Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 336 - 345: Who Says Nitiandang Doesn’t Cut BD?

Chapter 336: Chapter 345: Who Says Nitiandang Doesn’t Cut BD?

Players each had their own opinion and expressed various viewpoints.

However, most people believed that Nitiandang would not simply and brutally cut down the Biased Elementalist’s mechanism or damage. Instead, as President Li said in an interview, they would first strengthen other BDs, guide players to switch BDs, and then gradually, bit by bit, reduce the damage quality of Elementalists until reaching a relatively balanced state.

This had become the standard answer discussed by everyone after learning from the negative examples set by "World of Star Spirits."

If Nitiandang really did that, it would be acceptable.

That meant players could still continue to play as "Biased Elementalists," without worrying about suddenly being nerfed and all their efforts wasted. Even after the balance adjustments, this BD should still be playable.

For the moment, everyone had a "buy early, enjoy early" mindset, fully experiencing the game.

But what they didn’t know was that a program had already been embedded in the game, starting a countdown of about a week.

...

...

A week later.

August 22nd, Saturday evening.

Instructor Ding, as usual, prepared to start today’s raid.

The guild’s main team members had arrived, excitedly approaching the new raid instance.

"Alright, brothers, our goal today is simple, clear the first boss and we’re good!"

"It’s a T5 level raid, the atmosphere is already set, we have to give it a try."

"Are you all ready? If you’re ready, let’s start the quest!"

Instructor Ding took the lead at the front of the team, seemingly full of anticipation for the upcoming adventure.

Shadow World’s level 70 version also had three sets of gear, commonly known as T4, T5, and T6.

Previously, these raids were of the normal difficulty T4 level, and basically, they did not encounter much resistance, clearing them all within a week.

The new week, besides normally clearing T4 raids to upgrade gear, these guilds also formulated different raid progression plans. Some guilds chose to progress through the Heroic difficulty T4 raids, while others, like Instructor Ding’s team, decided to try the normal difficulty T5 raids.

Of course, the difficulty of normal T5 was higher than Hero T4, which theoretically was not a very rational choice.

But Instructor Ding had not been expecting a smooth clear anyway. His decision was partly motivated by the desire to experience the new mechanics of the raid; on the other hand, it so happened that a world quest progression had reached right at the entrance of the T5 raid!

Wasn’t that a stroke of luck?

According to the plot of Shadow World version 70, players crossed through a portal from the Azerothia Continent to the inner parts of Shadow World, following the footsteps of the Expedition Army and pressing forward step by step. In each mini-map, there were new quests available.

However, unlike other MMORPGs, the storyline of each player in Shadow World was not entirely independent; there was something similar to world progression.

When a certain number of players completed the quests of a specific map, the world progression of that map would advance, causing some changes in the monsters there, as well as slight alterations to the layout of player camps, Monster Camps, and so on.

At every critical node, a strong NPC would make an appearance, performing an action scene.

For example, when the world progression of the first map reached 100%, one of the underbosses of the final boss made a cool entrance, leading to a Human general from the Expedition Army taking the fall.

And now, with the efforts of the players, the last map’s world progression had finally reached 100%.

According to the task description, this meant that the Demon Forces across the entire map had been essentially wiped out, and the remnants could only retreat to their respective raids.

At the same time, reaching 100% world progression meant that the previously inaccessible T5 raid was automatically unlocked for the challenge.

Furthermore, after reaching 100% world progression, with powerful NPCs appearing and cutscenes playing, all players on the server would often receive a generous reward, with those who contributed more to the completion receiving additional rewards.

Thus, this event was of significant interest to players server-wide.

Instructor Ding was no exception. He took his guild group to the entrance of the T5 raid, "Storm Spire," ready to watch the cutscene for the 100% world completion first, and then lead his team to challenge the gatekeeping boss of the T5 raid to test their mettle.

As the progress bar finally changed from 99.99% to 100%, every player’s screen began to tremble violently!

Behind the players, within the Expedition Army’s camp, a giant Crystal Tower burst into a dazzling glow as a multitude of NPCs converged their powers into it. The Brightness filled the crystal, and powers of the Wind, Fire, Ice, Earth, and other elements swirled around it, forming a formidable force.

"Attack!"

Accompanied by a roar from the NPC leader of the Expedition Army, the Crystal Tower erupted with terrifying energy, striking directly at the firmly closed gates of the Storm Spire!

With a loud bang, the previously sealed gates of the Storm Spire were blasted open, and the elite demons guarding the entrance were obliterated by the assault.

Players received messages—it seemed the system rewards had been distributed.

"OK, brothers, not sure if there’s a cutscene coming or not, let’s wait a bit. If not, let’s charge into the Storm Spire and have a go at the gatekeeper boss, roar!"

Instructor Ding had barely finished speaking when a giant demon portal appeared near the Storm Spire.

"You insignificant ants dare to come here!"

The familiar demon figure once again stepped through the portal and approached.

This demon was known to everyone; it was the final boss of the Shadow Temple T6 raid from the promotional CG, wielding a huge, burning cleaver that exuded immense oppression.

"Your stubborn resistance has indeed surpassed my expectations. Let’s see, what has made you feeble ants capable enough to defeat my Demonic Legion and come this far?

"Oh, I see, now I understand.

"It’s your laughable Elemental Power that made you believe you had the foundation to fight against me.

"But you’ve forgotten one thing, this is the Shadow World, and your ridiculous Power of the Elements is nothing before me!"

As it spoke, it lifted its hand ablaze with fierce flames, the Demonic Power igniting the Fel Flame, and suddenly many fissures appeared on the ground and green lava flowed.

At the same time, there seemed to be four massive phantoms appearing in the sky, shattering with a thunderous crash.

Among these phantoms, there was the Ice Element of a light blue color emanating cold, the Wind Element of white color darting and spiraling, the intensely burning Fire Element, and the solid, heavy Earth Element.

But they almost simultaneously let out sharp cries of agony as they were ignited by the green demonic flames, causing their phantoms to dim.

"In the Shadow World, you will never defeat me!

"If you can’t wait to rush to your deaths, then come challenge me in the Shadow Temple, I await you at any time!"

After dropping its threatening declaration, the fearsome demon retreated back through the portal. Meanwhile, the somewhat indistinct Shadow Temple in the distance seemed to brighten a bit as if to signal the initiation of a certain prerequisite quest for challenging the T6 dungeon.

The cutscene was quite a grand one, and all the players on the scene watched it engrossedly.

However, no one thought too much about it; after all, it was just a common cutscene.

"Alright, brothers, charge!"

At Instructor Ding’s command, the guild members immediately rushed toward the Storm Spire.

Other players too, many of whom were curious onlookers, crowded in, making the scene quite spectacular as they all rushed in together.

Soon, everyone appeared in the raid dungeon and began preparing to clear out the first wave of monsters.

"Let’s do this, let’s do this!"

Instructor Ding figured the first batch of monsters shouldn’t be too difficult; if there were to be any hang-ups, it would be at the first boss.

However, it wasn’t long before someone noticed that something was amiss.

"Eh? Wait, why has my damage dropped so much?

"I used to hit over 20,000 with an Area of Effect, but now why did it drop to just over 10,000?

"There’s got to be a bug in this game!!"