The Future of Shadow Arena
Hello! This is the Shadow Arena service team.
Since entering Early Access on May 21, Shadow Arena has gone through various big and small changes. We’ve polished Solo Mode, released new Heroes, and recently shifted our focus onto Trio Mode. We continued to make thoughtful decisions and responded quickly to supplement parts needed.
However, despite the effort we have put in, we failed to satisfy the players or ourselves. As we are on the cusp of a new season, the Shadow Arena Dev team, Service team, and all related departments decided that it is now the time to have in-depth discussions about the future directions of Shadow Arena.
The conclusion that came out was, “let’s completely change how Shadow Arena is played from the ground up!” instead of continuing the current pattern of patches and improvements.
Here are the major points that were decided on.
1. Clarify the roles of each Hero.
We are planning to give distinctive roles (such as tanker, dealer, healer) that match our Heroes.
2. Change how the Heroes grow.
As we plan to give Heroes clear roles, the way items will work will change from getting higher grade items to gathering various types of items.
3. Simplify the skills.
We are reducing the number of skills and making each of the skill effects more distinct. This is to foster a team-oriented gameplay rather than relying on the individual’s capacity to perform combos.
4. Continue to make improvement.
We are currently working on fixing issues that were brought up. Issues include desyncing, matching, controls, effects straining on the eyes, and repetitive farming. We will make improvements in connectivity to minimize the risks of desyncing, especially when CC skills are being used. We are also planning to add more graphic setting options that will help decrease the strain on players’ eyes and work on other issues that were raised.
We are planning to give distinctive roles (such as tanker, dealer, healer) that match our Heroes.
2. Change how the Heroes grow.
As we plan to give Heroes clear roles, the way items will work will change from getting higher grade items to gathering various types of items.
3. Simplify the skills.
We are reducing the number of skills and making each of the skill effects more distinct. This is to foster a team-oriented gameplay rather than relying on the individual’s capacity to perform combos.
4. Continue to make improvement.
We are currently working on fixing issues that were brought up. Issues include desyncing, matching, controls, effects straining on the eyes, and repetitive farming. We will make improvements in connectivity to minimize the risks of desyncing, especially when CC skills are being used. We are also planning to add more graphic setting options that will help decrease the strain on players’ eyes and work on other issues that were raised.
We all are very aware of how sudden all the changes seem to our current Shadow Arena players. However, we decided that establishing the following two major concepts to better target new players and to maintain our current playerbase.
“Simple”
To lower the entry level for new players, controls will be simplified, and players will be able to win by playing their role as the selected Hero.
“Tactical”
For current players, the game will become simpler, but the strategic aspect will be emphasized even more to keep it fun.
To lower the entry level for new players, controls will be simplified, and players will be able to win by playing their role as the selected Hero.
“Tactical”
For current players, the game will become simpler, but the strategic aspect will be emphasized even more to keep it fun.
We will release more information soon through a separate Dev Notes in the future.
Also, we will not have new Heroes or additional patches while we prepare for this new direction. This is because the players will have to get accustomed to the completely new gameplay once the new updates are released.
We will continue to inform our players of our game development and service directions through our official website and Discord. We will proactively seek and collect our players’ feedback.
We would like to ask for our players’ continuous support and love during this process.
Thank you.