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Patch Notes1 min read

Where Winds Meet Update: Arena & Guild War Notes (28th April 2026)

Where Winds Meet's April 30 update restructures Arena matchmaking into four regional battlegroups and tightens up Guild War scheduling ahead of the journey to Qinchuan.

Nathan Lees
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Ahead of the journey to Qinchuan, Eastwind Pavilion is rolling out a substantial Arena and Guild War overhaul in the April 30 update, going live in two days.

The headline change is the introduction of four regional battlegroups: Yougu for US servers, Yunya for Europe, Canglang for Asia, and Jiangzhu for Southeast Asia. In practice, this means your leaderboard standing and matchmaking pool are now tied to your region, which should clean up the cross-region lag issues that have plagued competitive play. Mythic-rank players also get score-based matchmaking weighting, so high-level lobbies should finally feel like they belong at the top of the ladder rather than a coin flip on connection quality. Switching battlegroups is possible, but rank resets on transfer, so think before you hop.

Guild War scheduling has been adjusted to 20:30 local battlegroup time on Saturdays and Sundays across all regions, and two new modes, Group Strategy and Training Terrace, are now live for multiplayer tactical combat and custom duels. Everything in the update is listed below.

Full Patch Notes

With the journey to Qinchuan approaching, Eastwind Pavilion presents key optimization updates.

To improve the network environment and competitive experience, the following optimizations for Arena and Guild War will be implemented in the April 30 update:

Ⅰ. Arena Mode & Matchmaking Optimization

1. New Arena Battlegroup Divisions

The system will now divide the Arena Mode into four regional battlegroups based on server locations:

Yougu: US East and US West servers;

Yunya: European servers;

Canglang: Asia and HK/MO/TW servers;

Jiangzhu: Southeast Asia servers.

\[Battlegroup Interoperability Rules]: Wanderers within the same Battlegroup share matchmaking pools and leaderboards. Event start times for time-limited Arena modes will be synchronized within each battlegroup. Matchmaking pools between different battlegroups remain independent.

2. Smart Allocation & Manual Switching

We will offer both smart allocation and manual switching:

Smart Allocation: Upon the new season launch or feature update, the system will automatically assign you to a battlegroup based on your primary login server.

Manual Switching: Players may manually switch battlegroups via the Arena interface.

Costs & Rules: The first switch per half-season is free. The second switch costs Echo Jade ×100, with costs increasing for subsequent switches.

Impact: To ensure fair competition, switching battlegroups will reset your current Rank Points and remove you from your previous battlegroup's leaderboard. Claimed rank rewards will be retained and cannot be reclaimed by switching battlegroups.

3. Exclusive Battlegroup Leaderboards

Arena leaderboards will be categorized by battlegroup. Each battlegroup will have independent rankings and season settlements.

A Battlegroup Filter has been added to the leaderboard UI for easier viewing.

4. Mythic Rank Matchmaking Optimization

As our top-tier players continue to climb the ranks, we've noticed that matchmaking quality in high-level lobbies hasn't always met expectations. To address this, we are further optimizing our matchmaking system:

For the highest rank, Mythic, we are introducing score-based weighting to ensure players are matched with opponents of similar skill levels. This change aims to provide a more balanced and competitive experience at the top of the ladder. Please note that these optimizations may lead to slightly longer queue times. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Ⅱ. Arena Mode Schedule Adjustments

To better accommodate players across different time zones, we are adjusting the opening hours for certain Arena modes in coordination with the Arena Battlegroup system. Our goal is to ensure more Wanderers can participate at peak local times.

Arena Matchmaking Downtime:

Please note that Arena matchmaking will be suspended 2 hours before and 1 hour after a mid-season or full-season transition.

1v1 Arena (Open 24/7):

Now open 24 hours a day. Wanderers can jump into the fray at any time.

3V3 Arena (Battlegroup-specific times):

15:00 to 02:00 (next day) local Battlegroup time every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

Group Strategy (Battlegroup-specific times):

12:00 to 02:00 (next day) local Battlegroup time daily.

(Note: Due to global time zone differences, actual start times may vary slightly. Please refer to the in-game schedule panel for the most accurate information.)

Ⅲ. Battlegroup Optimizations & Adjustments

1. New Battlegroups Added:

Linhe: US West server

Jiangzhu: Southeast Asia server

2. Guild War Schedule Adjustments: To better balance cross-region play and ensure Wanderers can participate at reasonable hours, the Guild War schedule has been adjusted as follows:

Canglang (Asia, HK/MO/TW Servers): Sat & Sun @ 20:30 (UTC+8)

Yunya (Europe Server): Sat & Sun @ 20:30 (UTC+2)

Yougu (US East Server): Sat & Sun @ 20:30 (UTC-4)

Linhe (US West Server): Sat & Sun @ 20:30 (UTC-7)

Jiangzhu (SEA Server): Sat & Sun @ 20:30 (UTC+8)

(Note: Due to global time zone differences, actual start times may vary slightly. Please refer to the in-game schedule panel for the most accurate information.)

In addition to these updates, the new Group Strategy and Training Terrace modes are now live! Players can now enjoy multiplayer tactical combat and custom duel rooms. We hope these changes improve your multiplayer experience. Stay tuned for further update announcements.

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Written by

Nathan Lees

Gaming journalist and founder of XP Gained. Covering patch notes, breaking news, and updates across 160+ games.

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