Shadow Arena News

Daily Quests and Challenges have been added.





You will be able to obtain silver for completing each Daily Quest.



Completing Challenges will give you additional titles or silver.
Each Challenge is set to a different difficulty. Try completing some of the more difficult ones, if you enjoy pushing your limits. Do this, and you'll surely have plenty of rare titles to brag about!

Greetings, this is Shadow Arena



Here are the latest updates made to Shadow Arena on May 21 (Thu). Check out the addition of the newest hero, Venslar, and the Ancient Weapon Puturum.



■ Major Update – New Hero Venslar

- Venslar, a new hero, has been added.

> Venslar is a holy knight who wields a sword and shield; she is a stance-swapping hero who can freely switch from an offensive to a defensive stance

> Her offensive stance allows her to quickly run down her foes and inflict damage with her offensive skills. On the other hand, the defensive stance lets her utilize defensive skills to ward off foes and heal.



■ Major Update - New Ancient Weapon Puturum

- Puturum, a new flying, ancient weapon, has been added.

> Ancient Puturum has a low chance of being summoned from the Ancient Altars.

> Hitting an obstacle while riding Ancient Puturum will reduce Puturum’s health.



■ Major Update – Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

- Level 4 (Ultimate Level) skills have been added.

> All Heroes can select one skill that is level 3 to raise to level 4 (Ultimate Level) every game.

> 4 Skill Points are required to raise a skill to level 4.

> Level 4 skill effects vary between each hero and skill.

> Once you raise a skill to level 4, your other skills cannot be raised to level 4.



■ Event



- To mark the opening of Early Access, Jordine will be provided for free until the scheduled maintenance on July 9 (Thu)!

> Check your mailbox at the bottom-right of the Lobby screen!

◆ How to unlock with the Hero recieved through the mailbox

1) Select the [ Mailbox ] found in the bottom right corner of the main lobby

2) "Receive" the Hero Jordine Ducas

3) Select Storage at the top of the main lobby

4) Select [ Shop Storage ]

5) Right-click on Jordine Ducas to use and unlock the Hero


■ Shadow Arena will be starting its Beta Season.

More details regarding this will be provided in an announcement at a later time.


■ Hero

[All]

- Fixed basic attacks sometimes not interrupting enemy skills.

- Added a 1 sec. Super Armor effect to the Dark Shift skill.

- Fixed an issue where [Shift] + [S] would not remove the Dark Shift status when Dark Shift was active.

- Improved dash attacks to let you attack in the direction you are facing while sprinting diagonally.

- Stun/Freezing status will now be removed when you are hit by basic attacks.

- Changed being hit by basic attacks to no longer remove the CC status when you are mid-air after being blown back by a skill.

- Added “Disarm Defensive Stance” to the description of skills that ignore defense and have the blowback effect.

- Fixed additional damage (back attack) to no longer be applied while mid-air due to a blowback skill.

- Improved auto-run so it can be stopped by pressing the [Caps Lock] key again while auto-running.

- Momentarily pressing [S] + [Space] will no longer cause you to jump.

> Pressing down [S] + [Space] for an extended time will cause you to lie down.

- Sprinting characters will now naturally follow the direction the camera is rotated towards.

> This change was made to help improve position synchronization.

- Improved projectile attacks to hit enemies along its flight path.

- Fixed forward attack so it can be used continuously when made at a diagonal direction.

- Improved W+A+LMB and W+D+LMB to allow forward attacks at a diagonal direction.





- Spear of Serendia (1): Improved the skill’s motion, effects, and sounds.

- Formation Break (3): Improved the skill’s motion, effects, and sounds.

- Spear of Serendia (1): Changed the explosion AoE radius from 200 to 130.



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Spear of Serendia attack range is increased by 50%. Knockdown duration is increased by 0.5 seconds.

> Shield Charge maintains guard for additional strikes.

> Formation Break jumping distance is increased by 25%.

> Super Armor effect will be applied immediately after using Spinning Slash.







Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Dark Mark damage is increased by 30%.

> Resonating Shadow skill range is increased by 25%.

> Shadow Explosion attack range is increased by 25%.

> Movement speed increases by 50% while casting Sun of Destruction. Movement speed increases for 5 seconds once the orb is released.





- Explosive Trap (4): Changed the skill’s burn damage to fixed damage.

> Level 1: 800

> Level 2: 1500

> Level 3: 2200

- Arrow Storm (1): Improved the skill to hit more reliably than before against enemies within 6M.

- Natural Marksman (RMB): Increased damage by 9.8%

- Natural Marksman (RMB): Increased the skill’s projectile speed and casting speed.

- Twin Fairy Arrow (3): Increased the skill’s projectile speed and casting speed.

- Twin Fairy Arrow (3): Changed the skill’s additional arrow to inflict fixed damage.

> Level 1: 400

> Level 2: 500

> Level 3: 600



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Thunderbolt Arrow arrow speed is increased by 50%.

> Super Armor effect will be applied immediately after using Arrow Storm.

> After casting Twin Fairy Arrow, recover +40 HP per target hit.

> Time needed to install the Explosive Trap is reduced by 40%.





- Basic Attack (LMB): Increased damage by 14.3%.

- Improved the graphical effects for Shultz’s skills.

- Gate Breaker (1): Fixed the skill’s stun effect sometimes not being applied even though damage was inflicted.



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Changing directions becomes easier when using Gate Breaker.

> Super Armor effect will be applied immediately after using Rock Smash.

> You will be invincible while in the air, when casting Sausan’s Tremble.

> While casting Bestial Howl, enemy attacks from the front will be blocked.





- Clairvoyance (2): Fixed the skill to no longer be interrupted when being attacked from behind.



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Head Shot cooldown is reduced by 58%.

> Left-clicking immediately after casting Clairvoyance will knock opponents down.

> Enemies hit by Bond Cut will have their movement speed reduced by 30% for 5 seconds.

> A player will be invincible while they remain in stealth after casting Red Moon.





- Iron Pulverizer (1): Increased the HP consumed when using the skill from 700 to 1000.

- Iron Pulverizer (1): Increased the HP recovered on hit from 350 to 500.

- Blood Flurry (4): Increased the HP consumed when using the skill from up to 3300 to up to 4000.



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Dashing distance is increased by +20% when using Iron Pulverizer.

> Receive DP +50 buff for 5 seconds after casting Corpse Cut.

> Super Armor effect will be applied immediately after using Grave Digger.

> HP recovered when using Blood Flurry is increased by 10%.





- Heart Stab (1): Increased the skill cooldown for all levels by 2 sec.

- Heart Stab (1): Fixed the skill’s stun effect sometimes not being applied even though damage was inflicted.



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Dashing distance is increased by 25% when using Heart Stab.

> Target hit with Uproot additional strike will be marked.

> After casting Thunder Rip, you will be invincible and stealthed while in the air.is

> Mirage mark damage is increased by 25%.





- Seed of Ice (1): Decreased the additional damage dealt to enemies frozen by Frozen Dagger (F) from 1.3 times to 1.18 times.

- Fairy Flame (RMB): Skill has been changed as follows:

> Increased the damage of the skill when used while on cooldown by 50%; changed the skill to apply a 20% movement speed reduction for 2 sec. upon activation.

> Decreased the damage of the skill when used while not in cooldown by 10%; improved the skill so it can be used while moving.

- Fixed an issue where the fury buff was not taking effect at below 20% HP.



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Seed of Ice skill range is increased by 15%.

> Ancient Dragon’s Breath’s explosion area is increased by 33%.

> Movement speed of enemies hit with Thunder Viper will be reduced by 20% for 3 seconds.

> Kamasylve Tree Sapling HP is increased by 100%.





- Thunder Breaker (3): Decreased the damage by 13.8%.

- Fixed an issue where the skill description for Golden Gate (4) incorrectly listed the enhancement for Thunder Breaker (3) as x3 instead of x2.6.

- Sleeve Tangler (2): Increased the skill cooldown for all levels by 2 sec.

- Basic Attack (LMB): Fixed to no longer recover stamina after 3 hits.

- Asura Tread (RMB): Fixed to prevent the character from turning towards the camera direction when casting the skill.



Level 4 (Ultimate Level) Skills

> Damage of Helix Cannon is increased by 28%.

> Sleeve Tangler - You can perform an extra attack with precise timing, while the skill is enhanced.

> Thunder Breaker - You can perform an extra attack even without precise timing, while the skill is enhanced.

> Guard will be maintained when casting Golden Gate.



■ Content

- Added Title, Challenge, and Daily Quest systems.

> Challenges grant silver and titles as rewards.

> Daily Quests grant silver as rewards.

> Obtained titles can be found under the Achievements > Title menu. You can select a title to be displayed above your nickname in-game.

- Fixed the in-game mailbox to let you check the contents of mail and receive any enclosed items.

> Items purchased from the Shop will be moved to Web Storage; items stored in the Web Storage can be sent to your in-game mailbox.

- Changed AI Matches to have a difficulty level setting.

> AI Matches have been separated into two modes: Normal Mode where AI bots battle against each other (Level 1 – 3) and Hardcore Mode where AI bots won’t attack each and only attack the players (Level 1 – 3).

> Improved AI Matches to allow you to request a dual with a Bot to practice with while in the Waiting Room.



■ Social Actions

- Added the Social Actions feature.

> Social Actions can be performed while you are idle: [F1] (Taunt), [F2] (Joke), [F3] (Beg), and [F4] (Dance).

> Note: Using a Social Action will reduce your character’s DP by 100 for 3 seconds, and consecutive social actions will cause the DP reduction effect to stack.

- Added voice lines to each Hero’s [F1] (Taunt), [F2] (Joke), [F3] (Beg), and [F4] (Dance) Social Action.

- Added dance music that will automatically play when using each Hero’s [F4] (Dance) Social Actions.



■ Jump Gate



- Added Jump Gate.

> When a match begins, 5 Jump Gates will be created in random locations. These Jump Gates can be seen on the World Map and minimap.

> Entering the center of a Jump Gate will transform you into a Black Spirit and launch you in the direction you are facing.

> If several Heroes enter a Jump Gate at the same time, all of them can be transformed into a Black Spirit.

> If a Hero enters a Jump Gate and is transformed into a Black Spirit, the Jump Gate will be deactivated for 1 min. 30 sec. and reactivate afterwards. Jump Gates can be activated up to 4 times.

> When a Jump Gate is activated, specters will spawn at that location.



■ Suspicious Cauldron



- Added the “Suspicious Cauldron“.

> The Suspicious Cauldron will randomly appear within the first 10 mins. of a match.
> If you destroy the Suspicious Cauldron, all nearby monsters (50M) will rush towards its location .



■ Monster

- Increased the AP of all normal monsters.

> Increased the AP of melee monsters by 50%.

> Increased the AP of ranged monsters by 20%.

Decreased the chance of early-phase monsters appearing across the entire map. Comparatively, the chance of monsters appearing in “High-Density Monster Areas” has been increased by 2.5 times.

- Decreased the chance of early-phase elite monsters (Shadow Elite Knights) appearing by 50% and increased their health by 1.8 times.

- Changed Shadow Knight Elites to make consumable items unobtainable by defeating them, and only make blue-grade or higher gear be obtainable.

- Increased the duration of the increased Skill EXP buff received when defeating Ruins Golem from 30 sec. to 1 min.

- Increased the health of Stoneback Crabs by 50%.

- Increased the duration of the Hungry Black Spirit damage immunity buff received when defeating Mountain Stoneback Crab from 8 min. to 10 min.

- Increased the duration of the +700 AP monster damage buff received when defeating Steppe Stoneback Crab from 3 min. to 5 min.

- Changed the buff for defeating a Demi River Stoneback Crab as follows:

> Changed the 5 min. +10% movement speed buff to a 7 min. +30% max stamina buff.

- Increased the time for the attack speed of the Hungry Black Spirits that appear in the Dark Fog to increase from 30 sec. to 45 sec; changed the Hungry Black Spirits so that their damage will also increase every 45 sec.



■ Mount

- Added the Laytenn/Puturum Control Guide.

> This Control Guide will be shown when you are riding Laytenn or Puturum.

- Changed the mount and dismount motion for Laytenn.



■ Sound

- Added the Voice-over Language Settings in the Settings menu.

> You can select between Korean/English/Chinese languages for the Blackstar Announcer and Hero voice-overs.

- Fixed auto-run to let you hear footstep sounds.

- Added unique kill voice-overs for each Hero that’ll play when defeating an enemy Hero. (As a result, the Blackstar Announcer voice-overs for enemy kills has been removed.)

- Added unique voice-overs for each Hero when completing the missions to obtain sealed items.

- Added and changed the music that is automatically played on the title, lobby, and loading screen.



■ Other Fixes and Improvements

- Improved the game screen to show your connection delay speed (latency) status at the upper-right of the screen.

- Added a feature to let you reset or save your Skill Enhancements.

- Changed the Ranking screen to show the current changes in ranking points.

- [Team Match] Added a tiered matchmaking system that matches teams according to tiers and skill level.

- Fixed an issue where the hit motion wasn’t being shown when being hit by a Shadow Mercenary.

- Fixed AI Matches to make Aal's Tear be unobtainable.

- Fixed the frozen effect not being visible on AI monsters.

- Changed the hotkey for the Skill window from [Ctrl] to [K].

- Improved the Skill window so it can be only viewed while pressing the [K] key.

- Improved the Skill window by making it display the skill descriptions of all levels when mousing over a certain skill.

- Improved the Hero selection screen by making it possible to select Skill Enchantments.

- Changed the Hero Selection screen to let you switch between selectable heroes using the [W] or [S] keys.

- Fixed an issue where you could not get out after falling into certain areas.

- Improved the Lobby to let you use the [ESC] key to bring up the menu screen.

- Reduced the intensity of the sunlight reflected in the background.

- Fixed an issue where the screen would sporadically brighten or darken.

- Added the ability to change the mouse sensitivity in-game.

- Added a feature to allow you to adjust the in-game brightness and contrast.

- Added a feature to let you redeem coupons in-game.

- Pressing the Game Guide button in the lobby will now open the Game Guide web page.

- Fixed an issue where you could not attack or be hit while in a gap between a tree or rock.

- Changed the appearance of Specter monsters.

- Fixed the weather to no longer change during a game.

You can unlock the hero [ Jordine Ducas ] that you got in your mailbox by following the steps below:

We want to thank all of our players worldwide for the patience during the wait for the Early Access of Shadow Arena - the Hero Battle Action Royale where you fight to be the sole survivor!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

During this Early Access, which is possible thanks to everyone’s amazing support and encouragement, we will be actively taking and implementing the feedback you send us, so we can work to bring the game closer to completion together in preparation for the official launch.


We hope you’ll look forward to the new Shadow Arena that is only made possible thanks to all of you.

And now, check out the Early Access details below!


■ Early Access Opening Date/Time


* The opening date/time for the Shadow Arena Early Access is subject to change depending on any mitigating circumstances. Any changes will be announced through a notice.

* The Shadow Arena Early Access is provided as “Free-to-Play".

* In the case of the Asia server, the opening time will be different for the launcher provided on the official website and the launcher provided on the Steam platform.

* The game data from the past betas have all been reset, and none of the data will be carried over to the Early Access.


■ Official Launcher

- The official launcher is provided through the download button on the official Shadow Arena website.

- The official launcher is provided for players from the Republic of Korea.

- To play through the official launcher, you must verify your identity after signing up on the official website.


■ Steam Launcher

- The Steam launcher is provided through the Steam platform.

- The Steam launcher is provided for all players worldwide.

- To play through the Steam launcher, you must sign up for Steam and select your current region/language.
▶ Steam Launcher Download Link 

■ How to Run and Login to the Game with the Steam Launcher (Global Players)

① Login to the Steam client.

* If you login with a Steam account that is different from one used for the Final Beta, you may not receive the Final Beta event rewards.

② Search for Shadow Arena on the Steam Store.

③ Click the [Play Game] button to install Shadow Arena.

* If you already have Shadow Arena in your Steam Library, click on Shadow Arena to receive the latest update and run the game.

④ After selecting your server and language on launcher, create a nickname and enjoy Shadow Arena.


■ Scheduled Maintenance

* The maintenance schedule is subject to change (extension/postponement/cancellation). Any changes will be announced through a notice.

* There may be additional server maintenances depending on the status of the game service.

■ Update Details
Check out the Update Details for the content and changes newly introduced with the opening of the Early Access! 
▶ Go to the 5/21 (Thu) Update Details
 
■ Early Access Celebration Events 
 Get more enjoyment out of Shadow Arena with celebration events for the opening of Early Access!
▶ Go to the [Come to Discord!] event

■ Final Beta Event Rewards (Update)
- The Final Beta event rewards will be sent after the scheduled maintenance on May 28, 2020 (Thu).


Notices

- The Shadow Arena game rating and membership requirements may differ from the actual game age requirements.
- If you are unable to verify your identity through the official website, you may be able to play the game through the Steam launcher instead.


We await you in our new, action-packed battlefield.

See you soon!

Hello!
This is the Lead Producer of Shadow Arena, “Byulbram,” Kwangsam Kim.

I’ve been counting down the days ‘till I could finally make this announcement—Shadow Arena will be entering Early Access on May 21st!

If you are reading this Dev Note, you’re probably someone who is interested in the game, right? It’s all thanks to this kind of interest and support that we’ve been able to successfully finish several beta tests and reach this phase of game development known as “Early Access” in preparation for our full-fledged game service. On behalf of the Shadow Arena development team, thank you!

Of course, you probably have a lot of questions regarding the upcoming Early Access, so let me touch upon one of the more important topics: “Updates”.

We know how important the speed of updates are for PVP games, for example, balancing, new heroes, additional content, and so on. Thus, we are going to be introducing new heroes at a brisk pace and maintaining a steady flow of updates, which includes balance adjustments and new content; all to ensure the game continues to improve.

“A different concept and unique experience from existing heroes”

With this phrase in-mind, we will be working hard on hero updates, and our goal is to introduce a new hero every 3 - 4 weeks. If everything goes as planned, then we’ll have added 8 -10 new heroes by the end of the year.

Ultimately, we want to fine-tune and develop this game into something akin to the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) of the PvP game genre. A comprehensive game in which players who used to enjoy a variety of PvP games can show off their skills and talents, but still be able to enjoy some friendly competition. In other words, a game that affirms and embraces all-kinds of gameplay, such as the capacity for instant reactions, strategic judgement, quick/precise aim, distance control/spacing, getting into your foes’ heads, being able to perform a variety of combos, and being a team player.

As we explore ways of growing the game with our talented players, we hope it will grow to become a serious esports game.

We believe Early Access will be the first step in achieving that dream, and we hope you’ll join us in dreaming for the future of the game!

Thank you, see you again soon.

Greetings, this is Shadow Arena.

With the conclusion of the Final Beta and the wait for the upcoming Early Access, you probably have a lot of questions.

That’s why we’ve prepared an interview with the Lead Producer of Shadow Arena, Kwangsam Kim!

So check out the interview and find out what’s being prepared for Early Access!


1. How far along is the game in development? When will the officially launch be? Can you briefly go over the global test progress/development plans after the Shadow Arena Final Beta?

We feel our primary goal was roughly achieved—shaping the general structure of gameplay.

What’s left until the game’s launch is to implement the game’s long-term content, such as the shop, cosmetics, and features for long-term play (Hero Mastery and Ranking).

We’re careful about stating this, but we think we are at the stage where we must thoroughly refine the game before its official release. That’s why Early Access is coming soon. It’s so that we can get our fans’ feedback and implement changes.

Once Early Access starts on May 21st, we plan to bring the game closer to completion. Afterwards, we’ll announce how our service will continue with the first official season and launch.


2. Many players are wondering what approach you’ll take for the business model of Shadow Arena after launch. Can you touch on this subject a bit? Would players need to buy Shadow Arena to play? If so, how much would it be for each region/county?

We plan to make our game available through the Free-to-Play (F2P) model.

Our hope is that Shadow Arena will become the newest esports game, and we believe that we must reach a large and diverse playerbase in order to grow as an esport.

Thus, we’ll be offering our game for free with the F2P model so that anyone can play the game. Its business model will be similar to what is in other free esport games.


3. Do you have any plans to make optimizations for the game’s networking?

After the Final Beta, we made slight changes to the current network system and have been testing to see how it responds to delay/latency. We think if this re-engineering pans out, it’ll noticeably improve the gameplay experience, but fundamentally, we feel the best solution is to place the server in the most optimal location for excellent ping. If all our requirements are met, we plan to prepare this as soon as possible.


4. We all know that Shadow Arena is a game that has its roots in Black Desert. Do you have any plans for things like cross promotions during the Shadow Arena OBT? (e.g. Purchase Shadow Arena to receive Black Desert items.)

There might be some cross promotions; however, we think it isn’t a good idea for the two games to be too heavily linked as Shadow Arena and Black Desert are two entirely different games in terms of genre or player-preferences. In other words, we’d like to avoid the approach of asking players to play Black Desert to play Shadow Arena or getting additional benefits in Black Desert for playing Shadow Arena.


5. Quite a bit of players say that Goyen’s damage and level of difficulty is relatively higher than other heroes, and some players say that Haru’s stealth skill isn’t very effective. What kind of balancing is the development team currently working on for these heroes? (e.g. Goyen nerf)

We are listening to everyone’s feedback and reviewing the data as we continue to make adjustments. Between the February/March Beta and the Final Beta, we made numerous balance changes. Even now, we are constantly balancing and testing the heroes as we prepare for Early Access.

We at Pearl Abyss believe that rapid game development is our advantage and source of pride. Once Early Access launches, we believe that you’ll be able to see for yourself just how quickly we make improvements as you give us feedback.

To give you a little peek into the changes being planned for Early Access,

Goyen will be nerfed even further compared to Final Beta, but you’ll be able to see his power from past betas due to an addition of a “new system”.

Of course, we’ll be improving heroes such as Haru and Orwen as they struggled during the February/March Beta and Final Beta, but our priority will be towards increasing the possibility of creative gameplay.


6. After playing the Final Beta, it feels like there is a slight problem with the overall flow of the game. As there is a rather long grace period at the start of the game where you can revive, it makes farming monsters too low-risk of a risk and highly efficient. Due to this, there aren’t a lot of fights happening between players. This results in reduced PvP during the earlier stages of the game until the fog closes in. At this point, you can see around 10 players converge and engage in hectic battles, which many times is the cause of quick deaths. It doesn’t appear to be healthy where the element of luck contributes so much to being victorious in a battle-royale genre game. Did the development team initially design the game with this kind of flow planned? Do you have any future plans to change this?

We think the grace period where you can revive is one of the most important parts of our gameplay.

In fact, there was once a time when it was longer at 5 minutes and when it was also once shorter at only 3 minutes. Over the course of our testing with both beginners and experienced players, it was carefully decided that the current time of 4 minutes was the most appropriate.

(However, it is possible for this to change depending on our players’ skill levels once the game starts service)

There are many intended possibilities for the play aspects of the game to take. One such possibility is hectic battles as players are gathered by the encroaching fog in the second later stages of the match. Some heroes will have an advantage in such a situation and others will not. That’s why we want to emphasize the concept of “controlling the game” a bit more by adding more ways to impact the overall flow of the game through each players’ gameplay.

The changes between the February/March Beta and the Final Beta were made with this in mind. We feel that you’ll be able to get a clearer understanding of what we’re looking to do once you’ve seen the newly added systems and rules in the upcoming Early Access.


7. The general background of Shadow Arena is from Black Desert, and right now there are only a few heroes available. Do you have any plans to add new races or heroes beyond what’s in Black Desert?

We will be adding new heroes at a quick pace.
However, the heroes are conceptually different from Black Desert “classes”. They are just unique heroes, in other words—characters. Regardless of the classes in Black Desert, we will be focusing on designing unique and distinct heroes.

You’ll be able to see them in a different form that is far from the similar looking classes.

Of course, characters from outside of Black Desert… aren’t something that are entirely outside the realm of Shadow Arena.

That’s because the setting of Shadow Arena is open to all possibilities.


8. There are some players who feel that the number of skills each hero has is somewhat small and simple. While there may only be things like Q making you temporary invincible or evading with E, how about taking the League of Legends’ summoner skills as a reference and adding more control skills, such as stuns, counter-attacks, blinds, and etc., to provide players with more options and make the PvP experience more enjoyable?

As our game continues to grow, players will become increasingly skilled. With the passing seasons, a larger variety of systems and skills will likely be introduced. However, we believe it’s still too early for us to introduce them just yet. Still, some of them have already been designed and are being prepped.

Of course, the skill level of our players increased incredibly fast over the several beta tests, and we think we will need to quickly add the next stage of content to increase the game’s depth.

So, some of the content that was planned for after the official season will be introduced during Early Access.

If our playerbase is big enough and many players ask for a deeper depth of play, we promise to introduce them right away.

9. There currently aren’t that many distinctive features on the map. The only features are just the Red Dragons and Altars. Does the development team plan to add more features (e.g. buffs, hidden passages, or puzzles) to the map for more ways to play out a match and make matches more fun?

There is tons of content waiting to be added. :)

As mentioned in my answer to question 8, there’s a lot of things being prepared, but we’ll be taking a step-by-step approach while closely watching our players’ skill base. As for those features you mentioned… check out what we’ve prepared in the upcoming Early Access!


10. Right now, only Solo and 2-player Team modes are supported in-game. Do you have any plans to support 3, 4, or even larger team modes in the future?

A 3-player team mode existed until the 2nd closed beta test, but we are somewhat considering it again now.

We felt that a 3-player was less fun than a 2-player (duo) overall since it was harder to get a party together, and players often just got melted in confusing battles without doing anything. Nevertheless, this mode still exists, so if the need for a 3-player mode ever arises, it will be put in.

On top of this, we will look into making other modes for team matches. Personally, I wanna give it a try.


11. Are there any plans to add large-scale maps in the future? Or to increase the maximum player-count for each match?

During the first closed beta test, the limit was at 50 players, but too many skirmishes occurred between players from the very start. This was why we decided to reduce the maximum number of players to 40.

We think we’ll add a large-scale map soon. However, we’re going to do plenty of testing to ensure that it is enjoyable and matches our intended vision of the game, so it won’t be released until we feel it’s ready.


12. Many players are worried about cheats/hacks, since quite a few Korean action-online games struggle with this problem. What measures does Pearl Abyss have against cheats/hacks?

You can be assured that we are preparing several measures against cheats/hacks. However, the reason why we aren’t highlighting this is because we don’t want to pre-emptively reveal what we have prepared. We know how important it is to take quick and decisive action against hacks/cheats in the PvP genre, so we will be doing our utmost to battle against it.


13. There aren’t a lot of heroes to play currently. Do you have any future plans for new heroes? If you do, how many more are you planning on releasing?

We will need to consider the development schedule; nevertheless, there are plans to release new heroes soon.

We have already developed other heroes, but they are scheduled to be released at a later date. We also plan to develop even more heroes in the future as well.

So we hope to release more heroes to everyone fairly quickly!


14. Are you considering developing additional modes to play Shadow Arena beyond just the battle royale mode?

Ah… that’s a secret. ^_^