What you need to know
- Nexon recently showed off what players can expect from Season 1 of The First Descendant, and players have been excited for the upcoming content update.
- However, a new development revealed that Season 1 was actually going to be split into three separate updates spread across three months.
- This resulted in community backlash, criticizing Nexon for drip feeding content into the game.
- Nexon has since responded to the feedback, and adjusted the schedule for Season 1... But players still aren't totally happy.
The First Descendant during its initial pre-season launch has been a huge success for Nexon, especially given the studio's clear commitment to actually responding to player feedback. Players have been looking forward to the game's proper kick-off with the major Season 1 update, too, but Nexon's recently revealed schedule for The First Descendant: Season 1 "Invasion" has drawn no small amount of backlash.
At first, Nexon made it appear as if everything shown for the Season 1 update would be part of the initial release, only later revealing that the plan was for the new content to be split between three entirely separate updates spread across three months. This immediately drew ire from players, but Nexon has already responded to the feedback and adjusted the Season 1 update schedule.
Originally, The First Descendant: Season 1 "Invasion" was split between three updates on Aug. 29, Sept. 26, and Oct. 30, drip feeding the new content over the course of multiple months. Now, the new plan is for the initial Season 1 update, which includes the new Descendant, Hailey, the Season 1 Battle Pass, new seasonal progression, and a new kind of single-player dungeons, to drop on Aug. 29 as normal.
The rest of the confirmed Season 1 content, including the Death Stalker Void Intercept Battle, new Ultimate Weapons and upgrades, and a new Ultimate Freyna Descendant, has been combined into one update planned to release on Oct. 10. This updated release schedule comes alongside a new letter from The First Descendant devs acknowledging the feedback and committing to change.
However, many players still aren't happy, and with some valid reason.
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A step forward, but concerns still remain
Overall, I really do think Nexon is surpassing expectations and surprising players with the update cycle for The First Descendant. The studio has been quick to address player feedback and implement changes that actually make the game better and more fun, and has (for the most part) admitted to and learned from its mistakes. This is another chance for the studio to learn, it seems.
Even the brand-new update preview trailer linked above makes no mention that The First Descendant: Season 1 "Invasion" is being drip fed to players across multiple updates, for example. While players are responding more positively to the more condensed update schedule that Nexon has now committed to (and acknowledged the devs for their quick response), there are still some issues.
Many TFD players still feel misled by the initial Season 1 reveal, and I don't blame them. The expectation was for the initial update to include everything shown, and for Nexon to release smaller, surprise content updates throughout the progression of the season. Now, it seems as if we've already seen everything we can expect for the game over the next three months, and we'll have to wait for a lot of it.
On top of that, the spread of content still feels strange. Mostly, it appears that the unique Modules for the new Descendant, Hailey, aren't being added to the game alongside her. That means players will have to wait to properly build Hailey until a future update that actually adds the content that fully takes advantage of her abilities. It's an odd move, to say the least. Many players are also disappointed that Ultimate Freyna is no longer just around the corner.
Of course, Nexon can't just make everything ready for launch on Aug. 29. It's very likely that features like Ultimate Freyna and the Death Stalker Colossi boss battle simply aren't ready to be released yet, hence the decision to move up the third Season 1 update while pushing back the second. Hopefully, though, Nexon will learn from this for future TFD updates, being more transparent about update plans and not drip feeding content, which is a very fast way to frustrate players, as many other live service games have shown.
