Chapter 11 22nd of November, Midnight

At midnight on November 22nd, nearly seventy-two hours after the servers were suddenly shut down, an announcement appeared on Dream Inc.'s official website.

The contents were as follows:

[Dear players, as you all know, the finale of the Peak Tournament Season 2, which concluded in the early hours of November 19th, marked the end of the "Derivative Invasion" storyline for version V1.10.

Due to unexpected alterations in several world-class Bosses during the cross-version event, the storyline for the new version "Ragnarok" has been severely impacted.

Over the past seventy-plus hours, our technical staff and script editors have been working overtime to address the incident and have made corresponding adjustments.

Therefore, we are pleased to announce to all players that the Thriller Paradise servers will reopen on December 1st. At that time, Thriller Paradise will skip version V1.20 – Ragnarok and directly upgrade to the final version V1.50 – Infinite Worlds. Stay tuned!]

This announcement was released at about the same time that the patience of thousands of players and studios was reaching its breaking point...

Just as rumors like "Thriller Paradise server crashes, facing major repairs" and "Is Dream Inc. about to pack up and leave?" began to surface on the internet and in various media outlets, this announcement dropped like a bombshell, once again catching those who make a living by fabricating fake news and writing promotional articles completely off guard.

Many "media companies" specializing in this sort of thing had even prepared a series of articles smearing Dream Inc., ready to approach a few interested online gaming companies and insert those companies' soft advertisements into the articles to make a profit. However, with the fall of Dream Inc.'s bombshell, well~ everyone's been working for nothing these past couple days.

...

On the other hand, the players' reactions to this news... were, predictably, quite significant.

The discussion trend on major forums shifted overnight from the topic of "Peak Tournament Season 2" to the new version, "Infinite Worlds."

Although there was still more than a week until the server opened, players were already eager to try it out, impatiently waiting.

The number of registered users for Thriller Paradise saw another significant increase, and sales of gaming pods also reached new highs.

During this period before the official announcement of the new patch, various "inside sources" also emerged, each displaying their unique abilities... They took advantage of this time to spread all sorts of fabricated rumors, each speaking with certainty and conviction.

Generally speaking, "inside sources" can also be divided into two types... The first type is those who are doing it for fun or to show off their existence; they mostly just make things up based on their own fantasies.

As for the second type... naturally, they are hired guns. These inside sources are often much more professional than the first type, and their level of writing and lying is unmatched; the most common technique is to cite a series of non-existent details, or add a few fake images that ordinary people may not understand to the post to increase the credibility of the information... it can be said that they put in a lot of effort. Of course, the fundamental purpose is still to mix some "information they want to convey" into the false revelations, in order to promote the sales of certain products.

For example... if you are selling game currency on a third-party platform, you should hire someone like this to start a wave on the forum, and let him imply in the post that "game currency will appreciate significantly in the new version." Or... if you are selling gaming peripherals, you can release a fake message saying that "the new version of Thriller Paradise will support a certain model of peripheral, and a mysterious prize will be given for purchasing it" and so on.

Marketing tactics like these are now commonplace... Those who are fooled will just treat it as paying for a lesson, and they will remember it next time.

...

Another twenty-four hours passed.

Finally, Dream Inc. also listed the new version patch... on the homepage of the official website:

V1.50—

[Version Overview]

The Fighting Demon appears, the Demon Lord hides.

The God of Eternal Life, hidden in the Mirror World.

The Spirit King ascends, the Corpse God assists.

The Court changes hands, the Truth remains.

After Ragnarok, the Four Pillar Gods fall one after another.

Four new forces are rapidly rising from the ruins of the old dynasty.

And Origin, the Z Organization, the Phantom Demon Church, the Detective Club, the Blackbeard Pirates, and other powerful forces are also active in the main universe.

Thriller Paradise welcomes a free, new era with infinite possibilities.

[Character Adjustments]

In the new version, the player level cap will be adjusted to level 60, and the experience required for leveling up above level 50 will no longer increase incrementally.

The player skill slot limit will be adjusted to fifteen slots. The three expanded slots must be purchased with game currency.

[Mode Adjustments]

Single-player survival mode and team survival mode (including normal and nightmare) generated in the sleep server will have a higher probability of long-term scenarios.

The "passive game judgment" mechanism in Killing Game will become stricter, and the punishment for passive game players will be further increased.

[Changes in Items, Goods, and Services]

The mall space has been fully upgraded and rebuilt.

After the Derivative Invasion event, the shop owners and the system's guard robots underwent special training together, and their strength has been improved.

All the shops have stocked a lot of new goods, including new equipment, weapons, hairstyles, clothing, etc.

The Scare Box has added a "pre-order function." Players can submit an application for "automatic transaction after reaching the purchase conditions" for a certain item by mortgaging skill points.

[Game Performance Adjustments]

The game picture quality has been greatly improved.

The title system will add a self-selection function. Each time the title changes, players can choose whether to accept the title after observing the new title ability, and get one "old title selection right."

Note: After this update, all players can get an old title selection right (the retention period of this permission is twenty-four hours after the player first logs into the game) and make a selection among all the titles they have previously owned.

...

In the above content, many keywords have hyperlinks, and you can see the relevant information by clicking on them.

For example, words like "Fighting Demon," "God of Eternal Life," "Spirit King," "Origin," and "Z Organization" can all be expanded to view.

However, all these NPCs, derivatives, or organizations do not have image data, only some text records; and the content of the records is mostly some well-known basic settings. For players who can access deeper game content, these materials are meaningless, but for novices, it is considered a good popular science.

As for the "level cap increase," most players expected it. In fact, 99% of people thought that the experience required to upgrade after level 50 would increase to nine digits based on the previous trend... Therefore, when they saw the sentence "the experience required for leveling up will no longer increase incrementally," they were a little surprised.

In addition, there is another change that many people guessed in advance, and that is "skill slot expansion."

Indeed, according to the current development trend of the game, twelve skill slots can no longer meet the needs of high-end players, and expansion is also reasonable. As for the price... like expanding the knapsack, this kind of advantage that can be bought immediately with "money" is definitely not cheap... Dream Inc. can also make a lot of money just by making this change.

Next, let's take a look at a new service launched in this patch—the Scare Box's "pre-order function."

This function, simply put, is developed for those "players who have taken a fancy to a piece of equipment that is about to expire, but do not have enough skill points on hand."

For example, let's say... a player has taken a fancy to a piece of equipment in the Scare Box that requires 1000 skill points to buy, but he only has 500 skill points on hand and cannot buy it. Moreover, the item will be deleted in less than a day, and it may be too late to accumulate 500 skill points in the remaining day.

At this time, he can use the "pre-order function" to first pay a deposit equivalent to 40% of the total price of the item... that is, 400 skill points... to allow the system to extend the existence time of the item for him.

Of course, if the item is bought by someone else with the full amount before the deletion time limit, there is no way, anyway, the deposit will be fully refunded at that time.

And if the item has not been bought by anyone within the deletion time limit, then... as an item that has been "pre-ordered," it will not be deleted immediately. The system will place it in a specific "pre-order area" to wait for the "pre-order player" to collect the full amount; at this time, only the player who has paid the pre-order deposit for the item can search for the item.

Then, within the next seventy-two hours, as long as one of all the pre-orderers has enough skill points to pay the full amount, the transaction will be automatically completed. At the moment when the transaction is completed, the system will send an email to other players who have paid the deposit, stating "The item you pre-ordered has been purchased by someone else," and the deposited skill points will be refunded together with the email.

But if within those seventy-two hours, all players who have pre-ordered the item fail to collect the full amount, then the item will be deleted, and each pre-orderer will be deducted a late fee equivalent to 5% of the item price.

The above is the general setting of the pre-order function.

In the past few months, Dream Inc. has received a lot of feedback in this regard when collecting player opinions... Many players said that sometimes they find a piece of equipment they want in the Scare Box, but they are just a little bit short of skill points and cannot afford it; when they finish the scenario and collect enough skill points to come back, the item has either been bought or has been deleted due to the expiration of the retention period... This experience is undoubtedly quite depressing.

Although Dream Inc. seems to be very domineering in many aspects, it is still very happy to improve this kind of problem that can improve the game experience and has room for improvement.

So, taking advantage of this version upgrade, they developed this new feature (small service-type tweaks like this that are not closely related to the scenario space are not Woody's responsibility, but are done by the game company's technical department).

In the future, when players encounter items they really want but are short a few skill points to buy, they can pre-order first, so they don't have to wait until the entire scenario is finished before returning to pay... Anyway, as long as they have paid the deposit, they can enjoy the "automatic transaction as soon as the skill points are enough" service.

So, finally, I have to talk about... the adjustment of the "title system."

In fact, this system has not been modified in any particularly large way. What new titles players will generate is still judged by the system. However, players now have the right to choose independently, and they can choose not to accept new titles, and... each time the title changes, they can also choose any one of all the titles they have obtained in the past and change to it. In this way, players are given the opportunity to "transform," which will also have a considerable impact on the future game's PvP.

Obviously, this change was also made based on user feedback...

Many players have asked customer service to retrieve old titles that have been replaced, because the new titles are not as useful as the old ones.

These types of players... have mostly had a certain title ability that they were very good at using, and their skills and equipment are all matched with that ability as the core. As a result... one day the title suddenly changed, and the combat power of the entire character dropped directly by a level.

In situations like this, they can only admit that they are unlucky, because the title is something that cannot be changed back, and it is not changed according to their own wishes.

Now, this problem can be considered solved...

...

November 23rd, 2 a.m.

Dream Inc. always seems to have a way to pull people's focus back when it is about to shift, even during these days when the servers are shut down... without exception.

Only one day after the new version patch was announced, Dream Inc. released two more announcements on the official website.

The first one is unrelated to most players—[Starting at 3:00 p.m. today, Thriller Paradise servers will be partially opened to begin the trial operation of the new version. At that time, all players with "forty-eight-hour new version trial qualification" will be able to log in to the game.]

The so-called "players with trial qualification" total only two hundred and fifty people on the entire server, that is, the top fifty teams in the S2 preliminaries. So... this news is irrelevant to most people.

In addition, the details of this announcement also specify that during the limited-time trial period, the game only opens the single-player survival mode and the free exploration mode queue.

This is also expected. There are so few people online on the entire server. If you open the team mode or the Killing Game, when queuing up solo... you will either run into acquaintances or you will not be able to match teammates or opponents for a long time.

Also, this event has a deadline. At 9:00 p.m. on November 29th, the server will be closed again. People who have not used up their forty-eight hours by that point will have wasted them.

Looking at the second announcement—[Crazy Thinking will officially begin operation on November 25th]

Players' reactions to this news were okay... but people in the gaming industry were caught off guard.

No one expected... that this card game developed independently by Dream Inc., which had been delayed for so long, would suddenly go online just as the new version of Thriller Paradise was about to be launched.