PWI Redemption

PWI Redemption is the thirteenth expansion for Perfect World International. It was first mentioned on June 25th, 2018 but not officially announced until July 29th, 2018. The expansion was released on September 19th, 2018. The main features for the expansion included the ability refine Tomes, a slight overhaul to the Tome crafting system, a Bestiary, a new area in the Western Steppes, a new Boundary named Royal Sky, Advanced Engraving, and a Mysterious Merchant that sells premium items.

News Releases
The expansion was first mentioned through a news post on June 25th, 2018, which notified players of some of the upcoming changes coming to the game. These changes would involve adjustments in item rewards affecting Flowsilver Palace Judgment Mode and Icebound Underworld, along with adjustments made to grades of shards. No other information on the expansion was provided.

A teaser trailer was uploaded to the PWIGame YouTube Channel on July 2nd, 2018. The trailer showed upcoming areas in the Western Steppes, along with a brief look at some of the graphics updates coming to the game. The name of the expansion was not announced however the release date was set for Fall 2018.

The first spotlight for the expansion came on July 29th, 2018. This spotlight revealed a refining system for Tomes; this system would be separate from regular equipment refining and involved a mostly different set of items which can only be purchased through the Boutique. A chance to upgrading lower-leveled Tomes which involves decomposing them for an item to use for crafting. These changes would affect level 1 to 5 Tomes.

The second spotlight for the expansion was posted on August 5th, 2018. It announced the release of an in-game Bestiary, which would show information on boss strategy to better help players defeat them. The Bestiary would be in its initial stages, only covering bosses from dungeons such as Icebound Underworld, Dawnlight Halls, and Uncharted Paradise. The Bestiary is also built in with a message board, allowing players to give further advice not mentioned within the Bestiary.

The third spotlight was unveiled on August 12th, 2018. A new area to the north in the Western Steppes was revealed, with several images of the areas shown. A new Boundary, Royal Sky, was also revealed. The post also made mentions of new Historical Phases and new quests.

On August 19th, 2018, two news posts were released: a Treasure System update, and a feature spotlight for the Royal Sky Boundary. The Treasure System would see a new mount, new flyers, and new fashion. Two new items were also announced - a genie with higher starting stats, a new starter skill, and a guarantee to have maximum Lucky Points; and Spirit Chisels, a new type of engraving item used for advanced engraving. The feature spotlight made mentions of the Royal Sky Quest Chain and also announced Sacred Spirits, a type of monster found in the Primal World and the Western Steppes designed to grant vitae for killing them.

The fifth spotlight was posted on August 26th, 2018. The spotlight announced a new NPC, the Mysterious Merchant (not to be confused with the Mysterious Merchant that exchanges Mysterious Chips). This merchant has a 70% chance to appear when completing Uncharted Paradise in Deicide Mode, or when completing Dawnlight Halls on either Judgment Mode or Deicide Mode. The merchant offers items such as Glyph Packs and materials for Dragonbreath Weapons, purchasable either using coins or gold. There is also a limit to how many of each item can be bought.

The sixth and final feature spotlight was unveiled on August 29th, 2018. An advanced engraving option was revealed which uses Spirit Chisels, a new item seemingly obtainable via the Treasure System. No details on the name of the expansion nor its release date were revealed in this feature spotlight, or in previous feature spotlights.

The name of the expansion, Redemption, along with its official logo was revealed on PWI's Facebook page on September 12th, 2018. The release date was also announced to be the following week on September 19th, 2018.

Notable Features
Additions
 * New area to the north of the Western Steppes. New Historical Phases in this area
 * New Boundary tier, Royal Sky
 * Sacred Spirits added. Players can kill these to gain Vitae.
 * There are five different types of phantoms corresponding with each Boundary tier: Arcane Sky, Mirage Sky, Astral Sky, Shifting Sky, and Twilight Sky
 * There is a limit to killing these each day; reaching the limit will reduce Vitae gained per kill
 * Tomes:
 * Tomes can now be refined to gain Spirit and Attack attributes
 * Refining a Tome requires two Mirage Charts. Refining aids are also available exclusively for Tomes, which can be purchased from the Boutique
 * Some Tomes now require Book of Old Principles to craft. Decomposing some level 1-5 Tomes will produce Book of Old Principles
 * Chienkun Stones can be used to keep refining level of Tomes when upgrading them
 * Mysterious Merchant may appear after completing Uncharted Paradise or Dawnlight Halls to sell premium items in exchange for gold or coins
 * The merchant has a 70% chance of appearing when completing Deicide Mode in Uncharted Paradise, and Deicide or Judgment Mode in Dawnlight Halls
 * Bestiary added. Currently contains information from Icebound Underworld, Dawnlight Halls, and Uncharted Paradise
 * Advanced Engraving now available at engraving NPCs. Requires Spirit Chisels, obtainable from the Treasure System
 * New Genie, Paramount. It has its own default skill, begins with 10 of each attribute, and has a guaranteed 100/100 Lucky Points. It is only available from the Treasure System

Changes
 * Flowsilver Palace Judgment Mode rewards for Star Charts no longer available
 * Daily quest added for Icebound Underworld. Killing the 10th boss, Lord of Disaster Soulshriek, awards the player with Star Chart items
 * Swords to Plowshares and Homeland Renewal added to Active Points list
 * Master Bounty Hunter quest for Quicksand Maze changed to Lord of Disaster Soulshriek in Icebound Underworld
 * Several Primal World and Western Steppes daily quests have had their requirements and rewards changed
 * The item to enter Icebound Underworld, the Dark Jade Soulstone, can no longer be obtained from Unique Rewards
 * Royal Sky V and Royal Sky X rewards added to Unique Rewards
 * Treasure System loot table updated
 * The grade of Brilliance Stones has been increased by 1
 * The Soulgem Conversion feature now allows players to replace Yaksha Stones and Battlement Stones with Astral Stones, and replace Genie Stones and Sovereign Stones with Raven Stones
 * Astral Stones can no longer be used with accessories lower than grade 12. Stones that are already embedded are not affected
 * Hover tooltips to display progress for specific Adventure Kingdom titles have been added

January 2019 Content Update
The January 2019 Content Update is a content update for PWI Redemption. It had no official announcement, and was officially released on January 9th, 2019. Some features added to the game with the update include a new Twilight Temple dungeon named Twilight Temple Revisited, Twilight Warsoul Gear, Twilight Souls which can be imbued into Twilight Warsoul Gear, and the Warsoul Repository which saves set bonuses from equipment such as Rank 9 (Fourth Cast) to use in place of other set bonuses.

There were no news releases prior to this content update.

Notable Features
Additions Changes
 * New dungeon: Twilight Temple Revisited.
 * Requirements: Level 100+ and a boundary of Shifting Sky I or higher.
 * Entering the dungeon requires Moon Ode Orders which can be picked up inside the dungeon. They last 24 hours.
 * New daily event: Twilight Wraiths, occurs from 16:00 to 22:00 every day
 * Wraiths will appear near Twilight Temple. They may drop Sealed Moon Ode Orders when killed. These do not expire and are tradable. They can be used to get Moon Ode Orders which are bound and last 24 hours.
 * At 20:00 more wraiths will appear. They have a higher chance of dropping Sealed Moon Ode Orders.
 * When enough wraiths are killed, the Twilight Wraith Golem will spawn. It will drop a large amount of Sealed Moon Ode Orders when killed.
 * New equipment: Twilight Warsoul Gear
 * Can be crafted directly or crafted using Rank 8 (Third Cast) or Rank 9 (Fourth Cast) equipment.
 * 3 different types of gear: heavy, light, and arcane. There are also 3 casts for Twilight Warsoul except for the helmet.
 * Materials used to craft gear can be acquired from Twilight Temple Revisited.
 * New feature: Twilight Souls
 * Twilight Souls can be infused into Twilight Warsoul gear to alter or improve their attributes.
 * Twilight Souls must be awakened before they can be infused. This process costs coins or gold depending on the soul.
 * The souls can be purified or rerolled to acquire new attributes. You can choose to keep the old or new attributes.
 * Higher grade Twilight Souls can be extracted to upgrade their Lunar Phase. The maximum Lunar Phase for the highest grade Twilight Soul (grade 3) is Lunar Phase 5.
 * Twilight Souls can also be decomposed into Soul Shards which are required for the purification process.
 * New feature: Warsoul Repository
 * Can be accessed from the inventory by clicking the Warsoul button.
 * Allows players to catalog certain gear sets such as Rank 8 (Third Cast) or Twilight Warsoul gear. This allows players to benefit from their Set Bonuses while wearing other equipment.
 * Must be unlocked with a Warsoul Gem before it can be used. Warsoul Gems can be acquired from the last boss in Twilight Temple Revisited or from the Boutique.
 * New Bestiary entries for Twilight Temple Revisited.
 * New Boutique items: Warsoul Gem, Reshape Crystal, Soul Shackle
 * New Treasure System loot table
 * Faction Base Faction Goal updates:
 * The Flowsilver Palace Faction Goal can be completed by completing Flowsilver Palace or Twilight Temple Revisited.
 * The Uncharted Paradise Faction Goal can be completed by completing Uncharted Paradise or Icebound Underworld up to boss 10.