Shadow Arena News

Hello! This is the Shadow Arena Service Team.

Thank you players for your constant support and love for Shadow Arena.

We announced in the “With the Shadow Arena Renewal at Hand” Dev’s Note about some major changes coming. So, the service of the game were changed to match the renewed development direction.

Following these changes, we have decided to change server times, reduce the number of supported in-game languages, and adjust the number of Heroes available for play.

Please read below for details.


[h2]Changes to Server Times[/h2]
We believe the fun of Shadow Arena comes from the intense fights between real players and then coming on top as the ultimate winner.

However, as we mentioned earlier in our Dev’s Note, Shadow Arena provided multiple modes that were always available. As players had access to all the modes at all times, it was difficult for our players to enjoy Shadow Arena to the fullest.

To rectify this issue, we going to focus on "Trio Mode" to increase the concentration of players. At the same time, we will be limiting the server times so that our players can enjoy all the thrill Shadow Arena has to offer.

The new server times are as follows:

[h3]Server Times by Server [/h3]




[h2]Reducing In-game Localization of Certain Languages[/h2]
Shadow Arena provided 14 languages for our global audience.

However, we felt that this made it difficult for us to present a better polished service as our focus was being spread out. Therefore, we have decided to reduce the number of in-game languages.

Following this decision, only Korean, English, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional) will remain out of the 14 languages that were supported before. Details are as follows.



[h2]Adjusting the Number of Heroes[/h2]
As mentioned in the Dev’s Note that was previously posted, we are working towards making the game simple and tactical. Therefore, each of the Heroes are being reworked to match this new direction.

So starting after maintenance on January 7, 2021 (Thu), there will be eight Heroes available for you to play.

[h3]Available Heroes [/h3]


The other Heroes will be released at a later date after they are given specific roles and adjusted accordingly.

If you currently own the Heroes that are not listed above, you will be able to use them once they are released without having to buy them again, and your Mastery data for those Heroes will be kept.
* e.g. If you currently own “Venslar” and have level 7 Mastery on her, you will be able to use “Venslar” without needing to purchase her again and have level 7 Mastery on her as well.

We will be providing compensation for players that have Heroes and skins that were purchased with Gcoin but are no longer available.
* Please note, items that were not sold in the Shop are not eligible for compensation. They will be made available for use after the Hero is updated.

Please read below for details.


Shadow Arena has been through a number of iterations and challenges during the 4 close beta tests and the current Early Access. The changes stated above is another step we are taking to provide satisfactory service for our players.

We will continue to collect and monitor our players’ feedback and suggestions. Please continue to support us as we strive to provide an even more fun and enjoyable gameplay experience.

Thank you.

Greetings, this is Shadow Arena.

We’d like to inform you of the measures we’ve taken against violators of the Shadow Arena Terms of Service.


We ask everyone for your cooperation in respecting and observing the Shadow Arena Terms of Service by refraining from any acts that could be deemed as a violation.
☞ Shadow Arena Terms of Service

Please refer below for more details.


■ Notice of Restricted Violators
- Restriction Category : Production, Distribution, or Usage of Unauthorized Program/Macro - 1st Violation
- Restriction Date: January 4, 2021 (Mon)
- Restriction Details: Permanent Ban
- Number of Restricted Violators: 1


Thank you



■ List of Shadow Arena PC Restricted Accounts (Cumulative) - Details: Permanent PC restriction for Shadow Arena services

Date

Server

Nickname

2020/05/29

Asia

호랑이이빨
DDGDJ_Asia
DDGDJ_NA
栋栋拐DJ
枫子

2020/06/01

Asia

小朋友是不是很多问好
免费加速Q群785335183
doubleoseven
小朋友有灰机
免加速QQ群785335183
免费QQ群785335183
栋栋
白嫖加速Q群785335183
앵커헌터
fghr567hfg

2020/06/05

Asia

斗鱼赖老头
般若
douyu3108506赖老头
douyu3108506赖赖老
douyu3108506赖老头_NA
douyu3108506赖老头_EU/RU

2020/06/05

Asia

哦啦啦
虎牙烈阳
烈阳焰1
一阵风
被误封后的第5个号
LiEYang9527
烈阳焰
被误封后的第六个号

2020/06/09

Asia

Killnoob
noob3
noob2
noob1
Killyounoob
雷霆嘎巴哈拉少

2021/01/04

Asia

Q532748998
站在巅峰的神
illlililliliill

■ List of Restricted Violators (Cumulative)

- Restriction Category : Production, Distribution, or Usage of Unauthorized Program/Macro - 1st Violation
- Restriction: Permanent Restriction of Shadow Arena Service

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Battle Pass Season 2! Event and congratulations to all the winners!



■ 1 Monitor (Samsung Odyssey G7 C27G75T QHD)



■ 1 Logitech G560 LIGHTSYNC PC Gaming Speaker



■ 1 Razer Blackwidow V3 Pro Keyboard & Shadow Arena Mouse Pad Package



■ 1 Razer Kraken Ultimate Headset



■ 1 Razer Basilisk V2 Mouse & Shadow Arena Mouse Pad Package



■ 1 Shadow Arena Mania Package (T-shirt & Hat)



■ Check 10,000 Silver winner list

※ Additional Notes

< Physical Goods Winners>

- We have sent the link to “Personal Information Collection and Usage Agreement” via ingame mail to all the winners of physical merchandise. Please check your mailbox and its contents.

- Please complete the “Personal Information Collection and Usage Agreement” form by January 14, 2021 (Thu) 23:59 (UTC+9). Your prizes wil be cancelled if you fail to submit the form by this date.

- If you did not receive the mail and would like to request for one again, please send a ticket to our Support by January 14, 2021 (Thu) 23:59 (UTC+9).

- Prizes will be shipped once the “Personal Information Collection and Usage Agreement” form is submitted. The start of shipment will be notified separately.





- 10,000 Silver will be sent on December 31, 2020 (Thu) to your in-game mailbox.





- Winner privileges cannot be transferred or given to another individual, and the specified prize cannot be exchanged for monetary value or other prizes.

- Participating in the event with inappropriate methods may result in cancellation of event participation, withdrawal of item rewards, and account restrictions from the game.

- If your account is restricted for violating the Terms of Service, you may be disqualified and have any prizes withdrawn even after being selected as a winner.

- If you have any other questions or concerns related to the event, please contact us via [Support].

- Any matters not listed on this page will follow the [Shadow Arena Event Rules].

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Every Day Rewards Galore! Event and congratulations to all the winners!



■ 1 Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC D6X 10GB


■ 1 RAZER BlackShark V2 PRO Headset


■ 1 RAZER Black Widow V3 Keyboard


■ 1 RAZER Basilisk V2 Mouse



※ Additional Notices

- We have sent the link to “Personal Information Collection and Usage Agreement” via ingame mail to all the winners of physical goods. Please check your mailbox and its contents.

- Please complete the “Personal Information Collection and Usage Agreement” form by January 14, 2021 (Thu) 23:59 (UTC+9). Your prizes will be cancelled if you fail to submit the form by this date.

- If you did not receive the mail and would like to request for one again, please send a ticket to our Support by January 14, 2021 (Thu) 23:59 (UTC+9).

- Prizes will be shipped once the Personal Information Collection and Usage Agreement form is submitted. The start of shipment will be notified separately.

- Winner privileges cannot be transferred or given to another individual, and the specified prize cannot be exchanged for monetary value or other prizes.

- Participating in the event with inappropriate methods may result in cancellation of event participation, withdrawal of item rewards, and account restrictions from the game.

- If your account is restricted for violating the Terms of Service, you may be disqualified and have any prizes withdrawn even after being selected as a winner.

- If you have any other questions or concerns related to the event, please contact us via [Support].

- Any matters not listed on this page will follow the [Shadow Arena Event Rules].

Hello! This is Shadow Arena service team.

Earlier, we announced the direction changes we have been preparing and the thoughts behind them.

So, to start this off, we would like to send our deepest gratitude to the players who have waited for us regardless of the sudden decision.

Thank you all so much for the heartfelt comments and generous support.


As we announced before, the two concepts we were heavily focusing on were “simple” and “tactical.”

We have shared sneak peeks of the renewed Shadow Arena little by little through our official Discord channels.

But today, we would like to share some specifics about the direction we are going and how those will be implemented in-game.


[h2]“Simple” [/h2]


ㅣ Improving Game Accessibility

- “The game is too hard.” These were the words we heard the most from new players. Getting familiar with the skills is hard in Shadow Arena.

Not to mention the combos they needed learn as well. It took too much time and effort to get used to the gameplay. Accordingly, we are planning to improve game accessibility by working on the following points.

1) Simplifying the Skills
As there were too many skills for the players to learn, we are planning to decrease the number of skills to 4 (including RMB). This will make it easier for new players to enjoy the game and lessen the burden of learning all the combo variations. Instead, we are reducing cooldown significanly on all the skills to keep it fun and active.

2) Changing Skill Keys
The original skill keys of 1,2,3,4 were far away from the movement keys W,A,S,D and hard to use. As such, we are changing the skill keys to Q,E,R to bring them closer to the movement keys.

3) Improving Control
Going a step further from changing skill keys, skill casting times will be minimized so that the attacks go out immediately after pressing the keys. This will enhance the sense of control players feel over their Hero.


▲ Changes are being made to make the information easier to access and understand. The above image is only for reference and is subject to change.



ㅣ Intuitive Design

- The original Shadow Arena had various modes to enjoy and multiple objectives. However, this also made Shadow Arena less intuitive and difficult for players to focus on a content.

As such, we are planning to strengthen intuitiveness for players so that they can play without needing to see a guide or a detailed explanation.

1) Simplifying Play Modes
Originally, it was difficult trying to learn all the strategies and roles of heroes for each mode. In the renewed Shadow Arena, we will focus on one mode - “Trio Mode.”

However, the other modes will still be available for our players to enjoyed through the “Custom Mode.”


2) Simplifying Gameplay
Unlike before where players had to think about multiple objectives, (like boss monsters and others) we are planning to simplify by focusing on the “Shop” and “party buffs.” Players will earn “tokens” by defeating monsters and other players to purchase gear and items with desired effects to progress their Hero.

3) Improving Visibility
We are planning to make characters stand out more from the enviroment, as well as improving the visibility of the attacks, hits, and crowd control effects.

Aside from these features, we are planning on adding various filters to lower the strain on players’ eyes by decreasing the intensity of visual effects.

We are also working on a colorblind mode for red-green color blindness to be implemented in the future.


▲ Simplifing Play Modes, the above image is only for reference and is subject to change.




▲ Improving visibility, the above image is only for reference and is subject to change.

[h2]“Tactical” [/h2]

ㅣ Distinguishing Roles of Heroes

We are planning to create distinguishing concepts and roles for Heroes like assassins, tanks, melee/ranged dealers, and mobility.

Example 1. Haru will now be given the assassin role. Her skill set is best suited for hit & run tactics. So her skills will have minimal casting times and we increased her stealthing speed so that she can maneuver in and out of fights easily.


Example 2. Herawen will now be given the support role. Her skill set will contain abilities with AoE heal, healing overtime, and more. This in effect will make her a Hero specilized in healing.



As such, we are expecting the gameplay to heavily rely on building strategies on how to combine and use Heroes.

ㅣ Shop System
Depending on the team, players can choose to progress in a specific direction they want by purchasing items that give the stats they need like AP, DP, Movement Speed, Attack Speed, HP, etc.

Players can choose to maximize their Hero’s specialty, supplement their weakness, or try unique combinations of items with their Heroes. We hope to see players try creative strategies with the Shop in the future.



▲ The shop, the above image is only for reference and is subject to change.
Additionally, consumables other than HP Potions may be removed. (Updated)

ㅣ Improving Farming

We had various and thoughtful discussions about farming and continue to discuss this topic even till now. Especially in the battle royale genre, farming gets dull.

As such, we had numerous internal discussions to improve on this aspect of Shadow Arena.

The consensus right now is to “greatly shorten” farming time. The reason behind the addition of the shop is a major part of this effort.

Starting off, we have abandoned the old system of having to farm to get higher grade gear to greatly shorten the necessary farming time.

Instead, we are enabling players to constantly think about their choices through the shop. Players will have to constantly think about how they want to progress and the items they want to buy throughout the match.

We are also decreasing the penalty of dying. Players will no longer lose gear or tokens upon death.

This will help lessen farm time and the gap between other surviving players.

Currently, we are testing to see how we can improve the game to reduce the necessary farming time even more.

We shrunk down the map size significantly as well so that teams can meet more often and fight over objectives in the mid/late game.

We are also considering different mechanics to add to keep the match interesting.


▲ Shrinking down the map size, the above image is only for reference and is subject to change.


Additionally, we are distinguishing regions even further by concentrating beneficial factors and rare monsters to appear only in specific areas.

We are also adding mechanics where players can get random buffs or bonus tokens by defeating monsters. This will help increase players choices while farming.

ㅣ Various Shared Skills

Various shared skills other than Blink and Dark Shift will be added. This means that players will be able to select 2 shared skills to bring into a match.

It’s too early to tell you the details, but players will be able to make strategic choices by selecting offensive, defensive, or utility shared skills.

We are striving to transform the “foundation” of Shadow Arena, but we are also fighting against the physical constrain of time.

Therefore, we can only share the big picture as of this moment. There are details that still need to be fleshed out.

However, we are working hard to make it possible for our players to test the renewed Shadow Arena by early January.

We feel that our players have waited a long time to see the renewed Shadow Arena and we would like to get feedback on the current development changes as soon as possible.

Throughout this process, we will strive to collect opinions proactively and notify our players about development and game service directions through the official website and Discord channels.

As Shadow Arena goes through this transformation, we ask for our players continued interest and support. We will do our best to make Shadow Arena fun with a fresh new look.

Thank you.