DevNote #7

Greetings, Gyldhunters!
Welcome to our seventh Developer Update. With less than a week to go until the official launch, the dev team is working around the clock on final checks and preparations, waiting for you all to step into Windrest. Thank you for your continued support and passion for Mistfall Hunter. In this update, we'll walk you through our core progress and share a sneak peek at some of the Season 1 content. Let's kick things off with performance optimization, which we know is top of mind for everyone. Over the past few weeks, we allocated significant dev resources to tackle performance and smoothness issues based on your feedback:

· Resolved loading stutters caused by Unreal Engine shader precompilation, minimizing hitches when models and visual effects load for the first time.

· Completed device tiering optimization, ensuring tailored default graphics settings for different hardware configurations.

· Rolled out dedicated performance tuning for consoles and low-end PCs.

· Finalized display adaptations for 2K and 4K resolutions.

· Optimized the frame rate in Camp areas.

· Improved UI responsiveness when opening the inventory and map during matches.

· Reduced the occurrence of micro-stutters during combat.

Overall, the official launch version will deliver a noticeably smoother experience across all core gameplay scenarios. However, actual improvements may vary depending on your specific hardware configuration and system environment. Once the game goes live, we'll closely monitor performance across all scenarios and devices, quickly deploying optimization updates based on your feedback to ensure the most stable and seamless experience possible.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/2312da4231728a7be5df8c1af2546c5bbf797a19.jpg"]Next, let's talk about the Withered Knight's brand-new weapon—the Polearm & Shield. This combination of a polearm and kite shield creates a distinct playstyle differentiation from the more offensive-oriented Greatsword branch. In terms of design philosophy, the Polearm & Shield will preserve the Knight's core combat traits while introducing team utility value, expanding the class's battlefield roles and tactical options.

The polearm offers a major attack range advantage. Its thrusting attacks demand precise timing and aim, requiring a bit of practice to master its combat rhythm. For combat balance, we've adjusted the turn rate for certain Polearm & Shield skills to prevent its range advantage from becoming overly oppressive. Overall, the Polearm & Shield has a slightly steeper learning curve than the Greatsword, heavily testing a Gyldhunter's mechanical mastery and battlefield prediction.

The kite shield design features a distinct spin compared to the Mercenary's Sword & Shield playstyle. Polearm & Shield players can charge up power while actively blocking damage, preparing for a devastating counterattack. Additionally, certain Polearm & Shield skills come with block protection, providing reliable interruption resistance akin to Super Armor. This gives Gyldhunters a stable window to execute their counters.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/66fbfd2a1a92e5d298448bc90d57d6e6d6ae8722.gif"]

In terms of core gameplay mechanics, we've fully retained the Withered Knight's foundational Wither and Execute systems, ensuring a seamless and coherent playstyle across different weapon branches. Tailored to the Polearm & Shield's hybrid offensive-defensive nature, we've introduced two core talent paths for Gyldhunters, each featuring a distinct combat style.

[Quick Shield Bash]

This playstyle leans toward an aggressive, offensive role, with its core mechanic focusing on increasing the charging efficiency of the shield's heavy strikes. Gyldhunters can quickly raise their shield charge level while performing a shield-raise dodge, allowing them to suppress enemies with consecutive dashes. Acting as battlefield vanguards, they can leverage the polearm's reach advantage to pierce enemy lines, disrupt enemy formations, and create offensive breakthroughs for the team.

[Enhanced Shield Bash]

This playstyle leans toward a team-oriented defensive role, with its core mechanic relying on infusing the shield to unleash an empowered heavy strike. When the shield is charged, landing a heavy strike on a target triggers an AoE knockback, effectively repelling nearby enemies, relieving focus-fire pressure on allies, and providing stable battlefield protection for the team. Gyldhunters can also flexibly choose skills and talents from both the Greatsword and Polearm & Shield branches to mix and match unique combinations based on the scenario or team composition needs.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/f850c72d320a299f49a659d8fd15d4d11cd1e94a.jpg"]Leaderboards have always been the ultimate stage for Gyldhunters to showcase their skills and go head-to-head. In the launch version, we've completely overhauled the leaderboard system. The Hunt Ranking, Gylden Hunt, and Demon Hunt leaderboards from the beta phase will be retired. In their place comes an all-new ranked system: Path of Glory.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/7cc52a579b2803bedb71b208ce3da7e24a140d76.png"]Once your character reaches Level 6, you'll unlock the "Path of Glory" ranked feature. Before a match starts, Gyldhunters can freely choose whether to enable "Path of Glory." This setting is independent for each team member, and enabling ranked mode will not alter the original matchmaking rules. During a match, successful extraction, defeating monsters, completing tasks, and acquiring assets will all award Rank Points during match settlement. The actions that yield points vary depending on the Gyldhunter's current tier. Points are only deducted if you fail to extract, and there is a cap on the maximum points you can earn in a single match. Every time you advance to a major tier, you can claim corresponding milestone rewards, with higher tiers unlocking exclusive cosmetic rewards. Once you reach Fateweaver I, Normal difficulty matches will no longer grant Rank Points, and Gyldhunters must venture into higher-difficulty modes to keep climbing.

The "Path of Glory" features seven major tiers, from lowest to highest: Duskborn, Mistwalker, Dawnseeker, Fateweaver, Oracle, Exalted, and Zenith.

Concurrently, we're launching the Server-Wide Points Leaderboard, which ranks players in descending order based on their account's total accumulated points. The system automatically identifies the class with the longest playtime on your account as your main class, displaying the character nickname with the highest playtime under that class. For Gyldhunters who successfully reach the top tier, "Zenith," the leaderboard will additionally display their exact point totals, visually showcasing the power dynamics of the server's elite Gyldhunters.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/8ce29bc0ce1fc31ad85e9698f563674304a28126.png"]Season 1 is officially named Soul Hunt, with the Fate Chart serving as the core narrative concept. The entire season's main storyline will unfold around this central theme. The core gameplay feature tying the seasonal storyline together, Soul Harvest, will roll out progressively after the official launch.

In matches where the Soul Harvest ritual is active, participating Gyldhunters will encounter a brand-new elite monster: the Soulgnawer. This creature has a slender build, a serpentine lower body, and human-like facial features. During the match, she'll actively disrupt the ritual process, and you must defeat her to complete it. At the same time, you'll need to keep a close eye on rival Gyldhunters to guard against third-party ambushes while the ritual is underway.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/97bf3086ea490ef053b486539362ae7087ecb399.png"]The Season 1 Battle Pass, "Slumbering Contract" (mentioned in our previous launch announcement), will be unlocked for free after 7 days of cumulative logins. To clarify further: as long as you maintain a certain level of activity during the season, you'll be able to "renew" and unlock the next season's Battle Pass for free. Additionally, the "Slumbering Servant" outfit, which drew massive attention from Gyldhunters during the Steam Next Fest, has been added to the Battle Pass rewards, available for redemption using tokens earned through regular active play.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/272b32019cf4d4592b0a6f000ac64c4d2ab3724a.jpg"]Finally, we'd like to share our progress regarding class balance tuning. By combining player feedback and combat data gathered during the Steam Next Fest with multiple rounds of subsequent internal testing, we've systematically optimized the balance performance across all classes. The specific adjustments are as follows:

Let's start with the Withered Knight. It was the most popular class during Next Fest. Looking at the overall data, the Withered Knight's killing power was excellent. However, due to the sluggish nature of heavy weapons and the fact that Polearm & Shield skills weren't live yet, some players—especially high-skill players—felt the class lacked sufficient strength. The Withered Knight's other weapon, the Polearm & Shield, will launch in Season 1, and we've also further optimized the Greatsword's weapon skills and talents.

Withered Knight - Greatsword Adjustments: The "Parry" skill now unlocks at an earlier level, and the Parry Counter window has been extended. "Thorn Guide" has been tweaked to resolve collision issues during the pull, increasing its success rate. The second-stage branch attack from "Breakthrough Charge" no longer has a massive knockback effect, preventing you from losing ground when fighting ranged enemies. The core talent "Legacy" now grants increased Health recovery when knocking down rival Gyldhunters. Light and heavy strikes have had their hitboxes slightly increased so that the actual damage area better matches the visual effects. Additionally, because the Polearm & Shield will also benefit from the cooldown reduction provided by the "Endless Flow" talent once it goes live, we've slightly reduced that talent's cooldown reduction percentage.

Withered Knight - New Weapon (Polearm & Shield): The Polearm & Shield introduces 6 new skills for players to choose from, along with a unique ability to rescue downed teammates from a distance. With a wide variety of talent and skill options for both DPS and support paths, this will bring a massive boost to the Knight's overall skill variety and strategic depth.

For the Sorcerer, overall kill and damage data was relatively balanced. However, they still suffered from a steep learning curve, poor strategic variety for certain low-power, niche skills, and an unhealthily oppressive chain-CC capability with Ice skills in extreme scenarios.

We've introduced moderate optimizations to both Sorcerer playstyles, adjusting baseline and close-quarters skills to lower the entry barrier and boost baseline survivability.

General Adjustments: Fire Bolt, Thunderstrike, and Meteor Charm: Allows fast-casting (no channeling) when Energy is depleted (overdrafted), while still granting the fast-version's Energy recovery effect. Arcane Armor: Reduced channeling time. Windcraft: Increased area of effect (AoE) and cast speed.

Sorcerer - Staff - Elemental Adjustments: Deep Freeze: Sped up skill activation/wind-up animation. Flameblade: Sped up skill activation/wind-up animation and optimized visual effects to better match the actual damage hitbox. Crystal Icebolt: Slightly reduced the base cooldown. However, since its cooldown timer now starts after the Icebolt finishes firing rather than immediately upon activation, players can no longer abuse the "Arcane Charge" talent to spam this skill at high frequencies. Thunderstrike: Expanded the effective hitbox and lightning radius, slightly boosting its small-scale AoE potential and accuracy. "Furious Thunder" Talent: Raised the maximum stat ceiling, increasing the slow effect applied after hitting enemies multiple times with Thunderstrike. Thunder Pierce: Slightly increased the skill cooldown but marginally raised its damage. When paired with the "Thunder Roar" talent, chain-casting Thunder Pierce is still possible, but players will need to be more strategic with their timing.

Sorcerer - Staff - Stardust Adjustments: Stardust Tempest: Reduced skill cooldown and increased damage, giving it better overall versatility while making it far more threatening.

For the Blackarrow, their performance in solo mode was slightly overturned, with certain skills and talents becoming overbearing in high-tier gear matches. Additionally, the Featherlight Arrow and Splatter Arrow talents felt poorly synergistic with their respective playstyles.

We've introduced moderate adjustments to the Blackarrow's overperforming special arrows, ensuring their damage and crowd-control capabilities retain strategic value while offering both sides fair counterplay. Concurrently, we've better aligned the no-cost special arrow talents with their playstyles and slightly buffed their raw power to give players a more distinct, impactful Archer/Hunter identity.

General Adjustments: Mysticfly Arrow: Slightly reduced its True DMG scaling to marginally lower its piercing effect against high-tier equipment's affixes and stats. Paralysis Arrow: Reduced the duration of its Exhausted state. Shadow Step: Toned down the charge-speed boost gained upon breaking Stealth.

Blackarrow - Bow - Archer Adjustments: Splatter Arrow: The "Sepsis" talent previously boosted splash damage; it now requires a fully charged bow to trigger the damage increase, while further scaling up the splash damage multiplier to better reward the Archer playstyle's charged-shot gameplay.

Blackarrow - Bow - Hunter Adjustments: Featherlight Arrow: The "Power Infusion" talent previously increased the effective range of fully charged shots; we've removed the fully charged requirement entirely and further expanded the effective range, making it far more synergistic with the Hunter playstyle's high-frequency hit demands.

For the Seer - Catalyst, looking at the overall data, their raw damage output leans on the weaker side. However, as proficiency increases, a Reverent Seer's strong kiting capabilities allow for impressive combat performance, so we're not making additional adjustments to their offensive power. That said, the class still suffers from a steep learning curve, and the base healing efficiency of the Support playstyle remains overly dependent on landing enhanced orbs.

General Adjustments: Reduced the channeling time of both "Healing Rune" and "Punishment Rune."

Seer - Catalyst - Support Adjustments: The Support playstyle's core talent, "Ebb and Flow," now fires enhanced orbs with a larger damage hitbox, improving accuracy to ensure a more reliable healing output.

For the Seer - Mace, their overall data performance leans slightly overturned. Their exceptional disengage, kiting, and chasing capabilities are overly dominant in actual combat, and their ability to escape engagements is especially prominent in the relatively open terrain of Hallowgrove. We'll preserve the Blasphemer Seer's short-range chasing and kiting capabilities with mobility skills, but we're toning down their long-distance disengage and escape performance. Concurrently, we've also introduced certain adjustments to overperforming skills like Rune: Corruption, Paralysis Curse, Thorn Sigil, and the duration of Super Armor effect from Zeal.

General Adjustments: Shapeshift: Reduced duration and movement speed bonus. Thorn Sigil: Reduced slow effect. Paralysis Curse: Introduced restrictions on its available cast windows and slightly reduced its maximum cast range. Rune: Drain: Increased lifesteal ratio against players. Rune: Corruption: Lowered the healing reduction effect and shortened its duration.

Seer - Mace - Super Armor Adjustments: The Super Armor playstyle's core talent, "Relentless," slightly nerfs the bonus Super Armor duration gained per successful attack hit, though the maximum duration limit remains unchanged.

For the Shadowstrix, their overall data was relatively balanced. However, certain skills still offered too much mobility and overwhelming crowd-control chains, causing them to overperform in actual combat. We've limited the Shadowstrix's dominant chain-CC tools and further optimized the hitboxes of certain skills to improve their landing consistency, while introducing moderate adjustments to the overperforming mobility of "Pursuit Strike" and "Jumping Pursuit Strike."

General Adjustments: Increased damage from weapon-specific skills and talents will now only take effect when wielding the corresponding weapon.

Shadowstrix - Dagger Adjustments: Shadow Wheel Slash: Optimized its damage hitbox to improve the consistency of consecutive hits. "Lurking Blow" Talent: Slightly reduced its damage boost. Added the "Ambush Momentum" talent for "Shadow Strike," which briefly grants a damage boost after casting Shadow Strike. "Nimble" Talent: Optimized the cooldown reduction trigger logic for Shadow Strike's afterimage hits; when an afterimage hits multiple units with a single strike, the cooldown reduction effect can now only trigger once. Shadowstrix - Dual Blades Adjustments: Fang Rush: Optimized its damage hitbox to improve landing consistency.

Crow Storm can no longer stack on players who are already stunned, and its damage has been slightly reduced. Pursuit Strike and Jumping Pursuit Strike: Marginally toned down their mobility performance. "Heavy Strike Mastery" Talent: Previously allowed Pursuit Strike to cost zero Energy but added a cooldown to the skill; it has been adjusted to remove the skill cooldown while retaining the zero-Energy cost effect, which now has its own internal cooldown.

For the Mercenary, their overall data was relatively balanced. Therefore, we've made some adjustments to certain damage and mechanic trigger conditions to improve overall feel. Concurrently, we've slightly buffed the PvE efficiency of both the Shield and Hammer playstyles to better align with their high-risk, high-reward nature.

Mercenary - Sword & Shield Adjustments: Perfect Parry: The trigger window has been slightly extended. "Shockwave Strike" Talent (Shield Playstyle): Increased its PvE damage. "Block Damage Boost" Talent (Shield Playstyle): The damage boost effect of this talent has now been enabled in PvE.

Mercenary - Hammer Adjustments: Skullcrusher: Improved the mid-air steering capability after releasing a Level 2 charged smash, enhancing its mid-air targeting while reducing instances where players overshoot past enemies during a Level 2 charged leap attack, thereby improving landing consistency. Skullcrusher: Increased its PvE damage. Warhammer Sling: The hitbox detection for its Level 1 charge has been slightly accelerated.[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45259576/1e6a6507a623ff4619c16124b45e3c66261c83d2.png"]That's everything for this Developer Update. A massive lineup of major content—including full-scenario performance optimizations, the Withered Knight's all-new Polearm & Shield weapon, the completely reimagined ranked system, fresh Season 1 content, and comprehensive class balance adjustments—will officially debut at launch. On July 29, we cordially invite all Gyldhunters to step into the Mistfall to embark on a brand-new hunting journey. We'll see you in-game!