📢King’s Raid Developer Q&A – March Update

Hello,

This is the King’s Raid Development Team.

First of all, we would like to sincerely thank everyone who participated in the recent Q&A event and shared their questions and feedback with us.

We carefully reviewed every question that was submitted. In this note, we have prepared answers to the topics that were mentioned most frequently. For questions that were not covered today, we will continue to address them through future updates and announcements.

Q1. When is the official launch of King’s Raid planned? Will it be released in 2026?

A. We would like to begin by thanking everyone who has been waiting for the return of King’s Raid.

As mentioned in our earlier developer notes, our original goal was to launch within 2025. However, after reviewing the feedback collected from the community and reassessing our design direction, we realized that additional time would be necessary to refine the game. We understand that many of you have been waiting with high expectations, and we sincerely apologize for not meeting the timeline we initially shared.

As previously announced, the second CBT is part of this process. After validating stability and overall completeness through testing, we are currently targeting an official launch within 2026.

For the upcoming 2nd CBT, we are preparing a significantly expanded range of content compared to the first test, including many gameplay elements that players previously enjoyed in King’s Raid. We are doing our best to deliver an experience that lives up to your expectations. Regarding the immediate schedule, we plan to share detailed information about the 2nd CBT timeline next week. Please refer to the announcement that will be posted then for more details. We sincerely hope many of you will participate in the upcoming CBT and continue to share your feedback with us.

Q2. Updates about development seem to appear only about once a month. Do you plan to communicate more frequently?

A. We understand that many players across different communities are eager to learn more about the development progress. We also recognize that there were periods where we were not able to maintain even the monthly updates we had originally planned. For that, we sincerely apologize.

Moving forward, we aim to share development updates at least twice per month, rather than once per month.

Beyond simply reporting progress, we also want to share more openly about what we are currently working on and the design decisions we are considering. We understand how important communication is, and we will continue to engage with the community more consistently going forward.

Q3. What is the core philosophy and direction behind hero balance adjustments?

A. Our core philosophy for balance adjustments is twofold.

First, we want to ensure that no hero becomes obsolete, preserving each hero’s strategic value within the game.

Second, we want to respect the time and effort players have invested into developing their heroes. To achieve this, we are approaching balance adjustments through three main directions.

[Strengthening role identity and strategic value] Rather than focusing purely on damage output comparisons, we are designing heroes so that their unique mechanics—such as debuffs, crowd control, and elemental synergies—can provide clear advantages in specific combat situations.

We are also refining skill uptime and functionality based on each hero’s core role. This allows us to support both heroes built around burst skills, which deliver explosive impact during critical moments such as emergencies or boss stagger phases, and heroes centered on sustained skills that provide consistent influence throughout the entire battle. Through this approach, we aim to add greater depth to overall combat design.

At the same time, effects that could severely disrupt balance—such as complete status immunity or full defense penetration—are being approached with particular caution. Since some of these effects have been reduced or removed from general use, overall combat balance is being adjusted accordingly.

[Careful adjustments through both data and player experience] We do not intend to rely solely on internal metrics such as win rates or pick rates. In addition to data, we are closely reviewing the actual gameplay experience reported by players as well as overall community sentiment. For heroes that see very low usage or are rarely selected, we are working to introduce clearer differentiating strengths so that players can explore a broader range of team compositions and strategies.

REBALANCING EARLY-ACQUISITION HEROES

During our review of the previous CBT, we identified that several early-game heroes had their numbers set too conservatively due to considerations for late-game balance. We are currently making broader adjustments to improve their effectiveness throughout the progression curve.

A representative example of this adjustment can be seen with Clause and Frey.

CLAUSE

・ Previous Direction: Small increase to Physical Defense for all allies ・ Updated Direction: Significantly increases Physical Defense for the four allies with the lowest Physical Defense

FREY

・ Previous Direction: Applies a shield and status resistance to all allies (50% uptime) ・ Updated Direction: Applies a shield and increased status resistance to the four allies with the highest damage dealt (100% uptime)

Through these adjustments, the overall effectiveness of Klaus and Frey has been significantly improved. Instead of spreading their effects across the entire party, their abilities now focus on protecting four key heroes, which greatly increases their practical defensive and support performance.

As a result, within a four-member early-game party, they can function as reliable sustained tank and healer roles. In larger late-game raids with six or more members, they are designed to act as specialized protectors who safeguard core damage dealers from heavy enemy pressure.

This approach allows them to maintain meaningful strategic value throughout the entire progression of the game.

Q4. With the changes to the hero acquisition system, it feels harder to obtain the heroes we want. Will it still be possible to purchase heroes directly with rubies like before?

A. The transition from purchasing all heroes directly through the shop to the Hero’s Inn was intended to increase the sense of accomplishment in hero recruitment while also providing a wider range of acquisition paths. The Inn is designed not simply as a store, but as a place where players can encounter heroes and gradually build connections with them. When a desired hero visits the Inn, players will still be able to recruit them immediately using rubies, just as before. At the same time, players can also recruit heroes by investing time and interaction—such as conversations and gifts—rather than relying solely on direct purchases. Our goal with this system is to create a more F2P-friendly experience, allowing players to recruit heroes without feeling pressured to spend while encouraging stronger connections with each hero.

During the first CBT, we also received feedback that the conditions for heroes appearing in the Hero’s Inn felt too restrictive, making it difficult to recruit specific heroes. We have taken this feedback seriously and plan to significantly relax these conditions for the live service version. With the introduction of the new Affinity System, players will have additional ways to recruit heroes through various interaction-based methods, further expanding the available recruitment options. At launch, we plan to introduce 31 heroes as the initial roster. After release, new heroes will continue to be added periodically through future updates so that players can continue expanding their roster and enjoying new adventures.

Q5. How will the F2P-friendly economic system work? (Stamina farming, offline farming, and overall economic changes)

A. Our goal is to build a more F2P-friendly economic structure than before, allowing players who invest time into the game to experience meaningful progression even without spending. To address the progression gap caused by unlimited stamina purchases in the previous system, we are adjusting the overall supply of stamina to create a more balanced growth environment. At the same time, the maximum stamina storage capacity has been significantly increased to reduce the pressure of frequent logins. We also plan to provide enough total stamina so that players can enjoy the game at a comfortable pace. Additionally, through the Dispatch System, players will be able to continue farming even while offline.

For many repeatable stamina-consuming activities—such as certain dungeons and raids—we are introducing limited entry counts and a Skip System to reduce repetitive gameplay fatigue. At the same time, rewards are being adjusted so that players can still experience satisfying progression with a smaller time investment.

That concludes the topics we prepared for today.

The questions and feedback you continue to share are extremely valuable in helping us shape the future of King’s Raid. We truly appreciate your ongoing interest and support, and as mentioned earlier, we will return with a more refined experience in the upcoming 2nd CBT.

Thank you.

The King’s Raid Development Team