If you’ve been away from The First Descendant (TFD) for a while, whether it’s been a week or a month, you’ll find that the game has undergone significant changes and improvements.
This article will guide you through the major updates and new features, helping you get back into the action with confidence.
Improved Farming and Rewards System
One of the most substantial changes to TFD is the overhaul of its farming and rewards system. The developers have implemented several quality-of-life improvements to make acquiring gear and resources more efficient and less frustrating.
Target Rewards System:
TFD has introduced a pity system that allows players to set specific items as target rewards. If you don’t obtain the desired item after multiple runs, you’re guaranteed to receive it after a certain number of attempts.
This system applies to various gear pieces and can be accessed through the library menu, where you can view drop locations for all items in the game.
Advanced Shape Stabilizers:
These new items significantly improve your chances of obtaining desired loot from crates. Unlike regular stabilizers that offer a small percentage increase, advanced shape stabilizers can dramatically flip the odds in your favor.
For instance, an item with a 6% drop chance could see its probability increase to 32% with an advanced stabilizer.
Outpost and Dungeon Changes:
Outpost farming has been de-emphasized, with materials previously exclusive to outposts now available in dungeons. The cooldown timer for outposts has been reduced to 30 seconds, making them more accessible.
Additionally, a new matchmaking system allows players to receive rewards from their chosen dungeon while potentially playing in a different one, reducing the monotony of farming.
Experience and Gold Farming
The game has rebalanced experience (XP) and gold acquisition, making it easier for players to level up and maintain a healthy in-game economy.
- Best XP Farm: Special Operations Hard mode, accessible from the terminal in Albon, now offers the fastest XP gains. Players can level a character from 1 to 40 in just 10 minutes, a significant improvement from the previous 40-minute grind. The Kyper Mine Blockade is optimal for descendant XP, while the Fortress is best for weapon XP.
- Gold Farming: Invasion dungeons now provide substantial gold rewards, with each run granting approximately 1.25 million gold. Players can run these four times daily (two dungeons, twice each). Special Operations and the Environment Contamination Zone on Bunny remain effective for farming both gold and Kyper.
New Endgame Content
TFD has introduced several new endgame systems to challenge veteran players and provide long-term progression goals.
- Void Erosion Purge: This dungeon ladder system becomes available after completing the main campaign. Players progress through increasingly difficult levels, with enemies becoming tougher and gaining damage reduction against skills. This system introduces a new meta focusing on elemental weaknesses and gun damage, especially beyond level 26.
- Core System: Cores are powerful upgrades that can be applied to weapons, significantly boosting their stats. These come in tiers from 1 to 10, with higher tiers offering more substantial bonuses. Players can farm cores from Void Erosion Purge and use core binders to apply them to weapons.
- Void Intercept Battles: These high-level boss fights (Abyss level 150) drop materials needed for crafting core binders and other endgame resources. They represent some of the most challenging content in the game.
- Sigma Sector: This new playable area offers quick mini-dungeons that reward players with a new descendant, Serena, and various weapons. It’s currently the best place to farm experience for the Arcade Tuning system.
- Arcade Tuning: Similar to Diablo’s Paragon system, Arcade Tuning allows players to further enhance their descendants’ stats beyond the regular level cap. Each descendant must be leveled individually in this system.
Quality of Life Improvements
Several features have been added or modified to enhance the overall player experience:
- Photon Imprint: This new material allows players to transfer progress from a non-ultimate descendant to its ultimate version, including catalyst slots, energy activators, and other upgrades.
- ETA Weekend Trader: A weekend vendor that allows players to trade duplicate parts for various rewards, including paints, weapon parts, and advanced shape stabilizers.
- Reactor Implanting: Reactors are now more flexible, applying to general weapon categories rather than specific weapons. Players can also add multiple weapon types to a single reactor, increasing build diversity.
- Fellows (Pets): These companions auto-pick up and auto-dismantle gear based on user-defined filters, significantly reducing inventory management time.
- Access to Limited Weapons: Players can now purchase parts for missed battle pass weapons from Dazzlin in Albon, ensuring they don’t permanently miss out on powerful gear.
Conclusion
The First Descendant has undergone substantial changes since its launch, addressing many player concerns and adding depth to its endgame content.
With improved farming systems, new challenging activities, and numerous quality of life enhancements, returning players will find a more rewarding and streamlined experience.
Whether you’re looking to min-max your gear through the new core system, tackle the challenging Void Erosion Purge, or simply level up more efficiently, there’s plenty of new content to explore.
As you re-enter the world of TFD, take some time to familiarize yourself with these new systems and set goals for your progression.
Whether you’re aiming to climb the Void Erosion Purge ladder, perfect your builds with the new reactor and core systems, or collect and level up the new descendants, the game now offers more diverse and engaging ways to play than ever before.
Remember to check the in-game news and community resources regularly, as the developers continue to update and balance the game.
With these significant improvements and the promise of more content to come, there’s never been a better time to jump back into The First Descendant.
