[Dev Notes] A Brief Update - July 31 Mini Dev Notes

Greetings, Captains.
This is StarSavior Director Lee Sungwon.

This is our first greeting since the Summer Developer Talk broadcast.
The next Dev Notes were originally being prepared with a target release around mid-August.
However, because we wanted to share news with Captains a little more often and a little more quickly, we are first reaching out through a new format called \[Mini Dev Notes].

Rather than covering a large number of topics at once like the regular Dev Notes, we would like to use Mini Dev Notes as a channel to share matters that need to be announced quickly or the general direction of content currently in preparation at an earlier stage.

We will continue making use of this Mini Dev Notes so that we can deliver even a little more of the information Captains may be curious about as quickly as possible.

Today, we would like to talk about matters related to the August update.

Details regarding the Main Story and events will be shared separately through the official Dev Notes at a later date. In this Mini Dev Notes, we would like to focus on other content currently in preparation and QoL improvements.

In the previous update, we adjusted the Combat Power calculation formula and increased the stat growth efficiency of Tactical Analysis.
However, even after these improvements, we believe there are still sections in the Savior growth process where the sense of progress is not sufficient. Therefore, we are preparing additional improvements to address this.

As mentioned during the broadcast, the growth effects of Saviors through Star Link Amplification are scheduled to be enhanced in the August 20 update.

The goal of this improvement is to allow Captains to feel the results of growth more clearly in battle by adjusting Star Link Amplification so that stats increase significantly at certain amplification milestones.

As with the previous improvements to the Combat Power calculation formula and Tactical Analysis, this adjustment will also be applied retroactively based on the current growth status of Captains who already have Star Links above Lv. 200. As a result, Combat Power is expected to increase further after the update.

In line with these growth improvements, we are also planning to expand Operations and Corridors in the August 27 update.

Our goal is to continue expanding them on a regular basis so that they can continue providing Captains with new objectives as they grow.

However, if the pace of expansion is too fast, it may become burdensome to play. Therefore, we will continue monitoring Captains’ progress through the content and adjust the expansion schedule accordingly.

Currently, even when there is a large difference between the recommended Combat Power for a battle and your current Combat Power, it is always displayed simply as “Insufficient Combat Power.”

We recognize that this makes it difficult to intuitively gauge how difficult a battle is, or how much stronger you need to become before taking it on.

To improve this experience, we plan to divide the difficulty display into multiple stages based on the Combat Power difference, with the goal of implementing this improvement in the August 20 update as well.

In StarSavior, when your current Combat Power is lower than the recommended Combat Power, stat downscaling is applied once the difference exceeds certain thresholds.

Therefore, this difficulty display improvement is designed not only to indicate the difficulty of the battle, but also to make it easier to identify the thresholds where the effects of stat downscaling become more significant.

Through this update, we hope to provide a reference point that helps Captains decide how much Combat Power they should aim for before challenging the current battle, or when to make use of the Operation Retry Boost.

Rather than simply feeling that their Combat Power is “not enough”, we want to help Captains better understand their current growth status and plan their next goals more clearly.

A new currency, \[Faded Invitation], that can be used for Journeys is scheduled to be added in the August 20 update.

By using Faded Invitations, Captains will be able to proceed with a Journey without consuming Journey Invitations or Willpower. However, Journeys completed using Faded Invitations will not grant clear rewards, and can instead be used to create a Stellar Archive.

We are also preparing to allow Faded Invitations to be used for reobserving Blessings after a Journey ends, and the number of times Reobserve Blessings can be used is also scheduled to be increased alongside this change.

Faded Invitation will automatically replenish by a set amount each day. Through this, even when Captains do not have enough Journey Invitations or Willpower, Captains will be able to proceed with a certain number of Journeys each day to obtain Stellar Archives or reobserve Blessings.

In addition to its automatic daily recharge, we plan to continue adding more ways to obtain Faded Invitations in the future.

Faded Invitations are designed to be used only when Captains choose to do so. If you would like to use your existing Journey Invitations first, or if you already have enough Invitations, you do not need to use Faded Invitations.

Alongside this update, the small amount of Gold that was previously provided when deleting a Stellar Archive will be removed. Please keep this in mind.

Stage 3 of the Overload Cube was newly opened through the July 30 update.
We hope Captains will enjoy playing it.

Overload Cube is content with great potential for further development. Therefore, rather than leaving it in its current form, we are preparing additional expansions so that Captains can enjoy it in more varied ways.

We expect that strategies and research for the current Overload Cube will continue. However, due to its core design, we believe there is a possibility that efficient setups and strategies may become somewhat standardized.

To address this, we are expanding the system in a direction where each Captain can create and develop their own combination of Replica Codes.

Our goal is to provide an experience where Captains can challenge the Overload Cube in their own way by using the Replica Code combinations they have built and the Saviors they have grown, rather than simply following fixed Replica Codes and established strategies.

We are preparing the expanded system as quickly as possible, with the goal of introducing it in time for the next three-week event. We will make sure it delivers an experience that is clearly more evolved than the current version. We are also working together to move the schedule forward as much as possible, so we hope you will look forward to the expanded Overload Cube as well.

Currently, Challenge of the Stars in Cosmo Gate is structured so that Captains select the restrictions they want from the given list and apply them before entering.

However, we believe that the process of selecting restrictions significantly reduces the intuitiveness of the gameplay.

Captains with relatively less play experience may have difficulty deciding which restrictions to select, while Captains with more experience tend to settle into selecting roughly the same set of restrictions. As a result, we determined that the current method mainly adds unnecessary decision-making for Captains with less play experience. As such, Challenge of the Stars EX is scheduled to change from the existing restriction selection method to a simpler stage-based method.

In this structure, the boss’s ATK, HP, and DEF will increase in higher stages, and additional restrictions will also be applied starting from certain stages.

We also determined that this stage-based method better aligns with the new growth direction we are currently adjusting for Saviors. We are preparing it in a form where Captains can challenge higher stages as they grow and feel the difference more intuitively.

This change will not be applied to Flash Point, and is scheduled to be introduced during the Prism Season for Cosmo Gate.

Even after the change, we are adjusting the content so that the difficulty players experience within the existing score ranges remains as close as possible to what it is now. We will prepare it carefully and present it in an improved form.

We hope you will show interest in the updated Challenge of the Stars EX as well. We will continue to carefully review the feedback you send us and refine it so that it can grow into a high-quality game mode.

In addition, we are preparing several convenience improvements for the August 20 update.

First, as mentioned during the broadcast, the Arcana Lending feature will be expanded so that Captains can borrow Arcana set by guild members as well as friends when starting a Journey.

For gear, a new Gear Score will be displayed so that Captains can quickly check the overall state of its substats. This will make it easier to compare and evaluate gear based on its substat composition.

In Ranked Matches, we plan to add a feature that allows Captains to move to the Lobby and freely use other menus even while matchmaking is in progress.

The skip result screen for Strategy Battles will also be improved. After skipping a battle, the remaining HP of both you and your opponent will be displayed.

In addition, we are also making several smaller improvements that may feel inconvenient during gameplay. We hope you will look forward to the August update as well.

Finally, there is one more matter we would like to share.
This concerns the Apocalypse Support Pass.

The current Apocalypse Support Pass has already undergone one round of improvements. The biggest change was the removal of the Arcana Selection Box for Naru, Vera, and Annah, which was replaced with newly added profile items.

The usage rate of this Apocalypse Support Pass itself has been higher than before. However, we have received a great deal of feedback that removing one of the guaranteed ways of new and beginner Captains to obtain Arcana has made it more difficult for them to begin their Journeys. In the process of revising the Pass composition, we did not fully consider the impact these Arcana had on new and beginner Captains with their Journeys. This was my mistake. I failed to properly consider the overall play experience.

Therefore, starting with the next Apocalypse Support Pass, we plan to keep the previously provided Arcana Selection Box instead of removing it. In addition, we plan to expand the selection of Arcana that can be obtained from the Selection Box. Of course, all Captains who purchased the current Apocalypse Support Pass will also receive the updated Arcana Selection Box retroactively.

The list of Arcana included in the new Selection Box will be announced through next Thursday’s patch notes, so please refer to those notes for more details.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by this change. Going forward, when making decisions or implementing changes, we will not base our judgments solely on specific metrics or segments. Instead, we will examine more carefully how they may affect Captains at different stages of progression.

That concludes the content currently in development. In addition to the matters discussed in this Mini Dev Notes, we are also preparing several other items, and we will share and present them sequentially through the regular Dev Notes once they have been organized into more concrete forms.

Next week, the Observation for Sunshine Cat: Smile, which many Captains have been waiting for, will begin, and Hunt Quest will also be expanded. In addition, some negative events within Journeys will be rebalanced, and minor Journey improvements will be made, such as reducing the chance of obtaining an Exhibit with the same number as one you have already acquired. We hope you will show interest in this update as well.

Take care, and we’ll see you again in our next regular Dev Notes.
Thank you.

StarSavior Director
Lee Sungwon