The First Descendant Season 1 Patch Is A Step In The Right Direction

Key Takeaways

Nexon addressed the long material grind in TFD, slashing time requirements in half.
Updates include easier Void Shard acquisition through gameplay changes.
New content in the pipeline for TFD includes a new Descendant and monthly drops

The First Descendant has quickly established a player base, but the endgame is one aspect that draws constant ire.

The time it takes to grind materials is a constant topic of discussion on Social Media, and in multiple threads on Reddit. In good news, Nexon has just addressed this in their latest patch notes.

The First Descendant Puts The Focus On Players By Prioritizing “Honest” Feedback

The First Descendant’s director looked for “honest” player feedback throughout its early access playtests.

The patch notes for Season 1 have just dropped, with a few pleasant gameplay changes to Void Shards.

The First Descendant Seasonal Update Patch Notes

Promotional shot from The First Descendant of characters standing on a fallen statue head.

Two Hard Infiltration Operation Dungeons which will rotate daily
Adding an Inversion Reinforcer system, which will give seasonal buffs. Based on the description, the feature sounds similar to Artifact Mods in Destiny 2.
Ultimate Freyna and her unique story content added.
New Descendant, Hailey Scott, added.
Two new ultimate weapons, Frost Watcher and Excava.
Improvements to the Void Fragments and Fusion Reactor gameplay loop.
Hard Mode Infiltration Operation Improvements.
New Interception battle against the Death Stalker Collosi.
Highest Difficulty of Infiltration Operations will be added.
Improvements to Socket Type Saving Feature.
Multiple improvements to Jayber’s Turret, which now applies stats such as Skill Power Modifiers.
Blair’s skills have been improved, including Pitmaster and Burn Taste
Ajax’s Hyper Cube and Orbital Barrier are now affected by Attribute Resistance, making them stronger.
UX Improvements. A feature to designate random options has been added to the External Components and Reactor Junk Filters. You can also dismantle items in combat where you would previously be interrupted.

For those out of the loop, many items in The First Descendant are locked behind Amorphous Materials.

Most of these can only be obtained by completing a short activity with a 20% drop rate. Next, you must run multiple activities to get Void Shards, then beat an encounter to finally open the material.

That’s three layers of grind, all for a slim chance of getting the desired item. Those drop rates can be as low as 3% so the odds are usually against you.

In the patch notes, Nexon directly addresses this issue, stating that playing Void Fragments once on Hard Difficulty now grants enough Void Shards to use the Fusion Reactor once. This currently takes two plays, so the time requirement is effectively slashed in half.

This change dramatically speeds up the grind as Void Shard acquisition is the most time-consuming part of opening Amorphous Materials. The patch notes also point to the system being simplified and Void Shards being more readily available from other activities.

Grinding is a core part of The First Descendant, but these changes should make the most mind-numbing parts of it a little less insufferable.

It’s important to remember that other games in the genre, like Destiny 2, were also exceptionally grindy until they grew with expansions.

More Content Is On The Way For The First Descendant

The First Descendant Freyna Season 1 Trailer

The Void Shard changes are a big deal for endgame players, but there’s plenty more to look forward to. Nexon has announced that the newest Descendant, Hailey Scott, will join the roster on August 29th. Players can also try out new post-game content and weapons on the same day.

The patch notes reveal that seasonal content is dropping in three parts, and players can look forward to new activities at the end of each month.

Date	Type	Update Items
August 29th	1st Update	New Descendant: Hailey and Hailey Skins added Invasion Dungeon Inversion Reinforcement Ultimate Weapon Excava Invasion Season Battle Pass
September 26th	2nd Update	New Interception against Death Stalker Collosi Ultimate Weapon Frost Watcher New Ultimate Skins Ultimate Descendant Exclusive Spawn Effects
October 30th	3rd Update	Ultimate Freyna and Exclusive Story Ultimate Freyna Exclusive Modules Hailey Modification Modules New Ultimate Modules Highest Difficulty Infiltrations ETA-0 Trader

Oddly enough, the eagerly-awaited Ultimate Descendant, Freyna, and her Exclusive Story aren’t coming until October 30th. The patch notes hint at a tragic love story for Freyna, but as Warframe has recently added romance options, who knows if they’ll end up in TFD down the line?

Feedback is understandably mixed regarding the drip-feed of content, as many expected a massive drop at the end of August. Still, it’s good to see Nexon addressing community woes so soon after launch, and it sets a positive precedence for future seasons.

Early on, the developers boldly claimed that The First Descendant was to be the next generation of Looter Shooter. It will be interesting to see if that holds true with future seasons.