Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 582 - 565: Zhuge Jun’s Prediction

Chapter 582: Chapter 565: Zhuge Jun’s Prediction

Zhuge Jun realized that this Time Element clearly had some significance.

Previously, when players encountered Earth Attribute monsters, there was hardly a good strategy because Earth Attribute is considered a very stable attribute that doesn’t react much with other elements.

Although encountering Water Element would induce a muddying effect, slowing the monster’s movements, players were still helpless against Earth Element shields.

The first thing players thought of was the concept of Wood conquering Earth, but using Wood Element attacks proved to be ineffective.

It only resulted in the rock monsters sprouting grass without any follow-up effects.

It turned out that both Water Element and Time Element had to work together.

"So that means...

"Could other characters with Wood attribute also be used?"

Zhuge Jun then switched to Hero, Lei Tu to give it a try and found that indeed they could work, but only to a small extent.

Other Wood attribute characters could give the enemy an attribute effect, but the issue was that the range was too small.

Take Hero, for instance. Although it seemed to affect a circle of surrounding enemies, the attribute effect was time-limited, and it was impossible for Hero to run across the entire field to apply the Wood attribute to everyone.

And the spread skill for Wind Attribute was peculiar too—it could spread Water and Fire, but not Wood Attribute.

So, up to this point, if one wanted to easily and brutally apply the Wood attribute to all enemies on the field, only little Xing Ying could accomplish this.

Other Wood attribute characters could be played, but in terms of power, they were definitely much weaker.

"Wait a minute, could it be..."

A sudden inspiration flashed in Zhuge Jun’s mind, leading to an outlandish but entirely plausible possibility for Nitiandang.

"First off, Nitiandang isn’t stupid. Although this is their first time developing a pay-to-win gacha game, they surely understand things like card pool arrangements and character strengths.

"How could the designers at Nitiandang not understand something that even average players can grasp?

"Character Xing Ying was obviously designed with great care, but she wasn’t well-received due to strength issues.

"Is it possible then that the problem isn’t with Xing Ying’s strength, but rather that her time has not yet come?

"The first version of the game is now half over, with the first Chapter of the main storyline just concluded. In two weeks, a new area and the second Chapter of the main storyline will be opened.

"Which area will it be?

"Likely, it might be the opening of Earth Country!"

Zhuge Jun’s deduction, although not wholly certain, had some basis.

Currently, players speculated that the second country would definitely be one of the four: Wood Country, Earth Country, Wind Country, or Golden Country.

Since Hero’s journey should follow a basic law, it should proceed to a neighboring country, not skipping over any.

If the first Chapter of the storyline represents the beginning of the tale, then the second Chapter should expand further on the world view.

Nitiandang probably wouldn’t just end the second Chapter with a big ship, sending Hero to the southeastern Penglai Immortal Island or the farthest north that is Water Country or Ice Country; such development would be too bizarre.

Moreover, the emergence of Ningyun Monarch in the storyline hints at a possible connection with Earth Country in the upcoming plot.

If it truly is Earth Country...

Then undoubtedly, the second Chapter would feature a large number of Earth Element monsters, just as the first Chapter had a large number of Fire Element monsters.

The optimal player setup would be Xing Ying + Ningyun Monarch, these two characters represent the best choice for breaking through large areas of Earth Element shields.

It was already a pity to have missed Xing Ying before, and if players miss Ningyun Monarch this time, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Of course, so far Nitiandang seems disinclined to reveal any information about subsequent storylines or new areas to be opened, all these are merely Zhuge Jun’s speculations.

But Zhuge Jun has a strong feeling that such speculations are very likely to become reality.

"If that’s really the case, most players are probably still in the dark.

"Judging from the advice given by online streamers and the strength party, if in the last card pool only Glacier General was drawn, and this pool only Echio, wouldn’t that be perfectly missing the version’s answer?

"I need to make a video to remind everyone!

"As to how many will take it to heart, that’s just left to fate."

In fact, the character Echio isn’t bad at all—at least among the Fire Element characters, his strengths are legitimate.

But compared to Xing Ying and Ningyun Monarch, his role isn’t irreplaceable; after all, there are quite a few other Fire Element characters.

Thinking this, Zhuge Jun hurriedly recorded his gameplay footage, planning to edit it later in the evening.

At this moment, he felt like a prophet who had received an apocalyptic prophecy—frantic himself, but to others seemed oddly out of his mind.

Yet Zhuge Jun had a strong sense of mission, unclear of its origin, that he felt compelled to fulfill!

...

Evening.

Lilith looks at the data, with a scheming smile on her face.

"Heh heh heh.

"Hahaha!

"I said we should have started with a gacha game from the beginning, it’s just perfect! I can’t wait to move the time up to two weeks from now!

"The shenanigans you can pull with a gacha game are just so much more than with buy-to-play games!

"It’s really hard to imagine how much negative emotion we’re going to rake in this time!"

Gu Fan chimes in from the side: "That’s right, President Li is wise and formidable."

At this moment, Lilith is looking at the character obtainability rates.

According to the data, Xing Ying’s obtainability rate is 23%, while Ningyun Monarch’s is at 14%.

How should I put this?

The data isn’t looking good.

Because in contrast, Glacier General’s obtainability rate is 54%, and Echio’s is at 29%.

In other games, an obtainability rate of about 30% for a character is considered rather high, since those games have been open for a longer time, and there are many players who joined later and didn’t have the chance to draw the earlier characters.

But "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" is different, the game has just launched, and players have gotten quite a number of initial draws, so if they haven’t drawn, that just means they truly don’t want to, without any other reasons.

Ningyun Monarch and Echio are part of later card pools, so many players are still watching and waiting, hence the noticeably lower obtainability rates for these two characters.

But no matter what, with Xing Ying’s rate at 23%, it means that two weeks later, once new Chapters and new maps are released, the remaining 77% of players are likely to break before an overwhelming hoard of Earth Element shield creatures.

Of course, they can still play; they could switch to a Hero or other characters with a Wood attribute, it’s just that they can’t achieve full-screen damage and high bonus damage, and breaking shields will be slower, with a smaller range, but still playable.

But what about the lucky ones who haven’t drawn either Xing Ying or Ningyun Monarch?

Really, the current data shows that there are quite a lot of such players.

For these players, all I can say is, I wish them smooth sailing with their "Endless Fantasy Legend 2."

Of course, it’s not that you can’t break shields without the Time Element; many Heavy Weapon characters with strong strikes, plummet attacks, or the usual elemental reactions between lightning and fire, water and fire, and many, many Earth Element skills inherently include shield-breaking effects.

These methods can also tackle elemental shields, making sure players still can continue playing and not leave the game.

But clearly, these methods pale in efficiency compared to Xing Ying + Ningyun Monarch.

Players will definitely be pissed, they’re bound to break, and that’s exactly what Lilith wants from them.

Without them breaking, where would the negative emotions come from?

Manipulating the card pools like this, that’s the unique advantage of freemium gacha games, isn’t it? Could buy-to-play games achieve that? Obviously, they can’t.

"Good! Gu Fan, keep observing!

"And, how has Gan Di been lately?"

Lilith hadn’t forgotten about the key contributor.

Gu Fan reports truthfully: "Nothing much really. As I saw, he hasn’t been live streaming, nor posting any messages online. Every day he goes to work as usual, teaming up with others at his desk to play games and such."

Lilith nods in satisfaction: "Hmm, he knows his place then."

In fact, Lilith is a bit worried about Gan Di.

Worried that he might spill the beans.

Because "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" has an ongoing multi-faceted plan—take this card pool for example, what if Gan Di really did a live stream and let something slip, causing many players to draw these two characters, wouldn’t that ruin the plan?

The other staff, of course, have been tested by time, and Lilith is not worried about them.

But Gan Di is, after all, a mid-way arrival, and was a die-hard fan of single-player games before, so it’s not certain whether he might act out of a simple sense of justice, being Prometheus stealing fire.

Spoiling the upcoming card pool and map updates, talking about the character strength adjustments, and so on.

If that were the case, Lilith’s plan would surely be severely impacted.

However, as it stands, Gan Di seems to have resigned to his fate, with no attempts to reveal any information to the outside world.

One possibility is that he’s fearful; he’s afraid that if he speaks up, he would get criticized, after all, as the lead planner, he’s an accomplice;

The other possibility is that he’s blinded by self-interest, for indeed, a lead planner’s share of the revenue is quite substantial.

We’re only in the first month, and "Endless Fantasy Legend 2"’s first month’s sales figures have not yet been released, but the backend data looks very promising.

After all, it’s a high-quality freemium mobile game, clearly a cut above other games on the market in this regard, making good money is expected.

Either way, Lilith is in a very good mood.

She could almost see the overwhelming flood of criticism and the continuous outpour of negative emotions.