Chapter 152: How About Launching a New Server?
Chapter 152: How About Launching a New Server?
One week later—Tuesday, May 18th.
Shangyang Games.
The initial round of changes had been completed, but Ye Zhizhou still couldn’t bring himself to finalize and release the update.
Every time he thought about how, with just one command, the entire fate of Shangyang Games would be altered, heading into unknown territory, his hands would start to tremble.
After the last meeting, it had been a full week. All necessary changes had been made.
According to President Pei’s instructions, both Flirtatious Taoist and Blood War Anthem had their monetization systems completely stripped down, each retaining only a single monetization point.
Flirtatious Taoist was a simulation-management game with hardly any player-versus-player elements, so it was easier to modify. It now only kept the most basic pay-for-speed item: the acceleration card.
That game was likely to be shut down at any time anyway—it hadn’t been a focus for a long while.
The real focus was the Blood War Anthem.
After much consideration, Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin decided that the only remaining monetization point would be stamina potions.
The price of buying stamina potions would increase progressively, and each player could only spend a maximum of 100 ingots per day—roughly 10 yuan.
To fulfill the “only one monetization point” requirement, Wang Xiaobin had practically rebuilt the entire numerical balance system of the game. The other designers also pitched in by developing replacement system features, such as the “Chosen One System” that Ye Zhizhou had once proposed.
The appearance of the game hadn’t changed much, but its core had been completely overhauled.
Wang Xiaobin sat down beside Ye Zhizhou. “Any more issues?”
Ye Zhizhou shook his head. “Not really… I’m just uneasy.”
“The changes are too drastic, and there’s no other successful game to use as a reference. It’s all something I just came up with on a whim…”
“I have no idea what the consequences will be—I'm completely in the dark.”
Back in the old Shangyang Games, during meetings, if a designer proposed a new idea, Old Liu would always ask:
“Do any other games have proven success with this idea?”
If not, the idea was usually scrapped.
Ye Zhizhou had gotten somewhat used to that way of thinking, which was probably why he lacked confidence now.
“Brother Wang, you’re the experienced one. Do you think this will work?”
Wang Xiaobin let out a soft sigh, then spoke earnestly:
“Xiao Ye, you’re the lead executive designer now. You’ve got to start making your own calls—you can’t keep asking others.”
“Whether this works out or not, the credit is yours—and so is the responsibility. As the lead, this is something you’ve got to carry.”
“Remember Game Producer? In the game, everyone else’s opinion is just narration. Most of the time, it only distracts you—it doesn’t help.”
Ye Zhizhou nodded and let out a deep breath. “Yeah… you’re right.”
He had played Game Producer multiple times. He practically had every choice and ending memorized.
In the game, he could confidently ignore all the narration and pick the right answers every time.
But in real life… even though he understood those principles, it was still hard to summon that same confidence and clarity.
Wang Xiaobin stood up and added, “It’s normal to feel lost. Just remember—you're carrying out President Pei’s instructions. That’s all that matters.”
Ye Zhizhou’s eyes lit up.
That’s right!
No matter what happens, these were President Pei’s orders!
Whether it succeeds or fails, as long as he follows President Pei’s directions, isn’t that enough?
With that thought, Ye Zhizhou hesitated no longer. He checked over the new version one final time, then sent a message in the group chat:
“Go ahead with the update.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A few hours later—
Blood War Anthem had effectively turned into a massive multiplayer online chatroom.
In every server, a huge number of players had gathered in the main city square, all discussing the newly released patch notes.
From the moment Blood War Anthem launched, it had gone through dozens of version updates. And while every update came with patch notes, none had ever sparked such heated discussion.
Players weren’t fighting anymore. No one was grinding levels.
Everyone was talking about the new patch.
“Can someone explain what this announcement actually means? They're only keeping the most basic stamina potion in the shop? Everything else... gone?”
“I heard everything else is being given away.”
“Given away??? Is this game shutting down? Some kind of final hurrah?”
“After they released that 888-yuan weapon, a bunch of players quit. Honestly, it’s probably doomed anyway. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t they want to squeeze out one last cash grab before going under? Why give away all the good stuff? Are they trying to scare off the whales?”
“You can still spend money if you want—stamina potions can be bought repeatedly, up to 10 a day, and the price increases with each one. If you max out, that’s 100 ingots a day.”
“Please. 100 ingots? That’s only 10 yuan! Not even counted as real money for the whales—or for anyone with decent income, really.”
“I seriously don’t get what the devs are thinking this time.”
“Our guild leader already topped up—he said he’s rushing to buy all the old items before they go away forever!”
“Too late. The update’s live. All top-up options are closed.”
“...I can’t even spend money if I wanted to. Incredible.”
“This is giving me Ghost General vibes.”
“Here’s what I wanna know: if things are like this now, then in a new server, wouldn’t everyone start from zero? And just 10 yuan a day would let you reach max power?”
“Based on the patch notes, yeah. That’s how it looks.”
“But then how are nation wars supposed to work? If everyone’s strength is the same, doesn’t it just come down to which side has more players?”
“Nope—they added this ‘Chosen One System’. It dynamically balances strength between nations based on player count and randomly selects players to play as high-power units.”
“So if I get picked, I could actually 1v10 people in the war?!”
“Then what’s the point of staying on an old server? I’m going to be selling my account. Selling it cheap. I’m going to the new server!”
From the moment the system announcement dropped, to after the update went live, the player discussions hadn’t stopped for a second.
The once-dead official forums suddenly came alive with a wave of new threads—the chatter was non-stop!
Ye Zhizhou knew full well that players wouldn’t immediately understand the new version. This kind of large-scale conversation was normal.
Conversation was good.
What he feared was silence—if players were indifferent even after the update, that would have spelled disaster.
Using a low-level alt account, Ye Zhizhou quietly monitored the reactions.
To his surprise, there wasn’t much backlash at all.
He’d expected the whales to be furious, but once the update dropped, most of the complaints were buried quickly—no big waves, no outrage.
Instead, everyone was talking about how the update would affect nation wars… and, more than anything, when a new server would launch.
“Everyone’s asking for a new server. The hype is this high?”
Ye Zhizhou turned to Wang Xiaobin.
“Brother Wang, how about… we try launching a new server?”
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 167: Can We Get Qiao Liang Banned?!
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/134738498?collection=1399284
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.