Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is keeping lines of communication refreshingly open via its official website improvement board. Back on September 16, the team tackled everything from ranking systems and emotes to easing content conditions. Most notably, they zeroed in on the Silver Shop, a recent thorn in the community's side, addressing player complaints with some concrete tweaks.

Q. The currency-spending mechanic in the Silver Shop feels a bit underwhelming.
A. We are going to boost rewards and improve the chances of gear engraving parts.

First up is the hideout overhaul, which apparently left players feeling like rewards took a hit. Word from the community was that reduced gear drops made rounding up skill engraving parts a proper headache.

According to the development team, the whole point of tweaking the hideouts was to cut down on player fatigue. Previously, running through every single hideout with three characters daily was required, but now players only need to finish two hideouts a day to lighten the load. Along with this explanation, they noted there are no plans to expand the purchase limits for silver boxes, arguing that raising the cap would just drag everyone right back into tedious grind loops.

Instead, the team promised to sweeten the Silver Shop rewards. They are dropping higher-tier legendary gear into the shop's box contents to bump up the value a notch. On top of that, the engraving probabilities for lower-tier parts are getting a polish, making it a lot simpler to slap the exact engravings players actually want onto gear.

Q. Certain mechanics in the Altar of the Abyss make progression unnecessarily tricky.
A. We will adjust the difficulty of those specific mechanics.

Gripe after gripe rolled in regarding Altar of the Abyss mechanics. While mid-match dropouts used to be the main culprit, this time the issue stems from normal difficulty matchmaking pools shrinking because of the newly added hard mode. Specifically, the scorpion giant crossbow mechanic demands all four party members pull their weight, leaving players high and dry if someone is missing.

In response, the development team stated they plan to rebalance the mechanic difficulty so players can successfully wrap things up even if they are short-handed or if someone decides to bail halfway through.

Q. We would love to see more items added to the Alliance Shop.
A. We are expanding and revamping the Alliance Shop inventory.

Then there was the matter of the Alliance Shop looking a bit sparse. Players who piled up alliance tokens by donating dragon gold coins were especially vocal here. To clear the air, the upcoming quarter will bring a broadened lineup of items to the shop.

Q. Could we please buy character poses as standalone items?
A. We will offer them for permanent sale and set up free acquisition routes as well.

Up until now, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad bundled emotes together in packs. Since that made them a bit of a chore to acquire, players requested individual listings. The development team responded that character poses will soon be sold permanently in the shop, alongside free ways to grab them without opening wallets.

Q. Tying party content to season rankings is causing some unfortunate side effects.
A. We will ramp up the weight of individual performance and redefine the value of alliance cooperation.

Regular season rankings in Game of Thrones: Kingsroad pull scores from a total of five core pieces of content. This includes permanent staples like the Altar of Memory and Altar of the Abyss, alongside seasonal exclusives like the Wormway, Beyond the Wall Expedition, and Elite Hideouts. The catch? Three of these—Altar of Memory, Altar of the Abyss, and Elite Hideouts—are party activities. That means parties practically dictate 60 percent of your season ranking weight.

Naturally, this set off a vicious cycle where top-tier hopefuls only teamed up with other elites, leaving under-geared players out in the cold. It even fostered an unspoken pressure for high-level carries within alliances.

To fix this, the team offered two solutions: boosting the focus on individual achievements and recasting the value of alliance teamwork. First, they are reviewing the scoring math to give solo challenge records more skin in the game. They are also tweaking the calculation structure so that helping alliance mates translates into positive gains for the whole group. Since restructuring the backend takes time, they promised to roll out quick fixes step by step.

Q. We are asking for a system that lets us actually pick Nightmare Mode in the Altar of the Abyss.
A. We will refine the system after rolling out the new Altar of the Abyss.

Some players felt that blankly smoothing out difficulty everywhere sucked the fun out of cracking tough mechanics. Nightmare difficulty in the Altar of the Abyss only stuck around for a single week before getting swapped for Hell difficulty, leaving players bummed about the lack of choice. Furthermore,they pointed out that Altar of the Abyss rankings lack distinction, noting that clear times swing wildly depending on RNG pattern drops.

Addressing these critiques, the team plans to hand players the reins by introducing a difficulty selection option. If you just want rewards, pick Hard; if you are chasing leaderboards, pick Nightmare. They also intend to toss in extra challenges like no-hit runs to showcase raw skill, plus even tougher difficulties down the line.

That said, these fixes won't drop overnight. The team noted they will launch them sequentially right after dropping the new Altar of the Abyss currently in development for system polish.