Greetings from Com2uS!

We know many of you didn't expect another Developer's Note in the short term, but we're back with another one!

Before we jump into the details, we'd like to thank everyone for supporting the SWC2023 WORLD FINALS held in Bangkok, Thailand.

And please give a warm round of applause to the world finalists and [LEST​], the champion of the SWC2023!

Our team will be back with the SWC2024 next year with more fun events, so please look forward to it.

Today, we have some special news to share via this Developer's Note.

Let's check out the gist of what we'll talk about today!

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■ MAX Summoner Level Expansion

: The MAX Summoner Level will be expanded from 50 to 100. With this change, the MAX Energy storage will be increased.

: The previous glory buildings and guild flag buff effect features can now be acquired as unique Summoner skills granted upon leveling up without purchasing the buildings.

■ [Cairos Dungeon] Rune Drop Rate Greatly Increased

: The drop rate of Runes dropped in Giant's Keep, Dragon's Lair, Necropolis, and Spiritual Realm (including Abyssal Floor) will be greatly increased.

■ [Rift of Worlds] Rift Raid and Rift Dungeon Reward Structure Improvement

: Beast Claw and Beast Horn, which were only dropped in Rift Raid, will now be dropped in Rift Dungeon as well.

: You can now craft both Enchanted Gems and Grindstones with Beast Claws and Beast Horns.

: The rewards dropped from Rift of Worlds will be improved.

■ MAX Repeat Battle Count Increased to 30 Times

: With the increased MAX battle count, the Select Selected feature for selling Runes, Artifacts, Grindstones, and Enchanted Gems will be advanced to allow you to sell them more easily.

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Since the RELOADED update, we've been listening to various feedback from you and spent a considerable amount of time thinking about whether the major changes we made actually improved the overall gameplay experience, whether the rewards dropped in the current structure were adequate, whether any parts need to be improved, or whether there are things we could add to help out the new Summoners.

Looking at the positive feedback regarding the recent SKY FEVER SEASON event, we realized what truly matters is improving the overall gameplay experience, progression, and rewards rather than making systematic changes.

With that in mind, we decided to update the following in the v8.1.4 update.

Let's dive into the details now!

■ Summoner Level Revamp

First, the MAX Summoner Level that had been expanded to Lv. 50 in the September 2016 update with the addition of Rift Dungeon, Homunculus, and Craft features will be expanded to Lv. 100.

Rather than solely increasing the MAX level, we'd like to improve the current progression structure to allow new Summoners to progress more easily. The update details are as follows.

▶ MAX Summoner Level Expanded from Lv. 50 to Lv. 100

The MAX level will be expanded while maintaining your current level.

Lv. 50 Summoners will begin with Lv. 50 and 0% EXP after the update. For Summoners at below Lv. 50 before the update, they'll begin their current level with 0% EXP. For example, if you were at Lv. 35 with 50% EXP, that's where you'll be at after the update.

The total time needed to reach Lv. 100 may differ since the amount of EXP earned depends on the Energy consumption. However, generally, it takes about 10+ days at the fastest or 40 days to reach Lv. 50 for new Summoners nowadays.

As the total amount of EXP needed to reach Lv. 100 from Lv. 50 is double the amount of EXP needed to reach Lv. 50 from Lv. 1, you can somewhat speculate how much time you need.

We'll review and refine the required EXP until the last minute to find that middle ground where the level-up process will be manageable and engaging.

On top of the increased MAX level, several major changes are underway.

▶ MAX Energy Storage Increased

As you can see on the table, the base Energy at Summoner Lv. 1 will be increased from 42 to 92, and the maximum storage will be increased from (as-is, Lv. 50) 140 to (to-be, Lv. 100) 240.

With the increase in the base Energy, the maximum Energy storage according to the level will be increased overall.

Thus, if you increase the maximum Energy storage through buildings and Daily Packs, the maximum storage will be increased from (as-is) 210 to (to-be) 310.

▶ Glory buildings and various buff effects of guild flags that could be upgraded with Glory Points and Guild Points can now be upgraded as the Summoner level increases.

We came up with an idea while considering expanding the MAX Summoner level, which was allowing the glory buildings and buff effects of guild flags to increase along with the expanded Summoner level.

We were aware that it took a lot of work for new Summoners to upgrade glory buildings and flags since it was time-consuming.

More importantly, it was a burden for new Summoners to purchase various progression currencies at the Guild Shop for upgrades. We thought this was hindering them from progressing fast.

Therefore, the upgrade should happen naturally as the Summoner level increases rather than purchasing progression currencies. At the same time, we shortened the time needed to upgrade various buffs granted via glory buildings and flags.

With the expansion of the MAX Summoner level, we'd like to make further improvements by providing skill points according to the Summoner level and allowing you to upgrade various effects granted via glory buildings and guild flags with these skill points.

▶ A certain amount of skill points will be provided according to the Summoner level-ups. You can upgrade the various buff effects of glory buildings and guild flags with these skill points.

※ What are Skill Points?

- 5pts are provided per level-up from Summoner Lv. 21 to Lv. 100.

- 1 Summoner skill can be upgraded with 1pts.

- The upgraded skill points can be reset with 300 Crystals. (1-time free for all accounts)

The buff effects of the 16 glory buildings and 4 guild flags of the Arena will be removed via the v8.1.4 update. The removed effects will be changed to unique Summoner skills that can be upgraded via leveling up.

- The effects are the same as the current 20 types of buildings and flags. Each skill can be upgraded with skill points provided upon level-up, up to level 20. 5 skill points are granted per level-up from Summoner Lv. 21 to Lv. 100, and upgrading a skill requires 1pts.

- 400pts are required to reach the MAX Summoner skill level. At Summoner Lv. 100, you can upgrade all the skills.

- The maximum skill level that can be upgraded according to the Summoner level is as follows.

As you can see, you'll receive 5 skill points whenever you level up between Lv. 21 and Lv. 100. If you're currently at Lv. 50, we're planning on providing 150 skill points, which are given for leveling up from Lv. 21 to Lv. 50!

Here, what happens if all the glory buildings and flags have been fully upgraded or if the current upgrade level of glory buildings is greater than the skill points to be provided after the update?

▶ In this case, skill points will be refunded according to the upgrade level of glory buildings and guild flags.

If the upgrade level of glory buildings or flags before the update is higher than the skill points to be provided according to the Summoner level, we'll refund skill points according to the upgrade level.

If the upgrade level is lower than the skill points provided according to the Summoner level, the skill points will be refunded.

If you have fully upgraded all the buildings and flags, you'll receive 400pts required for reaching the MAX Summoner skill level instantly. In this case, you will no longer receive skill points after leveling up after Lv. 50. Instead, 1 Mystical Scroll will be given per skill point.

* As 5 skill points are provided per level-up, 5 Mystical Scrolls will be given per level-up when you reach the MAX skill level.

For example, let's assume that Summoner A is at Lv. 50, and the total upgrade count of glory buildings and guild flags is 200.

As you can see, the refunded points will be determined by the Summoner Lv. or glory building/flag upgrade count. The refund will be given based on the higher points to be given.

If Summoner A reaches Lv. 90 after the update, the Summoner will earn 200 additional skill points by leveling up 40 times. This way, Summoner A will reach the maximum skill upgrade - 400pts. Since all the Summoner skills are fully upgraded, Summoner A will receive 5 Mystical Scrolls per level-up between Lv. 91 and Lv. 100.

▶ The 16 glory buildings and 4 flags with removed buff effects will be moved to the [Shop > Building > Decoration] menu and changed to decoration buildings that can be purchased with Mana Stones.

The costs of buildings are as follows.

▶ With the glory buildings changing into Summoner skills, achievements and Summoner's Way quests related to the current glory buildings will be changed to skill upgrade achievements and quests.

: If you already cleared the current glory building quests, they will remain as they are so that you can collect the rewards, or there won't be any changes when proceeding with the next Summoner's Way quests.

However, the current achievements related to glory buildings will be replaced with new ones. If you still need to collect the achievement rewards, make sure to collect them before the update goes live.

We expect the Summoner Lv. revamp and the addition of Summoner skill points will encourage your progression once again and alleviate the burden for Summoners who still need to upgrade glory buildings.

Summoners will be able to level up and reach the MAX Summoner skill level naturally by playing various in-game content such as Scenario, Cairos Dungeon, Dimension Hole, and Arena.

Now, we'd like to talk about another major update - the farming system revamp!

■ Cairos Dungeon and Rift of Worlds Rewards Improvements

▶ The drop rate of Runes in all floors (B1-B10, including Abyssal Floor) at the [Giant's Keep, Dragon's Lair, Necropolis, Spiritual Realm] will be greatly increased.

For the past 9 years of Summoners War, Summoners have been clearing Cairos Dungeon repeatedly to get Runes as a reward.

As time passed, the standard of Runes rose and it became harder to farm Runes that met your expectations.

We tried to improve this by adjusting the difficulty of Abyssal Floor through the RELOADED major update and follow-up updates, but we realized that we needed more.

Therefore, we are greatly increasing the drop rate of Runes in the Cairos Dungeon through this update so that you can feel the rewards have improved.

Currently, we're finalizing the balance of the Rune drop rate. As for the drop rate in the Abyssal Floor (Hard), we're considering increasing the drop rate of 6★ Legend Rune by 2.4 times than now.

We'll also be increasing the overall drop rate of high-grade Runes in Abyssal Floor (Normal) and floors below B10 to allow Summoners who have yet to reach the highest floors to progress fast.

▶ Beast Claws and Beast Horns Usage Improvements

- Beast Horns and Beast Claws will now be dropped as the Grade SSS reward in the Rift Dungeon, and they can also be used to craft Enchanted Gems.

: We'll be expanding the usage of Beast Claws and Beast Horn by allowing them to be dropped in Rift Dungeon and used for crafting Enchanted Gems. This way, you can freely craft and use Grindstones and Enchanted Gems of the desired set.

- The drop rate of Beast Horns and Beast Claws will be greatly increased in Rift Raid (Level 5).

: These new items were added through the 2nd major update in August so that you could craft Grindstones. However, their drop rate in Rift Raid was so low that there weren't many opportunities to acquire them or craft Grindstones with them. Thus, we'll be increasing the drop rate of Beast Claws by about 3 times and Beast Horns by about 2 times in Rift Raid (Level 5). With this, you will be able to craft Grindstones or Enchanted Gems you want more often.

: We're considering the drop rate of Beast Horns and Beast Claws dropped as the Grade SSS reward in Rift Dungeon to be the same as that of Rift Dungeon (Level 5).

* Beast Claws and Beast Horns used for crafting Grindstones and Enchanted Gems are as follows.

▶ Drop Rate of Grindstones and Enchanted Gems in Rift Raid and Rift Dungeon Improved

- [Rift Raid] Rather than Mana Stones that were dropped as a battle reward with a certain chance taking a reward slot, Mana Stones will now be dropped all the time like other dungeons.

The drop rate of high-grade Grindstones will be increased by the removed drop rate of Mana Stones.

- [Rift Dungeon] The drop rate of Rare Enchanted Gems will be greatly decreased, and the drop rate of Hero+ Enchanted Gems will be increased by that decreased drop rate.

▶ Mana Stone Acquisition Amount Upon Selling Grindstones Increased

- The selling cost of Grindstones will be increased as follows.

We expect that significantly increasing the drop rate of Runes in Cairos Dungeon, as well as allowing Beast Horns and Beast Claws to be dropped in both Rift Dungeon and Rift Raid so you can craft Grindstones and Enchanted Gems, will improve overall farming satisfaction.

Moreover, thinking that improving the QoL of farming would synergize well with the changes we made, we decided to expand the MAX Repeat Battle count from 10 times to 30 times.

■ MAX Repeat Battle Count Increased to 30 Times

We know you've been waiting for this update! 

The Repeat Battle can now be played up to 30 times.

You'll now be able to select 10x or 30x Repeat Battle on the battle preparation screen via the Gateway building.

We made an additional change while increasing the MAX Repeat Battle count.

Currently, the Repeat Battle ends when you lose a battle.

Since the Repeat Battle can now be played up to 30 times, we decided to reduce the incidences of Repeat Battle ending due to losing a battle by allowing you to play the next battle even though you lose a battle, up to 2 times. However, the Repeat Battle will end if you lose 3 times.

That means you'll be acquiring more rewards from Repeat Battle. Thus, we'd like to improve the Sell Selected feature for your convenience.

Detailed information on the Sell Selected feature will be introduced via the v8.1.4 Update Notice. In this Developer's Note, we'll be sharing how we came up with this idea.

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The standard of Runes may differ depending on Summoners' progression, but veteran Summoners usually sell the Runes above without powering them up.

Since the current Sell Selected feature only allows you to filter Runes by grade, rarity, and main properties, you're probably checking Runes one by one before selling them. The increased Repeat Battle count means this process will become even more cumbersome than it is now.

The improved Sell Selected feature will also allow you to set the Rune set, whether the Rune has prefix properties or not, types of sub-properties, and the range of values.

This improvement won't only pertain to Runes. It will apply to Artifacts, Grindstones, and Enchanted Gems as well. Please look forward to the improved Sell Selected feature!

Lastly, we'll be adjusting the update schedule of the Abyssal Floor for Steel Fortress.

In the previous Developer's Note for the 2nd major update, we notified that we'll add the Abyssal Floor for Steel Fortress in the first update of November.

As we mentioned before, after hearing your feedback after the RELOADED update and SKY FEVER SEASON event, we thought we should prioritize improving the overall progression and farming structure of the game even though that meant we have to adjust the update schedule of adding the Abyssal Floor for Steel Fortress. Thus, the Abyssal Floor for Steel Fortress will be added in the last update of November.

We kindly ask for your understanding of the schedule adjustment. We'll prepare the content even more thoroughly. (The Abyssal Floor of Punisher's Crypt will be updated as scheduled - in the last update of December.)

Please check the table below for the update schedule of the Abyssal Floor.

Additionally, we'll be increasing the drop rate of Artifacts when the Abyssal Floor is added to Steel Fortress and Punisher's Crypt.

We're not only increasing the drop rate. We're also thinking of ways to make the Abyssal Floor of Steel Fortress & Punisher's Crypt a valuable farming source. We'll notify you again once the Abyssal Floor update goes live.

Please look forward to the Abyssal Floor for Steel Fortress scheduled for the end of November!

This is the end of the Developer's Note! We hope that what we shared today was helpful.

What we shared in this note will be updated in the next update.

In this update, major changes, including MAX Summoner Lv. expansion, Cairos Dungeon/Rift of Worlds updates, and increased Repeat Battle count are underway!

We expect that these changes will enhance your gameplay experience.

Try farming more Runes in the Cairos Dungeon, reach higher Summoner Lv., and enjoy the expanded Repeat Battle!

We can't wait to see which Summoner will reach Lv. 100 first!

We appreciate your valuable feedback and suggestions, and we will continue to listen to your voices to make Summoners War even more enjoyable.

The Developer's Note is intended to help you understand the upcoming update in advance. As development and testing are still underway, we ask you to understand that the actual update may differ from what we shared in this note.

We'll come back with more exciting update details in the next Developer's Note.

Thanks!