Mistfall Hunter
Director Addresses Cheating, Server Performance, Class Balance and Solo Mode

Cheating and Illegal Teaming

The director announced that the developers are going to address cheating and other kinds of player behavior that negatively affect the competitive aspect of the game.

As per the director, no player bans are being done on one bit of evidence. The team analyzes multiple factors including client detection, server detection, behavior patterns, and reports before determining if a particular player violated the rules. The goal of the developers here is to detect confirmed violations while minimizing the risk of banning people by mistake.

Malicious or illegal teaming requires additional analysis. According to HAO, not all clips of gameplay will show enough detail on whether this is actual teamwork, cooperation, or coordinated action involving multiple players in the process.

In the case of investigating such behavior, the team takes into account repeated matchmaking patterns, unusual cooperation between players, data regarding their damage and eliminations, item trading, and movement paths.

Moreover, the studio will continue working on its reporting system and improve the reporting categories. All information about banning and changing detection rules is going to be published via official sources.

Server Performance

Furthermore, HAO announced that the reports on lags and other server problems have been noted and apologized to affected players.

Currently, the tech guys are analyzing server logs taken during peak hours together with match data, matchmaking-node data, and reports made by players to discover what conditions can trigger these problems and lead to performance issues.

The short-term work will include solving current match-stability problems, but in terms of long-term work, client performance, resource loading, and network syncing are also under examination.

Details on the solutions and release time of each update will be provided in future patches.

Blackarrow and Withered Knight Balance

Besides that, HAO has commented on Blackarrow and Withered Knight in relation to the ongoing community discussion about this.

Class balance isn't being evaluated exclusively according to win rate or any other statistics. Developers also take into account the performance of the class in different equipment levels, different teams, different combat situations, and the presence of possible counters for opposing classes and builds.

Studio policy concerning this issue is such that the developers won't be adjusting a powerful class just because. Changes become inevitable in case the power of the class reaches such a level that its opponents won't be able to understand, play around, or beat it.

Both Withered Knight and Blackarrow had some changes applied to them through regular updates. The team will be continuously analyzing game data and the community's feedback in regard to this.

Brandrgarde Solo Mode to be Released Mid-Season

Another issue the director touched upon was related to Brandrgarde Solo mode that was announced previously.

This feature is currently planned to be implemented in mid-season on both Normal and Cataclysm difficulties.

Developers are creating Brandrgarde solo mode in reaction to players' wishes to play this mission alone without a regular trio and random matches. This will also allow players to experiment with routes, builds, and decisions in combat situations.

However, the developers say that making Brandrgarde solo isn't as simple as letting players participate individually in the current mission. Combat density, resources, extraction pressure, and mission goals should be reconsidered.

Timing of release and all rules of Brandrgarde solo mode will be published later.

Trading System to be Implemented Later

The trading system is another feature under consideration in the developers' plan. Nevertheless, HAO hasn't yet announced details about the rules and release date of this feature.

Developers approach this issue from the perspective of three main principles – this system has to bring certain advantages to regular players, not to stimulate players into performing farming operations or engaging in weird transactions, and to be compatible with the economy of the game in the long run.

Such aspects of this system are under examination: interface of trading, its filters, price information, systems for detecting unusual transactions, and handling disputes and feedback.

The team also has to consider platform-specific requirements and limitations of farming operations before coming up with the design of this system.

Detailed limitations and rules will be announced after the final examination is completed.