, as these are often the best option to surive in combat.
- An example of a unit that is severely underutilized in the same category is the Silahdar, which barely ever gets picked. We will dramatically buff this unit in order to see how it changes the overall utility of such a unit in the ecosystem.
Seasonal T5 Unit (S19): The balance of the S19 season unit is far better than any previous season and we have received plenty of positive feedback. Our aim is to introduce more units that are well received for the gameplay and bring extra tactical depth to the gameplay.
More on the specific values and affected abilities / attributes will follow in our balancing update in about 4 weeks from now.
We will follow up from this letter in a few weeks and are working to present you with a roadmap soon after. Once again, I want to thank all of you for providing us with valuable feedback. You are the best community a developer could wish for.