Hello, I’m Director Sang Kwon Han.

I hope you are well despite the changing season and winter chill. I imagine that things have been quiet since the end of UNDECEMBER’s Halloween Event.

As director, my first concern was on how to ensure that Rune Hunters were enjoying UNDECEMBER. That is why we held the Halloween Event, and while doing so, we found that there were still various shortcomings.

However, even though our first steps may be small, we will continue to work hard to ensure that Rune Hunters can fully enjoy the game. In this spirit, we wish to share some details on the upcoming Season 3 update.

■ December Season 3 Update

The Season 3 update will be taking place soon on Dec. 7 (Thu). We have worked hard to improve some of the shortcomings of Season 2 and to ensure that players can experience the enjoyment that comes from farming.

1. Improvements to Episodes

While we improved the gameplay routes for Episodes 1 and 2 in order to decrease repetitive play, we were unable to implement the same measures for Episode 3. But with Season 3, we have reduced the gameplay routes for Episode 3 Act 11 and 12 to the minimum, which will allow users to reach end content more quickly. However, as the Hira theme is common to both Season 2 and 3, we believe that it is premature for us to reduce the gameplay routes for Act 13, and will therefore only do so for another season in the future.

Moreover, in consideration of those Rune Hunters who may not place much importance on completing the game’s stories, we have added an ‘Episode Skip’ feature. Once you use the ‘Episode Skip Ticket’, you can skip the Episode sections you want to, and appropriate EXP and base rewards that will allow you to play the next section will be provided.

* The Episode Skip feature can be used by purchasing an ‘Episode Skip Ticket’ from the Shop after the Season 3 update.

* Please note that you will be removed from content rankings if you skip Episodes.

2. New Runes and Improvements

As mentioned in the Director’s Letter that was published in September, we have worked to improve Physical Element builds. To supplement some inconvenient factors that have existed since the beginning as well as the weaker areas of Physical Element builds, we have added the new Runes below.

2 new Skill Runes will be added.

3 new Link Runes will be added.

Despite the addition of these new Runes, we realize that they are not enough to bring about a complete change to Physical Element builds. We consider this as only the beginning of our efforts to continuously improve the game.

3. New Unique items and Changes to Skill Mechanisms

The new Unique items that will be added with Season 3 will bring about significant changes to the roles played by currently neglected Unique Gear. The new Unique Gear will either significantly change skill mechanisms or will have critical options that will play a key role in completing your build. In addition, please note that most of the upcoming changes are centered around Physical Skill Runes as we have focused on improving Physical Element builds for the new season.

New Unique Gear with certain options that are normally categorized as Legacy options will be added.

In addition to the Transcendent Unique Gear above that will affect skill mechanisms, Unique Gear that will only drop in Hardcore Mode will also be added. These Unique Gear that are only dropped in Hardcore Mode are highly effective, and will help to heighten the fun of farming that is inherent to this mode.

Various other Unique items will be added along with the ones outlined above, and the ones with more powerful options will only be obtainable from the more difficult sections of the game’s end content. However, please note that the options and values of the new Unique items, including the ones outlined above, may change once the update actually takes place.

4. New Legendary Lacrima Gear

With the addition of Lacrimas in Season 2, we believe that we were able to significantly increase the breadth of character growth. However, we realize that we neglected to fully exhibit the distinct characteristics of the Lacrima gear, and that is why we will be adding Legendary Lacrimas to the game. Legendary Lacrimas will have 3 gear slots, and 1 Unique slot will be guaranteed. The other slots will be set from Magic to Unique grade according to set chances.

Legendary Lacrima Gear

Moreover, the parts for the Unique Gear slots that can be attached to Legendary Lacrimas will be set according to set chances. We decided that the requirements for equipping gear to current Unique Lacrimas were too limited, and that we wanted to provide a wider equipping range with the new Legendary Lacrimas. Our aim is to ensure that as we improve current Unique items and add new ones, they can be used in various ways through Legendary Lacrimas.

5. Improvements to Chaos Dungeons

Even though Chaos Dungeons are a key part of UNDECEMBER’s end content, we realize that they still have many problems. We are considering all angles in order to come up with solutions to these problems, and our current aim is to consistently improve the content over time rather than to come up with an immediate and rushed solution. Contrary to the fact that the difficulty levels of Chaos Dungeons suddenly increase from card Lv. 15 and above, the enjoyment that comes from farming is relatively lacking. To tackle this issue, new farming monsters will sometimes appear in dungeons of card Lv. 16 or above. As much as the new farming monsters will be powerful, they will drop befitting rewards. The rewards that are dropped by chance include the Charm Legendary Reversion Essences that were introduced in Season 2, and the powerful Unique Gear that will be newly added. The chances of the new farming monsters appearing will increase the higher the card level, and the max card growth level will be increased to Lv. 35.

Furthermore, convenience improvements are planned for Chaos Dungeons in January.

6. Improvements to Rankings

We are still reflecting on the fact that we had to suddenly close the game’s Ranking Reward feature during the Season 2 update due to structural issues found with Rankings. We have therefore implemented improvements so that from Season 3, Rankings will end during the season and rewards can be claimed in time with the end of Rankings. We will also be simplifying the currently complicated Ranking categories.

7. Free Pet Ability

From Season 3, Pet Abilities will be free. They will also be updated so that they are maintained constantly.

8. New Appearance Feature and Improvements

Wings will be added to the game as a new Appearance feature. A Wings category will be added to costume slots and you can view the products that are available from the Beauty shop. 5 new Wings will be added with Season 3, and they can be obtained both by completing certain content or by purchasing products.

9. End of Crusade of Glory

As participation rates for the game’s Crusade of Glory are lower than expected, we have decided to permanently close the content. However, rewards for the progress made in Season 2 will still be available to claim after the start of Season 3, and can be used at the Crusade of Glory Shop.

■ Events

While running the game until now, we have felt that there has been a lack of events in the game. With a Christmas Event that will be as bountiful as the Halloween Event planned for Season 3, we are planning on consistently opening various events so that Rune Hunters can enjoy abundant experiences with UNDECEMBER.

■ In Conclusion…

The upcoming Season 3 may still seem imperfect at the moment, but we will continue to work hard to add new content that will satisfy Rune Hunters for Season 4 as well. We thank you for your continued support of UNDECEMBER, and we look forward to seeing you in the next Director’s Letter.