Hello and welcome to this week's Gacha Cummy Release Update! First of all, we deeply apologize for the delay and the lack of progress reports lately. The reason is simple: the update just wasn't ready to be shipped.

Despite originally being planned as a smaller-scale update, its scope kept growing, and we're sure you're already familiar with how that tends to go by now. On top of that, we've run into plenty of other issues during development, from countless bugs related to the new mode to the complexity of the new scenes.

We usually aim for a much shorter update cycle, but this time, development stretched far beyond what we initially intended, and we're sorry for keeping you waiting. We've worked really hard to bring you a complete update packed with endgame content for you to sink your fangs into, and we hope you'll enjoy everything it has to offer!

Looking ahead, we'll share some of our plans for revising our development process next week, with the hopes of making similar delays less likely in the future. But for now, let's get straight to the patch notes!

New Content

New Side Story

• After your conquest of the Beastman Kingdom, you realize that you've never actually visited the Arena as an observer! Driven by curiosity, you venture inside once again to witness one of its regular tournaments. However, what starts as a simple visit soon puts you in the middle of a political bout between the Arena's two dominant factions, giving you the opportunity to enter the tournament on their behalf and fight for some wonderful rewards.

2 New Generic TFs

• The two main factions of the tournament each bring a new transformation for you to try! Support one of the factions to unlock their respective transformation, allowing you to turn any of your allies into a fashionable and very bitey Vesperi Bat Girl, or transform them into a powerful Lamia devoted to the God Emperor of the Desert Kingdom. Both transformations offer plenty of utility and open up new ways to build your teams, so we hope you'll enjoy experimenting with them!

2 New Animated Scenes

• Both new transformations come with their own brand-new animated scene! Raise their Corruption level to unlock them!

2 New Random Duo Events

• The frustration and anger of the Arena's conflict spills over into your camp as well! You'll have the opportunity to get involved in their disputes, with some very, VERY favorable results for yourself! Just make sure you have both a Bat and a Snake in your roster!

3 New Text Based Events for Kafka 

• We thought that someone as important as Kafka deserved some more love from us! As such, we've added some more events for her to explore her relationship with you! You can unlock them through ascending her! 

Gameplay Changes

NEW SYSTEM: Tournament

• The Arena Tournament is our attempt at introducing a proper endgame loop for you to participate in! While it features its own story and content, participation is entirely optional and will not gate you from any future additions we might make. The Tournament takes place in a randomized 8-team bracket featuring double elimination.

• Each battle pits you against a boss who has come to test their might in the Arena, with each opponent bringing their own strengths, weaknesses, and strategies to overcome. As such, you may need to adapt on the fly and adjust your teams depending on who you face!

• The higher you climb in the bracket, the stronger your opponents become, culminating in a glorious battle for the title of Arena Champion!

• Whether you emerge victorious or fall along the way, you'll receive a new currency based on how many fights you've won during the tournament. This currency can then be spent in the exclusive Arena Store, offering a variety of powerful and unique rewards!

• We hope the Arena Tournament will prove to be a worthy challenge, and we can't wait to see how you tackle this new endgame activity!

7 New Bosses + 3 Reworked Enemies

• Seven brand-new bosses have been added for you to test your teams against, each bringing their own unique challenges to the Arena! Three existing enemies have also been adapted for the Arena, bringing a few surprises to the tournament.

3 New Gear Sets + New Set Type

• A brand-new type of gear set has been added, exclusive to the Arena! Each piece provides its own individual effect, with those effects becoming increasingly powerful as you equip more pieces from the same set. Build around them carefully to unlock their full potential!

2 New UNIQUE Items

• A new Relic and a new Trinket have been added, each given to you by one of the respective faction leaders should you choose to support their cause!

• These items provide some powerful effects and are well worth the effort required to obtain them. And if that's not enough, you can further enhance them at the Arena's exclusive Blacksmith!

Kafka Can Now be Ascended 

• Finally broken free from her shackles of having only one ascension, Kafka's power can now be further enhanced by you! Gather the shards of her Divine Relic in the Arena to improve her strength and unlock new interactions with her! 

Misc Changes

Inventory Sorting Changes

• Your inventory sorting is now saved for the duration of the ongoing session! This should save you some of the tedious work of reorganizing your items every time you open the inventory.

Optimized Shield Value Calculations

• Previously, a character's total shield value was recalculated every frame and again whenever they were hit, checking all active status effects in the process. Shield values are now properly cached, which should improve performance in situations with large numbers of active effects.

Optimized Floating Text During Combat

• Damage numbers and other floating text instances are now pooled, which should reduce the amount of work required during combat and improve overall performance.

Added Interactable World Map

• An all-new world map has been added, allowing you to travel directly between different locations!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where mannequins in Story Mode could not be cleansed.

• Changed Parting Curse so that it no longer reduces MaxHP, which could result in a client freeze in certain areas.

• Fixed an issue where cleansing a Pet would not properly remove it from the active party.

• Fixed an issue with the Martyr Set, Passion Mode, and Shrine Maiden Set decreasing stats without restoring them properly.

• Fixed an issue where the Bleed status effect could persist after combat, potentially resulting in a client freeze.

• Fixed an issue where the Shrine Maiden Set could heal incorrect targets and the Round Table Set would not properly reset when healed.

• Fixed an issue where Equine Squire used the wrong ultimate.

Download: https://www.patreon.com/CummyStudio/posts/172688732

We thank you all for your continued support, and we can't wait to share more of what's in store for you in the future of Gacha Cummy!