The First Descendant update nerfs its Destiny-style loot cave but keeps its reward efficiency “significantly higher than originally intended” thanks to its popularity

Days after accidentally suggesting all of The First Descendant’s farming spots were about to get buffed thanks to a “misinterpretation” during translation, Nexon’s looter shooter has had its fan-favorite loot cave nerfed, reducing the amount of rewards you can get from it.

Until now, one of the best ways to earn gold, EXP, and resources in The First Descendant was to try your hand at the ‘Valby run’ – a strategy that uses the character Valby’s ‘Clean Up’ skill to destroy hordes of constantly respawning enemies at the Vulgus Strategic Outpost in the Fortress. Originally, a statement unintentionally suggested that Nexon was planning to make all other farming spots in the game just as effective as this, but an amended one soon clarified that it was actually the other way around, with the plan to “adjust the rewards efficiency at the Fortress Outpost to balance it with other regions,” instead. That’s what we’re seeing in hotfix 1.0.4, which was rolled out today.  

Rewards at the Vulgus Strategic Outpost have been reduced, and the time it takes for monsters to respawn there has been increased, too. However, it’s not all bad news, as a director’s comment included in the patch notes adds that Nexon has still “set the reward efficiency significantly higher than originally intended” to make sure that the Valby run stays as popular as before. “Instead of reverting Valby run to its original design intent, we have adjusted it to offer similar efficiency to other high-reward hunting grounds.”

On top of that, the cooldown time for all Outposts has been significantly reduced – with the wait to retry the Vulgus Strategic Outpost going from five minutes to one. This is so “players can play them more frequently without deliberately failing” or having to look elsewhere on their map for something to do.

“Through issues like the Fortress Outskirts and Valby run, we are learning what kind of play style our players enjoy,” the director’s comment continues. “The experience of sweeping through and farming monsters is of significant value in our game.”

While still not quite the enormous live service win we initially thought Nexon was giving us thanks to that translation snafu, it’s clear that the developer still cares a lot about players’ feedback, and isn’t afraid to make tweaks to its original plans if it means fans will enjoy it more. Here’s hoping that the looter shooter will see more of that in the future.

If you’re new to Nexon’s looter shooter, be sure to check out our guide to The First Descendant best characters.