Greetings from Com2uS!

We'd like to tell you about our update plans for the end of December with this Developer's Note.

What we have for you is the new grade for our PvP content and the addition of the Abyssal Floor for Punisher's Crypt.

Before we dive into the details, we'll summarize each update first.

===================================================

▶ New Grade in PvP Content: [Punisher]

- [Punisher] grade will be been added to the World Arena (including Special League), Arena, Siege Battle, and World Guild Battle.

- [Punisher] grade will be added between [Guardian] and [Conqueror].

- With the addition of a new grade, the criteria for some grades in PvP content will be adjusted and rewards will be improved.

▶ [Cairos Dungeon] Abyssal Floor for Punisher's Crypt

- A more powerful boss of Punisher's Crypt will appear on the Abyssal Floor. With the addition of the Abyssal Floor, the difficulty of B1-B10 will be lowered.

- [Intangible Type Artifacts] will be dropped in the Abyssal Floor of Punisher's Crypt.

===================================================

First, we'll talk about the details of the new grade.

▶ New Grade in PvP Content: [Punisher]

We've been thinking about adding a new grade for a long time.

The importance of our PvP content continues to grow as many Summoners enjoy playing our PvP content such as the World Arena and Siege Battle.

However, this caused some kind of disparity where there were too many Summoners or guilds in a certain grade, and ultimately, this was negatively affecting the grade criteria and matchmaking process.

This is why we decided to add a new grade.

We had to approach this carefully because adding a new grade means some Summoners may feel discouraged by having to play in a lower grade than now.

The addition of the new grade will change the current grade criteria and cause some Summoners to receive lower grade and fewer rewards.

In the end, we decided to revamp the current reward structure for other grades and refine the matchmaking system to increase the content's overall satisfaction and prevent Summoners from feeling discouraged by any changes that may occur due to the update as much as possible.

This is what the Punisher grade looks like.

​

Stylish, right?

The image of the Punisher grade will not only be applied in the World Arena, but also in the Arena, Siege Battle, and World Guild Battle.

Now, we'll walk you through how the grade criteria and rewards will be adjusted in detail with a table below.

▶ New Grade for World Arena

The changes to be made to the grade criteria are as follows.

As you can see, Punisher 1-3 will be added between Guardian 1 and Conqueror 3.

We decided to maintain the current criteria for the Guardian grade and break down the Conqueror 3 grade, where many Summoners currently belong, into the Punisher grade.

Additionally, we lowered some of the grade criteria for Conqueror so that more Summoners will be able to reach the Conqueror grade.

With the addition of a new grade, we will be changing the season reward as well as follows.

We can see that the quantity and range of transmogs have increased.

Not only the quantity of transmogs and transmog items provided to the Guardian grade increase, but also the transmog reward that only 3,000 users from all servers could obtain will now be provided up to Punisher 3, which would almost double the user count to 5,000.

We also adjusted the acquisition quantity of Medals for Guardian and Punisher grades by grade numbers to alleviate any possible decrease in rewards due to the grade change.

We hope that the addition of a new grade, lowered criteria for Conqueror, and reward adjustment will enhance your overall satisfaction in the World Arena.

Now, let's get to the changes coming to the Special League.

As you can see, the Punisher grade will be added to the Special League as well.

Please note the grade changes in the Special League will be applied from the Special League that is scheduled to begin at the end of March 2024.

We're also working to improve our internal matchmaking mechanism.

For Punisher or lower grades, you'll be matched against users with similar Victory Points as you. We'll also be advancing the matchmaking mechanism for the Guardian grade so that you'll be matched against users of similar grades. However, if the matchmaking takes too long, the range of grades may expand.

The new grade and reward revamp will also be applied to other PvP content.

This time, we'll tell you about how the Punisher grade will be added to our other core PvP content - Siege Battle.

▶ New Grade for Siege Battle

Just like the World Arena, the Punisher guild will be added between the Guardian and Conqueror guilds in the Siege Battle.

The part we were concerned with the most was the grade criteria.

Although it differs by server, Guardian 1 was where the majority of guilds belong.

To reorganize the grade structure to the proper degree, we had to break down the Guardian 1.

We decided to reorganize grade criteria from Guardian 1 to Conqueror guilds to distribute the guild grade more evenly

and improved/adjusted rewards of the current grade to make sure you won't obtain fewer rewards after the revamp.

For instance, the Guardian 2 guilds (top 20%), will become Punisher 1 and obtain more rewards. Guardian 1 guilds (top 10%) will become Punisher 3 and obtain more rewards even though their guild grade will change.

This is how we organized the guild rewards for Punisher to Conqueror guilds and increased the basic battle reward for guilds of upper grade (Guardian or higher) as well as improved Trophy Box to increase overall satisfaction.

As you can see here, the same reward box for the Guardian grade will be provided to the Punisher grade.

As for the Guardian grade, a new reward box with 7 slots will be provided so that guild members of the highest grade feel rewarding to play the Siege Battle.

On top of this, we'll be improving the Siege Battle Tournament and season reward as follows.

As we explained in the battle reward, the grade criteria will be lowered with the addition of the new grade so that you can obtain better rewards in general.

As for the Siege Battle, we adjusted the grade criteria so that the Siege Battle grade becomes more meaningful.

In addition, we improved the rewards to make the content rewarding to play.

We'll continue to improve the Siege Battle content.

Next, we'll walk you through about the addition of a new grade in the World Guild Battle and other changes to be made.

Just like the World Arena and Siege Battle we covered above, a new grade will be added for Arena as well.

We'll explain the new grade for the World Guild Battle and Arena briefly with a table.

▶ New Grade for World Guild Battle and Arena

- New Grade for World Guild Battle

The grade criteria for the World Guild Battle has changed like the Siege Battle.

As it's interserver content, the criteria for the Guardian guild will be a bit different, but the overall structure will be similar.

With the changes made to the grade criteria, the attack reward of each grade will be changed as follows.

We'll be increasing the reward for successful attacks for all grades so that you can earn guild points in the World Guild Battle easier.

The amount of EXP earned in the World Guild Battle will be changed as follows.

It's almost the same as the Siege Battle.

You may think that the EXP reward for the Conqueror guild has decreased at a glance, but the overall EXP acquisition for the World Guild Battle has either increased or stayed the same as we alleviated the grade criteria.

In addition to the attack reward, we also improved rewards for the World Guild Battle as follows.

- New Arena Grade

As for the Arena, rewards will be changed with the addition of the Punisher grade.

We decided to improve rewards in general by giving out more Crystals and providing L&D Summoning Pieces.

We've walked you through our plans of adding a new grade to our various PvP content and reward revamps.

As the update schedule for each PvP content varies, we'll be adding the new grade in each content one by one.

Please check the table below for the update schedules by content.

Our purpose in adding a new grade and revamping rewards is to balance out the grades and improve the matchmaking process.

We hope that these changes will make our PvP content more enjoyable for you.

Now, let's get to the next part of the update - Abyssal Floor for Punisher's Crypt!

▶ Abyssal Floor for Punisher's Crypt

Let's check out the image of the enhanced Ancient Punisher before we go into details!

​The swords that surround him have become even sharper, making the Ancient Punisher look more durable and fine.

With its upgraded appearance and skills, the Ancient Punisher will become more challenging to defeat.

Please check the table below for the boss' skills.

[Dance of Sword] will now inflict Continuous Damage whenever it attacks the enemy.

As the chance of being inflicted with Continuous Damage will increase if [Dance of Sword] stacks up to 3 times due to [Punisher's Sword (Passive)], it'll be a good idea to bring Monsters that decrease Attack Speed, use removal, and grant immunity to fight efficiently.

We'll be working on the dungeon as much as possible so that the dungeon doesn't cause any unnecessary stress.

While working on the balance of the Abyssal Floor, we thought we should also work on the balance of B1-B10.

Thus, we'll be lowering the balance of B1-B10 as well to allow more Summoners to obtain the Artifacts they want.

Even though the Ancient Punisher has become stronger, we're sure many of you will find tips and tricks to clear the Abyssal Floor for Punisher's Crypt just like you did for the Steel Fortress.

We look forward to seeing many awesome guides!

Lastly, we'll tell you about [Intangible Type Artifacts] that will be dropped in the Abyssal Floor of Punisher's Crypt.

We did mention this in the previous Developer's Note, but we'll be going over it again as a reminder.

===================================================

▶ Intangible Artifact Details

▶ Both Intangible Attribute/Type Artifacts cannot be equipped on the same Monster.

 : (E.g.) If Wind Joker (Lushen) is equipped with an [Intangible Attribute Artifact], you cannot equip an [Intangible Type Artifact] on him.

▶ Normal and Special Conversion are not available on Intangible Artifacts.

▶ Intangible Artifacts are only dropped in the Abyssal Floor of Steel Fortress and Punisher's Crypt with a fixed chance.

===================================================

This is the end of the Developer's Note for today!

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're aware that many of you enjoy playing our PvP content.

We'll keep listening to your feedback and incorporate them to improve the content so they become even more entertaining.

We'd like to thank everyone for supporting us in 2023.

Please look forward to more exciting content to come next year!

Enjoy the end of 2023 and may your coming year be filled with joy.

Thanks!