It's AMA time!
We'll be here between 2PM PT to 3PM PT to answer as many questions as we can about Dauntless.
Everything's on the table from art, design, lore, you name it!
Important!
Please keep it to one concise question per comment. This makes it much easier for our developers to answer them one by one.
External link →It's AMA time!
We'll be here between 2PM PT to 3PM PT to answer as many questions as we can about Dauntless.
Everything's on the table from art, design, lore, you name it!
Important!
Please keep it to one concise question per comment. This makes it much easier for our developers to answer them one by one.
External link →this is another question. About the new behemoth can you give us some info on it? (how it acts/looks, its file name, out of 1-10 how cool is the amour gonna be, etc)
file name
Excuse me? lol
Do we get Top 5 trials cosmetics in the near future?
We don't have any planned at the moment, but we're hearing a lot of players asking for this!
Any plans on adding new skeletons for behemoths?
The next Behemoth will share a rig with others, but yes, we will add more unique rigs in the future.
is there any exp to come this season? like for the repeaters and them being de-modularized?
also, Pets when?
Sorry, what do you mean by exp?
Why opening hunt submenu freezes game for more than a second?
Performance is different on each platform. The game is loading all the available hunts for you.
Can we hope to see Umbral & Radiant Lantern and Elemental Proc. for both soon? So we finally get a Proc and Lantern for each Element?
I heard talk of this the other day, but it's not locked in work at this time. We would love to get these in!
Any chance of putting controller remapping functionality into the game for Switch/Playstation/Xbox?
Changing button mapping for a controller in the console's system itself doesn't work for a whole bunch of reasons. Letting people remap controllers ingame would greatly increase Dauntless' accessibility.
We are investigating remapping right now and seeing if it's possible. There's also talk of other control scheme layouts if we can't do a full remap system.
Stay tuned!
this is another question. About the new behemoth can you give us some info on it? (how it acts/looks, its file name, out of 1-10 how cool is the amour gonna be, etc)
We can't give you any more info on it unfortunately! It's coming along nicely though. I worked on the armour designs, and I have a tendancy to add big sweeping shapes and sharp edges. There will be one that is a little more bulky and one that is a little more sleek. Something for everyone!
Dear Dauntless Dev Team, do you ever intend on adding any more Behemoth to the game that are not Legendary or Varients? Also, do you plan on adding more weapons?
Yes! We want to add various Behemoths. Some won't be Legendary or Variants.
Will u add additional and meaningfull nodes in slayer path?
Crown for top 5 when?
We have a system in the works that will add some very valuable nodes to the Slayer's Path. It isn't on the roadmap but will be releasing soon after 1.7.3
since drask got it's dire version reworked are you considering revisiting other dires as well? or at least adding dire gear like you did for TDD?
We are currently having this conversation and thinking about how we want to approach dires in the future. What would you prefer? Spending more time revisiting other behemoths or putting that time into new ones? More info here at the bottom:
https://playdauntless.com/news/state-of-dauntless-thunderdeep/
Since thunderdeep has its own armor, will it be guranteed to spawn on an island at some point to ease the grind?
Thunderdeep will spawn on Cape Fury in 1.7.2 outside of the event, so this will ease the grind.
When u add cooking to the game? From behe parts :>
Welcome to WIL'S GRUB HUB WHERE ALL THE GRUB IS BREWED IN A TUB
Are there still plans for new weapons?
Yes
I've heard that you guys like to see what fans want/request and the more the merrier; that motivates you to go back to a feature/consider a feature (example Trials Leaderboard on website and maybe also Thunderdeep) as I understood it. Then how come you've never addressed (at least from what I've seen) about more loadout slots despite that's a heavily requested thing? What's your thoughts about it?
We usually look at how many times we see it requested and weigh that against our interpretation of the system. Like, we knew a lot of players were asking to TD Drask AND we agreed that yes, it was important and needed a refresh.
Since you have commented on many doom posts with rip and tear and other doom quotes, do you like the game and was there some inspiration from it?
I've only played Doom 2016 and loved it (got around half way through). I grew up on Warhammer, so anything grimdark is right up my alley. I think my art is inspired a lot by IPs like Doom, Warhammer, Darksiders, etc.
Are there still plans for new weapons?
Yes! Still have some refreshes we want to do, but then... something new.
Can we hope to see Umbral & Radiant Lantern and Elemental Proc. for both soon? So we finally get a Proc and Lantern for each Element?
Definitely would like to do these, but other things that we feel are more impactful are taking priority right now.
We are currently having this conversation and thinking about how we want to approach dires in the future. What would you prefer? Spending more time revisiting other behemoths or putting that time into new ones? More info here at the bottom:
https://playdauntless.com/news/state-of-dauntless-thunderdeep/
Yes, and that's part of the reason why in the latest State of Dauntless we touched on that. We saw a huge positive reaction to Thunderdeep Drask so it's definitely on the table. If you want that, definitely add your thoughts to that thread!
Are there any plans on optimization passes? The game has been steadily going down in performance over the last few months especially and it's definitely not a personal hardware issue.
Yes, we are always looking for ways to optimize the experience. We're looking into it and always measuring the data!
When u add cooking to the game? From behe parts :>
Behemoths are not made of meat
Anything escalations in the works?
Actually, yes! It's very, very early, but we're brainstorming something...
More information in the future :)
Hello! My question is, will you add more weapons in the end or is still something thats on the backburner? Whatever the answer is, cheers bro i'll drink to that
Yes, we will be adding more weapons once we get past this season and some refreshes :)
When will you give guilds a purpose in the game?
We want to revisit our social systems in a future season for sure. Nothing is locked in at this time, but there's a lot of desire to give guilds some incentives!
file name can give hints as to what it is like if its shrowd or another shrike
It's a secret :)
Will we ever see what happened to thunderdeep drask happen to the other dire variants? By that I mean more changed and unique designs and unique armor and weapon sets, not every behemoth needs a complete overhaul, but to those who really need it. The animations can stay the same, but the looks of the behemoths themselves is what I, and most likely many others, would like to see changed up a bit.
I answered this in another thread, but yes we would. Take a look at the latest State of Dauntless if you haven't!
About the rework for Obsidian Repeaters.
I understand the FOV will be reworked. But, I have concerns about the mechanics. Well, one in particular. When doing a reload, you are stuck in the animation and cannot dodge when doing so. It makes it hard to reload and dodge on the fly especially when running out of ammo just as a behemoth attack happens.
So I guess is there any update to the upcoming ideas for the rework of Obsidians? Gameplay wise?
The main focus of the Repeaters refresh is de-modularization & allowing independent camera controls. We are also making a few tweaks to damage values, Mods, etc. for balance.
We have looked at allowing players to dodge out of the reload animation, but have some concern that it makes Repeaters too safe and haven't made a final decision on it.
Do you plan to change the way loadouts work in the future and divide them into: actual build loadouts and cosmetics loadous (including slayer appearance, etc.) where you can mix & match between them (in a similar way MH does it)?
Not at this time, but I've been hearing this request a lot lately.
Ok, I'm going to ask a bunch of Yes or no question, so just repond yes and no in the proper order. 1. Ever plan on making Phase 2 Escalations with new maps and Legendary behemoths? 2. Ever plan on adding behemoths with new rigs? 3. Ever thought of a Giand Spider behemoth? 4. Is the Bow going to be a weapon at one point? 5. Is Hunt ever going to make a return? 6. Will pets every be a thing? 7. Ever gonna add any new elements like Water and Wind?
If you decide to answer these questions,... Thank You.
We can't commit to a solid definite yes or no on any of these! It all comes down to when we have the bandwidth and we if we see the value in it. Things change all the time!
Do you guys plan on making any chimera equipment, ie. Gear made with multiple parts from different behemoths?
That's wild and I love the idea! I'll pass it on :D
Any plans on making able to purchase the desperado(poncho) skin at game store?
It's coming back in 1.7.2 in a free Event Pass!
Ok, I'm going to ask a bunch of Yes or no question, so just repond yes and no in the proper order. 1. Ever plan on making Phase 2 Escalations with new maps and Legendary behemoths? 2. Ever plan on adding behemoths with new rigs? 3. Ever thought of a Giand Spider behemoth? 4. Is the Bow going to be a weapon at one point? 5. Is Hunt ever going to make a return? 6. Will pets every be a thing? 7. Ever gonna add any new elements like Water and Wind?
If you decide to answer these questions,... Thank You.
3 - I think about this a lot. I have a soft spot for all types of arthropods.
6 - I hope so! That would be fun.
Any chances to resume development on the bow? Are new weapons completely off the table?
I think it's just what this game lacks to calm the itch for variety. Omnicells were a step in the right way, you can add them on a regular basis and they change important aspects of gameplay, but weapons are the icing on the cake on monster hunting games and there are still some important archetypes to cover.
Thank you for your hard work.
A new weapon will happen once we're done with some refreshes. Check back next season for more news ;)
Now that the Exotics have been added back to the game and the exotic weapons refreshed with prismatic slots, are there talks about other Exotic weapons and helmets coming in the future? Personally I would love to see an exotic for every element and every element.
What I'm hearing from designers is "That would be great so someday in the future!"
Do you plan on adding neutral legendary weapons and armour, even if they aren't tied to a keystone behemoth?
We don't have plans for one at this time, but it is an interesting idea.
Now that the Exotics have been added back to the game and the exotic weapons refreshed with prismatic slots, are there talks about other Exotic weapons and helmets coming in the future? Personally I would love to see an exotic for every element and every element.
We'd love to add more exotics at some point, but our focus right now for weapons is on weapon reworks, and in a future season a brand new weapon.
Well this is minor compared to most other questions BUT there is huge amounts of variation in facial features (ie nose, eyes, lips etc) but nothing in terms of bodies. Either hmm, "female" and slim or hmm, "male" and bulky.
Not asking for anything as detailed as MHW but it would be nice to be able to vary body shape and size.
This is something we've talked about internally and it's a huge lesson for us.
I can't promise anything for Dauntless, but when it comes to our new titles, we want to add as much diversity as possible. It's a lot easier to implement body sizes early in a game's life than later. There are a lot of things that are dependent on these two body types in Dauntless.
What exactly are your plans for UEs? More specifically, we have a ton of really bad UEs that are obsolete and have no niche in the game (i.e. Koshai), are just a worse version of another UE (i.e. Embermane), or just don't work (i.e. Skraev), and Quillshot doesn't even HAVE a UE. Can we expect reworks to these weapons without a real place in the meta, or even the off-meta? I can provide a LONG list of UEs that need attention in some way, but for the sake of brevity, I won't. I'm just peeved that there's not a good option for shock pikes or CBs and NO good neutral weapons besides Twin Succs.
Fixing up old UEs is something we would like to do as priority allows. We have been working on some tooling improvements that will make changing numerical values easier so we can make changes of that kind more often.
I have a few questions!
1: do you plan on doing any story cutscenes or events? I do love more lore in this game, but having the Middleman be from the future and just casually telling us in a text box was pretty underwhelming.
2: any plans for pets? I love the idea of an attack dog aiding me against a tough behemoth!
3: Any news on weapon 8??
4: with the release of the new Drask it brought along its own armor and weapons. Are there plans to revamp creatures like Dreadfrost Boreus the same treatment? I would love to see them get a facelift and special equipment!
2 - I think a lot of us are excited about pets, but there are higher priority things on our plate at the moment!
4 - These are things we are talking about!
Hello there !
Months ago you talked about new costmetics like wings.
Is it still a thing ?Also, really want to have the possibility to share buffs with mates. Have a way to play the game as support, give damage or other buffs. Is it considered ?
Thanks, last patches were amazing <3
We've been toying with the idea of a support-based Omnicell. We need to do some prototyping to see if it'll work in Dauntless.
do you plan on adding more chronicles (for lore and reading purposes), and/or missions (for fun fun fun and lore purposes)?
Heck yeah. I've been getting into the narrative stuff lately, and I can confirm that 1.7.3 will have a handful of nodes and a chronicle. This one won't have an original illustration, but we're laying the groundwork for future stories :)
is there any exp to come this season? like for the repeaters and them being de-modularized?
also, Pets when?
No experimental for Repeaters refresh, the dates didn't quite line up. We are planning another soon, for the weapon refresh after Repeaters.
When might we be seeing additional cosmetics for higher trials placements? Top 5, Top 1 etc. The gold crown isn't very prestigious anymore since multiple weapon leaderboards don't even get filled each rotation so it would really be nice to have something higher to separate those of us who have accomplished more. I know this has been asked about for a long time and I think we really deserve something.
I'm seeing this request a lot and I'll bring it forward to the team!
Hello there !
Months ago you talked about new costmetics like wings.
Is it still a thing ?Also, really want to have the possibility to share buffs with mates. Have a way to play the game as support, give damage or other buffs. Is it considered ?
Thanks, last patches were amazing <3
New cosmetic slots (like back) are not happening at this time. We'll always be bringing new armour sets/weapons/crowns/emotes/ etc though!
Can you encounter thunderdeep in escalations by 1.7.2?
I don't think so. If it doesn't show up, it'll be there soon.
I don't like to ask this kind of tricky/thorny question but i feel like i have to:
Do you think others proyects at PHXL have slowed down Dauntless development?
I love you guys, please don't hate me, i'm just curious about what you think.
Our output is roughly the same, and now that we've settled into a good seasonal rhythm, we're getting into a good cadence with launching content.
Our team is roughly the same size. PHX has grown like wild to support our new titles and build teams around them.
Will mobility cells ever see a rework or newer cells? If I'm not mistaken mobility has the least amount of cells and barely sees much use in battle. Will they see more love in the near future?
Mobility Cells will get a tuning pass in 1.7.3 to make them a bit more competitive, along with a new Omnicell that synergizes nicely with many Mobility Cells.
Hello!!! The next hunt pass armor will be bulky or slim type???
Bit of both! What do you prefer? Maybe I can elaborate.
After not playing since reforged, I enjoy the omnicell update. I would love more of a build off of it, are there any other plans for the future for more cooldown based abilities? I would love to mix up combos with devastating abilities i.e. ice shard from ice borne.
We want to add a lot more Omnicells and we aim to make them varied and unique. Who knows what whacky mechanics we'll come up with!
While I understand that Skyfishing's been more or less shelved indefinitely, are there any plans in the works for other minigames outside of the "stay-n-slay" gameplay loop that HG offers?
Right now, we're focusing on the core combat (ie Behemoth huntin'). No new mini-games are planned at this time.
What kind of games affected your art style and game mechanics ?
For myself, trading card games like Magic: The Gathering are a big inspiration for designing build mechanics like Omnicells, weapon UEs, etc.
What kind of games affected your art style and game mechanics ?
I can't speak for the OG devs, but I did hear our art style was greatly influenced by Disney at the start. This was due to its universal appeal and welcoming aesthetic.
Will there be any umbral, radiant or neutral element effects? Ice slows behemoths, fire does damage, terra heals slayers and shock staggers behemoths. Radiant, umbral and neutral dont have an effect as far as I know. Will that be changing anytime soon?
Answered elsewhere, but it seems like a popular topic- Yes, we would like to get to these but other things we feel are more impactful have taken priority.
Hi! Several hairstyles were released in previous Hunt Passes, will any of them be making a return in the Reward Cache?
It's possible. Next patch has a few new hairstyles that will be added to the default list for everyone, too!
When will you guys make other specials more viable?For example, grim onslaught gives u three axe throws but no meter gain. Easy way to fix this is give it some meter charge and it slowly increases if players end up catching all three axe throws.
As we go through the weapon refreshes, all the Specials will get a look to try and better balance them against each other.
Hi there I just want to ask one of two things.
1 will you ever do any collaboration quests/missions/events?
And 2 more importantly well its less of a question and more I hope you are all staying safe and well in these crazy times.
As a friend puts it I love your faces and can't wait to play more of your game as its just so good 😀.
Do you mean like a community event where everyone participates toward the same goal? We've done that once before...around the time when Ramsgate blew up :)
And we are doing our best. Thankfully, everyone at the studio has continued to be safe and healthy. <3
15 slots for different builds is not enough for that many build variations (weapons + elements) and not enough space for creativity with new skins combos. Can u give us more loadouts slots?
Yeah we were just looking into how we could get that out. Expect it in the nearish future
guys i have a big request...[lease add a photo mode in the game...my slayer looks so good rn
Yesssss, this would be amazing! We're working on a reliable way to toggle the HUD for a start :)
Oh boy! Here is the list. You can answer yes or no to some of them:
- With repeater refresh do we have to farm each individual behemoth from the start?
- Will we get new rewards for heroic escalation? Heroic dyes? Lanterns with effects? cosmetics with elemental effects? yes/no
- The return of the shattered isles map select screen? No more sliding bars to select hunt!
- Buff to other exotics? The Hunger and Molten edict are now good. Twin suns and Godhand struggling.
I think that's it. Good work on omnicells really brought a lot of fun to the game. Now you just need new cells to work with this system.
If you have already crafted repeaters parts that are going away with the refresh, you will not have to farm additional materials to get back to parity with what you had before.
Godhand got a bit more of a buff than other Pike moves back in 1.6.0, but could look at bumping it a bit more. I'm curious about your Twin Suns comment, the data and general sentiment around them seem to indicate they're in a good spot right now.
What kind of games affected your art style and game mechanics ?
Ive been very inspired by Warhammer, Darksiders, Zelda and a variety of other ips.
I have three questions.
How are new behemoths made lore wise. I'm not talking about variants but does it have to do something with the aether, or the malestrom.
What are your goals for dauntless and your company
What is the most fun you have ever had while making dauntless.
It has a lot to do with aether, that's how they continue to reproduce. But...who made them in the first place? That's a great question :)
Our main goal for Dauntless is to make a game that Slayers love to play for years to come. For all of Phoenix Labs, we want to make many great games that players love to play for years to come.
The most fun I've personally had is playtesting Heroic Escalation.
This is probably asked a lot but do you have plans to come out with another weapon. Because we saw a bow leak a few months ago. I know your currently doing weapon reworks trying to make them funner to play but is there any sort of timeline on when we could maybe expect a new weapon?
We're going through the refreshes of our existing weapons, but do plan to introduce a new weapon once that's finished.
Are there new plans to engage with the lore? Either new ways or expanding on old ones.
I'm not the best to answer specifics, but yes- expect to see the lore & ongoing story of Dauntless take on a more involved role in releases starting with 1.7.3
You probably get bombarded with this question all the time, but when do you guys think we'll see an 8th weapon? Or rather, maybe this would be an easier question to answer; what's the development priority for a new weapon, like, is it something not currently/barely being worked on or...? Thanks for taking the time to read and answer this question if you choose to do so.
Current plans are to finish the refreshes of existing weapons before moving on to a new one.
Looking foward ~ BY WAY IF CAN TRY NOT ADD FUR INFRONT POSITION OF HELM.
There is some fur on the upcoming sets (not a lot though) - are you worried about crashing geometry?
Sorry for late reply.
I love bulky armors!
It would be awesome to have an armor set that looks similar to warhammer 40k space marines or warhammer fantasy chaos warriors, maybe in the future hehehe
I have a Ravenguard army so I'm all aboard that space marine train haha. For the next huntpass armour, I was inspired a lot by the way samurai armour is layered with big blocky shapes. So there is some chunkiness to it
I just worry the helm design will look ugly because the fur position was on front head like this season reward cache helm / hunter wilds hood.. (think without fur on front head of the helm will be look more Cool)
Oh I see, no there is no fur on the helms for the next armours
Understandable. One thing related to Lanterns I would like to ask / bring up is if we get a Lantern for Umbral & Radiant, giving each Element a Lantern, is anything gonna happen with having 2 Terra Lanterns (Skarn and Koshai). Would one of them be Removed, Would Koshai Lantern be made into an Umbral Lantern, or would it just remain another inconsistence within the game? Because I feel like having more than 1 Lantern per Element would rip away cool abilities that could be used as Better UE's for Weapons or Omni-Cells.
Nah, we wouldn't take away any Lanterns that exist now. One of the benefits of reducing Lanterns to a single ability is that it's easier to make more of them. I think there's room for several more at least, without stepping on the toes of UEs or Omnicells.
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