The "Coming Soon" Thread

[GM-Ayu]

Has it really been 7 months since the last post?


So what is heRO T&D working on now?

It's been awhile, so we'll be trying the push again: WoE and PvP update.


Last time it didn't go well and admittedly it split the server into 2. So what is giving us confidence to try it again? We want to breath life into PvP by addressing a couple of glaring issues:

• Weekly prep time for WoE takes more time than any of us would like
• Winners snowball to win harder because WoE chests provide helpful consumables for future battles
• There are certain gears and cards where their presence or high refine effect are so powerful that instead of the usual logarithmic scaling, they provide a major exponential power boost, which makes it harder for newer players to catch up
• WoE First Edition is a relative solved meta for pre-renewal servers: 15+ years in heRO resulted in a very static meta, even with custom items in play
• GMs need to recognize that some changes will remove some strategical aspects of WoE, and accept that some strategical elements will be removed for the sake of the overall health of the WoE scene that is in desperate need of help
• GMs need to be willing to make certain sacrifices in pursue of the team's vision of how the game should be played in 2022: and that is to accept that some people aren't going to be happy, and they may leave because of it
  

We were already on our way to implement some of these changes in preparation for this: such as the brewing room to reduce the need for guilds to spend large portions of multiple guild members to sit in down to click buttons instead of going out there to play the game, and adding more sources for white herb/blue herbs so they are more likely to be farmed passively in other activities.

To address these issues, we look to introduce War of Emperium Second Edition in heRO as our solution to these problems

• WoE2 will replace Saturday WoE:FE with 1-2 open test runs in mid/late July, and then implemented for real in August
• Make changes to classes, regardless of how they behave in default pre-renewal servers. What default servers have decided on almost 20 years ago no longer have any bearing on how heRO envisions the game to be played.
• Rework all Glorious Weapons to be more in line with heRO customization instead of taking them as-is from the default game: standardizing their refine breakpoints to be at +6 and +9, and close the gap in differences between the weapons so some weapons don't overshadow all others so blatantly. We customized everything else, so why wouldn't we customize these too?
• Prepare to rework any other BG weapons or gears as we see fit, if necessary
• Make BG gears be tradeable: to allow easier time for players and guilds to share gears like anything else
• New banning of gears, cards and items: Yggdrasil berry, Yggdrasil seed, Deviling card, Ghostring card
• Add items on watchlist to either ban them from further gameplay or rework their effects if they are to be reintroduced in WoE2: such as Maya Purple card or Ghostring card
• Make balance changes on monthly basis as necessary for things on GM's watch lists
• Randomize all chests between all castles of the same WoE type to avoid any potential where guilds are more/less active depending on which castle is in rotation
• Update all WoE chests with new rewards to justify the time devotion/resources for WoE2
• Introduce 2 new God items: Asprika and Brynhildr, which require WoE2
• Reduce the insane item requirements for food cooking items
• Change rule to require video (not screenshot or ingame replay) evidence to address GvG induced PvM frictions, especially in MvP
• Implement @noks and remove FFA rules the moment it gets out of hand: if we can't handle PvM competitions cordially, then it'll be gone for everyone
• Give compensation to nerfed/banned gears and cards to all affected player
  

Other things we'll like to do, though it will not be in July:

• Introduce more items in "boxes" such that fighting monsters or completing repeatable quests will reward multiple etc item or common consumables that are usually needed in WoE2 preparations
• More BG accessibility: have some of the current BG rewards be accessible outside of BG
• Release gears targeted at WoE scene to introduce potential build diversities and introduce small changes to the meta via item changes
• Investigate on ways to reduce the tedium of skills that require someone to be outside of a guild party on purpose in GvG settings (Provoke, Mind Breaker, Sharpshooting)
• Port any changes that seem effective from WoE2 back to WoE1 later after any potential launch issues for WoE2 are addressed (Sept and onward)
• Look into ways to bridge the gap in effectiveness of a ranking and non-ranking brewer
• Investigate into technical know-hows for new Twilight Alchemy skills (specifically, to mass brew Blue Potions)
  

I still don't plan to WoE, so what else is happening?

Other things we'll like to do, though there's no time line for these:

• Access to Guild Dungeons by paying for it (if you want free access, you'll need to be a castle owner)
• Do more source edits to change the game as we see fit in 2022
• Custom monster skill creation to introduce new PvM challenges unique to heRO
• Release more formerly exclusive items via regular quests- specifically the 3rd class hats that were previously art contest rewards exclusive (after stat rebalancing)
• Rework the Thanatos Tower Quest and the Monster Extermination Quest to be less asinine
• Prepare a new town + a new instance as the next end game dungeon, which we want to be on the same level of difficulty as Blackout Clocktower instance
  

The next class update should be Assassin Cross. Though EDP-Sonic Blow is understood to be a powerful burst attack, they don't have much else going for them anymore. They are still stuck in Juperos for mobbing while many other viable classes moved on to new locations. Half of their skill trees are completely unusable because they are janky and extremely restrictive. We hope to get that done within year 2022.


There's going to be lots of changes. There's undoubtedly going to be some anxiety as heRO heads for even more customization. However, we see that RO player base is far more accepting of source engine changes now compare to even 5 years ago. We will no longer be confined by rules set 20+ years ago by some other game company, and we'll change heRO to however we see fit. We want heRO to be a game where we don't have to worry about fear of missing out. We want heRO to be a game that's not like a job where you MUST do certain things every day. We want heRO to be a game where it's recognizable as the same underlying game from 20 years ago, yet there's exciting changes as if pre-renewal is continuously developed with new custom balance changes and content.

We ask the heRO player base for support and understanding: give feedback to us but also to embrace change and try out new things with us~