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Developer Update—Equipment Optimization and Upgrades
Greetings, Gyldhunters! This is our third Developer Update, and this time, we'll be focusing primarily on equipment-related optimizations, adjustments, and development progress. Before we dive into the main content, we have an announcement: future Developer Updates will focus on specific major content areas, while smaller updates and optimizations will be shared through more efficient, bite-sized videos and posts within the community. Do let us know what you think about this new approach!
Regarding equipment system adjustments, the first major optimization focus is on separating equipment and affixes, which used to be bound together. You can now freely and flexibly adjust equipment affixes by socketing "Affix Gems" into your gear, allowing you to build your own custom builds.
Affix Gems can currently hold up to 2 affixes and have both levels and types, both of which determine whether the gem can be installed into an equipment socket. On one hand, the equipment socket level must be greater than or equal to the Affix Gem level. On the other hand, the gem and equipment socket must be of the same type. Both conditions must be met for socketing to be possible. However, there is one special socket type that ignores type restrictions and can accommodate any type of Affix Gem.
Currently, Affix Gems can appear as drops for players to find and loot from defeated enemies; they can drop alongside weapons and equipment, or appear with any forged equipment. Affix Gems themselves have no durability, but when the equipment they're socketed into reaches zero durability, the Affix Gem's effects will also be disabled.
The second optimization focus is on the in-game forging system. Our optimization direction this time aims to repurpose the forging system into a welfare system for players. From now on, forging will no longer consume Gyldenblod. Instead, equipment can be forged by spending materials and time—IRL time. This means the forge continues working even when you're offline! This change is aimed to satisfy hardcore players' progression needs while keeping equipment production frequency through extended forging times. This is to avoid the situation from the last test where the forging system led to major dysfunctions in the equipment trade market.
Additionally, the forging system's equipment output levels, time consumption, and other settings will be better fleshed-out and will be affected by Camp building levels. We've also made the Spirit Blacksmith the NPC for the forging system and given him more interaction options, including the ability to socket and unsocket Affix Gems (rest assured, you can still perform gem socketing in the Inventory/Warehouse!), further improving game immersion.

The third optimization is the addition of Equipment Standard Vouchers. This feature is aimed to make comebacks less excruciating for players who have to restart from zero, and to help players who don't want to bother with build optimization to quickly jump into battle. Equipment Standard Vouchers can be directly exchanged for a complete set of equipment and items. Currently, there are, tentatively, 4 basic types of Standard Voucher—Common, Refined, Excellent, and Epic—which correspond to different quality levels of equipment and items. Apart from the standard ones, there is 1 special type of voucher: Custom Vouchers, which will be distributed when we're promoting specific game modes or maps.
The Equipment Standard Voucher system creates a playstyle variation: After using a Standard Voucher, you can spend Gyldenblod to refresh the build style of the equipment set. As you switch between equipment builds, the system will give different recommendations for your skill/talent loadouts to maximize the efficiency of your build. Of course, you can also choose to ignore the suggestions and adjust your loadout according to your own knowledge. In the future, Standard Vouchers will become available through missions or from new buildings added to the Camp.
Note that after using an Equipment Standard Voucher, you will first need to complete a game and successfully extract using the set before the equipment set truly belongs to you. Then you can begin customizing your build. Before then, all customization options will be locked.

That concludes the major equipment-related optimizations we're currently going for. We will also be making balance adjustments to individual equipment stats based on overall combat performance in the future. Additionally, we've taken community feedback to heart and implemented an equipment return feature between friends. If you extract equipment dropped by a friend during a game, it will automatically be returned to your teammate via mail. This is a huge win for groups of friends playing together! Of course, if your teammates' equipment durability drops because of your actions, they will be receiving the worn equipment by the time you extract, so beware! (We do not recommend giving your friends unnecessary surprises with this feature!)

Regarding new equipment, we will be adding Legendary sets for all classes in the next test. Each class's Legendary set has its corresponding lore and set name: the Mercenary's \[Champion Set], the Sorcerer's \[Sacred Chamber Set], the Blackarrow's \[Scaled Claw Set], the Shadowstrix's \[Deathbringer Set], and the Seer's \[Holy Saint Set]. We'll gradually release the related lore in the community.
(Mercenary - Bond of Rivalry, Mercenary - Skullcrusher, Sorcerer - Blind Eye Staff, Shadowstrix - Serpent's Whisper, Shadowstrix - Venomfang, Blackarrow - Deathclaw Hunter, Seer - Byrnes's Ash Urn, Seer - Absolution)
Please note: All names are tentative and are subject to change!

We also have even higher-tier equipment in development. These pieces not only possess powerful abilities, but are also strongly connected to bosses, such as the following sets (Please note: These are conceptual designs only, not final products. Subject to change! ):
That's all we have today for the developer update on in-game equipment! Let us know what you think in the comments section, or raise out any questions you may have! We'll respond to hot topics!

Gyldhunters, thank you all once again for your enthusiastic participation in BETA 3! In BETA 3, we implemented numerous optimizations and developed a range of new content. From the data we've gathered, BETA 3 has shown significant improvement over the previous test. While the game still has room for improvement, it's clear that we're moving in the right direction. Your passion and constructive feedback during this test have been a tremendous source of motivation for us. Our sincere thanks to all Gyldhunters around the world!

Due to time constraints, many aspects of the BETA 3 experience have yet to be fully polished, and several planned features remain under development. We've received a great deal of feedback, critiques, and suggestions through various channels. After thorough discussion and review, we've now outlined our future development plans and launch schedule. Thank you for your patience!

I. Key Issues Raised by Players:

1. Combat Experience & Class Balance:

   1. As a multiplayer online action game, we face many design and technical challenges in areas such as control responsiveness and overall fluidity compared to shooters or single-player action games. We acknowledge that the current combat experience still has plenty of room for improvement, but rest assured, this is an ongoing effort. We'll continue optimizing it in future versions to ensure the experience only gets better over time.

   2. Balance has always been a major concern for everyone, and it's a huge challenge for us as well. While escape rate doesn't fully reflect overall class balance, it remains one of the key metrics for an extraction game like ours. Compared to the previous test, the variance in escape rates among classes in trio mode has become noticeably narrower. However, the improvement in solo mode has been limited, so we'll keep working on it.

      

      

   3. Our team is relatively small, and internal testing alone isn't enough to ensure proper balance. We need online testing to gather more data and feedback so we can continuously fine-tune the game. This test period was brief, and we apologize that the balance hasn't yet reached a level everyone is satisfied with. However, the data shows that our several rounds of online balance adjustments have produced positive results. We believe that after the official launch, with ongoing optimization, we'll be able to refine the balance to a level that satisfies everyone.

   4. Additionally, we plan to introduce PvP Practice & Brawl mode in the next update to help players get comfortable with combat mechanics, and to allow practice and experimentation with different playstyles and builds at a minimal cost. This mode will also let us collect more representative PvP balance data, and we hope all Gyldhunters can provide us with additional balance feedback through this new mode.

2. Steep Learning Curve and Overwhelming Early-Game Pressure

   1. With many new Gyldhunters joining us in BETA 3, we once again received a large volume of feedback regarding the difficulty of getting started in the game. For new Gyldhunters, early matches—whether PvE or PvP—indeed have a steep learning curve.

   2. Therefore, during the BETA 3 test, we repeatedly optimized match mechanics based on player feedback, including loot value, PvP intensity, PvE difficulty, and escape difficulty. This approach will continue in future versions. By introducing more gameplay content and more refined algorithms, we aim to ensure that the overall experience is lootable, beatable, and extractable—without creating a sense of constant frustration or feeling stuck at every turn. After the official launch, we plan to implement a seasonal reset of certain progression elements and resources. This is intended to prevent unchecked inflation of macro resources over time and to maintain a balanced economy where effort and reward remain proportional. The specific details of the reset will be shared in the development log once finalized. We also welcome valuable suggestions through the upcoming Developer FAQs and other feedback channels.

   3. Finally, after further consolidating feedback and detailed discussions, we plan to implement a series of optimizations in three main areas: gameplay tutorials, resource distribution, and early-game PvP pressure. Due to time constraints, crucial combat techniques like "Special Recovery" were only covered in training tasks, and many new Gyldhunters may not have noticed them. There are many similar issues, and we will systematically review and improve gameplay tutorials to ensure both new and veteran Gyldhunters can better familiarize themselves with the game. For resource distribution, the main direction we're going with is to provide more starting Gyldenblod through task rewards, and to introduce features similar to the "equipment set vouchers" found in other games, allowing players to enter matches at a lower cost and with relative ease. We will also continue to reduce early-game PvP pressure to prevent new Gyldhunters from facing overwhelming challenges at the start of their journey.

3. Unfair Matchmaking

   1. In BETA 3, we incorporated skill-related parameters into matchmaking ratings (MMR), but there are still many matches that weren't well balanced, especially in Chaos mode where player counts are lower. Our current plan for tackling this issue is to tighten the equipment and skill restrictions per match to reduce the gap between Gyldhunters in the same match. We will also further refine the matchmaking algorithm to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of MMR.

   2. At the same time, we will implement a "broaden search to fill teammates" feature to help players find teammates more quickly. As more Gyldhunters join the game in the future, matchmaking fairness and efficiency will continue to improve.

4. Insufficient Content Variety

   1. Due to tight schedules, many of the features we envisioned were not completed in BETA 3. These include more engaging in-match tasks and unique gameplay features, a greater variety of extraction methods, richer tactical items, and entirely new stage mechanics. With these features and other new content added in future versions, the game's playability will continue to expand!

5. Pip's Pocket Issues

   1. Restricting high-value items to premium storage is common in extraction games, but our current limitations are indeed too strict. In future updates, we will relax some of these restrictions to make Pip's Pocket more practical. We're also considering whether equipment obtained during matches should be allowed in Pip's Pocket, or if we should implement other alternative solutions. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that the vast majority of in-match loot can be safely secured!

II. Upcoming content that will become available on release:

1. New Classes

2. New Maps

3. New Bosses

4. Holy Weapons and Legendary Equipment for All Classes

5. PvP Practice & Brawl Mode: This mode allows players to practice and get familiar with PvP mechanics at no cost, quickly understand the game's PvP systems, and enjoy the pure fun of combat.

6. New Equipment Affix System: We believe the current equipment affix system isn't engaging enough and makes it difficult to evaluate equipment value or conduct trades effectively. The new affix system will make build customization far more enjoyable.

7. Expanded Camp Development: The camp system in BETA 3 was still quite basic. In future versions, more NPCs will join the camp, and camp building will feature richer and more interesting content.

Higher-difficulty match modes will also launch alongside the new maps, offering greater rewards but with deadlier enemies. Additionally, new features such as controller support, a skin system, and other exciting content are on the way. For detailed previews of these upcoming additions, please stay tuned to our community announcements!

III. Future Plans:

As mentioned above, we still have a great deal of new content and optimizations we want to complete. Our goal is for Mistfall Hunter to launch in a more complete and polished state when it officially releases. Therefore, we've decided to postpone the original release schedule. Instead, we will participate in the Steam Next Fest on February 23, 2026, and officially launch the game in March 2026. The exact release date and pricing are still being discussed and finalized. We sincerely apologize for not being able to release the game as originally planned, but we believe that these additional three months will allow us to accomplish much more and deliver a significantly better experience at launch.

Finally, thank you all once again for your love and support for Mistfall Hunter! We'll continue working even harder!