[2023] 15th Dev Journal

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

Hello Lumia Island survivors!
Today’s Dev Journal will cover our 3rd Update of changes to Characters! Much of the content was introduced during the Dev Stream, but let’s talk about it here in more detail.

Character changes involve a lot of work in improving characters that have excessive or low utility in terms of skill structure. The common goal of these changes is to enhance the character's unique flavor and character fantasy (or character "appeal"). There are several processes involved in toning down the skill utility, but for the 70 different characters to have their unique fantasy, they need to have weaknesses in different directions, rather than being all-around perfect.

Typically, long-range characters tend to face a reduction in skill utility. The value of the range is lower in Solo Mode and used as a way to keep characters safe. However, in Squad, the range is almost impossible to play against. For example, we talked about Adriana in the 1st Character Update. She can use her crowd control of Ground and Knockback to control the fight from a distance. As a result, she currently has a penalty that reduces the amount of damage she can deal in Squad by 20%. But with a Flamethrower, the redheaded pyromaniac will regain her suppressed destructive power, but her weakened survivability and crowd control need to be compensated by her teammates.

On the other hand, melee characters have a disadvantage in Team Modes, and often have team mode adjustments to do ~5% more damage and take less damage. Such differences in the utility of skills are compensated by base stats. However, since the range is a highly important ability, we currently end up greatening the difference in base stats by taking into account both stats and adjustments.

In this 3rd Update, we primarily aim to introduce cases where character fantasies are enhanced or revamped with a focus on Team Modes. These changes do not imply that each character is stronger or weaker. On the contrary, when a skill utility is enhanced, the base stats and skill power are nerfed to compensate.

One of the standout utilities in Team Mode is "Skill Reset". It has been applied to the evolved form of Luke, as introduced in the 1st Update, and some other characters will have variations of this as well.
Serial killer Jackie's Bloodfest (P) isn't quite as bloody as it sounds: instead of increasing Attack Power upon eliminating enemies, it now resets the cooldown of base skills. Unfortunately, Jackie's inner madness no longer responds to Wild Animals and only triggers upon slaying other players.



If her Chainsaw Murderer (R) is active, duration is increased upon slaying an enemy.



The base stats adjustments will make it a little harder for Jackie to get her first kill, but she'll be able to recreate the terror of a serial killer the moment the kill is triggered.

Meanwhile, her Hack & Slash (Q) now only attacks once. You can only follow up with a second attack if the first one is successful, and when using it for the second time, instead of swinging in the same spot, the character moves slightly forward, enhancing control and usability.



While Chiara's ranged response may decrease, if she succeeds in infiltrating the heart of the enemy's territory, she will be able to unleash nightmares upon her enemies.

Also, you can no longer use Hand of Corruption (Q) as a ranged skill; instead, you can use it much more frequently, and deal more damage by hitting with multiple projectiles.



As for Depraved Prayer (W), the Shield given based on your lost HP will increase. So if you use it when your HP is low, you will be able to hold out much better.



Additionally, if you kill an enemy with the Plague (R2) while still using Last Judgement (R), the Plague will not stop and its duration will increase. Since the Plague will be maintained for a longer period, you'll have another chance to use Last Judgement!



But due to Chiara's increased proactivity, her Stigma (P)'s Defense Reduction will be removed, meaning that simply standing up close to her enemies will not benefit her team as much as before, and she will need to use her skill to maximize its effectiveness.

Even if she doesn't deal a lot of damage herself, her ability to set up and help her teammates will shine in Team Mode!
Leon’s Cannonball (W) will now give you and your teammates a surrounding shield instead of enhancing basic attacks. However, Cannonball can still cancel basic attack delays, allowing you to continue utilizing the basic attack canceling ability as before.



Surf's Up (R), which can disrupt or control enemy territories, will be wider, longer, and faster.



Through these two changes, Leon's ability to actively lead the battle structure will be strengthened.
On the other hand, some skill effects have a significant impact on optimization performance. Effects like water and fire are particularly computationally intensive, so the image of Leon's Pool effect has been slightly modified for optimization purposes.



As for Xiukai, whether it's because of his position as a Chef on Lumia Island or his good looks, he is a surprisingly popular character for beginners. However, as new players push the boundaries of cooking to the extreme, they quickly become frustrated. Currently, Xiukai has become difficult to use below a certain tier, and adjustments are impossible without changing the play direction.

Xiukai's ult will no longer be enhanced by cooking. While Xiukai's dishes are tastier and recover more HP, Juggernaut Chef will now only increase Xiukai's Max HP. With this change alone, he will have a significantly different playstyle from before.

Lost in the Sauce (Q) will now splatter on the floor uppon hitting an enemy, reducing their movement speed within a small area, making it slightly more useful against clustered enemies.



Heavy Meal (W) will become the second level skill (E2) for Wok It Off (E).



Instead we'll be adding a new skill, Eat Up! (W), which heals players and their teammates. And it's especially cute when the skill is used on yourself!



His ultimate, Burnt to a Crisp (R), will now slow enemies instead of reducing their Defense.
Overall, Xiukai will need to have an aggressive itemization like the other test subjects in order to be as potent of an offensive player as he once was, but his ability to protect his teammates or control areas as a tank will increase, making him more useful in other ways. Most importantly, while cooking is still an important operational element for Xiukai, we want to make sure that he doesn't just "cook" a lot of food like he used to.

Eleven's Calorie Cyclone (R) has been changed from an offensive buff to a tanking ability. Instead of enhancing basic attacks and skills instantly, it will now continuously restore Eleven's HP for a certain period of time after using it, allowing her to withstand enemy attacks better until her teammates arrive. During her ultimate, every time Eleven or a teammate lands a basic attack, she will drop a hamburger, allowing her or teammates to recover HP.



With Daniel's Inspiration (W), you won't have the same field of vision, reinforcing the feeling of being alone and isolated.



In addition, not only Character Skills but also Weapon Skills have been reorganized.
Arcana's VF Dispersion (D) no longer requires hitting DDDD repeatedly. It will now instantly spawn 3 spheres, which will then automatically fly to the nearest enemy. You won't be able to use it in the direction you want, but you'll be able to hit with certainty.



Ballistic Advantage (D) on a Sniper Rifle zooms out faster and the handling becomes smoother. It still serves its purpose for checking the field of view.



Pistol's Moving Reload (D) no longer reduces the cooldown of its base skill. Cooldown reduction is too powerful a gimmick to be included in a Weapon Skill. We'll be moving to a different way of showing the Pistol's unique agility, such as increasing Basic Attack Speed after use as well as increasing Movement Speed based on Skill Amplification. We'll also be adjusting the Cooldown for characters using Pistol.



Axe's Maleficent Helix (D) will have its stacking conditions removed to make it more universally usable and will have a normal cooldown, while reducing its Attack Speed impact.


Bow’s Rain of Arrows (D) will have a more pronounced Foreshadowing Effect and a better production.



Shuriken’s Caltrops (D) makes the spike identification more obvious, and the areas you shouldn't step on are clearer.



Whip's pull gimmick is too powerful to keep as a Weapon Skill, especially in Team play.
Changes to the Grappling Whip (D) and Whip Test Subjects will be covered in our Characters - 4th Update!

As part of our efforts to improve the overall quality of our characters, we've been making small adjustments to their Radius and Picking Collider.

Radius is the range of skill hits, and we've increased it by about 0.06 meters for Piolo and Markus, who had smaller Radius compared to their appearances, as well as many other small tweaks of 0.03 meters or less. While the increased Radius makes it harder to dodge skills more subtly than before, it's an intuitive improvement that shouldn't have a significant impact on play.

The Picking Collider is the selection range within which a character can be selected when hovering over it, and all characters are slightly enlarged.

We've gotten a lot of feedback that it was hard for players to click on an enemy character during intense battles due to the need for precise targeting. So we've improved this to provide a smoother and more user-friendly clicking experience.



Skills that target teammates could sometimes fail to be used if enemies and teammates overlapped, and this problem could become more severe with a wider Picking Collider. Therefore, the order for picking targets has been adjusted for these skills. Now teammates will be recognized before enemies when using a skill that targets teammates, improving the targeting process.

Today we covered the Characters' 3rd Update, but stay tuned because there's still another character update on the way!

Stay tuned for the next Dev Journal, which will focus on the Briefing Room!
As always thank you!

*All preview images released in the Dev Journals are subject to change during the development process.

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