Zuliepocalypse

As a team, we recognize the utmost importance of maintaining a healthy and enjoyable in-game economy. Over the past few weeks, we have observed a significant surge in zulie within the game, accompanied by a higher frequency of real-money transactions (RMT). A few weeks after starting our investigation our findings were corroborated by player reports indicating rapid price increases and increased activity in RMT groups.

To address this concerning situation, our team launched an extensive investigation. After investing numerous hours in log analysis and testing, we successfully identified the root cause of the issue. It appears that a small group of players exploited a vulnerable quest, repeatedly completing it to receive a small amount of zulie as a reward. By utilizing automation software, they were able to continuously carry out these actions 24/7, accumulating a substantial quantity of zulie. Subsequently, they engaged in real-money transactions by selling the amassed zulie to other players. These players attempted to hide their activities but thanks to our extensive logging we were able to track all the associated accounts. In response, we have identified and taken the following action:

• 37 accounts connected to this group were permanently banned
• 325 accounts that bought exploited zulies received a 1 month ban and a full zulie wipe

Although this removal of zulie from the game is significant due to the banned accounts, a considerable portion of it has already circulated through the economy via normal gameplay activities such as trading and vending.

Considering the nature of this situation, we have made the decision to implement a devaluation of zulie. This action aims to address the saturation of illegitimate zulie in the markets. We understand the impact this may have on players, and we assure you that this measure is being taken to restore balance and ensure a fair gameplay environment for everyone involved.

In order to address the issue at hand, we have taken measures to reduce the zulie balances on a per account basis. The extent of adjustment varied depending on the specific account. On the higher end, some accounts had their zulie adjusted by a factor of 10, meaning their balances were divided by 10. On the lower end, however, the zulie balances remained relatively unchanged.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work towards rectifying this issue. This situation demanded a lot of resources from the team and slowed own our progress on content development these past few weeks. However, our commitment remains steadfast in providing an engaging and enjoyable gaming experience while upholding the integrity of the in-game economy.

We understand for some players this may be a setback, to compensate for this we will be enabling a special Fairy Event for the next 7 days.

Luna and Eldeon EXP

We have listened to your feedback and identified that Luna and Eldeon required attention to make them more rewarding and engaging. We are happy to announce that we have made significant adjustments to the experience (EXP) rates in these zones, aiming to provide a more meaningful and enjoyable progression journey.

We have increased the EXP rates in Luna by 40% for all mobs, and by 20% for all mobs on Eldeon. Without the inclusion of previous pay-to-win elements, the EXP rewards in these areas were not substantial enough to make them significant progression zones. This resulted in a monotonous and tedious leveling experience, often requiring players to resort to repetitive quests and other boring activities to advance meaningfully. With the new EXP rates we hope that grinding through these zones will be more fun and more interesting to explore.

We hope to continue iterating in this vein to make the experience on these planets even richer and to make progression as fun as it can be!

Mounts

You have been asking for mounts and we have heard you loud and clear! Firstly, we fixed a long outstanding issue where the Queen Kera would drop a Bone Spider mount. Now Queen Kera will drop the Kera's Pet mount and the Bone Spider King will drop the Bone Spider Mount.

Additionally, we have added 4 mounts to the drop tables in Luna that were previously only ever available from the item mall. Which mounts and who drops them? Well that is up to you to find out!

Finally, for our game arena enthusiasts we have added the following mounts to the honor shop:

• Black Chicken Mount (5,000 Honor)
• Armored Antares Mount (10,000 Honor)

and the following mounts to the valor shop:

• White Chicken Mount (5,000 Valor)
• Antares Mount (10,000 Valor)

Wings of the Fallen Astarot

While we love the Diamond 10 meme, it was a mistake on our part to not consider the drop rate around Prismatic Fibers and Prismatic Lattice when requiring a grade 10 gem. While having very difficult item to craft is fun, crafting grade 10 gem is practically impossible with the current success rate and rate of material drops.

While we still want the wings to be challenging, we don't want them to be unreachable for most end game players so we changed the requirement from 1 Diamond 10 to 4 Diamond 8's. We also made adjustments to the spiritual stone requirement and updated the recipe of the Wings of the Risen Phoenix so that these items stay aligned. We are reviewing the overall requirements for crafting grade 10 gems. Additionally, we will adjust Fibers and Lattices drop rate accordingly in future patches.

Clan points and Clan Skills

The current clan skill system was designed when clans could accommodate up to 400 players, since then we have reduced the limit to 100 characters. Additionally, the previous design relied on the fact that players could buy Clan Points from the item mall to supplement their in game farming activities. Since we are committed to not enabling pay-to-win mechanics, Clan Points are no longer available on the item mall. As a result, clans struggle to even farm one or two temporary skill each month.

Our change aims to make it so that achieving these skills are less of a chore and more a fun achievement for the group. Additionally we want to allow more clans to have a change to unlock some of these skills. One thing that is clear is that the drop rate clan skills (especially the higher tier ones such as the Epic or Legendary drop rate skills) are too powerful in their current form. We're actively working on adjusting PVE farming zones and drop table in order to diversity the farming experience in all zones. However the huge boost in rates from these clan skills makes it very challenging to create balanced gameplay and rewards large clans disproportionately to small clans. As such, we have decided to take the following actions:

• Divide the cost of ALL temporary skills by 4 (ex: Legendary clan drop rate 300m --> 75m)
• Divide the power of ALL temporary skills by 4 (ex: Legendary clan drop rate 2.5% --> .5%)
• Increase Clan point generation from ALL monster by 30%

Clans who purchased these skills at the old prices will have the skills removed and will be reimbursed the original costs.

New UI System

We are thrilled to announce a significant enhancement coming to ROSE Online! Our team has been hard at work, and we are excited to share that we are transitioning our user interface (UI) system from a legacy solution to a cutting-edge technology based on HTML/CSS.

This transition opens up a world of possibilities, empowering us to rapidly build and iterate on both existing and new interfaces. By leveraging HTML/CSS, we gain new flexibility, efficiency, and a plethora of advanced features to elevate your gameplay to new heights.

Here's what you can look forward to with the UI update:

🚀 Lightning-Fast Development: The adoption of HTML/CSS technology allows us to expedite the creation and implementation of UI elements. This means that new features, optimizations, and improvements can be rolled out faster than ever before, ensuring a more dynamic and immersive gaming experience.

⚡ Advanced Feature Set: The modern technology stack enables us to introduce exciting features that were previously unattainable such as UI scaling support on high resolution displays, custom font loading, emojis, animations and more.

🎨 Unleash Your Creativity: We believe that customization is key to enhancing player immersion. With the new UI system, we are empowering you to fully personalize your user interface. Tailor the placement, size, and appearance of various UI elements to suit your gameplay style and preferences. Get ready to make ROSE Online truly your own!

We are truly excited about the possibilities this upgrade unlocks for ROSE Online. Currently we have migrated login screen from the old system to the new system. Over time we will start porting more areas of the user interface to the new system. Stay tuned for more updates on this front!

NOTE: Please note that the current theme is not the final design for the interface and it will evolve over time as we convert different pages. We currently tried to keep it thematically similar to the existing UI in the game.

Content Development

Over the past few months, we have made significant progress in addressing various technical challenges that were affecting the game. As a result, we are delighted to announce that our team has undergone a strategic reorganization, with a renewed focus on content development to bring you more exciting gameplay experiences.

Previously, our primary focus was on resolving intricate technical issues such as stability and tackling potential exploits. These endeavors required significant time and resources to ensure a solid foundation for the game's future. We are pleased to inform you that we have successfully completed a substantial portion of this technical work, allowing us to start shifting our focus towards what truly matters: delivering captivating content for your enjoyment.

With our restructured team, we are now better equipped to work with increased efficiency and speed on content development. This means you can look forward to content-focused updates in future patches. Our work on Luna and Eldeon balances, introduction of new mounts to the drop tables and other changes from this patch are just the beginning of a new development course.

While we embark on this exciting new chapter, we remain fully committed to maintaining the stability and security of the game. Rest assured that we will continue to address any technical concerns that arise, albeit with a more agile approach that allows us to invest additional time and effort into crafting enriching content.

We are incredibly grateful for your unwavering support throughout this transformative process. Your feedback, passion, and dedication have played a crucial role in shaping the future of ROSE Online. Together, we will breathe new life into the game, forging unforgettable adventures and memories together.

...and more!

Despite the big investigation slowing down our progress on content development we made big strides this patch. Please take a look at the changelog for more details.

Changes

• Planets:
  • Luna: Increased exp of all mobs by 40%
  • Eldeon: Increase exp of all mobs by 20%
  • World: Increase clan point drop reward for all mobs by 30%
• UI:
  • Added new UI subsystem
  • Migrated login screen to new UI
  • Fixed a bug where sometimes message boxes do not appear on the login and character screens
• Quests:
  • Fixed all quest indicators for the hero quest
  • Fixed Kay showing a quest indicator when he has no quest available
  • Updated Edone dialogs to be less confusing and adding missing quest indicators
  • Fixed unusual behavior with "Territory Defense" quest and the quest tracker
  • Added Barbed Snapper Horrors to quest tracker
  • Added Crowned Asper Horror to quest tracker
  • Fixed Charrs name being mispelled in the quest tracker
  • Fixed a bug with Owl Eye (3) quest and the quest tracker
  • Added missing quest indicators for trainer npcs in adventurer's plains
  • Removed some unused dialogues from Lena
  • Fixed duplicate text in Belia's dialogue
  • Fixed a typo in Bith's dialogues
• Items:
  • Mystic Weaver: Renamed from Mysticweaver Vest to Mystic Weaver Vest
  • Hayazake: Updated gem effect location
  • Heavenly Ocean Monk's Staff: Updated gem effect location
  • Zeus Lightning Spear: Updated gem effect location
  • Menacing Shield: Fix gem effect not appearing
  • Wings of the Fallen Astarot: Updated crafting recipe
    • 1x Diamond 10 => 4x Diamond 8
    • 25x Spiritual Stone of Water => 250x Spiritual Stone of Water
  • Wings of the Risen Phoenix: Updated crafting recipe
    • 25x Ore of Fire -> 250 Ore of Fire
• Mounts:
  • Added White Chicken Mount to Valor Shop
  • Added Antares Mount to Valor Shop
  • Added Black Chicken Mount to Honor Shop
  • Added Armored Antares Mount to Honor Shop
  • Changed Queen Kera to drop to drop Kera's Pet instead of Bone Spider Mount
  • Added Bone Spider Mount drop to Bone Spider King
  • Added Kera's Pet Mount drop to Queen Kera
  • Added 4 new mount drops to Luna
• Skills:
  • Reduced cost and potency of temporary clan skills by 4
    • Reduced clan PvP Offense cost from 12.5m 3.125m
    • Reduced clan PvP Defense cost from 12.5m 3.125m
    • Reduced clan PvM Offense cost from 12.5m 3.125m
    • Reduced clan PvM Defense cost from 12.5m 3.125m
    • Reduced clan Clan Power cost from 50m to 12.5m
    • Reduced clan Clan Defense cost from 50m to 12.5m
    • Reduced clan Clan Accuracy cost from 50m to 12.5m
    • Reduced clan Clan Dodge cost from 50m to 12.5m
    • Reduced clan Clan Recovery cost from 125m to 31.25m
    • Reduced clan Stun Resistance cost from 125m to 31.25m
    • Reduced clan Silence Resistance cost from 125m to 31.25m
    • Reduced clan Sleep Resistance cost from 125m to 31.25m
    • Reduced clan Common Drop Bonus cost from 125m to 31.25m
    • Reduced clan Uncommon Drop Bonus cost from 25m to 6.25m
    • Reduced clan Rare Drop Bonus cost from 37.5m 9.375m
    • Reduced clan Very Rare Drop Bonus cost from 75m to 18.75m
    • Reduced clan Epic Drop Bonus cost from 150m to 37.5m
    • Reduced clan Legendary Drop Bonus cost from 300m to 75m
    • Reduced clan PvP Offense bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan PvP Defense bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan PvM Offense bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan PvM Defense bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Clan Power bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Clan Defense bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Clan Accuracy bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Clan Dodge bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Clan Recovery bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Stun Resistance bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Silence Resistance bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Sleep Resistance bonus from +10% to +2%
    • Reduced clan Common Drop Bonus cost from +50% to 12.5%
    • Reduced clan Uncommon Drop Bonus cost from +30% to +7.5%
    • Reduced clan Rare Drop Bonus cost from +20% to 5%
    • Reduced clan Very Rare Drop Bonus cost from +15% to 3.75%
    • Reduced clan Epic Drop Bonus cost from 5% to 1.25%
    • Reduced clan Legendary Drop Bonus cost from 2% to 0.5%
• Misc:
  • Fixed a bug causing players to incorrectly get "server unavailable" when logging in
  • Increased maximum characters from 4 to 5
  • Updated some skill descriptions from "melee attack" to "auto attack"
  • Fixed Sikuku Ancient not showing damage
  • Fixed Sikuku Elder Shamen not showing damage
  • Removed mentions of carts from Spero's dialog since he does not sell Carts
  • Reduced cost of Valor Skills from 4,000 points to 2,000 points
  • Converted Hawaiin Shirt to event grade