📢 This article announces new features. Please keep in mind visuals, numbers or mechanics are subject to change.
It's been far too long since our last update or announcement — and yes, there's a good reason for that. A lot has been happening behind the scenes, and we're finally ready to pull back the curtain. The best part? The first wave of updates is coming very soon. And we mean actually soon — not the usual “someday soon.”
TL;DR
👉 New Arena with new mechanic: Training Grounds and explosive obstacles.
👉 Transmutation: Sacrifice 12 items to have a chance for even stronger one.
👉 More information about Noble Houses.
📌 Overview
The next wave of updates is built on three key pillars:
- Connecting players
- Enhancing the gameplay experience
- Further stabilizing the ecosystem
To bring these goals to life, we’ve been hard at work on a range of new features — and the best part? They’re arriving sooner rather than later.
Let’s dive in!
🛡️ Training Grounds – A New Playable Arena
With recent updates, we’ve increased the versatility of each character by introducing skills for our mercenaries. But that was just the beginning. Enhancing strategic depth remains a top priority — and while our units are becoming more unique, there’s another area ready for evolution: arenas.
We’ll be introducing several new arenas over time, starting with the Training Grounds, which some of you might recognize from an earlier version of our tutorial.
And here’s the exciting part:
📢 New arenas aren’t just cosmetic — they bring fresh, game-changing mechanics.
🔥 Destroyable Obstacles & Explosives
With the Training Grounds, we’re introducing a brand-new mechanic: destroyable obstacles.
In line with the arena’s theme, we’ve added barrels — but not just any barrels. These come in two types:
- Path blockers with high durability, perfect for tactical positioning.
- Explosive barrels that deal area damage when attacked or destroyed.
This new feature lets players use the environment more strategically than ever before.
Master the terrain, and the battlefield becomes your ally.
🔁 Extended Picking Phase
We identified some key limitations in the previous picking phase.
Since the equipment of your opponent's units is just as crucial as their placement, we’ve reworked the system to give players a better way to react and strategize.
The picking phase still follows an alternating format, but now, players first select the units they want to place, before actually placing them on the battlefield.
And for those who prefer to jump straight into the action —
we’ve added an auto-pick button that selects units for you automatically.
⚗️ Transmutation
While we’ve seen great activity on the marketplace overall, we also noticed a few major issues that needed to be addressed. One of the biggest? There’s currently no real utility for "weak items" — those with low quality and low rarity — because they’re quickly replaced by stronger ones (understandably so).
As a result, these items flood the marketplace, driving prices down far too much.
So, let’s give those items a new purpose, shall we?
With Transmutations, we’re tackling this problem head-on. Players can now sacrifice 12 items at once, with each item influencing the potential outcome.
The key difference from merging?
With Transmutations, players have a chance to increase the rarity of their gear — not just the level.
For example, if you transmute 12 Uncommon items, there’s a chance the resulting item will be of the next rarity tier: Rare.
The higher the quality and rarity of the items you use, the better the potential outcome.
This gives low-tier items real value again — and a reason to keep hunting.
🏰 Noble Houses
Many of you have been eagerly awaiting our guild system — known as Noble Houses.
It’s been in the works for quite some time, but the timing was never quite right... until now!
📢 We’ve officially started development on Noble Houses as the next major feature.
We’ve already created a detailed concept paper, which we’ll share in a dedicated blog post next week.
But we don’t want to keep you completely in the dark — here’s a first look at what’s coming:
With the launch of Noble Houses, we’re introducing an account-wide progression system.
This means players will be able to level up professions as they continue playing Knights of Cathena. These professions will play a key role in joining — and contributing to — a Noble House later on.
To avoid long delays, Noble Houses will roll out in waves.
The initial release will serve as a soft launch, giving players the opportunity to gather friends and begin their shared journey.
More details are coming in the next blog post — stay tuned!
⏰ Wen?
Here’s what you can expect over the next few weeks:
⚗️ Transmutations
This will be the first feature to launch.
Internal testing began today, and we’re aiming to release it by the end of this week.
🛡️ Training Grounds
The new arena will follow shortly after.
Although internal testing is already underway, it might need a bit more time — we’re currently targeting a release sometime next week.
🏰 Noble Houses – Concept Reveal
Noble Houses will be the next major milestone for the game, so it’ll require a little more patience.
BUT — as mentioned, we’ll be releasing a dedicated blog post next week to share more details about how the system will work.
See you in Altea! ⚔️
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