Hello Legend of Ares Community,

We want to share some important news about the future of Legend of Ares and the steps we’re taking to ensure the best experience for everyone. Over time, we’ve seen a lot of different voices and directions being considered for the game—too many, in fact. With multiple team members having conflicting ideas on the game’s path and the community sharing various goals and visions, the result has been inconsistent updates, a lack of clear direction, and ultimately, an experience that doesn’t meet our standards.

To address this, I, [GM] Cole, am now taking full control over every aspect of the game's development. This means the end of the community-driven content-ideas channel. We genuinely appreciate all the passion and ideas the community has shared; every suggestion demonstrated your dedication and love for Legend of Ares. However, to bring the game back to a consistent and cohesive direction, we need to refocus and return to our roots.

What Does This Mean Going Forward?

With a unified vision at the core of development, here are some key changes:

Game Mechanics

All aspects like monster balancing, map creation, and overall game mechanics will follow a single direction. While the team will continue to provide input, my overall vision will guide each of these elements.

Feature Development and Updates

I’ll be overseeing decisions on which new features, events, and updates are added and how they’re prioritized. This approach will ensure a smoother flow for future content and a consistent approach to what’s released.

Refocused Responsibilities

To devote my full attention to the game’s core development, I’m stepping back from handling daily Discord and support-level tasks. While I’ll still receive updates from our support team and handle critical matters, my primary focus will shift entirely to the game’s development.

Cole's Vision for Ares

I want Legend of Ares to feel intuitive and enjoyable for everyone, with a few key pillars guiding our development. I've provided each section with an example of something good that we've done in this area in the past, and something bad.

Simplicity

Every aspect of the game should be easy to understand and enjoyable without complex barriers. Players should focus on the thrill of gameplay, not deciphering complex mechanics.

• Good: The recent Unique Blessing changes have added meaningful depth without overwhelming players (regardless of player opinions towards it).
• Bad: Mechanics like Hershal Caves stuns/knockbacks or Boss mechanics that demand specific stats.

PvP-Focused Gameplay

Legend of Ares has always been about competition. While this doesn’t mean everything must involve PvP (like our recent Halloween event or some of our other ideas), there should be competitive aspects woven into most features.

• Good: The removal of pay-to-win anti-PvP buffs (Like "Bless of La Defense") from the Plus Shop ensures fairer competition across the board.
• Bad: Removal of Hollna PVP (even if it is temporary) and Halloween not having any sort of PVP encouragement.

Enjoyable Progression

Progression is critical to keeping the game engaging. We want to introduce more ways to gain experience and ensure players have satisfying paths to advance.

• Good: Early-game quests and growth packs have helped smooth out the initial leveling experience.
• Bad: These tools haven’t continued through to endgame, creating a drop-off in progression incentives for high-level players.

Sustainability

Given the age of the game's code, we’re dedicating 30% of our development time to cleanup and technical improvements. This includes adding more logs, fixing vulnerabilities, and ensuring long-term support. I never want to see us in a situation again where we're lacking visibility into any of the game's systems.

• Good: New features like the Item/Money logs that allow us to properly support you all, and Item Currency Shops which were built to be reused for future expansions.
• Bad: Recent issues, like the EXP log bug and Halloween-related glitches, reveal the need for better infrastructure and testing to support stability.

Changes Coming

Ultimately this will be a little bit of a slow roll as we all transition, but theres a few projects added to our list which will begin soon.

• Removal of Hershal Cave Stun from Uruk-Hai's.
• Adjusting boss damage to be a little more manageable alongside PVP.
• Growth packs for levels 100+
• Quests for the later maps, along with tooling to make this quicker/easier to do.
• Log upgrades / migration to our new format across the board, starting with the more important areas.
• Potions being used by holding down the number key + reduction in allowed usage speed.
• Hershal Cave rewarding more exp overall, and the introduction of HC4/5.
• Skipping a Thanksgiving event, we need time to take our learnings from Halloween and put them properly into the next event (Christmas).

Ultimately, I believe the majority of players will either love the direction the game's heading, or will learn to love it. If you don't, I understand your feelings, but sadly the game can't satisfy everyone. It needs to lean into it's specific niche as heavily as it can, and if you enjoy this type of game - you will enjoy Legend of Ares.

Sincerely,
[GM] Cole