Chapter 144

The genre of [Eternal World] is complex. If I had to classify it, it would be an AOS battle royale action game?

But ultimately, the core framework was AOS. You can tell by the fact that it’s positioned at the forefront, right?

The way this AOS gains popularity is set in stone. I’ve never seen an AOS game that deviated from the established formula.

First formula: Periodic addition of new characters.

The biggest advantage of AOS games is their freshness. Every match feels different, and that delays the moment when users get bored. To enhance this advantage, adding new characters was the answer. If new characters were added consistently, the game’s lifespan could extend for decades.

Second formula: Carry potential.

AOS is a team-based game. That means you can blame your team, and people considered this blame-shifting structure a key factor in its success.

It wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wasn’t entirely correct either.

I believed that a reward for solo carrying should also be included.

Over time, all AOS games reduce solo carry potential. That way, newbies can join and have a higher chance of winning by luck.

I think this is the wrong direction.

AOS games, by nature, have a high entry barrier, making it hard for new players to join. So, if someone manages to get past that barrier, whether the game is easy or hard doesn’t matter.

If there’s no dramatic change in player influx no matter what you do, it’s better to focus on managing the existing player base. Reducing solo carry potential only increases the fatigue of existing gamers.

The moment blame-shifting becomes possible, all sorts of conflicts arise. Conflicts increase fatigue and cause pain. Yet, people still enjoyed AOS games because the reward of victory was just too sweet.

If you keep undermining the value of that reward, all that’s left are monsters for whom AOS is life. Be careful.

Third formula: Frequent patches.

This follows from the first point. If you want to maintain freshness, you need to constantly overturn the game’s meta.

Just tweaking character stats can maintain freshness, and no game company would avoid doing that.

Of course, if the OP character and OP items change every month, it can be tiring to adapt.

But as I said, the existing players don’t care about that.

Do you think people who endure playing mafia games every match would care about that?

As long as carry potential and freshness are maintained, it doesn’t matter if the meta changes every week.

The conversation took a slight detour, but anyway, [Eternal World] followed the above success formula quite well. It wasn’t the world’s top game for nothing.

[Eternal World] consistently released new characters, had solo carry potential unmatched by other AOS games, and patched frequently.

So, in the World Championship version, the OP characters were quite different from before.

First, ‘Ormal’ had its limbs cut off. It’s still strong in the mid-game, but its early-game power is almost nonexistent now.

‘Noah Weber’ is the same. The secret pathway skill is now heavily restricted, effectively turning it into a skill you can use once every two minutes.

Other changes include summoner ‘Han Chan-hyuk,’ favored by pros, becoming an OP character again, ‘Metatron’ being completely nerfed into oblivion, and ‘Isahyang’ being usable as a joker card even at the pro level. The World Championship meta felt entirely different from before.

But not everyone changed.

Amidst all the changes, one character remained the same.

No need to hide it. Our blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty, Thierry, was the culprit.

To explain what happened, I’ll excerpt a post from the Eternal World gallery.

[Isn’t Thierry really getting a buff?]

Just six months ago, they said, ‘We are seriously considering the low pick rate of the popular character Thierry.’

Did they forget?

-Why would they? Lol

[Thierry isn’t like ‘Marlon’ or something]

If her skin sales are in the top ranks, isn’t she worth caring for?

I don’t get why they’re neglecting her.

-Marlon’s special trait: He’s so ugly his skins don’t sell lol

-Marlon’s case is honestly hilarious because he’s so ugly the game company just ignores him.

[If they can’t change the skill mechanics]

They could just tweak the numbers, right?

Even a slight increase in skill damage could make her go from nuclear waste to slightly better.

-You can’t do that.

┗Why not? They’ve been doing it just fine.

┗┗This guy just came out of the mountains lol

┗┗┗Go watch Han Yoorim’s mad movie on MTube, okay?

The buff announcement for Thierry has been a long-standing topic.

The game company even mentioned they were periodically monitoring her, and in a QnA, they directly hinted at buffing Thierry.

But even after the announced timeframe, Thierry saw no changes.

No buffs, no nerfs, nothing.

It was strange. Thierry’s pick rate, which once soared due to someone’s influence, had normalized long ago.

It meant everyone tried her and ran away, indicating she wasn’t a normal character.

So why hasn’t Thierry been patched?

The answer to that mystery, people said, was the three letters: ‘Han Yoorim.’

Because of Han Yoorim, Novella isn’t buffing Thierry.

It might sound absurd that a game company would hold back on patching because of one user, but in the long history of gaming…

When you think about it, it was surprisingly common.

At first, I thought it was just me being overly self-conscious. They didn’t patch the game just because of me? That’s the kind of thinking you’d expect from a middle schooler who thinks the world revolves around them, right?

But when I gathered all the circumstantial evidence, it turned out it wasn’t just me being self-conscious.

The fact that the promised Thierry patch never came, and the sudden disappearance of any mention of Thierry, all pointed to one thing.

Novella was conscious of Han Yoorim as an individual.

Of course, they’d be aware of Han Yoorim the developer, but that’s not what I mean. They were conscious of Han Yoorim the gamer. Even before she became famous.

Another snipe?

Novella, I’ll put you in the special Tier 2 fan category.

Thank you.

Anyway, that’s the summary of the Thierry saga and the stories surrounding her.

Now, about the people who’ve seen the Thierry saga.

“Wait, so they’re not buffing Thierry just because Han Yoorim likes using her? That’s insane. Except for Han Yoorim, Thierry is a trash character no one can use. The game should be run rationally, not swayed by individuals.”

That was a valid opinion. As a user, it was perfectly reasonable to say that, and it would’ve been weird not to.

However.

There was just one part that was wrong.

“Thierry is trash”? No, Thierry really was trash. You need to indulge in a bit of romance, but raising the difficulty to this level just for the sake of romance? That’s dereliction of duty by the developers.

I also make games difficult, but I don’t raise the “control difficulty.” Enjoying a difficult game with intuitive controls—that’s the direction I pursue.

So, I agreed a hundred times that Thierry was trash. I’ve said it many times.

But I never thought Thierry was a character only I could use.

In the ever-changing AOS environment, practicing to handle Thierry seemed like a low-output effort.

But if someone with top-tier talent really went all out, it wasn’t impossible to make her usable.

Rumen: Hey, do you think I could use Thierry if I practiced her?

Han Yoorim: When are you planning to use her?

Rumen: I want to use her in this World Championship.

Han Yoorim: Summer hasn’t even started yet, and you’re talking about the World Championship? If you keep drinking kimchi soup, you’ll forever be the king of no titles. Be careful.

Bbangbbang had started practicing Thierry a long time ago. It had been almost half a year since he secretly sniped me.

Han Yoorim: If you give up all other practice and focus solely on Thierry, it’s possible.

Rumen: Hmm. Well, if that’s the case.

Han Yoorim: That tone sounds like you’ve already finished practicing everything else. How arrogant. You’re going to end up as the runner-up in Summer again, aren’t you?

Rumen: You just want to see me come in second place, don’t you?

And so, under my guidance, Rumen endlessly raised his proficiency with Thierry.

For months.

Rumen: Hey.

Han Yoorim: Yes?

Rumen: So, is this character actually good?

Han Yoorim: You’re asking that now?

It was a fair question. Thierry had never appeared in the pro scene and was avoided even in solo rank.

Han Yoorim: Don’t worry.

In response to Rumen’s question, I slowly typed out my answer.

Han Yoorim: With Bbangbbang-level proficiency, she’ll work even in the World Championship.

Wahhhhh—!

The crowd’s cheers echoed through the stadium.

[Rumen’s Levatein hits the enemy team’s center!]

“This is insane. Absolutely insane. This player just flipped the game in an instant. Levatein, the fire-element derived ultimate skill, drastically loses effectiveness if it doesn’t hit multiple targets. It’s quite tricky to use, but he nailed it.”

“Rumen’s movements are incredibly agile.”

“Exactly. That’s the key. Thierry is a melee dealer with no survival skills and low base stats. To cover that, you need to use various buff skills and conditional skills at the right time, and on top of that, have good movement? It’s nearly impossible unless you become one with the character.”

The commentators briefly summarized it as “difficult,” but what Bbangbbang showed was far beyond that.

Currently, Bbangbbang was multitasking to the extreme every second.

Of course, there were still many shortcomings, but what could you do? Thierry was just that trash of a character.

Hmm. I nodded.

Bbangbbang, it’s a bit late to say this now, but if you’d picked Ormal, the game would’ve ended 10 minutes earlier.

As expected, my judgment was correct. Thierry was a trash character.

But hey, you became a superstar by being the first to handle Thierry in the pro scene.

Let’s have a drink.