DevNote #4
[p]Greetings, Gyldhunters!
Welcome to the fourth Developer Update. Since announcing our release schedule adjustments, we've received tremendous feedback from the player community. We're thrilled to see so many Gyldhunters following Mistfall Hunter, and we're carefully reviewing every piece of feedback you've shared.[/p][p]Based on feedback and suggestions from Gyldhunters during our previous tests, we've spent the past few months developing new gameplay features and refining the game, including a brand-new map, the development of a new class, addition of new stage mechanics, and Legendary equipment for all classes. Let us walk you through each of these: Let's begin with our new map, the Solemn Needles. We are currently hard at work bringing the Solemn Needles and its exclusive monsters to life. We want this map to feel significantly different from Brandrgarde in map design, lighting effects, and almost every other aspect. Our goal is to create a new map with its own unique atmospheric experience while providing a more open exploration experience. We're also planning to add a plethora of new gameplay mechanics unique to the Solemn Needles, such as map-specific events and tasks, unique escape methods, and more. We are still experimenting with these concepts, and we'll share more specific details once we think it's ready.
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Next up, let's talk about the major content that we have completed: the new class "Withered Knight". Once glorious Rose Knights of the Kingdom of Gaenaria, these warriors have fallen from grace. Now, they brand themselves "Withered Knights" as they endure their exile to the North.Shattered, their honor may be, but their faith remains unwavering. Even in face of the Gyldenmist, the Withered Knights still uphold their chivalric code underneath their worn armor. With their two-handed greatswords in hand, they fulfill their secret duties as they strive to reclaim their former glory by slaying the corroded and other unfamiliar Gyldhunters in their path. The Withered Knight's two-handed sword has an extended reach, and in combat, Withered Knights mark enemies with Withering Sigils to create strategic advantages, then detonate these sigils via Reckoning at the opportune moment. The tactical skill "Parry" requires precise timing—in the hands of skilled players, this skill will prove very effective in balancing offense and defense. On the other hand, "Thorn Guide" is a skill that grapples and drags enemies, giving the Withered Knight a crucial tactical role in the team. The class's core mechanic, the "Withering" Talent determines the Knight's combat style—will you suppress and eliminate enemies with Withering Sigils, or be the one to break the enemy formation at the perfect strategic timing? We look forward to the plays and tactics you'll deploy with this new class!
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With the addition of the new class, combined with feedback from Gyldhunters regarding class balance during previous tests and in-depth analysis of related data, we've decided to conduct a comprehensive optimization of all class builds, with some receiving complete reworks to address fundamental pain points in class balance. Moving forward, we'll decide on class optimization plans through extensive combat simulations and small-scale closed-beta tests. Our goal is to make each class as close as possible in strength, while making sure they retain their class identity.[/p][p]In previous tests, it has come to our attention that corroded monsters often posed significant challenges to Gyldhunters—especially new ones who had just stepped into the fray. To address this, we've introduced an "in-match PVE revival" mechanism. When a Gyldhunter dies without taking damage from hostile Gyldhunters (such as being killed by monsters or falling to their death), they will enter "Soul Form" and respawn at the nearest revival point. As long as they return to their body before it decays, they can revive and pick up where they left off. The purpose of this system is to provide players with more room for error in PVE, encouraging them to challenge stronger monsters. However, since revival is not possible after being killed by other players, the intense and thrilling PVP experience of extraction looters will remain there.
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[/p][p]Finally, let's talk about equipment. We are glad to announce that Legendary equipment for all classes are now out and ready. These pieces feature more spectacular appearances and provide outstanding stats—at an equally superior cost.
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[/p][p]Now that we've covered the new content, let's dive into the game adjustments and optimization plans. Our current plan is to focus on the following key areas:[/p][p]First is a complete overhaul of the Energy system. With the old Energy mechanics, all of the player's offensive and defensive actions shared the same resource pool, and failure to manage Energy resources resulted in significant penalties. This meant players had to constantly pay attention to their resource management, which somewhat limited their ability to engage in sustained combat or burst down enemies, subsequently lowering players' skill expression. We hope that the overhauled combat system will give players more freedom while preserving strategic depth in combat. Our current plan to improve freedom in combat is to significantly reduce the burden of Energy management by removing the Exhausted mechanic caused by poor Energy management.
Additionally, to "decouple" offensive and defensive resources, dodging will no longer consume Energy. Instead, dodges will now be a charge-based action with limited uses. However, to prevent combat from becoming mindless and dull, we have individually optimized the Energy cycles for each class archetype to add more depth to their gameplay. We've also designed a series of richer mechanics for the Special Recovery system. Our hopes are to enhance the strategic depth of utilizing Special Recovery in combat, instead of making it a spammable ability that often led to repetitive and uninteresting combat exchanges.[/p][p]We've also addressed the widely reported input lag issues, such as throwable item switching delays and unresponsive controls when using throwables. The root causes of input lag are numerous and complex, often involving programming logic, skill mechanics, network conditions, and more. We'll continue to refine these issues, and we welcome all players to keep reporting similar issues to bring them to our attention.[/p][p]Finally, controller adaptation work is now preliminarily complete. We've focused our development and optimization efforts in the following areas: customized control schemes tailored to each class's combat characteristics and controls; Optimized and improved the UI navigation and controls on controllers; specialized optimization of camera control and aim assist, with differentiated tuning for melee and ranged combat to make melee more agile and ranged aiming more precise. We are also delighted to announce that we will be releasing the PS5 version alongside the Xbox and PC versions![/p][p]We will spare no effort in polishing the product to its optimal state, delivering a high-quality gaming experience for all Gyldhunters. We plan to launch the BETA4 test during Steam's Next Fest on June 15 this year. We expect to wrap up development and launch the game in July this year![/p][p]
AMA Event Announcement & Question Collection
We believe you all will have a lot to say after going through all the changes mentioned above. Let your voices be heard via the AMA(Ask Me Anything) event in the Mistfall Hunter community! To participate, simply join the Mistfall Hunter Discord, press the link in the channel, and leave your questions there! We'll go over them and respond to the most frequently raised questions and concerns in February! Once again, thank you for your love and support for Mistfall Hunter! We wish you a fruitful and happy new year![/p]
Welcome to the fourth Developer Update. Since announcing our release schedule adjustments, we've received tremendous feedback from the player community. We're thrilled to see so many Gyldhunters following Mistfall Hunter, and we're carefully reviewing every piece of feedback you've shared.[/p][p]Based on feedback and suggestions from Gyldhunters during our previous tests, we've spent the past few months developing new gameplay features and refining the game, including a brand-new map, the development of a new class, addition of new stage mechanics, and Legendary equipment for all classes. Let us walk you through each of these: Let's begin with our new map, the Solemn Needles. We are currently hard at work bringing the Solemn Needles and its exclusive monsters to life. We want this map to feel significantly different from Brandrgarde in map design, lighting effects, and almost every other aspect. Our goal is to create a new map with its own unique atmospheric experience while providing a more open exploration experience. We're also planning to add a plethora of new gameplay mechanics unique to the Solemn Needles, such as map-specific events and tasks, unique escape methods, and more. We are still experimenting with these concepts, and we'll share more specific details once we think it's ready.
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Additionally, to "decouple" offensive and defensive resources, dodging will no longer consume Energy. Instead, dodges will now be a charge-based action with limited uses. However, to prevent combat from becoming mindless and dull, we have individually optimized the Energy cycles for each class archetype to add more depth to their gameplay. We've also designed a series of richer mechanics for the Special Recovery system. Our hopes are to enhance the strategic depth of utilizing Special Recovery in combat, instead of making it a spammable ability that often led to repetitive and uninteresting combat exchanges.[/p][p]We've also addressed the widely reported input lag issues, such as throwable item switching delays and unresponsive controls when using throwables. The root causes of input lag are numerous and complex, often involving programming logic, skill mechanics, network conditions, and more. We'll continue to refine these issues, and we welcome all players to keep reporting similar issues to bring them to our attention.[/p][p]Finally, controller adaptation work is now preliminarily complete. We've focused our development and optimization efforts in the following areas: customized control schemes tailored to each class's combat characteristics and controls; Optimized and improved the UI navigation and controls on controllers; specialized optimization of camera control and aim assist, with differentiated tuning for melee and ranged combat to make melee more agile and ranged aiming more precise. We are also delighted to announce that we will be releasing the PS5 version alongside the Xbox and PC versions![/p][p]We will spare no effort in polishing the product to its optimal state, delivering a high-quality gaming experience for all Gyldhunters. We plan to launch the BETA4 test during Steam's Next Fest on June 15 this year. We expect to wrap up development and launch the game in July this year![/p][p]
AMA Event Announcement & Question Collection
We believe you all will have a lot to say after going through all the changes mentioned above. Let your voices be heard via the AMA(Ask Me Anything) event in the Mistfall Hunter community! To participate, simply join the Mistfall Hunter Discord, press the link in the channel, and leave your questions there! We'll go over them and respond to the most frequently raised questions and concerns in February! Once again, thank you for your love and support for Mistfall Hunter! We wish you a fruitful and happy new year![/p]