Eternal Return News

[h3]Hello Lumia Island survivors![/h3]

Welcome to the 2nd Update for changes to Lumia Island.

Like we mentioned in the 1st Update, today’s Dev Journal will focus on the areas and their connected movement.

The design of maps and terrain is often referred to as “level design.” When we were first making Lumia Island, we referenced a lot of different level design from various games in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. This is due to the abundance of FPS-type games in the Battle Royale genre at that time, which shared common features like buildings, roads, and obstacles plastered on modern backgrounds. Additionally, our limited experience in designing levels for three-quarter view games was also a factor.

One of the most disappointing factors of level design for Lumia Island was long roads without any branches in them. In a FPS with that type of terrain, these long roads are good for detours or sniping. But applying them to Lumia Island leads to player reluctance to travel down those paths or go into those areas, which further leads to falling behind other players. In these types of situations, the game becomes monotonous and downright frustrating.

For example, the screenshot below shows the perfect terrain for a third-person shooter (TPS) game.



But it’s much different than the view when playing Eternal Return. You won't be able to see the opponent coming at all with the TPS-type of angle.



Even if you’re able to capture an approaching enemy on camera, structures that appear on the terrain are much more limited.



Forget enemy encounters—even for farming and hunting, existing pathways weren't good for movement because the options are much more limited. There are plenty of times when a player will enter a pathway, realize they didn't need to go down that path after all, but then be stuck thanks to the linear movement.

There are many factors to take into consideration, but to keep it simple, our work is currently focusing on lessening the U-shaped and I-shaped pathways that don’t branch. Instead, our goal is to broaden level design (e.g. terrain) by adding more T- or A-shaped pathways that branch out.



Areas marked by lines in the image below are the pathways that will change when we officially launch in July.



Of those lines, the red ones represent alternate routes through newly opened buildings, such as Construction Site, Police Station and its parking lot, and Factory that we talked about in the last Lumia Island update. Because there were a lot of these straight-shot roads where Alley, Uptown, and Temple meet, we really focused on fixing those areas in particular.

The screenshot below shows a wide-range photo of the new pathways you can take between these areas.







As you can see, there are now more ways for you to explore!

Now let’s talk about movement in detail.

The biggest thing we wanted to work out for level design was the blue lines, or the excessive U-shaped flow. In U-shaped paths, if you enter from one side, you have to come out from the other. In FPS games, these U-shaped paths can be a smart, tactical strategy to grab a good position for sneak attacks or sniping enemies. However, in Eternal Return, as battle is more close-range, they become more like dead ends. This can also create a problem of someone blocking the end of the U-shape, which could lead to complete control over the pathway or area beyond. During materials and item search in early-game, this could mean players only get to search half of the U-path before having to turn around and go all the way back to get out.

In particular, Dock, Uptown, and Beach formed a continuous triple U-shaped path. However, now there will be a new outer movement line that will connect these three areas.

First, this is the path that connects Warehouse (a recently separated area from Dock) with Uptown.









We’re adding a new building to Warehouse, as well as a side entrance near the Meteorite landing zone in Uptown.

Next, we have Uptown and Beach.







We’re adding a new building interior to this side that will connect to Beach via a back door. It may look simple, but the height difference between the two points was so large that it was the most difficult part of our engineering rework.

As a result of this change, there will now be a straight walk from the lighthouse in Dock to the rubber boat in Beach.

Archery Range also has a long U-shaped movement line. The current passageway to Alley is basically a straight shot with only one way in and out. That will change with Official Launch!







Although we didn’t divide Archery Range into a new area, Hotel’s upper terrain now offers more convenient access to






By resolving the excessive amount of existing U-shaped movement, play inside the U-shape will become much more active. If someone gets there before you and all the Wild Animals are already slayed, you will have a much better time as you won’t have to keep running down a boring, linear path.

The movement lines represented in green on the map are also long pathways with very few branches. With the addition of new pathways, these routes will become much more varied.

Let’s take a look at the pathway between Factory and Chapel. Current movement in Factory can be a bit tight and narrow, but with the addition of central building access and a side entrance (that we introduced in “Lumia Island - 1st Update”), it will become a lot more dynamic.







Forest doesn't have many buildings or long roads like the examples mentioned so far. However, it has fewer branching paths which gives you more chances for strategic play. We’re adding another path within Forest which should increase variables significantly.







So far, you've gotten a sneak peek into the upcoming movement and pathway updates on Lumia Island, which you’ll be able to see when we officially launch!

However, have you noticed one of the biggest areas with current movement issues hasn’t been mentioned? That’s right, we haven’t discussed Pond yet. Of the movement lines that will be taken out of the game (as shown in the graphic earlier), Pond is the only O-shaped pathway. We will be discussing Pond in our last level design-related update, “Lumia Island - 3rd Update”.

Now that we’ve covered a ton of changes to the map, why don’t we start actually playing? Next Dev Journal will cover Changes to Accessories. See you soon!

Thank you!

[h3]You can get WP from the Dev Journals on our web event page.[/h3]
[h3]Web Points(WP) are event points that can be obtained and used throughout the Season 9 web events[/h3]

[h3]Hello Lumia Island survivors![/h3]

Today’s Dev Journal will focus on changes to a few different characters.

Over the years, we’ve received a ton of feedback on the structure of character skills. That feedback can be roughly broken down into the following points:

1. Kits that are not interactive from the enemy's perspective
   
2. Excessive utility
   
3. Skills that are too simple or underutilized
   
4. Low accessibility due to high difficulty
   
5. The desire for the addition of more exciting gimmicks
   

Solving all of these problems at the same time is extremely difficult. When it comes to characters, we believe the best course of action is to make them fun with as little changes as possible. If we make huge character changes, even if it is considered a “good direction”, it could feel like a brand new character and cause players to lose affection or attachment to the existing characters they already grew to love. Therefore, character improvements need to start from behind rather than from zero to make them as good as possible.

However, if we don’t change existing play elements, making improvements will be too difficult. A recent example is the changes we made to Silvia’s Fuel System, which we reworked under the guise of Point 4 - "Low accessibility due to high difficulty." Silvia’s play has changed considerably, and while we empathize with players who were already used to her skills, she still shares the same feel as previous iterations. Now we’re seeing a greater increase in play rate for her, even outside of high-ranked games.

Our improvement philosophy was not only to make improvements to issues or changes to be more fun, but also to keep the character’s existing identity alive. However, when necessary, we will be making bigger changes to some characters for the sake of game improvement. Improvements to one character at a time may not seem like a lot, but these little changes add up! With over 50 characters, this leads to a large change for the game. For this reason, we’ll be splitting the Character-related Dev Journals into 4 separate updates.

Let’s start with Aya. Depending on the weapon she uses, Aya’s skill utility often suffers greatly. She’s even seen as the epitome of being an uninteractive right-clicker.

Now her Steady Shot (W) will be faster based on her Attack Speed, and a Basic Attack build will be able to utilize Steady Shot as well. This new utilization should give her more power while using her skills well.



The Attack Speed of Double Shot (Q) will also be faster, based on casting time and projectile bullet speed. After using the skill, she'll temporarily gain an increase in Attack Speed as well.



On the other hand, Aya had too much control over the detonation of her Ultimate. Blank Cartridge (R) is being changed to automatically trigger after a certain period of time. Instead of rooting the enemy for a long time, enemies will now be Feared for a short time. This means Aya can now make more space with her Ultimate, but enemies get to strike back faster.



Magnus’s Tough Body will now increase his defense whenever he hits an enemy with a skill. At max Stacks, Magnus will recover HP. The current Passive trigger conditions have changed, but this will make a big difference in connecting to Magnus’s other skills. (Stacks also slightly increase when using Basic Attacks.)

If Magnus hits with Broken Bullet (Q), he gains a Stack. Every time he damages an enemy with 17 vs 1 (W), his Stacks build up, so this brings good synergy to Tough Body.



However, Magnus will no longer be Unstoppable when he uses 17 vs 1. While 17 vs 1 cannot be stopped by Crowd Control, enemies can stop his movement or knock him back during the animation, allowing for more counterplay.



Additionally, Magnus will no longer be a coward biking away from enemies. The speed of Bike From Hell (R) will now accelerate over time, meaning that running away from a close battle will become more difficult. Now, the new, cool Magnus will strike fear in his enemies as he bikes toward them! Starting the battle by using his bike will also increase the utilization of his new Passive.



Rio uses two types of bow: Daikyu and Hankyu. We’ll be changing Hankyu to be a little more dynamic. When she hits with Hanare (W) while using Hankyu, cooldown for all of her skills will decrease slightly.



However, now the cooldown for Soar (E) will not be reduced even if she hits an enemy. It’ll be a big help to you to hit well with Hanare using Hankyu, but in general, you need to pay more attention to your positioning.

Watch out for your knees—Hankyu’s Ultimate Spirit Arrow (R) will now fly to the end of the map and won’t collide with Wild Animals. Do you think she’ll be able to shoot at an enemy from one side of the Island, then teleport to her hit target?



On the flip side, there are some test subjects in which we’ll be taking away strong utility in the name of improvement.

Adriana is a versatile character, able to used ranged bombs and control areas with her abilities. Her kit also includes Crowd Control and mobility. We had to make a tough choice in regards to her. Either way, her exisiting play style was bound to change no matter what we took out.

After a lot of discussion, we ultimately decided to get rid of her Crowd Control ability. Now, Oil Slick (W) will no longer Ground, and Cocktail Party (R) will no longer knock back enemies.



Additionally, we are getting rid of the mechanic that strengthened damage upon consecutive hits when using Pyromaniac (P), which wasn't intuitive. Enemies will now be Burned and continue to take damage over time instead.



While Adriana is losing some of her utility in Crowd Control, she can now use her skills over a wider range and set the Island on fire! Her new Passive helps highlight the pyromaniac gameplay trait that players love.

Hyejin is also getting changes to her Crowd Control abilities.

Charm of Despair (Q) will no longer Slow enemies.



Charm of the Prophecy (W) will longer have a second cast and will automatically explode after a certain period of time. Instead of being able to use it twice in a row to immediately root enemies, it will now pull enemies into the center of the talisman.



Additionally, we're also taking out arrival damage when you recast Charm of the Nomad (E), and it will only deal damage while traveling.



Both of these changes mean that managing Stacks of Three Calamities (P) will become more difficult than before. For example, Hyejin's signature ERE combo will no longer be enough to immediately trigger Three Calamities.

All of these combined mean that Hyejin’s Crowd Control has been significantly diminished. Her Crowd Control was difficult for other players to respond to and it was ironically what stopped her from getting stronger. Due to these points, Hyejin has been historically hard to balance in modes. By lowering the Crowd Control ability of Charm of Despair (Q), we’ve reduced the cooldown and added cooldown reduction upon a hit. This way, as Hyejin's main offensive tool, the skill can be used more and its power will increase. We will finally be able to increase her DPS (Damage per Second) with the discussed changes.

We will also be simplifying a few of Sissela’s gimmicks. First, Go Get 'Em Wilson! (Q) will no longer deal damage as Wilson flies forward and will only deal damage one time when he arrives.



Girl in a Bubble (W) is keeping immunity to damage, but is getting rid of Untargetable, which means an enemy’s Crowd Control effect will now work on Sissela.



Additionally, Play With Us! (E) can no longer be used on allies. Now you won’t have to worry about team member location in a majority of team play and it will be much easier to use.



Moving forward, we will be changing our approach with the “invincibility period” in character kits so that Damage Immunity and Untargetable cannot be used at the same time. Adela’s Checkmate (R) will also keep immunity to damage, but she can now be targetted. Accordingly, enemies can knock Adela back or stun her to keep her in check, even when she uses her Ultimate.



For Sissela and Adela, we’re weakening their skill gimmicks and not adding anything new. However, “weakening gimmicks” and “weakening skills” are not the same. These two test subjects are taking back individual skill power that had been suppressed for balance reasons due to strong skill structure that was difficult to respond to.

Another character that will become more simplified is Adina. Adina is famous for having complicated Celestial gimmicks and difficult Tooltips. Overall, we wanted to keep her unique play style that utilizes Conjunct, as well as her strong long-distance suppression abilities, while also making the skills more intuitive and reducing excessive utility for other players.

The Sun, Moon, and Star will now have the same basic hitbox, and instead of dealing continuous damage, the Sun will now deal increased damage. Stargazing (P)'s triggered slowdown effect has been deleted, and Luminary (Q)'s Moon knock back has been removed. Astral Trine (W)'s Star Unstoppable state has been changed to a shield. Thanks to these changes, if enemies are able to avoid Adina’s main skills, they will be able to target her more easily.



We'll be making some of her skill projectiles to be faster and/or have longer range. To compensate for her Crowd Control removals, skill combos will be revamped to keep some of their current strengths while becoming smoother. We're also lowering the amount of text in her tooltips to no longer rival that of a college textbook in hopes of making her more approachable.



Reactivity to Isol’s MOK Operational Mine (R) will also be adjusted. We will slightly reduce the range of enemy recognition and increase the explosion range slightly. So, instead of the current system in which enemies can easily become powerless after stepping on the bomb and jumping back, they will be able to avoid it by reacting as soon as they step on it or using a movement skill.



The number of available Stacks for MOK Operational Mine will now be 2, which should make it easier to be utilized in a variety of ways.



We will also reduce the area range of the Root when Semtex Bomb (Q) explodes so that it no longer affects a wide area.



We are also adjusting Rebel Assault (W) to allow this skill to be used more rapidly.



While we are making large changes to Isol’s skills, his biggest change comes in the form of Mastery. Among various existing Masteries, Trap Mastery will be removed, and MOK Operational Mine will now deal skill damage instead of trap damage.

However, the removal of Trap Mastery is not meant to reduce the unique gimmicks of traps. We wanted to move away from the idea of “traps only being strong when mass crafted.” We want to make sure that qualitative use of well-placed traps matters more than quantitatively and rapidly putting down summons. Changes to traps will be explained further in the future update “Cameras and Traps”.

Changes to character skill kits will be explored even further in “Characters - 2nd Update”. Additionally, even if some character skills are not changing, we are currently working on visual improvements as well.

As such, let’s switch over to discussing Effect Transparency.

One of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve received about character fights in Eternal Return is the visibility of skills. A lot of the feedback focused on the inability to clearly see skills due to wide range skills covering a large portion of the view. In response, we’re working to improve skill effects and make them more clear across the board, so that when skills are overlapping, players can distinguish the different effects.

Here are a few examples:

[h3]Priya’s Echoes of the Earth (R)[/h3]


[h3]Alex’s EMP Barrage (R)[/h3]


[h3]Jan's The Tetragon (R)[/h3]


[h3]Jenny’s Acceptance Speech (R)[/h3]


[h3]Celine’s Magnetic Compulsion (R)[/h3]


[h3]Tia's Full Rainbow (R)[/h3]


[h3]William’s Signature Fireball (R)[/h3]


Today, we looked at the changes that some characters will undergo for Official Launch.

Making changes to characters is one of the hardest and most sensitive areas when it comes to the development process. Even amongst the Dev Team, it’s common to have endless discussions about characters and what improvements should be made without reaching a solid conclusion—and these discussions often include members who have played endless hours of a character. Whenever there’s a new proposal among the Dev Team, we call it “Initiating”. More than half of these new proposals do not come to fruition after internal discussions and series of subsequent testing.

That’s why the changes introduced to you today might also be subject to change during the development process and may be improved during future updates after Official Launch.

The next Dev Journal will focus again on more changes to Lumia Island. This will be our second update to changes to the map. Hope to see you then!

Thanks for reading!

[h3]You can get WP from the Dev Journals on our web event page.[/h3]
[h3]Web Points(WP) are event points that can be obtained and used throughout the Season 9 web events[/h3]

[h3]hello Lumia Island survivors![/h3]

Today’s Dev Journal will cover the changes to Wild Animals on Lumia Island.

Hunting Wild Animals is one of the most utilized parts of playing Eternal Return.

Although it’s not as exciting or intense as battling with other test subjects, we wanted to beef it up to make it even better as players spend a lot more time hunting compared to PvP.

(Note: All example images are still in development and are subject to change.)

We’ve added a small pattern for Wild Animals, which will make them slightly more rhythmical.

Let’s start with Bats. Bats are a way for the organizers of the experiment to keep an eye on all test subjects. This is why you’re able to get cameras when you slay them.

Now, as soon as you slay a bat, an Eye of the Beholder will be installed where its carcus is. Eye of the Beholder is a special camera that cannot be destroyed by attacks but that disappears after a short period of time.



Before, the use of cameras was a bit limited. Now, with the Eye of the Beholder, it can become a key point of vision for players. It also gives meaning to where bats are killed, as well as the timing involved with pulling or luring them to specific spots. For example, killing a bat in or next to a bush won’t be of much help!



Boar charging is one of the most loved gimmicks of our Wild Animals. It’s fun to work around and very useful when it comes to blocking paths or moving, but it can be annoying or difficult to deal with in early game.

Boars are now becoming stronger! However, if a boar's charge fails, they become stunned immediately and their defense is lowered for a short period. So avoid the charge and focus on attacking at the right moment—even the slower test subjects will find it easier to hunt boars this way!



Because boars are larger, you can now get more meat from them. If you don’t have enough food, hunt a boar and bring the meat to the new campfires for a tasty snack!

On the other hand, Wild Dogs don’t take as long to hunt as boars because they aren’t as durable. Still, their attacks are sharp and they can take a lot of damage. However, the difficulty of Wild Dogs greatly varies from test subject to test subject, so with their Bite Skill, this difference will get smaller. When Wild Dogs use their Bite Skill, they get faster, can quickly chase down ranged test subjects, and give additional damage and healing reduction effects. Even characters with good Omnisyphon will find these encounters difficult.



Chickens can also move faster now. The increase in speed for Wild Dogs and Chickens was made to help you get leather faster, even when you slay them from afar.

The Wolf’s Howl has changed to a new skill. If another wolf is killed, they recover some HP and their attack speed becomes faster, increasing their Ferocity. This means it’s more advantageous for wolves to attack in a group rather than one at a time.



The pattern of Wild Animals when hunting gives off a slight sense of rhythm that adds flavor to the game. It’s pretty easy to memorize if you hunt a few times. It won’t be a huge problem if you don’t learn it, but it will be effective to your gameplay to at least recognize it. Once you get used to it, we bet you’ll follow the rhythm without even realizing it!



This new system means that there will be many more herds of Wild Animals around Lumia Island. While Wild Animals don’t give special materials like Tree of Life or Meteorite, they are a great subobjective to gain Credits and experience. This will offer more of a choice between hunting and finding objects, which is a dilemma players often face as they traverse through Lumia.



However, once you attack one animal, you’re now in combat mode with the rest of the herd. You’ll now have to be more careful with the Wolf’s increased Ferocity and the Wild Dog’s Bite Skill. Of course, you’ll also need to be cautious around Boars and Bears who still use threatening CCs. If you battle near a herd, a new kind of battle may unfold in an animal-rich environment which was hard to find on Lumia before!

Although not as common as Wild Animals, the pattern of objects you want to get will also become more varied comparatively.

Tree of Life and Meteorite will now have a two-stage collection. Even if you have to cancel in the middle of collecting them, if the first stage is already complete, you’ll start collecting again from there.



The overall collection time will increase slightly, so you’ll need to capitalize on the space around the object for a longer period of time. However, the stages are shorter than before, which means that it will be easier to respond to interruptions when collecting.

Additionally, System Overload applied to Alpha, Omega, and Wickeline has been improved. Before, whenever you dealt damage every few seconds, System Overload dealt additional damage and slowed them. Now, when System Overload is triggered, they will take additional damage, become stunned, and their defense disappears. So during this short period of time, there is a “burst timing” that deals a huge amount of damage.



However, the huge explosion when System Overload is set off pushes other test subjects in the vicinity away. This could be a strong variable in your strategy if enemies are lurking! The forewarning effect will vary between burst timing and explosion effects, so make sure you’re keeping an eye on it!

Wickeline now has a new skill called “Toxic Explosion”. The closest test subjects to her will become toxic and slowed. When the toxin explodes, it deals heavy damage to nearby test subjects, which will spread the toxic contagion. You’ll need to pay close attention when you’re on a team or when you’re in the vicinty of someone fighting Wickeline.



All images for Wild Animals and objects are a currently work in progress, so improvements to direction and UI are still in development. If these new patterns fit well with the Wild Animals, we think it’ll add a dash of memorable fun to the game, which will increase control and tactical enjoyment.

Additionally, you’ll naturally grab objects and get to know the process as it goes along. You will also be able to check where Alpha, Omega, and Wickeline will spawn on the Minimap!



Until now, your only clue to where they would spawn was the area. Now you’ll be able to see in advance where they’ll spawn!

More information about this will be released in update “Operator Nadja”.

So far, we’ve covered changes to Lumia Island, campfires & food, and Wild Animals. Next Dev Journal, we’ll start covering one of the most important changes that we’re sure you’re all waiting for—characters!

Stay tuned for “Characters - 1st Update” coming soon.

Thank you!

[h3]You can get WP from the Dev Journals on our web event page.[/h3]
[h3]Web Points(WP) are event points that can be obtained and used throughout the Season 9 web events[/h3]

Hello Lumia Island survivors!

Are you worried about not having enough points for your ER Pass before deactivation? Well, here's your chance to score more points!

We'll be running an ER Point Boost event from May 25th - July 16th (PT) for you to achieve an ER Pass level as smoothly as possible!

Check below for more details.

[h3][ER Point Boost Event][/h3]

By logging in every day during the event, you can get an ER Point Boost (1-day).
The Boost will be immediately sent to your in-game mailbox and you will have one day to claim it.



*Boosts are immediately applied upon claiming.
*If you do not receive an ER Point Boost, please reconnect to the game and try again.

[h3]Maintenance is done!
Please restart the client to download the update.[/h3]



Eternal Return will undergo temporary maintenance for an estimated time of 4 hours on May 24th at 7 PM (PT) to update Patch 0.85.0.

* The game will be unavailable during the maintenance period.
* Please restart your client after the update.
* Use of the event page may be limited during maintenance.

Thank you for your patience!