Chapter 5 Sunday, September 5th

Moyu Internet Cafe, Handong University Branch.

Qiao Liang looked at President Pei with a smile on his face, wanting to say something but hesitating, hesitating but wanting to say it, he forgot what to say.

Pei Qian smiled and said, "Just say what you want to say, it's okay. I'm a designer who is good at listening to other people's suggestions."

Qiao Liang's mouth twitched slightly, thinking silently, "Well, I don't doubt that at all."

Last time, Qiao Liang said some of his views on the game, and the game was updated at lightning speed. The changes were highly consistent with the points he had raised, with a degree of overlap of up to 99%.

However, the only problem was that everything was changed in reverse!

Qiao Liang wanted Pei Qian to strengthen some of the unpopular weapons, but Pei Qian nerfed the popular ones;

Qiao Liang wanted Pei Qian to reduce the difficulty of the earlier scenes, but Pei Qian increased the difficulty of the later scenes instead.

President Pei was right, he was indeed a designer who was good at listening to other people's opinions, but listening to suggestions didn't seem to mean that he had to modify them according to the suggestions...

For the past three days, Qiao Liang had been in deep water.

The balance adjustments of *Turn Back to the Shore* forced him to continue suffering, because the weapons he was originally good at had become difficult to use, so he could only continue to develop new weapons.

Moreover, the increased difficulty of the later scenes had stalled Qiao Liang's progress for a while. Even the scenes where he could easily farm three *hun* and seven *po* (souls), now the efficiency of farming souls was greatly reduced, and he could easily fail.

In short, the game experience, which was originally getting better, became extremely poor!

However, after careful consideration, Qiao Liang felt that he couldn't completely blame President Pei for this. He also blamed himself for being too subtle at the time.

He only said that the cleaver and guandao were easy to use, but he didn't say that he hoped to strengthen other unpopular weapons.

This may have caused President Pei to misunderstand.

Therefore, Qiao Liang had made up his mind that he must argue with President Pei this time and clearly state his attitude!

"President Pei, as a game experience officer, I should be able to offer some opinions, right?" Qiao Liang asked tentatively.

Pei Qian nodded with a smile: "Of course."

"That's good."

Qiao Liang carefully considered his words: "I personally feel that the balance adjustments made some time ago may be a little inappropriate..."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" Pei Qian asked, "After the last adjustment, the balance has indeed improved, right?"

Huh?

Qiao Liang didn't understand for a moment.

If considered from the perspective of weapon practicality, the balance had indeed improved. Previously, the existence of the cleaver and guandao was too strong, and other weapons were too unpopular.

Now, the cleaver and guandao are just as trash as the other weapons, which is very balanced.

"Uh, the balance has indeed improved, but... the good weapons have also become difficult to use, this..." Qiao Liang was confused.

Pei Qian said with a smile: "Weakening popular weapons relatively strengthens unpopular weapons. Relativity, you should understand? It's almost the same principle."

Qiao Liang: "?"

What the hell is relativity!

Pei Qian continued: "Because there are currently dozens of weapons in the game *Turn Back to the Shore*, the balance of the unpopular weapons is very good."

"If you want to strengthen unpopular weapons, you have to strengthen dozens of them at once, and strengthening them may create some weapons that are too powerful, which would be a serious disruption to the balance."

"And there are actually only two or three popular weapons. As long as you cut them all off, wouldn't it be equivalent to strengthening the remaining dozens of weapons?"

"Moreover, it also maximizes the guarantee that the balance of other weapons will not be destroyed. It is a very perfect solution."

Qiao Liang: "??"

That makes so much sense... not!

Qiao Liang said with grief and indignation: "President Pei, you can't do balance like this! You can't weaken anything that's easy to use. As the saying goes, only weakening and not strengthening will make a good game cold, and mindless chopping is not acceptable!"

"Where's the only weakening and not strengthening? Didn't we increase the difficulty of the levels and the damage of the monsters?" Pei Qian immediately pointed out the error in Qiao Liang's statement.

Qiao Liang: "...But, this is all increasing the difficulty of the game!"

Pei Qian smiled slightly: "Indeed, this is all increasing the difficulty of the game."

"But is high game difficulty a bad thing?"

Qiao Liang was stunned.

Of course it's a bad thing!

I play this game every day, and I haven't cleared it yet. I'm so abused by the monsters that I want to throw up. I finally found an easy way to play, but it was all cut off in less than two days, so I have to slowly explore and continue to be abused.

Isn't this a bad thing?

Before Qiao Liang could protest, Pei Qian took the lead and said, "Qiao Laoshi, think carefully, is high game difficulty really a bad thing for high-end professional players like you?"

"The difficulty of the game is like the ceiling of a venue. Suppose you and other players are both high jumpers. If the ceiling is very low, then you will all jump up and hit the ceiling with a 'pa', and you can't tell who jumps higher."

"But now that the ceiling has been raised, it's easy for you to tell the difference."

"Raising the difficulty is equivalent to providing a larger stage for high-end professional players like you. You have more space to sweat, display your talents, and do things that other players simply can't do."

"Is this a bad thing?"

Faced with President Pei's heartfelt question, Qiao Liang was stunned, and then couldn't help but feel flattered.

Huh, even President Pei recognizes me as a high-end professional player?

How embarrassing!

Qiao Liang's face was filled with an uncontrollable smile: "Oh, not really, I'm just a little more diligent and a little more serious than other players..."

Pei Qian smiled slightly: "Qiao Laoshi, you are too modest. A true powerhouse like you deserves a higher challenge, of course."

"Lowering the difficulty? That's an insult to true hardcore players like you! Increasing the difficulty and keeping the game challenging is the greatest sincerity to hardcore players!"

Qiao Liang looked at his screen, then at President Pei, who was particularly serious, and his mood improved all of a sudden.

That makes sense.

Why did President Pei specifically ask me to try out such a difficult game?

Isn't it because he has special trust in my game IQ, operation, and even perseverance!

Thinking of this, Qiao Liang didn't think it was so unacceptable that the cleaver and guandao had been nerfed.

As a high-end professional player, I should be proficient in all weapons. Only indulging in one or two of the best weapons would indeed be a bit of a disappointment to President Pei's expectations!

After adjusting his mentality, Qiao Liang felt that this game didn't seem so discouraging anymore.

But then Qiao Liang thought again, the reason why I can persist until now is because President Pei has been encouraging me behind the scenes!

Other players, where do they get this kind of treatment?

This is a very serious design flaw!

Qiao Liang hurriedly pointed this out: "President Pei, speaking of this, I have a new suggestion."

"The game is a good game, but I think it's too difficult for players to stick with it in the early stages! I was able to stick with it until now and slowly appreciate the fun of the game only under your repeated encouragement."

"So, can you think of a way to solve this?"

Pei Qian thought for two seconds: "This is easy to handle, I can arrange for someone to modify it immediately."

Qiao Liang couldn't help but feel awe.

As expected of President Pei, he thought of a good solution in two seconds?

Pei Qian said: "You can add a link to the game. When players are going through the plot not long after the start, they can write an epitaph to encourage themselves. Every time they die, this sentence will be displayed on the screen to cheer themselves on."

Huh?

Epitaph?

Qiao Liang vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure it out for a moment.

Pei Qian looked at his watch: "Okay, time is almost up. Thank you for your hard work during this time, let's go eat!"

"Ah, okay!"

Qiao Liang was still wondering if there was something wrong with this "epitaph", but when he heard that he was going to eat, he instantly forgot about it.

He could feast again!

"President Pei is really too good to me, alas, I really can't repay him!" Qiao Liang sighed silently in his heart.

...

...

The two got out of the car in front of Mingyun Private Kitchen.

Looking at Qiao Laoshi's yearning for food, Pei Qian couldn't help but feel a burst of joy in his heart.

Poor Qiao Laoshi is being played by me, alas, I'm really a bad guy.

But when he saw the situation around Mingyun Private Kitchen, Pei Qian couldn't be happy at all.

This was the first time Pei Qian had come since Mingyun Private Kitchen became popular.

In short, it was hard to describe in a word.

Pei Qian bought a commercial and residential villa, which was completely separated from other residences in terms of location, with a separate area and separate entrances for vehicles.

Originally, these were the reasons why it was difficult to sell a few villas.

But now, the parking spaces in the commercial and residential villa area near Mingyun Private Kitchen are full of luxury cars, the kind that are rarely seen in Jingzhou City.

And not only luxury cars, but also some people who came by taxi.

Because now the guests of Mingyun Private Kitchen are not only big bosses, but also some ordinary wage earners. They just run all the way here on Sunday to eat a good meal and enjoy the food and service here.

There were still not many people, but the difference was obvious compared to the last time.

When Qiao Laoshi came last time, Mingyun Private Kitchen had no other guests at all, and it looked very deserted, with only the waiters busy.

But this time, in addition to the few luxury cars parked outside, there were obviously more guests inside the villa.

Only four or five tables were placed in the hall, far apart from each other, and they were all full of people at this time.

The diners were talking quietly and enjoying the food seriously.

Everyone consciously didn't take out their mobile phones, and the atmosphere in the entire hall looked harmonious and natural.

Of course, because there were so few seats in Mingyun Private Kitchen, even if they were all full, the hall was still relatively empty, completely different from those particularly popular restaurants that were all crowded with people waiting in line outside.

Pei Qian saw it in his eyes and felt the pain in his heart.

In his opinion, these guests were so annoying. They were not here to give money, but to steal money!

And Qiao Liang, who was following behind Pei Qian, was secretly sighing.

When he came last time and saw that it was deserted, he thought it was President Pei's own industry, and he was just entertaining himself by eating and drinking.

But now it seems that's not the case. With so many guests and so popular, it must be making a lot of money this year, right?

Although the dishes here are indeed delicious, how did President Pei manage to make such a remote private kitchen popular in two weeks?

He could only sigh silently in his heart. It seems that President Pei is not only good at making games, but he is a true business genius who can call the wind and summon the rain no matter what field he enters!