Greetings Guardians,

Last Saturday in the two-part 2024 Fest, the newly appointed director of Guardian Tales, Boogang Kim, presented the development plans for Season 3, followed by a Q&A session in what was called the "Season 3: Tuning Up" offline event in Korea. This was followed by Symphony Tales II, where some of you may have enjoyed the beautifully orchestrated music of Guardian Tales live. While we'll be sharing the Symphony Tales II recap soon, we also wanted to highlight the development plan segment of the 2024 Fest presented by the director, which many of you may find interesting.

Without further delay, please find below the Season 3 plans presented in the form of slide images and a quick summary.

*Please note that the names of the upcoming content below are placeholders and may change with the actual update.

Greetings Guardians, this is Director Boogang Kim from Guardian Tales. Today, we are delighted to present an update on the development progress of Season 3, building upon the direction we discussed last year.

 

I'll highlight the key objectives for Guardian Tales Season 3, focusing on lobby, UI, content, and collection and growth.

 

Firstly, the lobby, which has been filled with buildings for a long time, often leaves knights feeling like there's "nothing to do" after enjoying the story. The goal for the enhanced lobby is to create a dynamic space for Guardians to continually engage with, where they can display their achievements and always find something new to explore.

 

Once World 18 is completed, Heavenhold will transition into a new environment where Guardians can construct new buildings and discover various activities. Moreover, the revamped lobby will feature uncharted areas (clouded areas in the screenshot) that will gradually expand with the introduction of each new World.

 

In the lobby, alongside basic residential buildings, Guardians can place Monuments to celebrate significant in-game accomplishments. These Monuments symbolize achievements like attaining a 100% completion rate in a World or conquering the highest Co-op Expedition difficulty level, enriching gameplay satisfaction through a sense of achievement.

 

Recognizing the limitations of sharing the lobby with other users, we've designated a separate space within the Profile page for displaying achievements. Here, Guardians can adorn their profiles with various stickers obtained through in-game accomplishments, fostering personal expression and interaction among Guardians.

 

The second significant change lies in the UI, where we're undergoing a comprehensive overhaul with fresh developments. Our aim is to refine Guardian Tales' design to be sleeker and more sophisticated, while also enhancing convenience with new features and improvements.

 

A significant overhaul is underway, starting with the lobby, our game's primary screen. Considering the frequency and significance of Guardians' interactions, we've relocated core buttons. Less frequently used buttons are now tucked away in menus, ensuring essential buttons remain prominent and easily accessible on the main screen.

 

The most significant addition UI-wise is the Content Book, which connects all in-game content. In the recommended category, you'll find story content that you should play, as well as content with remaining tickets or rewards all under the Content Book which will guide you to find tasks more easily and quickly.

 

In Season 3, we're rolling out several long-awaited improvements, with the Preset System being the most significant. This system, challenging to modify previously, will receive substantial enhancements. Instead of just 8 shared parties, we'll offer plenty of presets for each content, with the option to copy existing presets to new ones to prevent inconvenience. Continuous feedback from Guardians will guide ongoing UI enhancements even post-Season 3 release.

 

Next, let's address content. Our primary objective is to bridge the gap between story content updates by introducing engaging activities for Guardians. To achieve this, our development goals are twofold: firstly, to introduce two essential permanent content additions, and secondly, to establish a World content cycle utilizing these additions.

 

The first key content is the Co-op Expedition, which has already undergone beta testing. It's a high-difficulty content requiring Guardians' cooperation and direct controls. We're preparing for the second beta test, enhancing areas lacking in the initial one and improving matchmaking convenience and rewards based on feedback. In the normal mode, the difficulty levels and patterns of each stage have been redesigned to provide enjoyment in role-playing. 

 

The second key content is a new single-player mode called Tetis Hero War, showcasing the unique exploits of various heroes in action-packed battles. We're preparing for beta testing, although it's slightly behind schedule. In our pursuit of creating engaging gameplay, we've experimented with integrating roguelike game elements into Guardian Tales. While this approach has had its challenges and setbacks, we remain committed to refining and improving the experience.

 

This single-player mode involves forming a deck of 8 heroes and strategically placing them to clear stages. Like Co-op Expedition, it includes storylines related to various heroes. You can summon heroes during battles and manually use their skills and combos. Strategic hero summoning is essential due to limits on summons. Completing stages rewards random items, similar to Kama-ZONE, aiding progress to the next stages.

 

The play cycle is low-pressure, allowing stage sweeping after initial clearance. Periodic rewards based on achievement scores encourage self-challenges and discovery of new strategies. Beta testing will continue until Season 3 release. Additionally, the growth resources obtained from the World Exploration and Kama-Zone, which will be closed concurrently with the beta of Tatis Hero War, will be provided in this content.

 

The two key contents will officially open with Season 3 after removing the beta label. 

 

Additionally, World 19 and the new lobby will be unveiled, marking the core specifications of Season 3.

We will reduce the overall scale and available resources of the world, but we will develop in a direction that reduces the burden on Guardians and increases the enjoyment of finding hidden elements.

While specific details are not yet disclosed, Season 3 promises brighter spaces reminiscent of Season 1 worlds, starting with a lighter heart.

 

Each month, World 19 will kickstart the cycle, followed by Co-op Expedition stages and Tetis Hero War story updates in subsequent months. The final month will see the introduction of the World Achievement system, offering rewards based on achievements across these three contents. 

This monthly rotation aims to provide fresh challenges regularly. 

 

Additionally, Nightmare and Short Stories will be intermittently provided to complement permanent content. Plans also include gradually introducing Hell mode from World 1 onwards, aiming for a stable four-month cycle once new developments are completed.

 

Next, Collection and Growth. The primary objective is to expedite collection and basic growth, alongside enhancing the value of new heroes. Moreover, there's a focus on slightly raising the growth cap for selective growth.

 

Guardian Tales offers essential basic growth for all heroes and optional growth focused on main heroes. However, due to the game's long service, the gap between veteran Guardians has widened significantly, emphasizing the need for adjustments.

 

We've decided to remove constraints on the growth of existing heroes and significantly increase the resources needed for basic growth. This adjustment, coupled with improved event and shop item efficiency, will enhance the collection experience for Guardians of all levels. However, we're cautious of potential currency inflation from increased evolution stone supply which can increase the supply of Hero Crystals, so we're introducing new currencies for optional growth to ensure game sustainability.

 

Guardians can collect existing heroes for the Rift or collect new heroes for Tetris Hero War based on their goals. We will distribute a large quantity of new growth currencies initially and allow conversion to existing inflated currencies.

 

Changes were made to the summoning system to make collecting and growing heroes easier. The current rotation system was causing delays due to the increasing number of heroes.

 

In Season 3, rotation pick-ups are being replaced with selective pick-ups, allowing Guardians to choose their desired hero and weapon. This eliminates stress over unwanted items. However, new heroes won't be available in selective pick-ups initially, and they won't be purchasable from the mileage shop until a certain period has passed.

 

After the update, new heroes will be available through new pick-up summons for a limited period. To prevent excessive gem consumption, we'll introduce lower ceilings. While new heroes won't be purchasable immediately, you can purchase growth resources with high efficiency using the mileage system.

 

In terms of selective growth, three new types of growth will be added. 

 

Firstly, Guardians can enhance their heroes' basic stats by granting blessings through the Tetis Hero War across three stages using newly acquired resources. Through this, the basic stats of heroes will increase, and main heroes intended for challenging content will be prioritized in development.

 

Next, exclusive equipment will undergo specialization similar to Limit Break, providing substantial stat boosts and minor random options exclusively to their owners. This is aimed at giving more value to each  exclusive equipment to their owner. This aims to enhance the value of each hero's exclusive gear. As the acquisition of exclusive equipment becomes easier through selective pickups, it will be designed in a way that allows continuous consumption of duplicate equipment. However, as these options are minor, they won't be mandatory, and we are developing it with a ceiling in mind.

 

To ease the hero and equipment upgrade process, we've simplified growth stages. In Season 3, since the level increase based on worlds will disappear, ultimately, these newly added growth elements will become the limit of hero growth throughout Season 3 and will not be included in knowledge or collection bonuses. Therefore, you can proceed by selecting only the heroes you really need.

 

Lastly, in Co-op Expeditions, Guardians can embed gems into artifacts for minor bonuses and resistances, gradually making challenges easier with more farming. We see this as a form of growth that rewards players' efforts rather than imposing excessive farming burdens. We aim to adjust the farming difficulty so that diligent farmers can challenge the next season's cooperative expeditions more quickly and smoothly."

 

So far, we've introduced the changes in Season 3 changes in Lobby, UI, Content, Collection, and Growth. For PvP and Guilds, we'll focus on substantial improvements later in 2024. Season 3 specs include PvP balance adjustments and Guild Raid boss improvements.

What's included in the Season 3 open specs are adjustments to PvP balance and improvements to Guild Raid bosses. We'll provide more detailed explanations on these topics through further announcements.

 

However, there is something noteworthy to mention regarding PvP: the rotation rules for PvP are changing. 

 

With the addition of Co-op Expeditions, Co-op and Co-op Defense modes will be removed from the Multiplayer rotation. Consequently, Arena and the official version of Death Match will rotate on a weekly basis. For Season 3, we aim to introduce some changes to Death Match as it transitions to its official version.

 

Match count restrictions will be lifted and opening hours will be expanded in Season 3. To prevent match count from directly correlating with score, the Trophy acquisition method will be changed. This will allow faster score accumulation at lower tiers, while varying scores at higher tiers based on the difference in opponent scores. These adjustments aim to facilitate advancement for all while promoting fierce competition among top-tier Guardians. Similar scoring systems may be applied to the Colosseum or Arena after further improvements.

 

Many more changes are underway beyond what's discussed here, with development and testing ongoing simultaneously. While the roadmap suggests guidance for the second quarter, internally, the team targets mid-May for completion. Each member is dedicated to ensure the success of Season 3. 

 

To ease the wait for Season 3, we'll conduct the second Co-op Expedition beta, release the Tetis Hero War beta, and organize existing content. Also, World 14 Demonshire Nightmare mode will open.

 

As Season 2 nears its end and Season 3 brings significant changes, we are grateful to Guardians for their support. Despite some missteps as the new director, we seek your continued encouragement for our hardworking development team.