The third week of the inaugural season for Game of Thrones: Kingsroad has drawn to a close. We have witnessed some seismic shifts in seasonal content, including the arrival of the final chapter of the Season 'Earthworm Road', 'Infinite Space', and the introduction of the 'House Change' feature, which promised to be a major variable for our ranking boards. Let's dive in and see if the status quo has been shaken, shall we?

House Changing: A Rather Lukewarm Affair

The 'House Change' feature was briefly available from July 29th to 30th, but the shift in player distribution was underwhelming, to say the least. The Umber House saw a mere 1% point decrease, while the Manderly House edged up by the same margin. The Hornwood House, still the undisputed king of population, maintained its iron-fisted 50% market share.

The primary culprit for this lethargy? The brutal 5% penalty applied to cumulative scores upon migration. When the goal is to hop to a less competitive House to snag a higher rank, a 5% score haircut is a bitter pill to swallow—one that often lands you in a lower position than where you started.

In truth, the cut-off lines for the 'Chief' grade—the one that actually nets you the top-tier loot—were razor-thin across all three Houses. Take the Manderly House, which had the lowest threshold at 53,091 points. A 5% penalty there would strip you of 2,654 points. To recover those losses, you would be forced to burn RP on 'Broken Coast Watchman’s Iron Shard' tokens. That is essentially a 2,654 RP hit, which, frankly, is a non-starter for most.

A Week to Catch Your Breath

With only two weeks left until the season curtain call, expect this week to be a bit of a breather. Why? Because everyone is holding their breath for the 'Season Score Hot Time' scheduled for next week. Since rewards are handed out based on final cumulative scores, players are stockpiling seasonal tokens for one last, desperate sprint. As of now, the developers have kept the specifics of how this 'Hot Time' will work under wraps.

Meanwhile, two new events tied to RP consumption have landed. The 'Warrior's Path' event rewards players with items like 'Summer Scent' based on daily RP spend, while the 'Growth Test' event tracks your total expenditure to hand out 'Dragon Gold' and 'Bronze Coins'.

Ranking Leader’s Momentum Climbs by 15,946 in a Week

When it comes to job preferences in the rankings, nothing much has changed. However, the explosive momentum gain of the top-ranked player is worth a mention. Last week, the leader stood at 252,942; this week, that figure has ballooned to 268,888—a staggering jump of 15,946. While lower-ranked players still have room to grow, seeing a top-tier player hit such dramatic gains after reaching the theoretical ceiling of power is, frankly, quite impressive.

If you are still in the midst of your progression journey, I highly recommend diving into the Season 'Earthworm Road'. It consists of 30+ stages, which might sound like a chore, but the rewards are directly tied to character growth. More importantly, this content is likely to vanish once the season ends, so I suggest you climb as fast as you can while the going is good.