What the First Major Update of the Global Version of Where Winds Meet Brought
On March 6, the global build of the Wuxia online action RPG Where Winds Meet received the first slice of the long-awaited 1.4 update, Home Afar. It shipped a fresh story chapter, a new region and systems, two weapon schools, world- and co-op activities, events, and a pile of smaller additions. Below I walk through the elements that stood out.
Story
A new, third chapter — “A Lonely Moon Over Chang’an” — arrived. If memory serves, it doesn’t tie directly into the main plot. You’re sent into a dreamlike region outside normal time, reliving key moments from Ancient China through the eyes of various supporting figures — ordinary people, not heroic demigods. Only the first instalment is live now; the remaining parts are scheduled for April and May. You play an elderly man nicknamed “Burlap sack,” given a weighty errand to finish. The opening segment is short, quietly melancholic, and almost entirely non-combat: mostly walking from point A to point B while listening to dialogue. There’s a moment near the end that feels like a choice — I picked what I thought was the “right” option in both the Chinese and global releases, so I couldn’t test whether the path truly branches; it may be a pseudo-choice.
New Region
The chapter unfolds in Hexi, a fairly large region that’s deliberately isolated from the rest of the world. It’s split into three main zones — Jade Gate Pass, Liangzhou, and Qingchuan (plus one strictly story-only area). Right now only Jade Gate Pass is available; the other two arrive with future patches in April and May. Jade Gate Pass is a desert, but not an empty one. Think ruins, pockets of villagers inhabiting broken structures, wells that open into sands, oddly glowing moon fragments, mysterious hostile wanderers, occasionally friendly and strange beings, and long camel caravans threading the dunes.
Location Features
Brief notes on what makes Jade Gate Pass tick:
- Time manipulation plays a visible role: certain objects can be temporarily or permanently reverted to an earlier state.
- New gatherables appear across the map, some with peculiar traits — e.g., a plant called Yabru emits a loud baby-like cry when you harvest it.
- Movement options expand beyond running and mounts: Qigong (unlocked at level 5 after entering the region) is present, and you can transform into a mystical pink fish to traverse parts of the zone.
- Small stretches of the map are marked by golden lines; in pink-fish form these act like a fast lane and boost travel speed dramatically.
- The bright moon fragments serve as loot containers: tiny shards or larger whole-moon nodes that you can interact with.
- Three new enemy archetypes appear: (1) exploding flowers, sometimes visible, sometimes invisible; (2) stone, dog-like constructs with a flower where the head should be — they tend to leap backward then attack from range; (3) humanoid vultures, which come in small ground fighters and larger aerial ones.
- The region uses the usual 100% completion track. Hitting milestones nets items, a unique costume, character trinkets, and profile decorations.
- In one settlement an NPC sells a stone for rerolling equipment stats and a flower that lets you swap weekly set effects a limited number of times. There’s also a one-time bundle: 2 stones + 4 flowers.
- Expect many mundane and random side quests scattered about.
- Only one blue-book side quest exists here: it sends you into underground caves to locate a water source important to a village.
- There’s a single outpost filled with humanoid vultures — the first clearing can spawn up to 30. To make this less tedious you can touch a flag to call a temporary squad of soldiers.
- Two new world bosses roam the region; more on them below. You’ll also encounter single-use elite foes in certain spots.
- World activities mix old and new designs; several of the new ones reward pettable cats that grant useful items.
- Completing select activities yields special tokens used to unlock passive region-wide upgrades.
Each of the new world bosses has two phases:
- Wandering Ark — a colossal, ship-shaped tree creature. Currently a one-time encounter; it’s planned to become a weekly boss later.
- Iron Blooded Prince — the general who held a small fortress to the end. This foe is repeatable but gated: you must finish a linked side quest first, otherwise when he switches to phase two the game will eject you from the fortress.
Passive improvements cumulatively provide the following bonuses:
- Increase the character’s maximum HP pool by 1500 units.
- Increase the maximum stamina pool by 10 units.
- Increase the maximum physical damage by 8 units.
- Increase the maximum physical damage by 16 units.
- Increase physical defense by 10 units.
- Increase damage dealt to normal/elites/bosses of the Hexi region locations by 5%.
- Reduce incoming damage from normal/elites/bosses of the Hexi region locations by 5%.
- Provide an additional chance to obtain main currency, equipment from