"Any players in the Blood Plains available to help? This level 14 Rageclaw has just a sliver of health left. I'm the only one left in our party, and I can't hold on much longer. Please send backup (attached: coordinates)."
"Looking for monsters to finish off in the Ancient Battlefield. You need to whittle the monster down to low health and let me land the final blow. Cash transfer as compensation (price based on monster level). Preferably near me. Don't DM me if you're too far away (attached: coordinates)."
"The Drunken Feast Group is recruiting strong players. Must be level 8+, preferably with practical experience in real-world fighting, martial arts, etc. DM for compensation details."
"Give all the recruitment spam a rest. I just want to ask one thing: are those bastards roaming around the Ancient Battlefield stealing last hits sick in the head? Can't you find your own party and kill monsters to level up? You just have to roam around making everyone miserable? Born to a mother but never raised by one..."
"Hahaha, I'm dying. A party just got wiped attacking a level 13 Curse Eye. I went over, saw it was low on health, and immediately finished it off. Free Evolution Points and Sacrificial Power. Thanks to those guys for all their hard work beforehand. Sending hearts."
Atop the Primordial Sacrificial Altar, Qi Sheng sat cross-legged.
With his consciousness, he browsed the various pieces of feedback players had provided while exploring the Monster World, collecting things that needed improvement in the next update.
With the arrival of new players, the daily yield of Sacrificial Power had risen substantially.
According to the information compiled by Guide, each player contributed an average of 3 points of Sacrificial Power to him every day, and that yield was still growing steadily as the players leveled up.
The once-quiet Regional Voice Channel had also become exceptionally lively recently.
Every minute and every second, players were discussing the game's content or recruiting teammates to explore the Monster World together.
Besides bringing in more Sacrificial Power, the increase in player numbers had also led to new progress in containing Origin Primordials.
Just half an hour earlier, a Player Squad of 17 players had discovered the First-Generation Primordial Monster "Duskshadow" in the Ancient Battlefield.
This monster resembled a mass of black mist and could switch between corporeal and incorporeal forms. In mist form, only elemental attacks could damage it.
Its Hunting Level was 8.
After encountering it, the Player Squad of 17 players had taken the initiative to attack. Following half an hour of fierce fighting, they successfully killed it and contained it in the tenth slot of the Primordial Containment Wall.
The successful containment announcement drew considerable attention from players when it appeared in the Region Channel.
This was also the first time the newly joined players had seen a regional notification announcing the successful containment of an Origin Primordial.
After quickly reviewing the various kinds of information generated by the players, Qi Sheng opened his eyes.
The stream of information surging through his mind abruptly stopped.
After observing for the past two days, he had compiled a detailed summary of the players' feedback.
There were two key issues that needed improvement.
The first was communication channels.
In his original design, he had divided the players' online chat into three channels: the Party Chat Channel, the Regional Chat Channel, and the World Chat Channel.
The Party Chat Channel was a private chat channel for a player's current party. Players outside the party could neither view it nor participate in the conversation.
The Region Channel covered large regions of the Monster World, such as the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, rather than subdivisions within the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range like the Blood Plains, the Ancient Battlefield, and Weapon Spirit Valley.
The World Chat Channel was the largest chat channel, where all players could communicate regardless of where they were in the Monster World.
With the addition of ten thousand new players, the previously silent Regional Chat Channel had filled with all sorts of messages, causing players' requests to be quickly buried and making it difficult to get them fulfilled.
For instance, a player in the Blood Plains might seek help from nearby players, only for large numbers of players in the Ancient Battlefield to keep spamming recruitment messages, forcing players in the Blood Plains to spam as well to increase the visibility of their requests.
Qi Sheng felt that the next game update could divide the chat channels in greater detail.
On top of the Party Chat Channel, Regional Chat Channel, and World Chat Channel, he would add a small regional channel.
This small regional channel would display the location's name directly.
For example, if a player was in the Ancient Battlefield, the Small Regional Chat Channel would be named "Ancient Battlefield Chat Channel." If a player was in Emperor Tomb Village, it would appear as the Emperor Tomb Village Chat Channel, and so on.
More finely divided chat channels could significantly improve the efficiency with which players got their needs met.
The second issue concerned killing monsters to level up.
In his original design, he had divided the way players leveled up by killing monsters into two types.
In the first, the player who dealt the final blow to a monster-the player who actually killed it-received all the hunting rewards.
In the second, players who participated in killing a Primordial Monster shared the rewards.
This design now seemed unfriendly to players.
He had seen players complain in the chat channels more than once that the game's last-hit mechanic had created large numbers of "kill stealers."
These so-called kill stealers were people who did not want to fight monsters themselves and instead roamed around, specifically looking to finish off monsters that other players had reduced to low health.
In Qi Sheng's view, competition among players was a good thing. Conflict and disputes could significantly strengthen their desire to grow and obtain greater strength.
But toxic competition would only ruin the players' gaming experience.
To prevent such incidents from continuing and to give players better feedback from killing monsters and leveling up, he made a decision.
He decided to replace the rule that awarded all rewards for the "final blow" with one in which the Player Squad that dealt the most damage to a monster shared the hunting kill rewards. If an individual player who was not in a party dealt the most damage, that player would receive all the rewards.
He planned to implement these two new rules in the next update.
Just as Qi Sheng was considering what else needed updating, a spatial vortex suddenly appeared before him. The Guide Water Orb emerged from the vortex and hovered in front of him:
[Boss, something is happening with the Evil Moon's phase.]
Upon hearing this, Qi Sheng immediately switched his viewpoint to Guide's avatar outside Emperor Tomb Village.
He turned his gaze toward the sky and saw that the crescent moon hanging high overhead had been shrouded in a thick mist, becoming indistinct. Its phase seemed extremely unstable, and ripples spread across its surface as though it were undergoing some unknown change.
As time passed, the dark red substance that made up the crescent moon slowly moved downward.
The Evil Moon immediately erupted with a dazzling blood-red light.
In an instant, the Dark Tide energy enveloping the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range fluctuated violently, and the earth shook with it.
The players exploring outside all looked up at the sky, not understanding what had happened.
Then, to their astonishment, the players discovered that their surroundings had begun to warp and change. Like a stone tossed into a still lake sending ripples across the surface, everything in sight became blurry and distorted.
At this sight, Qi Sheng immediately realized that the moon phase in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region was shifting to the waning crescent.
He decisively issued a game notification to all players.
Before you continue