Greetings, Descendants. This is the Director of The First Descendant, Minseok Joo.

 

It's already time for our fifth Dev Note, and this will probably be the last Dev Note before the Crossplay Open Beta Test. The Dev Team is toiling away on the final stages of the test. I've also been in the daily loop of testing, finding things to fix, discussing them with the team, and testing new builds as they come out. As a looter shooter gamer myself, I'm working with the Dev Team on meticulously polishing every detail to create a game that I would love to play.

 

Today I'd like to talk about Missions, which we've spent the most time testing.

Missions were another type of content that received a lot of feedback after the last Steam Beta Test. The feedback included: the fields felt empty; Missions felt monotonous and repetitive; as well as feeling difficult to play together because players on different Missions were often matched in the same field.

 

We'd love to be perfect in every way, but unfortunately the Dev Team's time and resources are limited, so we had to decide where to focus. The First Descendant is a character-driven game, so we wanted to design the Missions so that they lent themselves to skill-based combat. Since it's also a grindy game, we established a direction for design to ensure that the Missions have a structure that motivates farming and offers high replayability. So rather than trying to fill the fields to make them come alive, we focused on increasing the quality of Missions to enable character-driven combat with high replayability for farming.

 

 

[Improvements to Mission Progression Structure]

In the last Steam Beta, all Missions were on a linear path. You had to complete the first Mission to take on the second, and so on. This meant that even when there were other players on the same battlefield, they were rarely on the same Mission, and it was difficult to create a co-operative multiplayer experience.

 

In this Crossplay Open Beta Test, you will experience a new Mission progression structure. The biggest difference is that the fields will be played on a battlefield-by-battlefield basis. A typical Battlefield consists of one Camp and three to four Missions. Clearing all the Missions in a Battlefield opens up the next Battlefield, where you'll be able to play new Missions.

 

Missions are playable on a battlefield-by-battlefield basis.

 

Most importantly, there is no particular order in which you must complete the Missions in the Battlefields. You can pick and choose to start any Mission you'd like. You can start the Mission nearest to the camp, but it's also fine if you jump into a Mission started by another player and play it with them instead. You can also check out the Mission information to start with a Mission that has a short play time, or pick an easy Mission type.

 

Also, we want to bring more multiplayer experiences to our Descendants, so we've improved our field placement rules to ensure that players of similar progression are matched up as often as possible when they enter a field.

 

In the Mission Info window, you can view Mission Objectives, required time, and Vulgus Legion information to help plan and decide the order in which you complete the Missions.

 

 

[Revamped or Newly Added Missions]

We've also made many improvements to the Missions themselves. Newly revamped Missions are centered around the bases on each field. Extermination Missions are carried out at the Vulgus Camp and Defense Missions take place at strategic points. We've added new objectives and progression methods so that each Mission feels like a different playing experience, and made sure effective play styles differ depending on your character.

 

Let's take a look at some of the improved Missions.

 

Extermination

The objective is to attack the Vulgus Camp and eliminate all enemies. The final battle features a powerful commander or elite soldiers, so it's important to make good use of the variety of weapons and skills you have at your disposal.

 

Fighting an Elite Monster

 

Search

This Mission focuses on searching for the Ironheart. The Detector is powered by your character's Shield Energy. Since the Detector depletes your character's Shield, the Mission will be easier if you use Ajax, who is a defense specialist.

 

Escorting a Detector

 

Seizure

You must disarm the security system of a Vulgus Repository and seize the resources. While the security system is being disarmed, enemies will swarm to defend the Repository. The player has to stop them from getting too close to the Repository.

 

Destroying a Repository after disarming its security system

 

Transport Disruption

You must stop the Vulgus from transporting resources and collect a certain amount of resource shards. Obtaining the resource shards requires capturing nearby areas. Sharen can use Stealth to secure these areas without fighting.

 

Sharen in Stealth collecting resource shards without fighting

 

Collection

You must retrieve the Data Fragments before vital information about Albion is compromised. This platforming Mission requires you to use jumps and grappling swings to maneuver between precarious structures without falling.

 

Platforming

 

In addition to these types, we also have new base-centered Missions in store such as Destruction, Supply, Capture, and Defense. Of course, Dungeons consist of linear Missions with a mix of diverse objectives. Each Dungeon also features a unique boss. The Bosses of the Dungeons have been improved as well, which I'll talk about a little later.

 

 

[New Monster Appearance Animations]

With The First Descendant being a character-driven game, one of our key challenges was ensuring that characters can utilize their Unique Abilities in a variety of ways during Battle.

 

We named the combat we saw in the last Steam Beta test 'Approach Combat.' It was common for characters to enter an area where monsters had already spawned and start fighting. As a result, players naturally preferred long-range style combat. Getting into a good position and sniping enemies from a distance became a more advantageous strategy.

 

This made it difficult to make good use of our characters' Unique Abilities, or skills. So as soon as the last test ended, we started working on redefining combat, which we're calling 'Incoming Combat.'

 

Now, when the battle begins, some monsters will spawn near players to draw them into melee combat, forcing the players to use their characters' Unique Abilities. However, if you can't predict when the monsters will appear, it'll only degrade into a chaotic tussle, right? So, we've added a variety of monster appearance animations, allowing Descendants to predict the spawn locations of monsters and plan their response.

 

When inside, enemies appear through Dimensional Gates.

 

While outside, Transport Ships are used, with different legions using different transports.

 

In Dungeons, passageways allow you to anticipate where enemies will appear.

 

[Improvements to Dungeon Boss Battles]

Let's talk about Dungeons now.

 

Each Dungeon features a unique boss (named monster). Dungeon bosses have more diverse skills and patterns than normal monsters. We wanted to improve battles with dungeon bosses to make them more tense and exciting, without simply increasing their HP and turning them into bullet sponges.

 

That's why we've added a new phase to dungeon bosses. When dungeon bosses take a certain amount of damage, they become Invincible. Each type of boss has a different mechanic to remove this Invincibility, so you will need to analyze patterns and fight strategically.

Battle with Dmigor

 

Important battles like dungeon bosses also need environmental settings that can increase the tension. For this purpose, we've set areas where boss battles take place as No Resurrection Zones. If your character is defeated during a boss battle, they will restart the battle at the beginning of the No Resurrection Zone.

 

In addition, areas where dungeon boss battles take place become closed off and prevent you from exiting once the battle begins, creating an environment where you must be more focused during battle.

No Resurrection Zone

 

[Other Content]

In this Crossplay Open Beta Test, we've also added non-combat elements to spice things up while progressing through a Mission or a Dungeon. Things like supply boxes, explosives, and platforms that can be found throughout the field.

Supply Boxes and Munitions are containers where you can obtain Rounds or materials needed for Research. If you don't want to run out of basic materials, when Researching a character or an Ultimate Weapon, you'll need to open these and collect materials whenever you find them.

 

But, that's not all, there are also explosives that can be used during battle. These are objects that can do massive damage to multiple monsters, so using them strategically can help you progress through Missions. They can also damage your character, so make sure to keep a safe distance when using them.

Using an Explosive

 

Then there are platforms that allow you to enjoy grappling in platforming sections of a field or a Dungeon. Platforms can be shortcuts that help you traverse long distances, but they also provide challenging platforming sections to test your grappling skills.

 

The Sterile Land is a new Zone added for precisely this kind of the upcoming test. It consists of solid structures and canyons that make for more interesting and enjoyable platforming.

Moving Platform

Grapple Point in Midair

 

 

[Conclusion]

Everything I've talked about today is content you'll be able to experience in the upcoming Crossplay Open Beta Test. However, the Dev Team is well aware that this isn't quite enough to fill the amazing world of The First Descendant.

 

So, we'll continue to work on beefing up field content so that we can show you even more at launch. In addition to Missions, we're also working on side content for you to enjoy as well as lore content that can be discovered all over the world.

 

We're preparing a wide variety of content to ensure that all our Descendants have a great time while playing The First Descendant. We look forward to having you join us in the Crossplay Open Beta Test to experience these changes, and give us feedback. Until then, We'll be waiting and polishing The First Descendant.

 

Descendants, see you in Albion on September 19th!