An update about the Community’s Feedback

[Green Storm]

Hi everyone,

 

We would like to update you on various topics discussed by the community during the past few weeks. Because this thread addresses multiple issues, please ensure that your reply indicates which topic you’re giving feedback on.

 

About the Skystealer Crystals (see this forum thread)

 

Skystealer Crystals are currently available from two sources: 1) the Skystealer Crystal Chest that drops in the first two stages of the Hall of Trials dungeon; and 2) as a reward for the Dynamic quests in the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons.

 

We’ve identified that the amount of Skystealer Crystals players can obtain is an obstacle to them upgrading their Starcross accessories. Two events were created to provide additional crystals for players who complete Daily and Weekly Challenges. We’ll bring back more opportunities to get Skystealer Crystals in the future.

 

About the Sterling Scales (see this forum thread)

 

Sterling Scale Fragments are currently available as rewards for the first time you clear stage 19 of the new Demonsbane dungeon, the Hall of Trials. Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80) but also from the boss in Forest of Echoes.

 

When we introduced them in the Soul Resurgence update, their naming convention created confusion. The use of “Scales” suggested that it would be a higher tier of items similarly named, like the Shimmering Scales, and that they would be used in the same way. That’s not the case. This item replaces Sacred Vials for higher Heart upgrades.

 

The name of this item will be changed to “Sterling Crystal” in June to avoid this confusion. In the July release and beyond, we will include this item in Event rewards and add them to the reward exchange in the Dragon Express.

 

About the lack of Pet Packs and Sacred Vials in Events

 

Recent events have shifted rewards, and consequently, they stopped being a source of Pet Packs and Sacred Vials for accessory upgrades. We will bring back those rewards with our July update.

 

About the Soul Boost event

 

To reiterate this thread to a wider audience:

 

We're continuing to work on this issue. We're looking at various options and are trying to bring a satisfactory resolution to this problem as soon as humanly possible. We're aware that the amount of time lost makes it hard for players to reach their Soul Boost goals. I cannot share more information at the moment as the work continues. I do not want to give incorrect or partial information, as I believe it could set the wrong expectations for the community. I understand that it is an important topic for all of you and that you want to hear about it as soon as possible.

 

As always, thank you for sending your feedback. By sharing your thoughts on these updates we are able to focus our efforts accordingly and further improve your in-game experience.

[chilegamerz]

Thank you for showing interest in the community, I hope you continue to help improve the game and get the full potential of bns.

[ICantNameMe]

You don't get Skystealer Crystals from Aerodrome or Substratum dynamic now that the dungeons are no longer in demonsbane, so the only option is to farm Nykarri Hall of Trials Stage 1-2
 

25 minutes ago, Green Storm said:

Skystealer Crystals are currently available from two sources: 1) the Skystealer Crystal Chest that drops in the first two stages of the Hall of Trials dungeon; and 2) as a reward for the Dynamic quests in the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons.

 

Sterling Scales were only ever available from Substratum when it was demonsbane. They are no longer on the drop table for any of the dungeons listed: Aerodrome, Substratum, Forest of Echoes. They are available from the first clear rewards for Nykarri Hall of Trials, but even the strongest group in NA was only able to clear 13 without exploits.

26 minutes ago, Green Storm said:

Sterling Scale Fragments are currently available as rewards for the first time you clear stage 19 of the new Demonsbane dungeon, the Hall of Trials. Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80) but also from the boss in Forest of Echoes.

 

Sterling Scale Fragments should also be available from events, they're basically Sacred Vials but worth way more since there is no source other than the Hongmoon Store. The supply of Vials/Oils/Pet Pods/Pet Packs now is simply not enough now that the Soul/Pet have RNG upgrades; Weekly Challenge should give more than just Honing Oils that you can't even get more than 2 a week from.

31 minutes ago, Green Storm said:

Recent events have shifted rewards, and consequently, they stopped being a source of Pet Packs and Sacred Vials for accessory upgrades. We will bring back those rewards with our July update.

Soul Boost is already scuffed but hopfully there will be another season soon so I'm not too worried about that. The fact that we waited so long to get it though means it will always be staggered from KR (unless the length of it is changed) and content will always be changing midway through the event. It seems like there wasn't a lot of foresight on that, but oh well.

[willietrom]

20 minutes ago, Green Storm said:

About the Sterling Scales (see this forum thread)

 

Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80)

It is unclear how Substratum stages 41 to 80 and Aerodrome stages 41 to 80 are accessible now that they have been removed from the Demonsbane system.  In the cross-server lobby there are only options to complete it on "Easy", Normal", and "Hard" modes, and in the demonsbane menu when outside of the cross-server lobby these dungeons don't appear at all making selection of demonsbane stage for them impossible.
 

 

33 minutes ago, Green Storm said:

About the Sterling Scales (see this forum thread)

Sterling Scales drop ... from the boss in Forest of Echoes.

If this is true, then I think people were mislead by the Ctrl+J guide which indicates that they do not drop there, and it's important that that guide be accurate for items that have low drop rates because relatively few people will then run that content at high enough rates to actually notice it drops there (in particular it doesn't appear to drop at all on Easy mode which is run at a high rate, but even with your statement we don't know whether it drops on Normal mode or just Hard mode).

[Budda Slaps]

lets hope they fix the class nerf and nerf wl a bit they are so broken is not even a joke . thanks for listening to us hopefully this game can come back to life how it was in the old days. it has so much potential to be such a amazing game.

[DenialOfTruth]

2 hours ago, Green Storm said:

About the Sterling Scales (see this forum thread)

 

Sterling Scale Fragments are currently available as rewards for the first time you clear stage 19 of the new Demonsbane dungeon, the Hall of Trials. Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80) but also from the boss in Forest of Echoes.

 

When we introduced them in the Soul Resurgence update, their naming convention created confusion. The use of “Scales” suggested that it would be a higher tier of items similarly named, like the Shimmering Scales, and that they would be used in the same way. That’s not the case. This item replaces Sacred Vials for higher Heart upgrades.

 

The name of this item will be changed to “Sterling Crystal” in June to avoid this confusion. In the July release and beyond, we will include this item in Event rewards and add them to the reward exchange in the Dragon Express.

Since you are the Community Manager of the game, you should be made aware that both Aerodrome and Substratum no longer have any stages in any capacity, being converted to normal dungeons with a Easy, Normal, and Hard Difficulty selection in the most recent update. I have spoken with dozens of players in other communities and not have seen even a single drop of Sterling Scales in even Forest of Echoes Hard Mode nor Aerodrome/Substratum Hard Mode. As far as I am concerned this drop does not exist until evidence to the contrary is provided.

 

In addition, Sterling Scales replaced Sacred Vials for the MAJORITY of Heart upgrades, starting with Champion Heart Stage 1 onwards, which isn't even remotely a 'higher Heart upgrade'...to the point that before this change, a player could get to stages like True Dauntless with hard work and effort...now it is virtually impossible as the costs were not adjusted to compensate for having to use a material that literally has ten times the value of Sacred Vials. KR also does not have regular scales such as Nocturnal and Shimmering as part of the upgrade costs, but we do in our version for some unclear, never explained reason increasing the costs even further.

[Uldrum]

2 hours ago, Green Storm said:

(in stages 41 to 80)

Honestly i thought you were better than this.

 

You know that you recently removed The "stages" on those two dungeons and now you suggest they are currently still available as a source of scales?

 

I really thought you were better than the others at the company.

Unless you are being told to post this without doing the actual writing of the post yourself, then it's understandable.

There's lots of clueless people at NCwest and it's depressing if they are this unaware of what is actually currently available in the game

 

2 hours ago, Green Storm said:

first time you clear stage 19

Outside of using the methods that shall not be named, Clearing stage 19 is currently not possible.

 

Which you should also be aware of unless you turned a deaf ear to peoples reports on the "Methods that shall not be named" issue.

 

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Uldrum

[SirJohnny]

Maybe i am blind but where is this event in-game? I cant see it anywhere 🤔
Did 5 daily challenges but def. no reward with any Skystealer crystals
 

Quote

 

Skystealer Crystals Events, Week 1

Duration: May 25 to June 1

Objectives: Complete 5 Daily Challenges during the event period

Rewards:

1x Weekly Pet Chest

5x Sterling Scale Fragments

100x Honing Oils

1x Secret Safe

20x Fusion Stones

200x Flame Skystealer Crystals

200x Ocean Skystealer Crystals

200x Earth Skystealer Crystals

 

 

[Uldrum]

3 minutes ago, SirJohnny said:

Maybe i am blind but where is this event in-game? I cant see it anywhere 🤔
Did 5 daily challenges but def. no reward with any Skystealer crystals

They've done these events in the past.

 

You complete the Event or challenge stated then they send you the stuff after the event duration.

 

Still 200 crystals is nothing and barely worth caring for.

 

2000 would've been better.

[SirJohnny]

8 minutes ago, Uldrum said:

You complete the Event or challenge stated then they send you the stuff after the event duration.

oh, i see. tnx for info.

[FriendlyFox]

3 hours ago, Green Storm said:

Sterling Scale Fragments are currently available as rewards for the first time you clear stage 19 of the new Demonsbane dungeon, the Hall of Trials. Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80) but also from the boss in Forest of Echoes.

 

When we introduced them in the Soul Resurgence update, their naming convention created confusion. The use of “Scales” suggested that it would be a higher tier of items similarly named, like the Shimmering Scales, and that they would be used in the same way. That’s not the case. This item replaces Sacred Vials for higher Heart upgrades.

There is actually so much wrong there...
- Substratum doesn't drop it anymore
- Aerodrome doesn't drop it anymore
- Substratum and Aerodrome both got removed from Demonsbane Dungeons and have thus no stages anymore. Hardmode doesn't drop it either
- Forest of Echoes either has 0.00000001% or doesn't drop it at all, there is no indication of it dropping them ingame (dungeon guide) and I've never even heard of anyone dropping it
- it is not for "higher" heart upgrades. It already starts with the heart you got instantly after the story and a 5-7 days doing soul boost dungeons. Basically your very first real upgrade.

 

3 hours ago, Green Storm said:

Recent events have shifted rewards, and consequently, they stopped being a source of Pet Packs and Sacred Vials for accessory upgrades. We will bring back those rewards with our July update.

I don't want to assume anything here but I guess it'll be the usual 2 Pet Packs/Sacred Vials Account Limit once again? While we got the insane upgrade costs of averaging at 6743 Sacred Vials to max the soul (not to mention rerolling stats which is also at ~4k)?
Can't wait for the 0.0186% progress on maxing stuff per week (and that's only if you're in the lucky 50% average).

While you're really active in the forums which is appreciated this just showed that you didn't read what the people complained about in all those threads about the sterlin scales ... which is sad.
I honestly lost hope by now

Edited May 28, 2022 by FriendlyFox

[willietrom]

3 hours ago, Green Storm said:

About the Soul Boost event

It is obviously too late for this Soul Boost event, but please set the end date for the next Soul Boost event to be before the end of the current dungeon "season".

I called there being these sorts of problems months ago when discussing when the current dungeon "season" would likely end.  I predicted that the daily challenge dungeons and demonsbane dungeons wouldn't be changed until after the Soul Boost event ended (and thus the newest dungeon also wouldn't come out until then) because doing otherwise would create a developmental headache greater than what the current NCWest + NCSoft teams seem capable of managing.  It turns out I was wrong but not because everyone was on top of the developmental work it would take to continue Soul Boost past the end of a season but rather because everyone apparently just ignored that that work needed to be done.

Players wouldn't have procrastinated on completing Soul Boost for so long if it wasn't promised to last for so long, so please just make the next one start as close to immediately after the current one ends as is feasible and then make it end at the same time or before the dungeon swap out occurs again.  No players will be blindsided and no excessive development messes will be created, it just takes scheduling.

[CrazyDude90]

1 hour ago, FriendlyFox said:

While you're really active in the forums which is appreciated this just showed that you didn't read what the people complained about in all those threads about the sterlin scales ... which is sad.

 

Oh there is much more feedback this company is ignoring and not even talking about here... sad... really sad.

 

1 hour ago, FriendlyFox said:

I honestly lost hope by now

 

When i saw him saying

"Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80)" while we only have easy/normal/hard mode in our version... and "This item replaces Sacred Vials for higher Heart upgrades."... i thought the same.

I had hopes that at least one person at NCSoft was currently playing the game or looking into it, but I guess I was too naive.

Edited May 28, 2022 by CrazyDude90

[ßIÖHÄZÄRD]

@Green Stormcommunity feedback? which community? which forums? definitely not the this one.

 

7 hours ago, Green Storm said:

2) as a reward for the Dynamic quests in the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons.

No you dont.

 

7 hours ago, Green Storm said:

Sterling Scale Fragments are currently available as rewards for the first time you clear stage 19 of the new Demonsbane dungeon

It's IMPOSSIBLE to clear stage 19 of the new dungeon.

 

7 hours ago, Green Storm said:

Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80)

You're kidding, right?

 

7 hours ago, Green Storm said:

Recent events have shifted rewards, and consequently, they stopped being a source of Pet Packs and Sacred Vials for accessory upgrades. We will bring back those rewards with our July update.

Yay, we're gonna get 2 vials/pet packs once per week again...

 

With all due respect, but you made  fun of yourself with this post and just showed us how y'all doesn't care about your players, you doesn't even know how the game works... that's pathetic.  Keep the "good" work up and you'll end up like Shaiya did - it's dead, full P2W game. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by ßIÖHÄZÄRD

[Nisien]

Wow, what version of the game are you guys looking at?

[Walex]

I've created a post on Reddit like 3 days ago, but instead of copy pasting the link, I'll just put the text here.

 

- Skystealer accessories being an endgame gear (or at least 4 out of 6 of them) but crystals are almost unobtainable (only available in the previous meta dungeons AND stage 1-2 of the new dungeon)...

 

- heart's upgrade item has been changed from sacred vial to sterling scale, the only source WAS the Aerodrome and the Substratum (Demonsbane version) and only from stages above 40, AND it also was the tradeable version so it was better to sell them than use them. And now it's gone - no way to upgrade heart...

 

- soul has got a brand new tier yet the upgrade cost wasn't reduced (or rather "adjusted") at all (same with pet aura)... meanwhile we've got our vials and pet packs COMPLETELY REMOVED from events which limits us to 2 of each per week, which is TERRIBLE (and the cost of upgrading new soul and pet aura not to be commented)... Meanwhile almost all sources of evolved stones got removed by now, can't really farm them anymore (except from MSP I believe, which is the most boring thing in the game) and transmute own oils...

 

- the Aerodrome and the Substratum psyches are no longer available (well... only exchangeable for tokens from weekly/season rewards which will take forever to gather), and then HoT psyches with almost 0% drop rate (I've done almost 200 runs, got only 4 psyches from the boss, and 0 from chests... also personally NEVER seen any psyche for a weapon), meanwhile challenger tokens required for grand psyches were switched from personal loot to bid which makes it even harder to obtain (well, again, exchangeable for tokens from weekly/season rewards which will take even longer to gather, and then we won't pick psyches instead)...

 

- switching from Skystealer to Starcross requires either a Skystealer item to be at least +11 (which costs too much) to transfer the mythic bonus (to +6) and psyches, OR you have to upgrade Starcross from 0, which is fine, BUT got to get and use all psyches again, which, again, are unobtainable... which means we're <censored> in both ways...

 

- the chances to upgrade Upsurge weapons and new soul/pet aura tiers are a big joke, and the cost is even a bigger one (example: let's spend over 1k gold or 15 vials/oils just to fail an upgrade)

 

- some stuff also removed, like material chests from daily challenge, or 1 mil xp charm from login rewards

 

- most likely more that I can't remember atm

Edited May 28, 2022 by Walex
Added more things

[JoannaRamira]

Good God... are you playing the same game as us ?

 

Aerodrome and Substratum are no longer in Demonsbane, so there is no such thing as stage 41 there.

[CrazyDude90]

26 minutes ago, JoannaRamira said:

Good God... are you playing the same game as us ?

 

Aerodrome and Substratum are no longer in Demonsbane, so there is no such thing as stage 41 there.

NC$oft and playing their own game. 🤣

Edited May 28, 2022 by CrazyDude90

[Rhiakath]

11 hours ago, Green Storm said:

Sterling Scales drop from the Substratum and Aerodrome dungeons (in stages 41 to 80)

 

This does not exist in the current version of game.

It stopped existing exactly when Hall of Trials was released.

[Yuki Kei]

Thank you for the effort Green Storm, even if there are mistakes I think you are on the right track. Don't be discouraged by all these hateful comments. Much appreciate the work you do, you have done more than your predecessor in just a few months.
Keep it up improving!

[Uldrum]

1 hour ago, Yuki Kei said:

Much appreciate the work you do, you have done more than your predecessor in just a few months.

Which is why i'm shocked about the mistakes in the post.

 

Green storm has come off as Aware in knowledgable in previous posts, so all these "Mistakes" in this post is so shocking.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Uldrum

[Veru]

Aside from the out of touch remarks in the original post, here is a very serious and baffling issue with this game currently and this just encapsulates everything wrong with it.

 

We are now getting the same RNG systems and upgrade costs from Korea.

You're telling me that someone sits down and DELIBERATELY removes resources (where are sterling scales drops; no more oil/pod from events?), nerf the drop rates (ran Namdo 7 hours yesterday, floor 8; not a single pod or oil drop), and gives us basically no gold. But the upgrades we get now are TAILORED to the Korean game and their resources/income. ???????????

This makes absolutely no sense and the worst part is that this is INTENTIONAL. Someone has to sit down and program this in for our region when they do the patches. There is no way whoever makes these decisions sits down and goes "Yeah, gutting everything is a good idea for them." They gut everything knowing it's bad and for what? Reasons that we will never get an answer for. There is no way in hell the Korean developers are this incompetent. This is deliberate because they are the ones gutting everything manually. Even if you do not play the game, there is no way in hell all these changes when they are put on paper sound good to ANYONE.

 

Take a look at our Basin refresh update in comparison to theirs. Look, here is the official Korean update post. https://bns.plaync.com/board/update/view?articleId=616d6f713001cb560926cdbd&viewMode=list&size=20

Take a look at their Basin update from the translation:

Quote

"...Also, Forest of echoes normal mode clear will give you ethereal vials. Of course Hard mode has increased drop rate.

 

You will now be able to farm pet collections and scrolls from Celestial Basin. There will be difficulty adjust and several changes due to this new update.
Peach you've already have will be resetted on the update, so make sure to use it before oct 20..."

 

Whoa, Ethereal Vials from Normal mode?! Where are ours?

Ok, let's take a look at their merchant.

 

 

 

Look at that. Someone sat down and removed the pets from our version! Why is that?

I'm not even making this up. This is all public info. Here is the video. https://youtu.be/TJhFW1v0xUU

 

GreenStorm and whoever is working in the West, I URGE you to log into the game. Just log in and run a dungeon with some players. Maybe do a little farm and see as you get absolutely nothing rewarding from it because everything is gutted. Join the community Discords, even if undercover. Throw me a DM and I will give you links to every single Discord because yes, I'm still actively playing this dead game! I really want you guys to succeed and this game to get even a little better and more bearable than it is now. This still doesn't fix the issue of the deliberate gutting of our version but it would help to put yourselves in our shoes.

 

No, Kaebi is not enough and this doesn't solve the issue that there are no resources to even sell aside from the usual people who ran their 50 bots during the Evolve Stone event months ago. No new resources are coming in. Everything has been gutted. I very much hope that in July, we are going to get more than a measly 4 oils and packs a week. This is not enough. It was not enough since years ago.

 

And stop putting those damn Twilight Flowers in the RNG boxes! Everything that is P2W is also outdated and unrewarding!

[Immunity]

nc just understands one language: money.

 

if you players want them to change anything, stop giving them money.

[FriendlyFox]

2 hours ago, Gengar said:

This makes absolutely no sense and the worst part is that this is INTENTIONAL. Someone has to sit down and program this in for our region when they do the patches.

Yep that's the main problem I have with this game. It's not just that they are not investing anymore money to make changes for the western version. They are actively investing money to remove the most important rewards (f.e. with Celestial Basin literally nothing useful was left in), nerfing drop rates or just making it harder in general (f.e. accessories dropping from stage 6+ instead of 5+ and I don't think this is just a bug). 
All while keeping the insane upgrade costs even KR complained about (they were the original reason KR even got Kaebi village).

They don't invest money to make players happy/keep players in the game, but they are actively investing money to make the game worse for the western audience for whatever reason.

I for my part am done with this game since this patch and I spent monthly between 300-700€ in this game.

[Nisien]

2 hours ago, Gengar said:

This makes absolutely no sense and the worst part is that this is INTENTIONAL. Someone has to sit down and program this in for our region when they do the patches. There is no way whoever makes these decisions sits down and goes "Yeah, gutting everything is a good idea for them." They gut everything knowing it's bad and for what? Reasons that we will never get an answer for. There is no way in hell the Korean developers are this incompetent. This is deliberate because they are the ones gutting everything manually.

It feels like the KR devs believe that NA/EU was a mistake and are punishing us for it.