[July 31st Patch] Seaside Bellona is Here + ML Hero Nerfs

Overview

Limited character Seaside Bellona is here! She will be very useful as a support DPS for Wyvern and PvE content. Boys, make sure not to bleed out your wallets too much. 🙂

Patch Link: https://page.onstove.com/epicseven/global/board/list/e7en002/view/3648749?listType=2&display_opt=usertag_on,html_remove&afterBack=true&boardKey=e7en002

Summary

• Limited Banner Seaside Bellona is out (121 pulls for her)
• Limited Artifact Reingar’s Special Drink
• 2nd part of “Song of the Sea”
• Improved Automaton Tower Rewards for next Month! (speed accessories!)
• ML Aramintha, ML Baal, Arbiter Vildred and Crimson Armin nerfs

Patch Notes

1. Limited Hero – Seaside Bellona

Seaside Bellona

Bellona came to provide Reingar PSC with any help they needed to assist visitors from Reingar. Although she says she’s here to watch over Sez, it seems that her true goal is to relax in the resort.

■ Seaside Bellona

[Skill Introduction]

2. New Artifact – Reingar’s Special Drink

A ranger exclusive Artifact which causes additional damage when attacking all enemies has been added!

■ Reingar’s Special Drink

3. Seaside Bellona and Reingar’s Special Drink Limited Drop Rate Up

Meet Seaside Bellona, who sprays her enemies with a powerful blast of water and the Artifact, Reingar’s Special Drink, which causes additional damage when attacking all enemies in this special Drop Rate Up event!

■ Schedule
7/31 (Wed) 18:00 ~ 8/14 (Wed) 14:59 UTC

※ Please Note.

The Drop Rate Up applies during the event period only. Players are able to use both the Limited Drop Rate Up Banner as well as regular covenant summons. The 5★ Hero, Seaside Bellona and the 5★ Artifact, Reingar’s Special Drink are both limited summons and will not be added into the Covenant Summon after the event has ended. During Seaside Bellona’s limited Summon event, when using her banner, the drop rate is increased to 1% and no other 5★ Heroes can be summoned. This Hero and Artifact may be sold in the same or similar form in the future.

※ Guaranteed Summon System Information

1) For this Drop Rate Up banner only, the limited summon system in effect.

2) When players summon during the banner, the summon counter will decrease by 1 for each summon that does not yield the banner Hero (max 120 summons).

3) If the Hero has not been summoned after the listed number of summons (120), the next summon is 100% guaranteed to be the banner Hero.

4) Summoning the Hero in the banner will result in the guaranteed summon counter being reset to the original number.

4. Special Side Story – ‘Song of the Sea’ Ending

Karin was busy maintaining order in Reingar amidst an influx of summer visitors when she suddenly collapsed due to exhaustion. The Phantom CIC sent Sez, Rin, and Bellona to help Karin.

The next day, Karin and Sez while on Coast Patrol happened to rescue a fisherman who was overpowered by the waves. This brings together Karin and the Phantom CIC for an unforgettable summer…

Week 2 and 3 of the special side story, Song of the Sea, has begun.

■ Availability

7/25 (Thu) after the update ~ 8/14 (Wed) 18:00 UTC

■ How to Enter
After reaching Account Rank 9, go to the Lobby and tap [Battle] > [Side Story].

■ How to Play

A new area, Underwater Ruins has opened. Players may enter this new area by tapping the “Move to Underwater Ruins” button while in Reingar or by tapping on “Underwater Ruins” on the world map after zooming out. Players may not enter “Underwater Ruins” until they clear stage [7. Foam Bubble Island].

– Treasure chests and Goblin Gates that appear in this side story will not contain event currency.
– The Achievements and the Summer Pass provide the same rewards that the Exchange would have provided.
– From Normal difficulty and higher, players have the chance to receive the catalyst, “Fused Nerve” after defeating a boss.

[Exploration Stages] 

– In order to enter stage [17. Door of Decision], players must collect 50 “Dead Coral Colonies” from each of the stages listed below. There is a chance for players to receive “Dead Coral Colonies” upon clearing the stages below.
✓ 16-S1. Near Giant Warrior Statue

✓ 16-S2. Disconnected Road

✓ 16-S3. Cold Lava Cliff

– Exploration Stages contain Easy, Normal and Hard Difficulty levels. Players may select a higher difficulty after clearing the stage that precedes it. The higher the difficulty, the greater the Energy required to enter. However, higher difficulty levels provide players with greater event currency.

– From Normal Difficulty and higher, the boss monsters will have different effect resistances.

[Event Currency]

This item is required to complete certain achievements in “Song of the Sea” and will be removed at the end of the event period.

[Locked Stage] 

– In order to proceed to stage [18. Echo Valley] players will need to clear 100 monsters located at stage [17-S1. Salt Pillar Passage].

– In order to open other locked stages, players need to complete the necessary requirements.

– [17-S1. Salt Pillar Passage] is a defense stage that consists of Easy, Normal, Hard and Hell difficulties. Players may only choose a higher difficulty level after completing the preceding difficulty level. Depending on the difficulty level selected, the number of battles as well as the monster compositions will vary.

[Epic Hell Stage]

– [18-S. Echo Valley] can be entered after clearing the final stage as well as after clearing the necessary Hidden Achievements.

– The difficulty of this stage is very high and may only be cleared once during the event period.

5. Automaton Tower – Improvements

The accessories granted by successfully clearing certain stages of the Automaton Tower have been improved.

■ Initialization Date

– Korea/Asia Server: 7/31 (Wed) 18:00 UTC

– Europe Server: 8/1 (Thu) 03:00 UTC

– Global Server: 8/1(Thu) 10:00 UTC

■ Accessory Reward Changes
The accessories granted to players for clearing Floor 65 and higher have been increased.

※ Four sub-stats will be randomly assigned upon receiving the accessory.

Balance Patch

Hello Heirs,
This is Epic Seven.

First and foremost we would like to apologize to our Heirs who have been waiting for the content of the conference that was held in Korea.

Originally we decided to give our players a summary of the Conference which was held in Korea, however, the summary of the conference was instead replaced with this notice which includes the various changes that will occur after we took the time to listen and reflect upon the opinions of our Heirs. Additionally, we would like to take this time to inform our players that the notice that many of you have been curious about will be divided into two separate posts.

Based on the balance adjustment and skill policy of today’s notice, Epic Seven will strive to be more careful and take a more cautious approach in the future. We know many of our Heirs have been waiting for details regarding our Moonlight Hero Balance adjustments as well as our Skill Balance Policy and we would like to present this information down below.

1. Arena Season 3 Balance Adjustments: Moonlight Hero Balance Adjustment Information

The Epic Seven development team agrees that the ability level between certain Moonlight Heroes and regular Heroes in the Arena is too large.

Additionally, we are making every effort possible to create a PvP environment that doesn’t force players to rely too heavily on specific Heroes. This notice contains information in which many of our Heirs gave their opinions, and is something that we think our players have a great interest in.

We would also like to inform our players about the Moonlight Hero balance adjustments. The purpose of these balance adjustments is to correct the over-effectiveness of certain Heroes, while at the same time maintaining the unique identity of each Hero. Please see below for details about these balance adjustments. Additionally we hope that our Heirs will give us their opinions on these balance adjustments.

Silver Blade Aramintha

Silver Blade Aramintha was able to inflict large damage to all enemies in addition to the crowd control effect of Meteor Fall and Flame Release. After this adjustment, the burn effect of Meteor Fall, which was more powerful than other AoE skills, will be reduced in strength followed by an additional adjustment of the cooldown. Also, the amount of combat readiness that the caster is granted by Flame Release will be decreased to make her less advantageous in long battles.

Sage Baal&Sezan

Sage Baal&Sezan is a Hero who specializes in impeding the enemy’s turn, and was extremely hard to counter when assigned to a defensive team. To adjust this Hero, the buff dispel effect of Cloud of Ruin will be reduced to weaken the ability which allowed him to counter the immune effect, followed by an adjustment that involves reducing his Combat Readiness and increasing his Cooldown to reduce the advantage Sage Baal&Sezan had after his initial turn.

Arbiter Vildred

Arbiter Vildred had an extremely difficult skill set to go against due to the fact that Dark Blade could be activated without fail. This made the Arena overly simple for those who had Arbiter Vildred, and greatly weakened the position of the Heroes with low Health. By removing Dark Contract’s passive skill, which increased his attack for 2 turns, an opponent battling Arbiter Vildred can now have more options to compose a team when facing him.

Crimson Armin

Crimson Armin’s skill, Shield of Holy Spirit, provided all allies with invincibility and immunity buffs, which prevented damage and stopped the enemy from inflicting debuffs. Additionally, her passive skill was considered a problem as it had a large impact on the team’s health. This skill has an impact on all Heroes, but it especially had an impact on defensive Heroes and dragged out battles. Crimson Armin is still a powerful Hero after being adjusted, however, there is now room for other defensive Heroes to be selected for Arena.

The adjustment of these 4 Star Moonlight Heroes and the balance adjustment for Arena Season 3 will be completed on Thursday, September 5^th. In cases where a Hero’s strength will be reduced, we promise to notify players at least 4 weeks prior to the adjustment and listen to the opinions of our Heirs. Due to this, we ask for your patience and understanding if the adjustment dates are later than what you expect.

2. Moonlight Hero Recall Policy for Adjusted Heroes Information

This is to inform our players about the Moonlight Hero recall policy, which will be applied to Moonlight Heroes that are being adjusted prior to the start of Season 3 of the Arena. This recall method is only applicable to Moonlight Heroes whose performance has been reduced due to the balance adjustments. When a Moonlight Hero is recalled, it will be possible to exchange the adjusted Hero with a new Moonlight Hero of the same level during the recall period.

Additionally, if the Moonlight Hero that is being recalled has been memory imprinted, players will receive “Unknown Slate” equal in number to the Memory Imprints that the adjusted Hero had. For example, if a player is recalling a 4 star Moonlight Hero, they will be given a Meteorshard (Tenative Name) equal to the Memory Imprint level which will act as an Unknown Slate for 4 Star Heroes and can only be used on 4 Star Heroes.

The Moonlight Hero recall period is scheduled to last two weeks, starting on September 5^th and continue until September 18^th, 14:59 UTC. Only Heroes that have been acquired prior to September 5^th are eligible to be recalled. Additionally, players may only recall each Hero once during the recall period.

Additionally, when restoring Moonlight Heroes, if you wish to receive the Hero instead of an Unknown Slate, please send us a request to Customer Service without using the Unknown Slate. Upon submitting the application we will review the player logs and send the Hero instead of the Unknown Slate. Heroes achieved in this way cannot be exchanged.

3. Adjusting Balance of Arena Season 3: Balance changes for the Heroes 

For Arena Season 3, we are planning large scale changes not only for Moonlight Heroes, but also for other Heroes that had been under-performing. We hope that Heroes will be chosen based on the strategy needed for the current situation.

The information below contains the adjustments that will occur to Heroes prior to the start of Arena Season 3.

Basar

Basar was designed to be useful when used against a party with many buffs, since Basar’s skill, Sandstorm dispels enemy’s buffs and makes them unable to be buffed. However, the skill, Sand Wind, which transfers debuffs from the caster to the enemy, and the skill, Hurricane, which decreased the hit chance of the opponent were difficult to utilize for containment purposes. Therefore, by reinforcing containment factors of Hurricane and Sand Wind, Basar’s ability to contain the opponent will be improved.

Yufine

Yufine displays outstanding power in attacking a single opponent with Dragon Charge’s high damage output, but her Dragon’s Roar skill had problems as it dealt a low amount of damage and had ineffective effects resulting in Yufine’s low usage by players. By balancing Dragon’s Roar skill, the damage gap between it and her skill, Dragon Charge, will be reduced.

Lilibet 

Lilibet’s Soul Cutter skill has the extinction effect which matches well with her Soul Burn, but because her ability is too focused on the extinction effect, it was difficult to use her in other situations. Lilibet’s overall ability will be buffed so that she can be beneficial in various situations.

Lidica

Lidica is highly effective when attacking a single opponent or in Golem Hunts, but her overall ability is greatly focused on individual containment, so she is not widely used in the Arena. By improving her general skill ability, she will be more effective in containing her enemies.

Assassin Coli

Assassin Coli is strategically useful since she has high speed, and her passive skill, Cloak and Dagger, has the chance to increase attack while her skill, Murder has containment effects. However, because there isn’t any additional effect following the skill, Ambush, she wasn’t as beneficial after her first turn. By improving her basic skill, she will be useful even after using her skill, Murder.

We believe the key fun factor in Epic Seven is the back and forth battling of Heroes with different elements. That is why we are trying to revive the fun that comes from both the combining Heroes of different elements into a single team, and the uniqueness of each Hero. Thus, we are also considering improvements that can be made on highly ineffective 3 Star Moonlight Heroes. As we mentioned above, the adjustments will be made on Thursday, September 5^th, and we will notify our players of the details in August.

4. Arena Season 3 – Postponement Notice

In our previous announcement, we had stated that the start of Arena, Season 3 would begin on August 12. However, we are trying to diversify the Arena Meta with the Arena Season 3 balance adjustment. Due to this, we have decided that it would be dangerous to have such balance adjustments occur during the middle of the season, so we have decided to postpone the opening of Arena Season 3.

The Arena Season 3 Balance Adjustments are scheduled to begin on September 5th and the start of Arena Season 3 is scheduled to begin on Monday, September 9th. We apologize for any inconvenience that may be caused by this change. As the opening for Arena Season 3 has been postponed and the pre-season period has been extended, an additional unknown slate will be added to the store and can be purchased with conquest points until the start of Arena Season 3. Additionally, during this pre-season, the Unknown Slate is scheduled be sold at a discounted price.

5. Skills – Bug Fixes

When fixing skill related bugs, the developers normally refer to a Hero’s skill description. The skill descriptions are like a manual for each Hero’s skill and contains different information that allows us to estimate the performance of different Heroes. Every Hero and Monster has a skill description, however, there were some problems in applying a strict standard for the information that is placed into these skill descriptions. From now on, we are going to apply a stricter standard for what should be placed into the skill descriptions to prevent issues from occurring in the future. This standard will be explained in more detail down below.

First, we will try to remove ambiguity from our skill descriptions. Currently, some of the skill descriptions for some Heroes, Monsters and Artifacts aren’t clear enough when explaining how they work. An example of such ambiguity can be seen in regards to skill activation timing as well as the omission of percentages when describing an effects chance of occurring. We will adjust these skill descriptions in October to make the information more clear and intuitive.

Additionally, when fixing bugs, we will thoroughly review things that might have an impact on the balance of the game in order to prevent any problems from occurring. However, if any issue does arise, we will post a notice as quickly as possible to ensure that our Heirs are aware of any issues. Estimated dates of repair as well as plans for repair will be shared in the notice, and if a balance adjustment cannot be avoided, we promise to find the best way possible to compensate our players for any loss they may experience.

Secondly, we would like to discuss our policy in regards to bug fixes. We will strengthen our line of communication to communities from all over the world in order to handle any bug reports. However, we kindly ask for your understanding since it might take some to deal with certain kinds of bugs. In such situations, we will share the details of these bugs and the solutions via our “Known Issues” post on the official STOVE forum.

6. Battle System Improvements

This section will discuss the display of skill multipliers in-game, which many of our Heirs expressed their opinions about. One of the key points that makes Epic Seven fun is the ability to select a variety of Heroes to create a unique team, each of which can utilize a different strategy. If a player can view a skill multiplier in-game, they may not take into account the synergy one Hero has with another and they may ignore the team composition of the enemy, and cause players to only focus on Heroes with higher skill multipliers, especially in the early game. Therefore, we are not currently planning to display these numbers in-game. However, more detailed information will display when buff/debuff effects are activated and we will enable players to research more in-depth in regards to team composition. These improvements are scheduled to be implemented in the August update.

The next part that we would like to address are the various help topics that are in battle. Epic Seven employs a combination of systems which are not clearly understandable at a glance within the battle screen. To correct this issue, we will improve our Game Tips so that we can answer some questions that may arise while playing our game. This is scheduled to occur in September.

Finally, we would like to discuss Artifact and passive skills texts which are not displayed in battle or may not be displayed clearly. There are many important artifacts and passives skills in combat, but some effects may not display the text correctly, making them inconvenient to use. By creating a more organized standard for when text displays after an artifact or passive skill condition has been fulfilled, the inconvenience that some players may have felt will be reduced. This change is scheduled to occur in August.

7. Balancing Quality Improvements

In order to solve certain balance issues that have arisen in Epic Seven, we have recruited additional people whose main purpose is to focus on Hero balance. We have also hired additional people who will focus on Hero design as well as improving our process to improve initial Hero quality. Additionally, the developer and publisher are also exchanging more opinions during the scheduling, so that we will have more time for our verification process which will ensure better quality. We are also reflecting on the opinions and suggestions made by our Heirs as well.

Next, we would like to explain the process behind our normal balance adjustment, which is performed at regular intervals. The developers are constantly monitoring competitive content such as the Arena and Guild Wars, along with Hunts and various farming content. The targets of such balance adjustments are therefore selected when certain Heroes or Artifacts have a large impact on the meta, or cause the game-play to become stale.

However, some issues related to balancing have occurred, and we will analyze our data in greater detail. In particular, we will be more careful in regards to adding new effects to the game and predicting how they will interact with effects that have already been implemented.

8. Memory Imprint Improvements

Finally, we would like to let you know about the purpose and direction of the improvements that will be made to memory imprint effects. These changes are currently scheduled for October.

Memory imprint is one of the factors that determines a Hero’s balance. However, its effect influences the team and not the memory imprinted Hero. In certain situations, it has a powerful effect but depending on the team composition and equipment, certain effects are significantly underutilized. In summary, unlike other balance elements that can be adjusted according to an individual Hero, memory imprint has a significant impact on the setting of an entire team, depending on an heir’s situation. Therefore, we need to approach the balancing of party effects very carefully.

To make memory imprint a unique power of the Hero, we will make changes so that players can either choose to keep the devotion skill applied on team members, or choose to have this effect apply to the memory imprinted Hero directly. This personal memory imprint may not be as efficient as the one that is applied to all party members, but it will allow players to choose unique effects that will only apply to the memory imprinted Hero. Players will have full choice to choose which one to use, either between party memory imprint and self-memory imprint. To further enhance the uniqueness of each Hero, some of them may enhance skill effects, not just increase stats.

The ultimate goal of Epic Seven’s balance is to allow our heirs to enjoy playing Epic Seven in a more enjoyable environment while maintaining the basic value of the game. We hope that our heirs will continue to show interest in Epic Seven and give us a lot of feedback on battle balance improvements. In addition, we promise to improve the game environment through periodic balance adjustments, and we will do our best to ensure that players can experience enjoyable battles with various Heroes.

Lastly, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused while playing Epic Seven due to balance issues and unclear or insufficient game information. We will do our best make Epic Seven even more enjoyable!