Hello. This is BrownDust2 PD Junhee Lee.
Even though it hasn't been long since the previous developer note came out,
I would like to tell you about the issue of critical damage and critical rate, which recently has been debated through various channels.
In the previous developer note, we said we would improve the stress of retrying for the Fiend Hunter critical hit rate.
Afterward, we created a gimmick that three consecutive hits on a weak spot would result in a guaranteed critical hit after several reviews within the development team.
First of all, we would like to apologize for not communicating about this sufficiently in advance because many users have been concerned about a fall in the value of the critical rate as a side effect.
Regarding this gimmick of Fiend Hunter, we are planning to receive all global users' opinions after conducting a survey on Mar 21st (Thu) when the Fiend Hunter period begins.
And then we will review this gimmick once again for improvement.
Today, I would like to explain more specific information about the Fiend Hunter improvements.
◎ The core fun of Fiend Hunter
First of all, the fun element we wanted to give to users in the Fiend Hunter was defeating the Fiend by changing the characters, placement, and order according to the characteristics of the Fiend that change every time.
Therefore, the goal was to allow each user to find their optimal formation and enjoy the fun of strategy after defeating Fiends.
In this process, we designed a system with no restrictions on retry because we needed an environment where we could test and challenge the battle multiple times to find the right answer.
◎ About practice battles and entry restrictions
During the initial planning of Fiend Hunter, we also considered limiting the number of entries and providing a practice battle function.
However, even if you test with the best setting in the practice battle, there is a possibility that you will make a mistake in the actual battle.
Also, when a critical hit does not occur, low damage is applied and we thought that relying on "Luck" itself would cause an unpleasant experience for our users.
Therefore, we did not apply this system.
◎ About improvements and convenience on Feb 15th
We tried to improve both good things and shortcomings by conducting trial seasons every four weeks since the first release of Fiend Hunter based on the purpose of the content as above and after reviewing.
The Fiend Hunter is the content that users enjoyed the most among the updated content so far.
We wanted to expand the Fiend Hunter as the content that would be conducted more frequently and delve deeper than before.
Of course, we were concerned that fatigue would increase as more frequent and in-depth elements arise, so we also considered useful functions such as 'quick battle'.
As a result, several elements were applied at once, such as a shortened preparation period, the use of multiple teams, and conditional skills on Feb 15th of Fiend Hunter reorganization.
Looking back on the two seasons since then, I realize that each element applied has had a big impact on making it more 'heavy content' than before.
◎ About retry and critical hits
We focused on figuring out the reasons why even the previously good things of Fiend Hunter faded away and the content quickly became fatigued after the reorganization.
Even if there are still many inconvenient things, such as having to select and remove characters and equipment every time, etc.
We have determined that each of the factors below had a high impact on each other on 'retry' and that a solution was needed.
1. Retry to find the correct answer by changing the characters, placement, and order.
2. Retry until you reach the high damage by a critical hit.
3. High fatigue in a battle due to the use of multiple teams.
Currently, in order to inflict high damage on a Fiend,
it is a structure that additionally has to do a battle close to the correct answer to inflict damage close to the maximum score intended by the user based on whether the critical hit has occurred as desired.
Here, there are frequent situations where the damage inflicted may be low because no critical hits occurred even though the battle with perfect settings and strategies,
or the score is high even though battles are fought with settings that are not correct because critical hits occur frequently.
In other words, the process of finding the correct answer has become more difficult, and it is difficult to even judge whether what I played is the correct answer.
In particular, it becomes burdensome because you have to use multiple teams in one battle as the level of the Fiend increases.
I thought the reason was that hundreds or thousands of retries were needed to achieve a high score which further increased fatigue.
In conclusion, we judged that the current retry is a big difference from ‘the fun of finding the right answer by challenging yourself in various ways’ that the existing Fiend Hunter tried to provide.
We judged that the most urgent priority was to provide users with a ‘pleasant environment where they can have fun finding the right answer.’
◎ About this improvement plan
We considered various ways to solve this problem.
Such as providing an environment that makes retrying easier, or creating an environment where retrying is less necessary by providing a bonus to the critical hit probability.
Or, going back to the initial plans such as using one team or limiting the number of attempts to limit retry...
We conducted a review in several aspects referring to the user's opinions.
Before concluding the review, let me start with the improvement goal: I wanted Fiend Hunter to be content that can be enjoyed as a game.
I thought it should be a 'try again for strategy' process which was the original intention through finding and trying a better answer according to their situation rather than 'retrying until a critical hit occurs'.
Rather than expecting a critical hit to occur in battle, think about 'how can I change the arrangement and order to get better results?'
I thought that worrying about this was the fun that BrownDust2 could provide.
In the case of other options, the frequency of retrying can be reduced, thereby reducing fatigue.
But there is no change in the fact that you still have to retry until a critical hit occurs.
This is the reason why we chose this improvement plan after reviewing various options.
The problem is still not solved because we had to give up on achieving the highest score even if we decided to compromise on this with Crit Rate.
In the case of Fiend Hunter, it is content that requires more time than the other battles to find the correct answer by completing many more turns.
I chose a somewhat drastic improvement plan because fatigue will be more than twice that of other content
if it becomes 'content where you have to expect luck from critical hits' every time.
We also deeply considered providing additional equipment slots, which many people agreed with.
In the case of this plan, there are problems such as
- The problem of Fiend Hunter will also affect the balance of other contents
- Each character is divided into characters that benefit more from additional equipment slots or those that do not
- The fact that the retry itself still needs to be done although the frequency of having to retry will decrease, even if you can utilize additional equipment slots to assist with critical settings.
As mentioned above, unfortunately, we cannot proceed with providing additional equipment slots.
We would like to thank the many users who have given their opinions, including the above, and we would be grateful if you could continue to provide us with various opinions.
To preserve the fun we originally wanted to provide, we made improvements in a somewhat radical way, confusing many users.
We deeply sympathize with and feel sorry for the decline in the value of the 'Critical Rate' in Fiend Hunter.
In future content, we promise to prepare so that Critical Rate can be applied as more meaningful and strategic.
◎ Additional considerations
I will also briefly tell you what additional things we are preparing.
1. Practice Battle System
We are preparing a system to provide practice battles during the preparation period for Fiend Hunter.
The original intention of the preparation period was to prepare for establishing the necessary strategies for hunting Fiends.
Currently, it is difficult to make a specific strategy with only the simple information provided during the preparation period, and the number of steps to prepare is increasing.
We are trying to improve it so that you can research specific strategies, such as aiming for high scores through direct battle.
2. Retry System on the Previous Turn
We are preparing a system that will allow you to retry from the previous turn instead of the beginning.
We are trying to reduce the fatigue caused by longer battle times when using two or more teams through the above system.
We are considered to apply this to the entire system so that it can be used in most battles, including Fiend Hunter.
We would like to apologize once again for the lack of explanation on important issues even if we hoped that many users would enjoy the March update.
In the future, we will inform you more clearly and quickly about the direction of development.
Additionally, we are preparing a live broadcast to commemorate the 300th day in April.
We will communicate with users about the results of the Fiend Hunter survey and inform you about the April update on the broadcast.
So, as always, I would like to end the developer note with a gift.
[Developer Note Gift]
- 600 Dias
- 40 Cooked Rice
※ Developer Note Gifts can be received from your mailbox until March 20th, 2024 (KST).
Well, we hope that the [Medical Club] Teresse and [Disciplinary Committee] Glacia will bring joy to you.
Please give us various opinions after playing the Fiend Hunter's new guaranteed critical hit gimmick.
Thank you.
