Hello Lumia Island survivors,
Some of the changes we introduced in Season 7 lacked the level of detail they really needed. Our top priority was to increase the volume of our new season patch to avoid repeating past mistakes. However, in the process, this ended up affecting the gameplay experience more than we expected.
Going forward, we’ll be placing a stronger focus on refining the details that matter most to you, so that your gameplay experience feels more polished and intentional. Before we get there, though, we’d like to walk you through how we’re planning to address some of your main concerns.
1. Elimination Prevention
In our previous update, we mentioned that the Elimination Prevention system helped improve player engagement based on solid data. Playing time, number of consecutive matches, and return rate all went up by around 5-20% across various tiers. That’s why we decided to extend the test into the start of Ranked Season.
However, your feedback around the system changed significantly once Ranked Season began. During Preseason, the main concern was that the risk during early-game felt too low. But once Ranked Season started, the revival penalties felt much more significant, and that changed how players approached the game.
Then, a new source of frustration emerged from Day 3 onward, as more surviving teams led to more frequent third-party fights (also known as ABC), which noticeably increased player fatigue. This kind of repeated interruption during combat can become a major source of burnout, especially in the long run. That’s why we believe shortening the duration of Elimination Prevention is the most reasonable step forward.
Internally, we’ve already tested some adjustments. Starting the Revival with Credits phase earlier proved relatively straightforward, but removing Auto Revival on Day 2 led to teams being eliminated too quickly, which created a new set of issues.
The most ideal would be to replace part of the Elimination Prevention phase with Auto Revival. But since the in-game Revival system is linked with several other mechanics, making these two systems coexist will require additional development time.
As such, we’re planning to to apply this approach, reducing the Elimination Prevention duration and replacing some of it with Auto Revival, in our April 17th Patch 1.45.
That said, we’re planning to move forward with this approach in Patch 1.45 on April 17th, reducing the Elimination Prevention duration and replacing part of it with Auto Revival.
2. Skill Cast Within Max Range
We added this option based on your feedback. However, since it's not yet separated by character, it’s become inconvenient when switching between different ones. We plan to introduce a new setting that allows per-character customization in Patch 1.45 on April 17th.
Some characters have skills that require different control styles. Skills like Leni's W Whack-a-mole! and Arda's W Babylon Cube won’t be affected by this option and will continue to function as they have until now. We're also working on fixes for skills that aren’t applied correctly or skills with indicators that are not being displayed properly when used with a different control on Markus, Elena, Tsubame, Katja, and Arda. These fixes will be included earlier, in Patch 1.44 on April 3rd.
If there are any other characters where this option feels off, please let us know!
3. VPad & Quickslot
The Quickslot is often used in urgent moments, so many of you asked that it not get in the way or block the screen. As a result, we’re removing the VPad and adding a new Quickslot feature for using Remote Drones instantly in our 1.44 Patch on April 3rd.
4. HUD Player Count Display
In response to your feedback, we will move the player count display from the top right back to the top center so it’s a bit easier and quicker to check. This change will be applied in Patch 1.45 on April 17th.
5. Other
After the recent Ranked Points hotfix, average match time has increased, which has also led to an increase in the amount of points earned. The current top is in a similar spot compared to last season, with little change in playtime and points earned even after the implementation of Elimination Prevention. However, some of you have shared with us that the points earned feel lower than expected compared to the displayed Team Kills, which we believe is the main reason for the mismatch in perception. As additional adjustments to Elimination Prevention are planned, we will continue monitoring this closely.
We are also keeping an eye on Dr. Wickeline spawns and shifts in the Research Center meta. In the 1.44 Update on April 3rd, we’ll slightly move Wickeline’s spawn point outside the Research Center. And if after this change, crowding continues to happen inside the Research Center, we may consider closing it earlier in a future update.
We expect to address most of your main concerns in the 1.44 and 1.45 Updates on April 3rd and 17th respectively. Even after these updates, we will continue to monitor carefully and make improvements where needed.
As a token of gratitude for your support and patience, we’d like to give you a little something.
Coupon Code: BETTERACADEMY
Reward: 300 NP
Valid Thru: Monday, April 7th 14:59 (UTC)
Once again, thank you so much for your feedback. It helps us grow and make the game better for you. We’ll keep listening and doing our best to bring you an even better experience moving forward.
Thank you for sticking with us!
