Hello, Masters of the Book, this is Youngmo Kim, Director of ASTRA: Knights of Veda.
We sincerely appreciate your love and enjoyment of ASTRA: Knights of Veda, despite its various shortcomings. We apologize for the delay in our communications through developer's notes, as our priority has been to address urgent issues. Today, I'd like to provide further details that were not fully covered in my initial letter.
Frequent Feedback on the Balance of Knights of Veda
After the adjustment of the [Ignore DEF(%)] stat on April 18, we are preparing for further stat adjustments on May 2. We ask for your understanding in advance and aim to provide an early explanation of these adjustments.
Many of you have commented on the change to the [Ignore DEF(%)] value on April 18. High-level players, who primarily farm mobs with high defense (higher levels and grades), have found that [Ignore DEF(%)] provides up to three times greater efficiency than [Attack Power(%)], reducing the value of other options. This imbalance necessitated a prompt revision.
It was a necessary step to refine the balance of current and future Knights of Veda and their equipment. However, the significant adjustments disappointed many players, and we sincerely apologize for not explaining these changes adequately beforehand.
As previously mentioned, when a specific stat or capability becomes overly dominant, it undermines the relevance of other options, making rebalancing necessary. Ideally, these issues should have been identified and addressed during testing. We apologize for this oversight and assure you that we are committed to preventing similar issues in the future.
Upcoming Adjustments on May 2:
The issue where the stat increase of the [Elemental ATK] on rings was inadvertently set to half of the intended amount will be corrected.
Additionally, a problem where the [Movement SPD] and [ATK SPD] stats were not being properly combined will also be fixed.
For rings increasing in [Elemental ATK], the base value for [ATK] was initially set to double that of [Attack Power], but the stat increase was mistakenly set to match that of [ATK]. This will be corrected to reflect the intended design of doubling the stat increase of [ATK].
Unlike [ATK], [Elemental ATK] does not benefit from the [ATK(%)] option, hence it has a higher base value. If [ATK(%)] is kept below a certain threshold, [Elemental ATK] proves to be more efficient, and if it is above that, [ATK] becomes more efficient.
Cap Limitations:
Furthermore, we will implement caps on the stats for [Guard Rate] and [Reduce Veda Energy Consumption]. The cap for [Guard Rate] will be set at 80%, and for [Reduce Veda Energy Consumption], it will be 30%.
[Guard Rate] is an option available only to Knights of Veda who have 'guard' type heavy attacks. These knights inherently possess a certain level of [Guard Rate], making it one of the easier stats to enhance. While achieving 100% is relatively simple, at this level, guarding consumes no stamina, which could lead to unexpected behaviors and problems in various content, hence the need for adjustment.
Considering the limited number of knights that can use the [Guard Rate] stat and to maintain competitiveness with other option stats, we have decided not to significantly reduce its effectiveness. Instead, we are setting a cap at 80%, allowing Masters of the Book to select this stat up to the cap or choose other options as needed.
As for the [Reduce Veda Energy Consumption] stat, setting it to 100% could prevent any Veda Energy usage, which might lead to unintended gameplay issues. Exceeding specific thresholds could also undermine the effectiveness of other game mechanics like 'Sync Rate,' 'Skill Effects,' and 'Relic Set Options.' To avoid these issues, we've decided to cap this stat at 30%. We understand that reaching this cap may be difficult for some players, but maintaining a balanced and diverse strategic environment is crucial for enhancing the gameplay experience.
Character Balance:
Furthermore, we will proceed with balance adjustments for specific Knights of Veda in the upcoming May 2 update. Details of these adjustments will be provided in the patch notes. Our aim is to minimize the frequency of balance changes and to focus more on buffs rather than nerfs to ensure a fair and enjoyable game environment for all players.
Xanthia
1. Cooldown for teleportation (dodge) will be reduced.
2. The damage from the normal skill "Law of Gravity" and Signature Skill "Event Horizon," was previously distributed evenly, will now be segmented into early, mid, and late stages. The initial damage will be more potent, decreasing as it progresses to the later stages.
Albert
1. The base damage threshold on Defense-based Knights will be adjusted to increase the damage ratio (applies to all Knights of Veda with Defense-based damage)
2. The third strike of “Power of Earth” (normal attack) will be changed to defense-based damage.
3. The Veda Energy cost of the Signature Skill “The Roar of the Golden Lion” will be reduced.
Atterisee
1. Cooldown for teleportation (dodge) will be reduced.
2. Roll, Roll, Roll! (Normal Skill) - When the animated bear charges, the interval between hits will be reduced, allowing it to push targets more effectively. Damage during the charge will be adjusted accordingly.
3. The Strong Attack charge time will be reduced, and a movement speed reduction effect will be added.
4. Research Pays Off (Signature Skill) will have the “Reduce Incoming Heal” replaced with “Decreased Defense”.
- Before: (1) Reduces ATK, (2) Reduce Incoming Heal, (3) Reduce All RES
- After: (1) Reduces ATK, (2) Reduce DEF, (3) Reduce All RES
5. The duration of debuffs granted by “Research Pays Off” will be increased.
Lucian
1. “Holy Sword of Blessing” (Normal Skill) will have its cooldown reduced and its duration increased.
Andrei
1. The range of “Red Meteorite” (Normal Skill) and “Narcissistic Flame” (Strong Attack) will be increased.
2. The damage of “Red Meteorite” (Normal Skill) and “Narcissistic Flame” (Strong Attack) will be increased.
Yanko
1. Scaling for “Mechanic Arrow” (Basic Attack) will be increased.
2. Scaling for “Weakness Calculation” (Strong Attack) will be increased.
Orlik
1. The base damage threshold on Defense-based Knights will be adjusted to increase the damage ratio (applies to all Knights of Veda with Defense-based damage.
2. The third strike of Orlik’s Strong Determination (Normal Attack) will be changed to Defense-based damage.
Leon
1. The base damage threshold on Defense-based Knights will be adjusted to increase the damage ratio (applies to all Knights of Veda with Defense-based damage.
2. The third strike of Leon’s “Justice!” (Normal Attack) will be changed to defense-based damage.
Arena Balance:
Additionally, since launch, many Masters of the Book have enjoyed participating in Arena, and we have been closely monitoring the sentiment that Melee Knights of Veda are at a disadvantage compared to ranged Knights of Veda. The matches between melee and ranged are finely balanced, with the low stagger and tenacity of ranged Knights vs the high stagger and tenacity of melee ones playing a key role in balancing between the two. However we are aware of the disadvantages that melee Knights of Veda can run into, especially when facing highly specialized and effective ranged knights in the active 3v3 arena.
Currently, we are balancing the tenacity values of melee Veda Knights, and we are considering reducing the duration of stagger when it occurs repeatedly upon being hit. We are striving to obtain balanced test results, and update as quickly as possible.
Once again, we feel a heavy responsibility for not predicting these situations earlier, and apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The 50/50 Issue
We’ve received a lot of feedback regarding the topic of the 50/50 not being shared across pickup character banners. The development team heavily underestimated the impact that having this focused on one character instead of both would have. We have listened to your feedback, and the 50/50 will be shared across multiple banners starting from the May 2 update.
Inconvenience associated with forming parties
We plan to introduce an automatic matching feature to streamline party formation without needing friend requests, allowing for quick re-invitations of previous party members. We aim to launch this update by May 16 and will provide a detailed schedule in due course.
We sincerely apologize for any shortcomings and assure you of our commitment to continually enhancing the game. We are dedicated to promptly addressing your feedback and understand the frustration and disappointment caused by ongoing issues and balance adjustments.
To address this, we have prepared a small login event as follows:
From April 24 to May 2, participants will receive 200 Starstones daily, amounting to a total of 1,600 Starstones over the eight days.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Best regards,
Youngmo Kim
