Hi everyone, it’s me again, Abby, writing on behalf of the Hello Kitty Online development team for our Developer Diary. I have a few updates and news to share with you.

Monster Stats/Difficulty

We’re working carefully on adjusting game difficulty in Hello Kitty Online, and I’d like to explain some changes we have already made to balance monster difficulty and rewards. First, we have improved the stat bonuses on quest reward items in Sanrio Harbour. Secondly, merchant NPCs in all major cities except Sanrio Harbour now offer more powerful items for sale. These improved quest rewards and merchant items should make it easier to face monsters in the wilderness of Sanrio Land.

Also, we’ve started working on some substantial adjustments to the stats themselves that will make things easier for everyone. It’ll take some time, but we’ll keep you updated on our progress!

Hello Kitty’s 35th Birthday

We’d also like to take this time to thank you all for celebrating Hello Kitty’s 35th Birthday with us. We were thrilled to receive your feedback, and we’re glad that you all enjoyed the event! We can’t wait to see you in our next celebration, which is…

The HKO In-game Christmas Event

You can feel it in the air — the holidays are just around the corner! We’re working on another special event for our players across all regions. We know you’re expecting it, and we don’t intend to let you down! Get your holiday spirit ready for:

• Two special new quest chains featuring our very own Santa and a quirky new character who’s about to cause some big trouble

• Bingo and the Emote Game will be back

• More cute holiday-themed items for you to collect

• A final event similar to the 35th Birthday party, with a surprise twist!

That’s all for this update, tune in next time! If you like receiving updates via RSS feed readers, you can click here to subscribe to the HKO Developer Diary through Feedburner. I’ll be back soon with more Hello Kitty Online development news, so do check back often!

A hearty hello from the Hello Kitty Online Team! First off, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Abby Reyes, known to many of you as the fry-loving GM Abby, and I currently work on content, events, and community design within the development team.

I’m here on a special mission, because we’re starting something new here on the HKO blog. I, on behalf of the development team, will be posting regular updates on what’s happening in the game, what we’ve been up to, and some insights on upcoming releases. We will also be addressing concerns that come to our attention from our community. From this day forth, this section shall be known as the HKO Developer’s Diary!

With that said, I’d like to start off with a letter to our players. The past few weeks have been insightful to us, as we’ve gathered some feedback and suggestions about recent updates to the game, and are amazed at the urgency by which certain concerns were raised. This, above everything, tells us how devoted our players are to Hello Kitty Online.

I’m pleased to say that we have been working behind the scenes to improve certain aspects of the game.

Economy
For starters, we’ve been crunching numbers like no tomorrow to address issues with the economy. Ultimately, we want players to feel rewarded for their hard work in the game, and the colorful charts tell us that we’re heading in the right direction. Expect these changes to come out very soon.

Monster Stats and Targeting
We’ve also been looking into our monster stats, and we would like to assure everyone that we are hard at work to balance the system out. Also, we are exploring ways to lessen frustration with the targeting system. We can’t let those critters get away with their mischief – we’re on your side!

Rest assured that we will be rolling these updates out as soon as possible, and we hope you enjoy the upcoming changes. We love hearing from you, and we hope that this strengthens the bond we have with you, our dear players. Thank you all for your continued support and for playing Hello Kitty Online. Until next time!