[Dev Notes #27] September 2024
Dear CEOs,
This is Kim Hyun Soo, the Head PD of CounterSide.
The scorching summer has finally ended, and autumn's gentle breeze and cool temperatures have come.
In this month of Dev Notes, we'll be providing more details about the upcoming October update.
[h2][New Substream – The Guiding Sun][/h2]
The substream, The Guiding Sun, follows a young girl on a quest to find her long-lost father. Her journey leads her to Lotus, a mysterious place where she encounters a counter whose memories have faded.
Please look forward to the upcoming new substream!
[h2][New Awakened Employee - Aditya Surya][/h2]
The new Awakened employee, Aditya Surya is a defender designed to absorb damage meant for her allies and will become increasingly powerful as her health dwindles.
[h2][ New Counter Pass - Anila ][/h2]
A new SSR employee, Anlia is being planned as a supporter who nullifies enemies' buffs and hinders their movement. She will be released through the Counter Pass.
[h2][ New Operator - Asha ][/h2]
Operator Asha is designed to stun the opponents and simultaneously strengthen the damage output of her allies.
[h2][ 2024 Sincere Season ][/h2]
The 2024 Courage Season will end on September 29, 2024, at 08:00 (UTC-5). Shortly after, the 2024 Sincere Season will begin at 14:00 (UTC-5) the same day. The Gauntlet skin for this season is for [Replacer Bishop]. As always, you can earn it by reaching the Diamond 5 league or above at the end of the season.
[h2][ Ranked Battle UP & Auto Deployment System Update ] [/h2]
In early September, we surveyed CEOs on both the Korean and Global servers to gather feedback on improving the Gauntlet environment in CounterSide.
This survey focused on two main areas:
- The revamped UP system
- The Auto-deployment system
Regarding the revamped UP system, while many CEOs were satisfied with the limit on the number of employees that could receive the UP buff per Gauntlet season, there was a general consensus that removing the [Reduction of 1 Deployment Cost] effect was not satisfying.
As for the Auto-deployment system, many CEOs expressed dissatisfaction with the long activation time.
Based on the valuable feedback received from our CEOs, the development team will implement the following changes in the October 2nd update.
- Reintroduction of the [Reduction of 1 Deployment Cost] effect for employees with the UP buff.
- Reduction in the activation time for the Auto-deployment system.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all CEOs who participated in the survey and shared their valuable insights. The CounterSide team is committed to listening to your feedback and continuously improving the game.
[h2][ Challenge Operations Entry Limit Improvement ][/h2]
Currently, CounterSide offers various currencies through Challenge stages that open on specific days of the week.
However, missing out on a Challenge stage on its designated day results in a lost opportunity to obtain those currencies.
To address this inconvenience, we will change so that while the days on which Challenge stages open remain the same, the number of entries will be consolidated every week. This will allow CEOs to enjoy the Challenge stages at their convenience.
The Challenge stages included in this improvement are listed below for your reference. Please refer to the list for a smooth experience.
1. Chloe’s Info Search
Acquirable resources: Info
Weekly entry count: 9
2. Anastasia's Supply Maintenance
Acquirable Resources: Tuning Binary
Weekly entry count: 9
3. Na Heerin’s Urgent Order
Acquirable Resources: Black Box Fragment
Weekly entry count: 9
4. Kim Hana’s Talent Cultivation
Acquirable Resources: Fusion Core
Weekly entry count: 9
[h2][ Level 120 Color Review ][/h2]
Since the recent Employee Max Level Expansion update, we've received numerous requests to change the color representation for employees who have reached level 120 from the current purple color.
We are actively considering implementing a different color based on your feedback. Once we have finalized the changes, we will announce the details in a patch note.
Thank you for your valuable input. We appreciate your feedback and will continue to strive to create a more enjoyable gaming experience for all CEOs.
[h2][ Balance Adjustment for Employees and Ship ][/h2]
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all CEOs for your continued interest in and feedback on the balance between employees and ships.
We understand that CEOs are very passionate about this aspect of the game, and the development team is constantly monitoring the balance. We approach any balance adjustments with caution as hasty changes can significantly impact various in-game combat environments, in both PvP and PvE.
Each employee and ship in CounterSide possesses unique skills and abilities. Our goal is for all employees and ships to be utilized in content according to their specific characteristics, allowing CEOs to form squads tailored to different content.
However, we've identified certain employees and ships that, compared to others, possess excessive performance relative to their cost or have a broader range of utility, which we believe is impacting the overall game balance.
Therefore, we plan to adjust the balance of these employees and ships to align with their intended roles while preserving their core functionalities as much as possible.
Additionally, we aim to equalize the cost value of employees and ships used in combat. This will help preserve the individual cost value of each employee while encouraging the use of other employees and ships that were previously less frequently used due to the imbalance.
The balance adjustment patch will be implemented in two phases in October. The first is on October 2nd, and the second is on October 23rd.
The specific employees to be adjusted are as follows:
■ List of Employees Scheduled for Balance Adjustments in the First Phase
- Joint Investigation Kang Soyoung
- Levia Thanis
- Spira
- Lily
- Raphaela Juri the Evil Chaser
■ List of Employees and Ship Scheduled for Balance Adjustments in the Second Phase
- The Elemental and the Beast Shepherd & Lurcher
- Six Wings Lee Jisoo
- Hero Blossom Kaci Bins
- Hidden Challenger Kim Chulsoo
- Tempest
Please refer to the patch notes for detailed information about the upcoming balance adjustments.
While our goal is to ensure that the adjusted employees can continue to be used effectively in combat, we understand that the performance of these employees may feel significantly different after the adjustments.
Some of the employees targeted for balance adjustments were either released with excessive power or received significant power increases due to the Alternium Reactor, making balance adjustments necessary.
As previously announced, we planned to closely monitor the impact of these employees in the game for the first two weeks after their release and implement appropriate measures such as recalls.
However, due to new systems like [Tactical Update] and the [Alternium Reactor] introduced through the employee growth system, we needed to develop new internal policies and additional features for the recall system. This has caused a delay in implementing recalls for these employees and consequently, the balance adjustments as well.
We apologize for the delay in addressing the urgent need for balance adjustments and the late notification.
With the completion of the development of policies related to [Tactical Update] and the [Alternium Reactor] implemented in the recall system, we will be proceeding with recalls for the employees targeted for balance adjustments. The recall period will be four weeks.
Upon recalling an employee, all the growth materials invested will be refunded. If the recalled employee has undergone [Tactical Update], CEOs will receive an equivalent number of employees to the level of Tactical Update levels of the original employee.
For ships, the command modules and lock status of the recalled ship will be transferred to the ship you select.
We will provide more detailed information about the recall function and the target employees in future patch notes.
We understand that it's impossible to satisfy all CEOs when it comes to balance adjustments, as everyone has their favorite employees and ships.
Given the keen interest in employees and ships, the development team will continue to closely monitor the balance and overall game environment to provide a more satisfying gaming experience.
[h2][ Update Speed Adjustment ] [/h2]
As mentioned in our developer's note in May 2024, we informed our global CEOs that we would be accelerating the update schedule to provide new content as quickly as the Korean server.
While we have been able to deliver new content rapidly to our global CEOs through frequent updates, we also understand that there might have been some inconveniences.
Therefore, after the release of [The Guiding Sun] and [Aditya Surya] scheduled for this October, we will be adjusting the update speed. However, this does not mean we will stop providing new content simultaneously with the Korean server. We are committed to aligning the new content update schedules for both servers within 2024.
This will be all for the September Dev Notes.
Thank you.
