The First Descendant team has a new devblog that dives into more improvements Nexon is making fo the co-op shooter, including the reveal of instanced dungeons and new matchmaking updates.
Previously, the team responded to community feedback and mid-range reviews by going back to the drawing board and coming up with ways they could add to the experience. In preparation for launch, they’ve worked on organization and inventory, changes some of the structures, monster placements, and content on maps, and are working on the core of co-op PvE: missions and other ways to work together.
Enter instanced dungeons. Nexon revealed the feature as their biggest change to mission gameplay. Dungeons will offer a convenient way to take on a mission together, but also represent one way they can keep things fresh. “Our goal is to guarantee content volume and variety,” they say, noting that instanced dungeons will also be one of the key components of endgame content. They aim to add a lot of variety to support both single player and co-op players, with scaling difficulty.
In the game, they’ve added a dungeon under “Reclamation Operation”, which you can enter either by heading into a terminal in Albion or via the Mission Beacons you’ll find in the field. Normal difficulty means you clear the content whereas hard difficulty is available and there will be more endgame challenge and unique rewards based on how your team clears the level. Nexon is aiming for variety here, as they said, to offer choices and keep the contend fresh.
They also discuss matchmaking improvements and UX polish. A private matchmaking mode is in after community feedback, letting you jump in solo or with only your party members. A close option on the matchmaking screen means you can close that while you wait and jump back into the game in the meantime.
UX and UI changes focus on increased visibility and clarity, similar to past tweaks on itemization. They've also changed monster AI. Nexon wants the game to be challenging and fun but people were running out of ammo a little too often, so they've added support droids in various locations to lend a helping hand (and some ammo).
There’s more on the way planned for launch, including new content, and a new operation.
