1. Sands of Salzaar
  2. News

Sands of Salzaar News

Future Roadmap and Update V1.0.0.4

Hello Travelers,

Five days past the official launch and we are truly grateful that we can share this thrilling desert journey with players around the world. In the past few days, we’ve been receiving lots of feedback, suggestions and support from our community and continuously fixing in-game issues with daily patches. Now it’s time to sit down around the fireplace, talking about our future dev plans and bringing you the freshly-released update V1.0.0.4!

For upcoming weeks we will release updates regularly about once or twice a week while later on move to a more steady pace of iteration.

First of all, we would like to address those major in-game issues that players are most concerned about:

[h3]English Localization and Text UI[/h3]
Localization is one of the most discussed topics to be improved among players’ feedback, especially regarding UI issues of English texts (including incomplete display of dialogs, text truncation and overflow…) and some misleading translation of quests.

To better locate these issues, we will run a thorough localization QA test after launch to find and fix them. This might not be a short-term project considering the huge amount of in-game texts but we will keep optimizing it step-by-step in the following weeks.

[h3]In-Game Tutorials and Guides[/h3]
As for an open world RPG, our initial aim is to encourage players to freely explore the desert, shaping adventure differently and becoming stronger in every playthrough based on the Legacy system as well as experience and discoveries borrowed from previous runs. However, we are also aware that such an idea of a highly open-ended design might lead to unclearness of directions for many players especially at the early stage - such as about how to use skills or follow certain quests.

Therefore, in future updates, we are planning to optimize those in-game systems to be more comprehensible to use as well as adding some tutorials and guides to assist new travelers in order to provide a better gameplay experience.

[h3]Fix Crashing, Blackscreen, Missing Saves[/h3]
Those basic functionality bugs like game crash, freezing, blackscreen as well as lost save files and save loading issues will be continuously addressed in the upcoming patches.

Talking of old save loading, though we would encourage players to try the new game and embark on a brand-new journey in V1.0, we also designed an old save conversion tool to help those Early Access players convert their old saves to be compatible with the new version in terms of skills and arms units porting. However, it is worth noting that some custom buildings and old equipment entries cannot be fully ported to the new saves due to version differences, while saves with mods installed will also require updates of specific mods for 1.0 compatibility.

For those individual save issues, our team has been continuously fixing them one-by-one in recent updates based on players’ reports and save files provided. If you encounter any save issues, please also send a ticket in our Discord or submit a bug report form directly :D

[h3]Game Stats Balancing[/h3]
In V1.0, we totally reworked in-game stats in all aspects in order to adjust combat difficulty, skills, arms units, resources acquisitions and the economy growth curve that players had required for optimization during Early Access. However, according to current players’ feedback, there is certainly scope for more improvement in game stats balancing, especially regarding the mid-late stage of the game.

In this sense, we will continue to adjust overall gameplay difficulty in terms of combat, resources acquisitions and equipment stats in the following updates, and keep them layered in different runs as well as further distinguish stats systems of each difficulty level in both Story and Sandbox Mode.

[hr][/hr]
[h3]Future Roadmap[/h3]
Based on the above discussions, here’s our post-launch roadmap addressing the expected major updates in the future:



December
- Fix UI issues of English texts;

- Keep troubleshooting and fixing major bugs reported by players;

- Keep fixing missing saves and save loading issues;

- Sustainly fix crashing and lagging issues;

- Add more guidance info at the early stage of the game;

- develop options to adjust combat speed;

- Combat optimization such as on difficulty balance, equipment entries, resource acquisition;

- Improve the early-stage game experience by adjusting legacy skills, sorting combat items and more;

January
- Keep optimizing combat stats including difficulty, resource acquisition, and more;

- Keep improving localization;

- Sustainly optimize combat maps and siege maps;

- Optimize modding environment by providing dungeon MOD samples, maintenance and update on MOD Wiki pages;

February
- Enable playing as a tribal chief at the start of the game in Sandbox Mode;

- Optimize siege maps with more new siege buildings;

- Keep improving game performance to address lagging issues
……

Also, we might adjust the update plans according to the actual development progress and will definitely let you know how they’re coming along in future blogs.

[hr][/hr]
[h3]Update V1.0.0.4 is Live Now[/h3]
Also, besides the roadmap, we are bringing you the newly-released update V1.0.0.4. Please check out the update log below:

New Additions:
- Now NPCs who teach magics in each region will provide hints about the number of Arcana skills you can obtain according to your Arcana Talent

- New UI Added - A new Combat Shortcut Bar



Adjustments:
- Before the player’s level reaches lv.10, it will no longer assign a higher level NPC as the target in the random quest - debt collector

- Nerfed ⅓ obtainable Favor of NPC Lord

- Added an ATK range to Weapon - Staff such that Witch’s shadows now own the ranged attack ability instead of dealing melee attack only

- Increased the gear drop rate from dungeons as well as the diversity of Lv.1-10 gears that could be obtained from dungeons

- Optimized map art of Twinluna Valley & West Docana Desert

- Random quest - Retrieve runaway villagers, reduced ¼ range of the 3 villagers‘ spawn area

- Random quest - Tavern Brawl, the quest object will no longer be settled in the city of Ifrit

Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that caused wrong ownership of the lord title when the lord had been exiled by the faction. (With the update, All save slots will be converted to the correct version, which the ownership of lord title will be given back to the NPC)

- Fixed a bug that caused a wrong duel target addressed while the target was in another team in the random quest - Debt Collector

- Fixed a bug that erroneously caused a city lord to be in the wild when trying to convince him to join your team but your team was already full

- Fixed a bug that caused the actual effect of Sultan’s skill Epoch Crystal Core is unmatched with its description

- Fixed a bug that caused wrong quest target appearance in the map when random quests - redemption & chase are expired to complete

- Fixed a bug that caused a non-response issue when the number of magic skill pages to be learned exceeded your learning capacity (now it’s able to auto-hide “Self-learned” skill pages)

- Fixed wrong stats & description of skill [Aegis Aura] from Role - Sentinel

- Fixed a bug that caused talent [Malitia] not to be applied functionally

- Fixed a bug that caused the error when loading save slots, now after improving system compatibility, some of them will be able to load functionally (We’re looking into the associated UI display issue and will fix it soon)

If you have any other feedback or suggestions, please let us know in our Discord channels or submit a bug report form which we will be checking regularly. We are also hosting a variety of prize-giving events in our Discord Tavern. Join us and have fun with other fellow travelers!



Stay tuned for more updates underway and we will see you then!

More community supports (Mods, Events, etc)

Hi Travellers:

We’ve been busy on the game content update recently, but in this post we’d like to talk about other community supports we’re planning. We’ve seen a host of incredible creations from our amazing community in early access. Turing into V.1.0, we'd like to bring you the further steps:

[h3]English Mods[/h3]
Sands of Salzaar has been packed full of weird and wonderful mods from the community since EA launch. And you may notice some of the mods are temporarily not running in the new game version because of the updates of game environment parameters/system compatibility with 1.0 Full Release.

We’ve keen to see that more creation masterpieces from the community will be playable and readable among the players from different areas. And this is already in our consideration -
The team will be working on fixing the version gap and try providing updated English mods in our further plans.

Feel free to fill our form here if you have any aimed mod from the Workshop that you hope to be localized later on!

[h3]Discord events[/h3]
Besides, let’s have a glance at what we’re doing now:
A Walkthrough collection event is ongoing for the community. Rules are quite simple and reward is promising - write down your personal shares/tips and a chance to take home a $50 Steam Gift Card in our Salzaar Tavern!

We can’t wait to see what you will bring up to us! Join the event before Dec 30th!

Update Log V1.0.0.4 and New Roadmap will be arriving

Hi Travelers,

A short spoiler about what we are now working on - Update V1.0.0.4 is underway to meet you guys tomorrow, fixing issues like magic learning skills, optimizing maps and increasing availability of certain gears when players explore dungeons.

For more details, check out the current content in V1.0.0.4 below. Also, please note that this is only the preview and we will keep adding new content into the update:

[h2]Update Log V1.0.0.4 Preview[/h2]
[h3]New Additions:[/h3]
- Now NPCs who teach magics in each region will provide hints about the number of Arcana skills you can obtain according to your Arcana Talent.

[h3]Adjustments:[/h3]
- Added an ATK range to Weapon - Staff such that Witch’s shadows now own the ranged attack ability instead of dealing melee attack only.

- Increased the gear drop rate from dungeons as well as the diversity of Lv.1-10 gears that could be obtained from dungeons.

- Optimized map art of Twinluna Valley & West Docana Desert.

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]
- Fixed a bug that caused a wrong duel target addressed while the target was in another team in the random quest - Debt Collector.

- Fixed a bug that erroneously caused a city lord to be in the wild when trying to convince him to join your team but your team was already full.

- Fixed a bug that caused the actual effect of Sultan’s skill Epoch Crystal Core is unmatched with its description.

- Fixed a bug that caused wrong quest target appearance in the map when random quests - redemption & chase are expired to complete.

- Fixed a bug that caused a non-response issue when the number of magic skill pages to be learned exceeded your learning capacity (now it’s able to auto-hide “Self-learned” skill pages).
……

Besides the upcoming update, we are currently preparing a future roadmap based on players’ feedback and suggestions from the community. It will address the patches on the horizon as well as those Quality of Life updates in the future, including localization, quest guides and more.

If you encounter any in-game issues or have any advice for our game, please contact us in our Discord channels or fill in this bug report form for submission. The devs will quickly look into the issues and update the game regularly in the following weeks.



Stay tuned and see you guys tomorrow!

Update Log 1.0.0.3 (Sandbox Unlock, Ifrit Lord Nerfed)

Hi Travelers,

Hope you had a great weekend in the Desert of Salzaar! Based on all your precious feedback and bug reports for V1.0, our dev team has been working on optimizing the build in the past few days and here comes the freshly released Update V1.0.0.3!

In this patch, the damage and HP of the BOSS Ifrit Lord has been reduced for better gameplay balance in terms of difficulty. Also, players no longer have to complete the Story Mode in order to unlock the Sandbox Mode. You are now able to freely explore the desert when launching the game even for the first time.

As for text UI, the issue of missing dialogs when learning Magics has been solved, and the devs will keep fixing Magic learning bugs for your heroes. Besides, the task of purchasing Ifrit Seared Beef becomes easier as now you can buy the item from Fleur and Mireton as well.

For more details about V1.0.0.3, check out the update log below:

[h2]2021-12-20 Salzaar Update Log (V.1.0.0.3)[/h2]
[h3]Adjustments[/h3]
- Sandbox mode initially opens to all players now, without story mode completion required



- Increased ATK range of Alpha Wolf

- Improved the accuracy of Archers

- Allowed to purchase Ifrit Seared Beef in different locations - Fleur, Mireton and Diresprings when accepted the quest - Beef with the Grunts

- Allowed to purchase Rose Cake from Fleur when accepted quest - Rose Cake

- Greatly nerfed HP & DMG of Lord Ifrit

- Increased Mana recovery in the main storyline when fighting to Swordmaster from Ruha

- Nerfed HP & DMG Ice Princess, and reduced her Ice Dragon Summoning duration from 30s to 12s

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]
- Fixed a bug that caused Spirit Witch taken wrong DMG when casting [Dread Bolt] to controlled minions

- Fixed a bug where Sultan dealt DMG mistakenly to allies when casting banner or shield skills

- Fixed a bug that caused the dialogs box to not work functionally while teaching/learning Magics

- Fixed a bug that caused Shaman’s Drake form not to be immune from stunned & frozen while under Shock or Frost effects

- Fixed a bug that caused Lightning chains to deal DMG mistakenly to allies

- Fixed a bug where the Skill [Sky Gazer] was repeatedly triggered

- Fixed a bug that prevented Skill [Rehabilitation] from healing injured troops

- Fixed the wrong description of some item expirations

- Fixed a bug that occurred in the skill bar when dragging & dropping unsaved skills

- Fixed a bug that caused equipment duplication when enchanting it

- Fixed a bug that caused laggy or stuck issues due to map collision

- Fixed a bug where the quest “Into the Abyss - The Akhal” was stuck when you refused to wipe out the Dakn faction

- Fixed a bug that caused the recommendation letter not to be delivered to leaders of any factions in random quests

- Fixed a bug where NPC Ishtar disappeared mistakenly when completing the quest - On the Hunt for Rabia (New Save Slot Required)

- Fixed the unmatched description/name issues of some dungeon mobs

- Fixed a bug that caused the CD of Return Scroll not to be shown correctly

- Fixed a bug that caused abuse of resource earning from the random quest - Accuse ruler

- Fixed a bug that prevented quest pathfinder from reaching heroic statues of Crying Rock & Zagros Mountains

- Fixed a bug that caused the wrong version of Dakn units obtained from Dakn recruitment

- Fixed a bug where troop recruitment in Akhal faction was erroneously displayed and didn’t work when the relationship favor point was above 50

- Fixed a bug that caused the quantity of T6 troops not to be counted correctly in Manage Garrison section

Besides releasing the update, we also noticed that many of the players' requests from Steam Community are regarding localization optimization. The team is currently discussing and will keep optimizing the translation to offer a smoother English gameplay experience to everyone.

Therefore, if you encounter any localization errors or other in-game bugs, it will be really helpful if you could contact us in our Discord channels or fill in this bug report form for submission. The devs will quickly look into the issues and update the game regularly in the following weeks.



Also, in our Discord Tavern, we are holding a variety of celebration events and prize-giving content creation activities. Come take a look with a chance of winning $50 Steam Gift Cards and have a nice stay with all fellow travelers around for leisure and chat!

If you’re a streamer/YouTuber and interested in reviewing and making content for our game, you can also request access by filling in our Content Creator form or contacting us by email ([email protected]).

Until next time!

Update Log 1.0.0.2 (Bug Fixing, Text Display Issues)

Hi Travelers,

Great to see you again! The game has been out of Early Access for over 30 hours and we are very delighted to see so many new travelers have already embarked on the Salzaar desert journey and keep providing us with valuable feedback. Thank you all for your continuous support and suggestions!

Based on your feedback, we are now releasing the V1.0.0.2 patch, fixing a couple of English text display errors, units stucking and some unclickable bugs that you guys are concerned most as well as brawling skill issues.

We are carefully reading all your bug reports and advice, and will absorb them into our future development. The dev team will keep optimizing the build and localization to improve your English gameplay experience. If you encounter any in-game problems, send a ticket in our Discord OR fill in this bug report form. Our devs will definitely help look into it.

For more details about this update, check out the patch note below:

[h2]2021-12-17 Salzaar Update Log (V.1.0.0.2)[/h2]

[h3]New Changes:[/h3]
- Default skill will be auto-equipped if the roles haven't equipped any specific skill in [Brawl Tavern]
- All roles will respawn with a Healing Orb & Mana Orb now
- Slightly nerfed mobs/encounters’ power
- Skill Type/Descriptions has been added to Brawl Skill Bar



- Refined [Recommended Lv] Stats for map exploration/dungeon
- Nerfed part of Dungeon Boss by reducing ATK attributes (dynamic change by team members)
- Added a Brawl Skill page for NPC Selene

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]
- Fixed Dialog UI for English text display, mainly in some NPC Chat Bubbles
- Improved [Legacy Skill Page] & [Talent Skill Page] UI display
- Fixed a bug that caused the wrong location of heroic Soul of Umbra Cliff
- Fixed a bug that caused assistance to be executed mistakenly under the WANTED status
- Fixed a bug that caused NPC ATK in [Brawl Tavern]to be half reduced
- Fixed some wrong descriptions of NPC interaction events
- Fixed a bug that caused some dungeons unclickable due to map collision
- Fixed a bug that prevented units from moving on the map due to map collision
- Fixed a bug that caused Skill [Bounty Frenzy] to not be worked functionally to armors
- Fixed a bug that caused the MIND CONTROL effect to not be worked functionally
- Fixed a crash that occurred due to the parameter of MAX inventory capacity being over changed in some MODs
- Fixed a bug that caused [Item Merge] UI unfunctional in some MODs
- Fixed a bug that caused Storm Wizard 100% chance to make damage while he’s casting a lighting spell
- Fixed wrong description regarding arcane potion/attack potion
- Fixed a bug that caused non-response while clicking the resource bar in the upper left corner

[h2]Discord Tavern and Community Events
[/h2]
Besides taking your thrilling desert adventure, Discord server will always be the right place for you guys to take a rest and have some fun, no matter if you're the returnings or new to this game! We’d love to give out the solution for you: either you got some questions/issues while playing the game, or just would like to meet other travelers and drop some parties in the community.

Besides, we recently have a Walkthrough collection event ongoing. Rules are quite simple and reward is promising - write down your personal shares/tips and a chance to take home a $50 Steam Gift Card in our Salzaar Tavern!



If you’re a streamer/YouTuber and interested in reviewing and making content for our game, you can request access by filling in our Content Creator form or contacting us by email [noparse]([email protected])[/noparse].