Seasonal and Supplement Episodes

Seasonal and supplement episodes will now follow the new rule before they are added to the Seasonal Record. 

Seasonal episodes with an event shop will be rerun twice before they are added to the Seasonal Record, and they will no longer have the shop when they are added to the Seasonal Record.

Supplement-type seasonal episodes without an event shop will be added to the Seasonal Record after one more rerun.

All the clear records will be kept when the episodes are added to the Seasonal Records. 

Gauntlet Survey Results and the Results

As previously mentioned in the November developer’s note, we conducted a large-scale adjustment announcement for a more enjoyable and thrilling Gauntlet environment. 

We express our sincere gratitude to the many CEOs who actively participated in the Gauntlet survey.

We will now guide the future adjustments to the Gauntlet environment based on the results of the survey. 

The key inquiries related to the Gauntlet environment from this survey are as follows, and we will share the results and the development team’s opinions on each item.

1. Experiencing matches that last for 3 minutes
2. Unsatisfactory balances
3. Inconveniences when checking information
4. Employee and ship ban experiences

I. Experiencing matches that last for 3 minutes

The category that the development team judged to be affecting the most to the match time is healing. However, the aggregated results from statistics and surveys indicate that battles lasting for 3 minutes are less frequent than the development team’s expectations. The recent Gauntlet healing reduction patch is considered the cause. 

Therefore, we plan to conduct a more detailed review of the healing amount in the Gauntlet environment. Initially, we will remove the self-healing ability of the employees who can heal themselves and the ally to consistently reduce the average playtime in the Gauntlet.

II. Unsatisfactory Balances

Among the unsatisfactory balance responses, the four issues that occupied the highest average ratio are as follows:

 1) When facing an employee without weaknesses (an employee without a clear counter)
2) When facing an employee with exceptional durability relative to its cost
3) When, despite addressing weaknesses, dealing with them is not clear-cut.
4) When facing an employee with exceptional abilities relative to its cost

Based on the survey results, the development team is currently analyzing the characteristics of around 200 employees corresponding to the four issues with the highest ratios. First, the team is in the process of defining criteria for employees with no weaknesses and unclear countermeasures.

After completing the analysis of employee characteristics related to these major complaints, the team plans to proceed with balance adjustments for each analyzed characteristic. 

Detailed information on this matter will be provided separately.

III. Inconveniences when checking information

Many CEOs expressed difficulty in accessing information about the employees’ specifications. 

To address this concern, the development team is planning the following improvements for standardized descriptions and providing missing information

• Distance Display Improvement: Standardizing the notation and providing a method for measuring distances.
• Movement Speed: Including movement speed information in the employee details.
• Line of Sight: Displaying the field of vision information in the employee details.
• Range: Indicating the effective range in the skill descriptions.
• The number of attacks: Specify the number of attacks in the skill descriptions.

Implementing these improvements requires unavoidable system development, and it is expected to take some time. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by not being able to provide these pieces of information promptly. Once the system development is complete, we will systematically organize and provide more detailed information about employee specifications in the game.

IV. Employee and ship ban experiences
a. Frequency of using banned employees
 

 b. Frequency of using banned ships

Based on the survey results, we observed that CEOs tend to use ban ships more frequently than banned employees in the Gauntlet mode. Therefore, considering that the Gauntlet ban penalty for ships does not significantly impact the actual performance of the ships, the development team is discussing the enhancement of the Gauntlet ban penalty for ships. One thing we are discussing is adjusting ships that summon units to the field.

As a preliminary step towards these Gauntlet environment adjustments to reduce the match time, there are plans to adjust the employees who can both heal themselves and their allies simultaneously. 

Therefore, during the January balance patch, Full Moon Nanahara Chinatsu and Carmen will no longer be able to self-heal in the gauntlet environment. Beyond these two employees, adjustments will be sequentially made to employees who can both heal themselves and their allies simultaneously in the Gauntlet environment as well.

The development team is also preparing for various other adjustments to the Gauntlet environment, and these changes will be implemented sequentially.

NEW ORIGIN 1st Anniversary Broadcast

To commemorate the upcoming 1st anniversary of CounterSide’s NEW ORIGIN in February 2024, a special broadcast is being prepared to reflect on 2023, providing insights into the direction of 2024, and sharing various events and content for a meaningful celebration. The development team is diligently preparing a range of events and content to meet the expectations of the CEOs and make the anniversary memorable.

During the anniversary broadcast, the Head PD will make an appearance to deliver exciting news and updates to our CEOs. 

We sincerely hope for your continued interest and support for the 1st-anniversary broadcast and the upcoming year.

This concludes the upcoming update news scheduled for January 2024.

CounterSide has been able to progress continuously, and it’s all thanks to our dear CEOs. In the upcoming year of 2024, the CounterSide team, including myself, will listen carefully to the opinions and criticisms of our CEOs and strive to make CounterSide even better.

We extend sincere gratitude to all the CEOs who have been with CounterSide throughout this year, and I look forward to your continued support in the coming year. Wishing you all a happy and prosperous New Year in 2024.