Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

‘Astria Online’ entered a balancing patch two days after the first clear of the ‘Ice Castle of the Frozen Land.’

【Developer Note】

Hello, ‘Adventurers from the Stars’. This is Director Shin Kyun-hoon.

I sincerely apologize to our users for having to hasten our patch schedule unexpectedly.

…

The developer note, starting with the main director’s greeting, expressed regret for sending this letter during a crucial farming period for the new dungeon, and outlined the main points to be addressed in this balancing.

“Still, I’m glad I finished farming accessories yesterday.”

After the emergency patch announcement yesterday, I went into overdrive for farming.

I sold the ‘Spirit of the Ice Castle Lord’, which evolves weapons, for a hefty price, focusing on accessory farming.

I exchanged all the unnecessary option accessories for ‘Essence of the Ice Castle.’ Of course, I got a small amount as basic rewards from daily quests and dungeon clears.

The collected Essence of the Ice Castle was enough to enhance this accessory.

Since I already have a ‘Astaroth’ legendary weapon, it would be great to obtain a legendary accessory with good stats and options.

There was no need to switch to the ‘Sword of the Ice Castle.’ Astaroth is much better with higher attack power and overall skill enhancements.

At least until this expansion, I could use my legendary weapon from the previous season.

Anyway, the important part is…

“Why announce this crucial balancing patch urgently?”

I sat on the sofa, carefully reviewing the developer note on my smartphone.

The content stated that the balancing patch was originally planned.

They wanted to gather data from the users as they tackled ‘Ice Castle of the Frozen Land’ to finalize the last balance.

“We wanted to approach this carefully to create a skill set that considers both PVP and PVE…”

The stated reason was the difficulty of the recent elite dungeon, ‘Ice Castle of the Frozen Land.’ Hanagames decided to hasten the user skill balancing patch schedule while lowering the difficulty of the Ice Castle.

It had been two days since the first conquest, yet only a few clear parties had emerged. Considering that most of them were from Hong Baek Guild, there were hardly any clear parties apart from the top-tier advance team.

Level 1 named enemies aren’t that hard once you know the gimmick. You only need time to establish a damage cycle that matches the patterns.

For Level 2 named enemies, the party members just need to synchronize well. Most of the damage comes from the reflect damage gimmick.

However, Level 3 named enemy ‘Witch Frederica’…

Her patterns are fast, strong, and varied. The gimmicks to counter her are tough to pull off.

Even before her berserk state, the damage is tight, and invulnerable skills have to be executed flawlessly. Area-wide attacks explode at random times, and map weapons launch instant hits everywhere. There are even special patterns that are inaccessible due to ice blades guarding attacks. Timing the orbs at the right moment while dealing with the patterns is no easy task. Plus, you have to clear the cold areas that randomly generate.

Since it looked like Rain handled it easily, other users might have underestimated it, but Rain had his struggles as well. Only a handful of parties could follow through even if they shared the strategy.

“Kick.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

With some small rewards, they might have pretended to be concerned about my condition to restrict my actions, but since Rain stepped up, the game company had to act swiftly.

They said it was for balancing the difficulty, but in reality, it was a balance between ‘Rain’ and ‘general users.’

This was a snowball effect generated by a solo play broadcast.

It highlighted the stark contrast between Rain and the average user.

I momentarily thought about the significant words of ‘Han Yeoreum, the team leader.’

“If only you had told me properly.”

If they were deliberately ignoring my synchronization rate, then I would have many options.

Only a few in ‘Hanagames’ know the truth of the ‘Continent of Astria.’

Do they even count as humans? Anyway…

Considering the general sword user population, they couldn’t patch things like lowering sword skill multipliers.

The patch direction was expected to enhance and increase the quantity of invulnerability skills.

“They’re giving out at least one more invulnerable skill overall. And… for ranged classes, increasing the resistance counts of standing invulnerability skills, and for melee classes, extending the duration of invulnerability…”

That said, they wouldn’t add enough invulnerability skills to break through the berserk phase. At least patterns requiring multiple resistances should get easier. Like the Ice Ogre King’s 8-hit area-wide attack.

If the number of invulnerability skills increases, I won’t have to use Astaroth’s cooldown reset function for pattern resistance anymore. Instead, I can purely use it for damage support.

My unique advantage is consistently applying damage cycles while dodging avoidable attacks.

Simply put, when others hit twice, I hit three or four times.

In a way, this patch can be seen as an attempt to narrow the gap between physical monster users and general users.

As a result, the average users will find the game slightly easier.

“It doesn’t really matter.”

I leaned back against the sofa.

It was blatantly an aiming patch, but Rain hasn’t weakened.

If the users grow stronger, that’s great as well. It’s a welcomed development if those helping the hero become stronger too.

The hero just needs to keep moving ahead.

Rain’s journey cannot be stopped. Not against the upcoming dungeons, raids, and even the ominous existences that users will ultimately have to defeat.

‘I’ will take care of it first.

The ‘Continent of Astria’ is a world where I’m the protagonist.

A world saved by me and my companions.

Before I closed the developer note, I came across a peculiar term.

“By the way, the patch topic is… ‘Normalization’…?”

Is that an appropriate term to use here?

Lee Seulbi is used to being alone, but nowadays, I feel a bit lonely.

When I’m in Rain’s body, there’s no time to feel lonely. I have to push hard for leveling and quests.

Honestly, just walking through the Continent of Astria while enjoying it with legs moving freely was delightful.

“This is all Sister Chris’s fault.”

I was idly fiddling with my smartphone in the spacious living room, complaining.

I wondered what Chris was so busy with lately; she had gone to do company work on the day of the patch when all the users’ farming came to a halt.

Just being with her made me happy. There wasn’t even time to feel lonely or fall into dark thoughts.

Right now, I’m in an ambiguous situation, neither in the Continent of Astria nor with Chris.

I hope the maintenance ends quickly.

I wish Sister Chris would come back soon.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, I recalled that I had streamed live two days ago.

Should I check YouTube?

[Live Streaming Replay (2 days ago)]

[First Clear of the Ice Castle]

[Views: 5,471,644]

[Category (Game) – A.O (Astria Online)]

“Whoa…!”

Only two days since the livestream, and the views exceeded five million.

I had heard that many people played worldwide, but the viewership was staggering.

I expected a lot of views, but I never thought it would be this high already.

And surprisingly, the green light indicating monetization appeared in the creator settings I hadn’t noticed while setting up the livestream.

[Monetization Conditions]

[Subscribers O Watch Time O]

I smiled slyly.

Honestly, this was somewhat an expected effect.

Rain in the Continent of Astria doesn’t seem to like people as much as I do.

While communicating through live broadcasting burdens her, she could manage to showcase just gameplay footage.

I should bear the embarrassment of showing my face here.

Through ‘Astria Online’, I would earn money in all sorts of ways.

Given that I didn’t receive proper rewards after saving the world, I deserve to collect this much. Sure, I earned a good chunk through expansion pack ads, but it’s still not enough.

I will pay off Chris’s debt and spend gold freely in the Continent of Astria, making life here more prosperous.

I can’t keep living in Chris’s house forever.

I plan to be independent later, so I need to save some money.

“Hmm…”

Of course, logically, I should become independent.

However, I don’t want to be apart from Sister Chris.

I glanced around the spacious penthouse.

I wonder how much this apartment costs?

Can I earn enough to live just one floor below Sister Chris?

I finished the monetization application and checked the comments below the livestream replay.

[Whoa… Whoa… LOL]

There were several comments, but a strange onomatopoeia topped the list.

That odd word always appeared whenever I checked posts related to me.

I tilted my head.

“Is it a trend these days to use suffocating onomatopoeia in comments?”

Keeping up with the latest trends is tough.

Bam, clatter.

“Rain~! I’m back from work! Is maintenance still not over? Why is it taking so long? I brought chicken!”

Just hearing Chris’s voice already lifted my spirits.

“Welcome back, Sis!”

I smiled as I greeted Chris back home. The aroma of freshly fried chicken wafted from the bag in her hands.

Holding a comb beside me, I offered it to Chris.

“Sis, could you comb my hair?”

“Hmm? Sure, sure. Rain, with long hair, it’s hard to comb by yourself, right?”

Chris sat down on the sofa with a big smile, just taking off her coat. I sat between her knees, squinting and relied on her as she brushed my hair.

Swish, swish.

Feels nice.

Maybe I could stick around just a little longer, even after saving up enough to be independent.

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