‘Astra Online’ went through a balancing patch just two days after the first clear of ‘Frozen Palace.’
【Developer Notes】
Hello, Adventurers from the Stars. This is Director Shin Kyunghun.
First, we apologize to the players for having to move up the patch schedule that we had planned to implent later…
The developer notes, which began with the greeting from the main director, contained an apology for releasing this letter during a ti when players should be farming the new dungeon. It also outlined the key areas the balance patch would address.
"Still, it's a relief that I finished farming accessories yesterday."
After the ergency patch was announced, I doubled down on farming.
I sold the *Frozen Palace Master’s Soul*, which evolves weapons, for a high price and focused on farming accessories.
Any accessories with unnecessary options were dismantled and converted into *Frozen Palace Essence*. Of course, I also earned a small amount from daily quests and dungeon completion rewards.
The accumulated *Frozen Palace Essence* was enough to upgrade the accessories this ti.
Since I already have the legendary weapon *Astaroth*, it would be nice to get legendary accessories with good stats and options, too.
There was no need to switch to the *Frozen Palace Master’s Sword*. *Astaroth* has higher attack power and enhances all my skills overall.
At least until this expansion is over, I’ll be able to continue using last season’s legendary weapon.
But the important thing is—
"Why did they announce such an important balancing patch so urgently?"
I sat on the sofa, carefully examining the developer notes on my smartphone.
According to the notes, the balancing patch had always been planned.
They wanted to finalize the balance, including the data obtained from players clearing the *Frozen Palace*.
"They ntioned they needed to carefully consider both PvP and PvE skill sets…"
On the surface, the reason they provided was the difficulty of the latest elite dungeon, *Frozen Palace*. Hanagas decided to lower the difficulty while moving up the skill balancing patch.
Even though two days had passed since the first clear, only a few parties had completed the dungeon. Considering that most of them were from the Hongbaek Guild, it ant that aside from the top pioneering parties, no other groups had succeeded.
The first boss isn’t too difficult once you understand its chanics. It just takes ti to establish the right damage cycle according to the pattern.
The second boss is all about coordination among party mbers. Most of the damage cos from the reflection damage gimmick.
However, the third boss, *Witch Frederica*—
Her patterns are fast, strong, and varied. Executing the chanics to defeat her is tough.
Her enraged state deals insane damage, and invincibility skills have to be used with precision. Her AoE attacks go off constantly, and her near-instant kill moves fly around like crazy. There’s even a special phase where ice blades make her untouchable, and she guards herself with them. On top of that, it’s tough to destroy the orbs at the right ti while dealing with her other chanics. And let’s not forget about the cold aura fields that constantly appear and need to be removed.
Just because Rain cleared the dungeon easily, so players might have underestimated it, but Rain had his own life-or-death struggles. Even after the strategy was shared, only a few parties could follow it.
“Heh.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Even if they pretended to care about my health and tried to limit my actions with so compensation, once Rain took the spotlight, the ga developers had no choice but to act quickly.
They claim the balance patch is to lower the difficulty, but it’s actually a balancing act between *Rain* and regular players.
This is the snowball effect caused by solo play streaming.
It showed a stark difference between Rain and the general player base.
I briefly recalled the cryptic words left by Team Leader Han.
“You should’ve given a proper explanation.”
If they chose to ignore my synchronization rate, then there’s a lot more I can do.
Only a handful of people in *Hanagas* likely know the truth about the *Astra Continent*.
Are they even human? Well, anyway.
If they take regular players into account, they can’t patch skills like reducing the scaling of sword techniques.
As expected, the patch focused on enhancing invincibility skills and adding more of them.
“They’re giving out one more invincibility skill for everyone. And… For ranged classes, they’re increasing the resistance count for standing invincibility skills, and for lee classes, they’re extending the duration of invincibility fras…”
Though they’re not adding enough invincibility skills to forcefully break through enrage modes, at least the patterns that require consecutive resistances will be easier to deal with. Like the *Ice Ogre King’s* eight-hit AoE attack.
With more invincibility skills, I won’t need to use *Astaroth’s* cooldown reset just for resisting patterns. Instead, I can use it purely for boosting damage output.
My personal strength lies in dodging every avoidable attack while keeping a relentless damage cycle going.
In simple terms, while others get in two hits, I land three or four.
In a way, this patch seems designed to narrow the gap between physical monster players and regular ones.
This patch will make the ga a little easier for average players.
“I don’t really care.”
I leaned back against the sofa.
Even though it was a direct hit to , Rain didn’t get weaker.
If players beco stronger, that’s fine too. I welco the idea of stronger players paving the way for the Hero’s path.
The Hero will just push even further ahead.
No one can stop Rain’s journey—not through dungeons, raids, or even the final evil beings that players will ultimately defeat.
*I* will defeat them first.
The *Astra Continent* is a world where I’m the main character.
It’s the world my comrades and I saved.
Before I closed the developer notes, I noticed a peculiar word.
“But the the of the patch is… ‘Normalization’...?”
Is that the right word to use here?
---
Being alone in Lee Seulbi’s body is sothing I’m used to, but lately, I’ve been feeling a bit lonely.
When I’m in Rain’s body, there’s no ti to feel lonely. I’m always pushing forward with leveling up and quests.
Honestly, just walking freely through the *Astra Continent*, enjoying the scenery and moving my legs, was a pleasure.
“This is all because of Chris unnie.”
I was fiddling with my smartphone in the spacious living room, complaining for no reason.
Chris has been so busy lately. On patch day, she used the downti to take care of work at her company.
Just being around her makes feel good. There’s no ti for loneliness or getting lost in depressing thoughts.
Right now, I’m not in the *Astra Continent*, nor am I with Chris. It’s an awkward situation.
I hope the patch ends soon.
I hope Chris unnie cos back quickly.
“Ah.”
Suddenly, I rembered the live stream I had done two days ago.
Should I check YouTube?
---
[Live Stream Replay (2 days ago)]
[Frozen Palace First Clear Run]
[Views: 5,471,644]
[Category (Ga) - A.O (Astra Online)]
---
“What the…!”
Only two days had passed since I uploaded the stream, but it already had over five million views.
They say it’s a ga played worldwide, and clearly, the hype is real.
I expected the video to be popular, but not this much.
And on the creator dashboard, a green light had appeared that I hadn’t seen when I first set up the live stream.
---
[Monetization Conditions]
[Subscribers: t. Watch Ti: t.]
---
I smirked slightly.
Honestly, I had aid for this.
Rain in the *Astra Continent* is more reserved than I am.
Communicating through live broadcasts was a burden for her, but simply streaming gaplay videos was sothing she could handle.
As for showing my face, well, that’s sothing I can deal with over here.
I’ll make money through *Astra Online* in every way possible.
After saving the world, I didn’t get properly rewarded, so I deserve to earn this much. Although I’ve already made good money through expansion pack ads, it’s still not enough.
I need to finish paying off Chris, spend freely in the *Astra Continent*, and make my life here even more comfortable.
I can’t live off Chris forever.
I’ll eventually move out, so I need to save up.
“Hmm…”
Of course, logically, moving out makes sense.
But I don’t want to be separated from Chris unnie.
I glanced around the spacious penthouse.
How much is this apartnt worth?
Can I earn enough to live right below Chris unnie?
After applying for monetization, I checked the comnts under the stream replay video.
---
[Huff… Huff… LOL]
---
There were many comnts, but the top one was a strange onomatopoeia.
Every ti I read comnts about myself, that weird sound effect appeared.
I tilted my head, puzzled.
“Is it trendy to write breathless sound effects in comnts these days?”
It’s tough keeping up with the latest trends.
---
Beep, clunk.
“Rain~! I’m ho from work! The patch isn’t done yet, right? Why is it taking so long? I brought chicken!”
Just hearing Chris’s voice lifted my spirits.
“Unnie, thank you for your hard work!”
Smiling, I greeted Chris as she returned ho. The sll of freshly fried chicken wafted from the bag she was holding.
I picked up
a brush next to and handed it to Chris.
“Unnie, could you brush my hair for ?”
“Huh? Sure, sure. Your hair is long, so it must be hard to brush by yourself, right?”
With a beaming smile, Chris took off her coat and sat on the sofa. I sat between her legs and relaxed, letting her brush my hair.
*Swish, swish.*
It felt nice.
Even after I save up enough money to move out, maybe I’ll stick around for a little while longer.
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