[UPDATED FOR 4.9.0] Promises - A Future Update Megathread

Spoilers
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This is a megathread dedicated to the task of tracking all the features the developers have either committed to or rejected, ordered by their dates for potential release, with primary sources for each point. This post will be edited to keep track of changes.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
This thread takes user submissions, but the bar for proof here is high; only primary sources will be allowed. This means social media posts, permalinked forum posts, and timestamped links to official streams (there’s a button that lets you link with timestamps).

The Taran’s World website, which utilizes data from the game’s servers and assets, also qualifies as a primary source, but this thread will not cover specific upcoming troops; most of this discussion should be centered in the primary Spoiler megathread

The exception to this rule is in the case where a troop will add a new mechanic, such as a new status effect, or stuff that affects the game in some way, such as the addition of a new Gnome.

OFFICIAL SOURCES
GENERAL INFORMATION

  • Game updates generally come approximately every two to three months (i.e. quarterly).

  • Updates usually occur between 1 day and 1 week from the day of the official preview stream. In these preview streams, Saltypatra shows off new changes coming to the game using a beta build of the game. Content shown on these streams may be subject to change.

    • Updates usually come to all platforms around the same day, on Monday or Tuesday (iOS or XBOX updates sometimes come late due to issues with the review process).

    • Due to platform restrictions, major version releases on the Nintendo Switch are restricted to approximately twice a year.

  • New troop graphics, game features/functionality/mechanics, most client bug fixes, and UI layout changes cannot come without a game update. However, some changes, including buffs/nerfs/changes to existing troops/weapons/hero classes, as well as localization/UI text fixes, can be made on the game’s servers and shipped to all clients without requiring players to head to the App Store to download a new version.

    • Based on this, if Taran’s World indicates an upcoming troop does not have graphics in the game, an update must come before that troop’s release. This can be used to predict the date of the next upcoming update.
SOON

  • An upcoming update is expected to complete the phase-out of the old difficulty system from all modes. Source

    • This will result in changes to the game modes which currently have a difficulty slider: Casual PvP, and The Vault.

    • New systems will be added to allow for better farming the resources people previously used higher difficulties for. Source

  • When the last new hero class releases in April, a new event will eventually replace it. [Source Needed]

VERSION 4.9.0

  • Expected Release Date: Late April to Early May (Must be before May 11th)

    • This is an estimated guess, based on a combination of the regular schedule of updates, and the requirement that a game update is required in order to add new graphics.

  • The 4.9.0 preview stream took place on April 20th, 2020. Source

  • The 4.9.0 update is primarily focused on reworking the shop UI and adding new bundles. Note that “not all of it is finalized” so it wasn’t all available to preview. Source

    • The update did not have a closed beta period. Do not expect major mechanical changes. Source

  • New packs will be added to the shop, and other packs will be moved around. Source

  • A new Daily deal system will be added, featuring 24-hour rotating bundles. Source

    • These will refresh at daily reset, will feature offers for Gems, and are located in the Offers view. They can be purchased once per day. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4
    • Daily Deals will be CUSTOMIZED to players based on their progress and levels. The three deals previewed are: Source
      • A bundle of 10 Runic, 10 Major, and 30 Minor Magic Traitstones for 100 Gems.
      • A bundle of 10 Ultra-Rare Ingots for 20 Gems (with the note “Help Dragon’s Claw to Power Level 5” indicating the progress-focused nature of the deals)
      • A bundle containing 1 Celestial Traitstone and 3 of each Yellow Arcane Traitstone (Summer, Plains, Mountain, Storm, Light, Blade) for 200 Gems, discounted to 150 Gems.
    • These deals can be expected to cost between 50 and 300 Gems. Source
    • Certain improved bundles are available based on the player’s VIP level (up to VIP 6), either discounted or with better rewards, including Orbs. Source Source 2
    • We won’t see a list of possible items in the patch notes, so one will need to be compiled by the community. Source
    • Mythic troops will not be available. Source

  • The weekly bundles previously located in the Offers menu, which included a Legendary Troop for $50, will be moving to the Shop view.

  • Adventure Packs are paid bundles which include troops and other resources. As players purchase packs, and as they progress through the game, the packs will change. Source 1 Source 2

    • These packs replace Starter Packs, and are replaced every 3 days. Source

  • Path to Glory and Path to Power (the 30-day packs) will receive some improvements. Source

  • Other unspecified changes to the shop are not finalized, and will be announced with 4.9’s release. Source

  • New achievements, names but no descriptions: Source

    • Keepin’ Up With the Krakens
    • With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
    • My Kingdom Smells of Rich Mahogany

  • The update will include the option to watch ~30 second advertisements, rewarding Gold, Glory, Souls, rarely Gems, and occasionally Keys, scaling with player level. Source Source 2

    • You can watch one ad every eight hours, at your convenience, from the game’s map screen.
    • Due to the terms of service of the game’s available platforms, this feature will only be available on mobile devices. PC, Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch will not be receiving this feature, but they will receive other features of the update. Source Source 2

  • Players will now be granted missed sigils if they start a live event already in progress. Source

  • Leaked game data references an “Elite Pass” and “campaigns.”

    • “Thanks for purchasing the Elite Pass for this Campaign. Here are the Elite Pass Rewards for the levels already completed!”
VERSION 5.0.0

  • Estimated Release Date: July or August

    • This is a vague ballpark estimate based on the typical 2 to 3-month release schedule.

  • 5.0.0 was confirmed to be the next update during the 4.9.0 preview stream.

  • The past several updates have been building towards changes which will be completed in this update. [Source Needed]

  • The content of 5.0.0 was previously confirmed, but this has since changed and we don’t know what to expect.

    • The update has been stated to be centered around a third world map, to complement Krystara and the Underworld. [Source Needed]
    • This update has been stated to include a new source of banners. Source
    • Kafka has stated the update is not based on a third world map, contradicting the previous points. Source
MAYBE SOMEDAY, MAYBE...

  • The game has potential for continued long-term support; the game is still growing, even though it is five years old at this point. “I wanna still be working on it in 20 years! I never want to retire.” Source

    • On the Play Store, the game has reported 30k monthly downloads and $200,000 monthly revenue. Source

    • The game has about 2,000 weekly players on Steam. Source

  • Merchandise: A lot of support for it Source Source 2

    • Official merchandise should be coming by the end of the year. [Source Needed]

    • There were T-Shirts shown on stream and mugs discussed. [Source Needed]

    • Nimhain showed ofF a D&D “Deck of Many Things” with a Gems of War theme Source

  • DELVES

    • Higher level Delves for the Faction team are being worked on. Source

    • “We were just in a meeting for this in 4.5… there’s going to be something cool with the Hero, they can help you win the Faction event.” Source

    • “We’re looking at ways to give you some extra bonuses, we’ll try to get it all in 4.5 but there may be some pushed to 4.6” probably refers to 4.5’s Kingdom Bonuses.

      • Sirrain has done Faction 400 on two Factions. One of them was Crypt Keepers, of course. Source

      • SPECULATION: Instead of a comprehensive “fix,” we may see a large number of smaller buffs (such as Medals, Elite Levels, Kingdom Level 15) push the player’s stats up over time to make level 500 less of a hurdle.

  • GAME MODES

    • New game modes are coming besides Raid Boss, Invasion, and Tower of Doom. Source

    • There will only be one Hero Class per kingdom; a new event will be implemented to take the monthly Class Release Event’s place. [Source Needed]

    • The Krystara Kolisseum (a system designed for streams in which Salty will pit two teams chosen by players against each other with the AI, with rewards for the winners) is facing Terms of Service/contractual issues with Sony, but is currently being worked on. [Source Needed]

    • A full rework to the PvP system will make team score less of an issue. Source

      • An update to “remove all the baggage” is coming but has an unknown ETA. No energy system, it may just change how the ranking is done. Source

    • A rework to Arena is somewhere in the backlog. Source

    • Changes to Treasure Maps are a maybe, primarily because the main focus of the game is the core game, with the troop battles. It’s more there to satisfy the people who like it, and it’s likely not going to become an integral part of gameplay. Source

      • Treasure map changes: “Not until the end of the year” Source

    • The devs are looking into regulating scrolls in the Tower of Doom Source.

  • KINGDOMS

    • We likely won’t see any kingdom reworks for a while, pending the completion of localization reworks, but they’ll happen eventually. SOURCE.

    • There may be potential for new kingdoms to come to Krystara, but those are being reserved for commemorating the release of the game in new languages (such as was done with Shentang and Urskaya). The map of Krystara is sufficiently full already to dissuade adding any more kingdoms. Source Source 2 Source 3

    • As people start reaching level 15 in most of their kingdoms, the team will look into increasing the maximum to 20 to keep Deeds useful. Source

    • Future banners will continue with the +2/+1/-1 scheme until all combinations exist. The team is going to look into new sources of banners, within the Underworld and beyond. Source

      • The location of all +2/+1/-1 banners are plotted out, but what combinations will be used next are unknown. Source.

  • RESOURCES

    • “Every single resource in the game should have an infinite sink” Source

    • Soul gain is really broken right now. You can get a Soul Gnome early or you can go months without pulling Valkyrie. The team is working actively on ways to improve soul income. [Source Needed]

    • The devs are looking into adding new sources of Souls into the game, and as that happens the option to craft Souls in the Soulforge using Diamonds may go away. Source

    • The event tiers of some future events may become a source of Deeds. Source

    • Since the team prefers to let you build things up than break things up, the devs would prefer to add more sources of Epic Ingots than allow breaking down Legendary ingots. The Mech Gnome was then discussed, before its release. Source

      • This has been partially resolved with 4.6’s Mech Gnome, 4.5’s Challenges, and 4.7’s Guild Tasks providing additional sources of Epic Ingots.

      • The Adventure Board was mentioned to provide a source of Epic Ingots, but this did not happen in the 4.4 update. Source

    • There is potential to make changes to the Pet system, such as targeting specific colors of pets or events where certain pets appear more often. Source

      • Pet Gnome Bait was a partial resolution to this, adding the ability to pay to summon a Pet Gnome.

  • HERO CLASSES

    • New Hero classes: “Maybe in the future, but there won’t be any for a while” Source

    • Class reworks: “Not right now, it’s a huge amount of work” Source

    • On hero class changes: “Warden is at the top of my list”. Changes will likely come in a batch. Maybe a variant of Corsair’s trait? Source

    • Champion XP was said to be coming to Explore Source

  • TROOPS AND BALANCE

    • Balances changes: “We’re trying to separate them from major updates.” This is to improve the response for these changes by making them their own threads. Source

    • Vash’Dagon was stated to be changing to match Black Beast’s spell. Source

    • “Duskbringer,” the counterpart to Dawnbringer, is something the team wants to do at some point. Source

    • Support Doomed Weapons are going to get a buff at some point. Source

  • USER INTERFACE

    • Some old, very early background pieces are subpar, and the team are thinking of replacing them. Source

    • The Quit button was removed due to a bug with the Unity Engine. The button will be returning to the mobile version of the game once the game updates its engine version. Source

    • Swapping medals in team view: “Not for the forseeable future, too fiddly on mobile” Source

NEVER

  • GAMEPLAY

    • The devs aren’t keen on adding new, drastically different game modes. The team is trying to release modes that aren’t too different. Source

      • A Puzzle game mode (with a set board and solution, such as Puzzle Quest’s Capture Puzzles) doesn’t match the gameplay of Gems of War, and people would simply post spoilers online. Source

    • The game was never built for live PvP and it will never be added. Source

    • Explore and PvP are fundamentally important game modes, and it is fundamental to the game that no Sigil or stamina system be added. Source Source 2 Source 3

      • “The core game modes of Gems of War, Questing, Exploring, and PvP, should always be free to play as much as you want, and should always be meaningfully contributing to your progress.” Source

    • The devs have expressed disinterest in the idea of allowing players to repeat the kingdom Questlines. Source

  • CONSOLES

    • Redeem codes can’t be used on PS4/XB1/Switch for contract reasons. Source

    • We won’t be seeing any cross-platform play for the same legal reasons. Source

    • The Nintendo Switch platform will never receive all game updates on time. To compensate for this, these updates will batch together the content of several updates. Source Source 2

      • This is due to restrictions on update frequency imposed by the publisher.

      • This, in combination with the stress that releasing large numbers of troops at once would cause, means the Nintendo Switch platform will likely never “catch up” to PC/Mobile or PS4/XB1.

  • TROOPS AND BALANCE

    • There’s “not much point” in adding new Apocalypse troops, they’d rather add to kingdoms that have power levels. Source

    • There are no plans at this time to add additional Siegebreaker troops. Source.

    • There are no plans to add an extra rarity of troops above Mythic, that would require multiple copies of Mythic troops to ascend to. [Source Needed]

  • HERO CLASSES

    • Although the devs initially stated that we would see additional Class XP for higher difficulty Explore (Source), the devs have since changed their stances on this. [Source Needed]

  • PETS AND GNOMES

    • Although the devs initially stated that we may see Pet Gnomes in Explore (Source), the devs have later changed their stance on this. [Source Needed]

      • This was stated to be to provide a contrast between PvP and Explore. [Source Needed]

  • EVENTS

    • There are no plans to allow full selection of the pet to rescue, but ideas are being thought about to allow players more choice. Source

    • Class Events aren’t very rewarding, so people aren’t engaging with it much. Since the last class is coming in April, the class events likely won’t change before then, and will be simply replaced after that. Source

      • There was discussion of Faction Classes but “34 classes will probably be enough” Source

  • SOULFORGE

    • There are no plans to allow breaking down higher-rarity Ingots into lower ones. Source

  • WEAPONS

    • There is a set of weapons of Epic rarity, which were previously available for Glory, and are now currently unavailable without microtransactions; there are currently no plans to make these weapons available to everyone. [Source Needed]

    • The team has stopped using create/destroy Gem affixes on weapons, but there’s no real good answer for it, because it’s hard to know who might be opposed to the change. Source

  • LEGENDARY TASKS

    • Orbs are never coming to Legendary Tasks. Orbs need to be “gated” as part of the economy. Source

Feel free to discuss these points, as well as link to other statements the devs have made.

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Ooof, finally got this thread up!

So yeah, I wanted to make a post where we could keep track of all the things like the Krystara Kolisseum, Duskbringer, merchandise, and “The hero will be able to help you with the faction event in 4.5.0” thing they said 8 months ago. You could call this as much an update spoiler thread as a developer accountability one.

There are one or two points that I know they mentioned but need to be sourced, and I know there are several points I missed, and I don’t think the formatting is 100% perfect right now. Any feedback on that front would be greatly appreciated.

I’ll try to write down notes on the 4.8.0 preview stream (with Twitch timestamp links) and put them in the thread as appropriate, including and especially any promises for the mid to long-term future that they may make.

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Thanks for this excellent accountability thread effort.
:pray: :vulcan_salute:

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already released

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Can I get a “Delves” category? Please and thank you. :grinning:

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Not sure what to do about these, since the responses given when asked months after this stream directly contradict their position here on both issues (official line now is “we want to keep pet gnomes in PvP only so there are different incentives for different modes”, which is a complete 180 from “we want to let it settle for a while, but if it looks like a lot of people are playing a lot more explore instead of PvP (long term), we will absolutely put them in there” as is “we don’t ever plan to do this because intended be one of the PvP incentive that keeps it apart” from the previous “a boost to champion xp in explore is coming but not sure when”).

To my knowledge, there was never any explanation as to this shift in official position. Its just we got this response on stream about 6 months ago, and got the other response when pressing it on the forums later on.

This also never happened. Tried bringing it up along with some other tangentially related bugs (every ally instakill and devour was being discussed), kinda got glossed over, not even completely sure if this specifically is considered “not a bug” currently but obviously really low priority if it is.

Also, deeds are in soulforge, despite their “no plans” initial response.

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Holding Pet Rescues as hostages to keep PvP relevant should read like an oxymoron… But unfortunately… doesn’t.

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Love it!! Can totally understand how long it takes (and must have taken!!) and hard it can be to get something like this posted. Grats and kudos :relaxed:.

Perhaps add a little category of “Needs source/confirmation” with regards to

in case someone could help out. I wouldn’t know the Krystara Koliseum point was missing its source until I tried to click on it, for example.

Re: formatting, I’d potentially prefer it a bit more like this, with the headings as the expanders (I kind of find “Expand…” a little noisy, visually) and spaces between (most) bullet points:

OFFICIAL SOURCES

:slightly_smiling_face:

GENERAL INFORMATION

  • Game updates generally come approximately every two to three months (i.e. quarterly).

  • Updates usually occur between 1 day and 1 week from the day of the official preview stream. In these preview streams, Saltypatra shows off new changes coming to the game using a beta build of the game. Content shown on these streams may be subject to change.

    • Updates usually come to all platforms around the same day, on Monday or Tuesday (iOS or XBOX updates sometimes come late due to issues with the review process).

    • Due to platform restrictions, major version releases on the Nintendo Switch are restricted to approximately twice a year.

  • New troop graphics, game features/functionality/mechanics, most client bug fixes, and UI layout changes cannot come without a game update. However, some changes, including buffs/nerfs/changes to existing troops/weapons/hero classes, as well as localization/UI text fixes, can be made on the game’s servers and shipped to all clients without requiring players to head to the App Store to download a new version.

    • Based on this, if Taran’s World indicates an upcoming troop does not have graphics in the game, an update must come before that troop’s release.

:man_shrugging:

But those are just some thoughts. Not sure if I have any better ideas than the wombojis, either. I’ll be sure to let you know/send a message if anything else comes to mind.

Props, again!! :raised_hands:

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Fantastic thread! This really gives me hope for the future of the game. There are a lot of cool things in the works; it’s just a shame that the development pipeline is so long and precludes so many QOL fixes.

Do you think it’s worth adding a section for changes that the developers have mentioned that they’re actively considering, but are still unsure of? For example:

In the “Never” section, you discuss Apocalypse troops and link to a Twitch VOD. A few sentences past that timestamp, Sirrian mentions that he’d consider moving the troops into Sin of Maraj in the future, as he doesn’t like orphaned troops in invisible kingdoms.

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Duskbringer’s true name is Nightfall.:smile:

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There’s multiple sources for:
“We will never add a tier above mythic troops and any disenchants at 4x mythic are safe to do”.

But I don’t know where they are specifically.

(Not weapons. Though the way they introduced doomed weapons didn’t create the kind of problems the above would have.)

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Just keep adding new maps and the game never dies :rofl:

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Great job @EliteMasterEric. Very insightful but disappointing (on the company part, not yours) in one or two areas. We are now over half way thru delve and even if the proposed hero allowance as a viable faction troop transpires (I forsee restrictions here such as weapon colour restriction or Kingdom restrictions such as permitted class and/or Kingdom weapon only) it is long, long overdue and in no way addresses the exorbitant time commitment these events require. Time will tell. I quite like the idea of the new map; kinda reminds me of parallel universes theory.

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Great thread idea and nice work @EliteMasterEric

Just one pointed I wanted to clarify on:
5.0 isn’t centred on a third world map (at least not at this stage, we never say never)
It was mentioned as a possibility in the future, so it might belong in the someday section?

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I interpret this line as “there will never be a rarity above mythic where additional copies of the same troop are needed to ascend that troop to that new rarity”.

Doomed is a “sidegrade” to Mythic weapons, as an event-only weapon type. If there was a new rarity level of troop type in the future, like Doomed weapons, there would a completely different system for powering up these troops.

There’s all-but-zero chances the devs would allow players to use potentially years’ worth of collected troops to reach a rarity over Mythic automatically. See… every advancement system that has come out over the last two years, at least.

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Along those lines, I recall talk once of being able to boost traits, such that poison does more than 1 damage a turn, or burn would do more than three. Or allied X gain 2 life gets boosted.

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I think I remember Sirrian saying that the concept was tested out, but was deemed too powerful of an effect against new accounts. Bleed was likely the reached compromise as a “stronger poison/burn” that ended up making it into the game.

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Under the “Never” section currently. I believe this should be removed?

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There’s going to be a whole bunch of updates to things posted in the OP in tomorrow’s stream.

Also, as a general disclaimer, you might want to say that anything in the Someday column is not guaranteed to ever become a reality at all.

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I never quite understood the comment Sirrian made about 5.0 having the third map on-stream. The Underworld didn’t occur until the Krystaran map was “full”, and there’s plenty of time still until the Underworld map has a matching Faction to each Kyrstaran Kingdom. Why the rush for the third map?

He was quite excited about the possibilities of it though, which might have played a part in that statement being said. :man_shrugging: