Moon Phase Change

Chapter 28: Lunar Phase Change

"Are there any players in the Crimson Plains area coming to help? This level 14 Furious Pincer is almost dead. My team is wiped out, and I can't hold on. Requesting support (Attached: Coordinates)"

"Requesting monster last hits in the Ancient Battlefield area. I will deliver the final blow after the monster is weakened. Payment via cash transfer (price based on monster level). Preferably near my location; don't message if too far (Attached: Coordinates)."

"Fan Zui Group recruiting strong players. Level 8+ required. Prior combat experience in real-life martial arts or fighting is preferred. Compensation negotiable via private message."

"Can all these recruitment messages just shut up for a moment? I only have one question: is the bastard who's running around the Ancient Battlefield stealing last hits mentally ill? Can't they find a team to level up with? They just like to roam around and annoy people? Do they even have a mother..."

"Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter. A team just got wiped out trying to take down a level 13 Curse Eye. I went over, found it at low health, and naturally finished it off. Got some Evolution Points and Sacrificial Power for free. Thanks to those brothers for their hard work earlier. Sending love."

Above the Primordial Altar, Qi Sheng sat cross-legged.

His consciousness scanned the various feedback from players exploring the monster world, gathering content for the next update.

With new players joining, the daily output of Sacrificial Power had surged.

According to statistics from the Guider, each player contributed an average of 3 points of Sacrificial Power per day, and this yield was steadily increasing as players leveled up.

The once quiet regional voice channels had also become unusually lively recently.

Every second, players were discussing game content or recruiting teammates to explore the monster world together.

The increase in player numbers not only brought more Sacrificial Power revenue but also led to new progress in containing the Primordial.

Just half an hour ago, a 17-player team in the Ancient Battlefield discovered the First Generation Origin monster, "Twilight Shadow".

This monster resembled a mass of black mist and possessed the ability to switch between solid and ethereal forms. In its mist form, only elemental attacks could damage it.

Its hunting level was 8.

After encountering the 17-player team, they launched a proactive attack. After half an hour of fierce battle, they successfully killed it and contained it in the 10th slot of the Primordial's Containment Wall.

The news of the successful containment refreshed in the regional channel, attracting significant player attention.

This was also the first time the newly joined players had seen a regional notification about a successful containment of a Primordial.

After quickly reviewing the various information output by the players, Qi Sheng opened his eyes.

The torrent of information surging in his mind immediately ceased.

After two days of observation, he had compiled a detailed summary of the player feedback.

Two key issues needed improvement.

The first was the issue of channel communication.

In the initial design, he had divided player communication into three channels: squad chat, regional chat, and world chat.

Squad chat was a private channel for the current team, inaccessible or unparticipatable by players outside the team.

Regional chat referred to large monster world areas like the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, not the subdivided regions within that area, such as Crimson Plains, Ancient Battlefield, or Spirit Artifact Valley.

World chat was the largest channel, where all players, regardless of their location in the monster world, could participate in discussions.

With the addition of ten thousand new players, the previously quiet regional chat channels were flooded with all sorts of information, causing player requests to be quickly scrolled away and difficult to fulfill.

For example, a player in the Crimson Plains seeking help from nearby players would be drowned out by the constant stream of recruitment messages from a large number of players in the Ancient Battlefield, leading the player in the Crimson Plains to also spam their requests to increase visibility.

Qi Sheng believed that the next game update could implement a more detailed division of chat channels.

In addition to squad chat, regional chat, and world chat, a sub-regional channel should be added.

This sub-regional channel would be displayed directly by its place name.

For instance, if a player was in the Ancient Battlefield, the sub-regional chat channel would be displayed as "Ancient Battlefield Chat Channel". If a player was in Emperor's Tomb Village, it would be displayed as "Emperor's Tomb Village Chat Channel", and so on.

A more granular division of chat channels would significantly improve the efficiency of players in resolving their needs.

The second issue was related to monster hunting and leveling up.

In the initial design, he had divided the player monster hunting and leveling process into two modes.

The first mode was that the player who dealt the final blow, i.e., the player who achieved the actual kill, received all the hunting rewards.

The second mode was that players who participated in killing Primal Monsters shared the rewards.

This setting now seemed unfriendly to players.

He had seen players complain in the chat channels more than once, stating that the game's last-hit system had created a large number of "last-hit thieves."

"Last-hit thieves" referred to a group of players who didn't want to fight monsters themselves, choosing instead to roam around and specifically target monsters weakened by other players to steal the last hit.

Qi Sheng viewed competition between players as a good thing; conflict and disputes could significantly enhance players' desire for growth and their pursuit of greater strength.

However, malicious competition would only ruin the player experience.

To prevent such incidents from continuing and to provide players with better feedback on their leveling experience, He decided to change the "last hit gets all rewards" setting to a system where the player or team that dealt the most damage to the monster would share the hunting and kill rewards. If an individual player, not in a team, dealt the most damage, they would receive all the rewards.

He planned to modify and add these two new settings in the next update.

Just as Qi Sheng was contemplating what else needed to be updated, a spatial vortex suddenly appeared before him. The Guiding Water Orb emerged from the vortex and hovered in front of him:

[Boss, there's something going on with Evil Moon's lunar phase.]

Upon hearing this, Qi Sheng immediately switched his perspective to the Guider's avatar outside Emperor's Tomb Village.

His gaze shifted to the sky. High above, the Waning Crescent was shrouded in a thick mist, becoming blurry and indistinct. The moon phase appeared highly unstable, rippling as if undergoing some unknown change.

As time passed, the dark red substance forming the Waning Crescent slowly descended.

Suddenly, the Evil Moon erupted with a blinding bloody light.

In an instant, the Black Tide energy enveloping the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range violently fluctuated, and the earth began to shake.

Players exploring outside looked up at the sky, bewildered by what was happening.

At this moment, the players were astonished to find their surroundings beginning to distort and change, like ripples spreading across a calm lake after a stone is dropped. Everything within their sight became blurry and warped.

Seeing this, Qi Sheng immediately realized that the moon phase in the Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range region was switching to the waning crescent.

He decisively issued a game announcement to all players.