Feb 12 2026 Devblog
Afternoon everyone,
This is a special GM Devblog going over the release of War of Emperium: Second Edition, or SE for short.
Contents
What is WoE:SE?
SE is Gravity’s second version of War of Emperium, featuring new systems like Barricades, Guardian Stones, and reworked single map Castles with no warps. It also includes a new Guild Headquarters area, with NPCs that are normally in different locations but now in one easy to access map. Due to the size of the Castles, they also introduced Link Flags, or LFs, to maneuver around the map easily. We have also made the decision to allow Halters in, based on gameplay from Rental War of Emperium.
Guardians were also adjusted to be stronger and much more of a threat, encouraging defenders to keep both of their Guardian Stones alive. Attackers should be more cautious about moving around the castle alone now, as Guardians can kill you or Defenders can spawn from a LF and end your misdeeds. We’ve also included a minimap with the LF locations to make it easier for Defenders to know what LF goes where and for Attackers to know which area is more dangerous than others.
WoE:SE Chests
We’re adding brand new WoE:SE chests, which will have a chance to obtain the new SE God Item parts to craft our 2 new God Items:
WoE:FE have also been reworked to remove much of the garbage loot, and feature reworked Heroic Gear Boxes.
What happens to the current Castle and Economy?
Seeing as this is an entirely new version of War of Emperium, with new defensive and attacking options, new maps, reworked FE chests, new SE chests, new god items, etc, we’ve made the decision to completely reset the War of Emperium scene. Economy and Defense will start at 0, and Guilds will need to work their way back up via the usual investment opportunities. For players unaware, the number of chests spawned is based off the amount of Economy a Castle has. The more Eco, the more chests. Note that chests are randomly spawned. Defense investment will affect the HP of the Emperium.
The current Castle, Payon 3, will be moved to Rachel 3, which has been the castle used in the recent WoE:SE Beta. The Castle will be temporarily placed under control of the heRO GM Guild. Once WoE:SE starts for the first time, Barricades and Guardian Stones will automatically spawn, and the supervising GM will enable the Guardian Defense. Attacking Guilds will fight to be the first to claim the Castle and hold it. Subsequent WoE’s will work just like it does in FE, where the Guild that holds it will have to be online and in position to defend it. The GM Guild will only hold it for the initial launch of SE.
Barricade/Guardian Stone Mechanic Change
During Beta, players were able to see our progress at making the construction of Barricades and Guardian Stones easier. We were using a system called “progressbar” to remove the menu-based system entirely and give a visual cue to attackers and defenders when the defenses were being built, as well as making it simpler to do so.
Unfortunately, this system is flawed in the very core of Hercules and rAthena, and we’re currently still working on fixing it. WoE:SE will launch with the older menu-based system, and we will have the answers to build them in the WoE:SE Wiki page whenever we get around to making it. For now, you can see the Barricade answers in the Rental WoE Barricade section.
Moving Forward
We hope the launch of War of Emperium: Second Edition helps revitalize heRO’s WoE scene, and players enjoy it, and new Guilds arrive to participate as well. We’ve already heard rumblings of older Guilds potentially returning, and we hope this exciting moment proves fruitful. The GM team thanks all players for participating in the Beta event, and extends a huge thank you to our Test and Development team who dealt with our constant fixes, reboots of the test server, constant calls for checks, and smacking their faces on the wall with us when progressbar refused to cooperate. Pandelina has been placed in Prontera with a thank you gift for all players in the server.
Thank you to all players for continuing to play with us. It means more than you can ever know.
The GM team will now continue our work on the next instance. I leave you with this message I found scratched on my desk, next to a weird orcish voucher I got from Pandelina…
The Wit.. D.... bind fallen….riors back into the …. refusing them res…..merging them…. souls linger, stretched thi……..a punishment.
