Hey gang, we’re back for our second dev journal. If you guessed it means new content is on the way, you guessed right. Read on for the story behind our next patch and a surprise announcement.
As most of our players know, we’re entering the third phase of Elsword Awakened, our three-part series where we chose major elements of the game to revamp and revitalize. For the first phase we went to the heart of Elsword—our six characters—and gave them all a skill overhaul. As we hoped, our players told us that PvP felt more fair and balanced. Oh yeah, we also gave everyone a free skill reset so if they looked at our changes and wanted to make changes of their own, it was all up to them.
In the second phase, we went to the dungeons—if not the heart of Elsword, then certainly its muscular appendages. We zoned in on the secret dungeons, adding a creepy brand new one, making the item drops more plentiful, and sprucing up the AI for better team play.
But, oh what to do for the third phase…
We started with two goals in mind. We wanted to do something a little unexpected, but we also wanted something that the players raved about in the past.
The result? We’re revamping and rebalancing the Gates of Darkness, a special tower defense level we haven’t seen since last Spring. In this side quest, you and three other players repel invading hordes, protect sacred crystals, and tangle with a giant 3-headed dracolich. Yep, good times.
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Players enjoyed the setting of Gates of Darkness and liked the change of pace, but felt it didn’t require enough teamwork. Also some players weren’t satisfied with the rewards. So we gave it a break to see what we could do.
A little tinkering and the Gates of Darkness are new and improved and back for a second helping. This time we added more enemy variety and improved the enemy AI. As a result players will need to work more as a team and play off each other’s strengths, especially at the higher difficulty levels. The new types of monsters will also add surprise and require quick strategy changes on the fly. Lastly we added more gear upgrades and made it easier to acquire them; now the void wyvern gear won’t just be pie in the sky.
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And for the surprise, we’re so confident in the new improvements, that we’re making the level permanent. Well, at least on the weekends. The Gates of Darkness are only open at certain times of the week, so players need to gather together to fend off the infernal void. That’s right Gates of Darkness is no longer the McRib of Elsword, so keep your weekends open and happy dungeon running!
