To be honest, I have been playing "Endless Jianghu" for a few months. In addition to my daily routine, what I am most passionate about is paying attention to the technical improvement announcements of each version. As an e-sports observer who watches LPL and KPL all year round, I have an instinctive sensitivity to the balance of the game - even if this is an MMO that focuses on exploration, PVP and martial arts competition are also the core gameplay. Just last week, the big version of "The Wind Rises" was launched. I carefully tested it for a few days to talk about the impact of this update on the competitive environment.
Let's put the conclusion first: This update has made drastic adjustments to the skill cycles of some sects. It is obviously intended to weaken several strong sects, but the actual effect is a bit like "tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall." Taking the "Sword Sect" that I play as an example, the cooldown time of the core explosive skill "Flying Fairy" has been increased from 18 seconds to 22 seconds, and its basic damage coefficient has been reduced at the same time. In theory, this can make Jian Zong less brainless and one-penetrate three, but in practice, Jian Zong players are forced to switch to the consumption flow of "Luoying Sword Technique + Wind Chasing Stab" combo, which instead forces the original defensive style of play into a more flexible kiting flow. The winning rate even slightly increased by 1.2% - the background data also confirmed this. The original intention of the plan was to lower the upper limit of the explosion, but in disguise it raised the operating threshold, and the gap between experts and ordinary players widened.
Let's talk about “Tangmen” again. In the last version, this sect almost dominated the 3V3 ranking due to the strong control of hidden weapons with poison. This update reduces the duration of the blinding effect of "Heavy Rain Pear Blossom Needle" from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds, and also increases the flying speed of hidden weapons. It seems to be a weakening, but according to my actual measurement, after the blinding time is shortened, it is easier for the opponent to avoid subsequent combos. However, Tangmen players have begun to rely more on the "trap" to predict the road closure, and with the newly added "quick step" passive, the close combat ability has been enhanced. Originally, the Tang Sect was "controlling the field from a standing position", but now it has become a "guerrilla harassment", with a faster pace, but the stability of the control chain has declined. For players who rely on teamwork, this wave of changes has changed Tang Sect from a "brainless choice" to a tactical choice that "requires lineup matching." I personally think it is a relatively healthy adjustment.
However, there is an issue worth discussing: This update also launched a new gameplay called "Grandmaster Trial" on all servers, introducing a "Big Dragon" mechanism similar to that in MOBA, which requires grabbing the "Chaos Qi" in the center of the map at a specific time. This completely changes the single idea of "whoever kills the boss first wins" in the original arena. Now the team must assign personnel to separate lanes to control vision and harass the opponent's resource acquisition. I watched the team battle video of the No. 1 gang on my server three times last week and found that many teams were still using the old version of the "group-advance" tactic. As a result, the opposing roaming sect stole the dragon and lost a lot of points. In the early stage of the version change, the lag in the tactical system was very serious, which also gave some passers-by teams the opportunity to upset.
Finally, I want to mention the balance details: the new version update announcement said that "the hit determination of some martial arts has been optimized." However, in actual experience, the displacement skills in the light skill state still have problems of "crossing the mold" and "stuck in the terrain". Especially in narrow areas such as the "Bronze Mine Cave" on the map, the skills often hit the wall, resulting in a gap. As a competitive player, this kind of interactive consistency has not kept up with the pace of version updates, which still affects the smoothness of the operation. It is recommended to prioritize fixing these hitbox boundaries when planning the next minor version, otherwise no matter how good the tactical design is, it will be hampered by bugs.
Overall, the direction of the version update of "Endless Jianghu" is good. It has begun to focus on exploring the depth of competition, rather than simply stacking numerical values. However, after every major change, I hope that the official can release an extra week of "test server balancing period" to allow high-segment players to participate in data backtesting, instead of directly launching the official server and then hot-fixing it urgently. After all, a healthy competitive environment must allow every sect to have room to play, rather than forcing players to play "version children" in order to gain points😅.