Hello everyone!
I hope patch 1.6.1 found you well this morning.
Seeing as we're in the thick of the Infinite Radiance Season and updated our Favro Roadmap, we thought it would be a good time for a developer AMA.
Ask us anything!
UPDATE:
It's lunchtime! We're going to step away, but we may answer a few more questions over the course of the day.
Thanks for stopping by, and we'll do this again soon!
External link →What are your plans for after all of the keystone bohemoths are released?
MORE BEHEMOTHS!
How is your day going so far? :)
Pretty good, lots of good progress towards the next content to come out!
I haven't tried the game yet, but I read somewhere that the PC version still doesn't track achievements - has this changed recently?
- has this changed recently?
Hey there, we don't currently have achievements, but we hear that Epic has added this functionality. We may investigate this in the future.
The godhand war pike and other exotic weapons/helms are gonna return soon as rumours?
They are going to return. And very soon! But not as rumours, earnable only. But you will have to go exploring/adventuring to find them.
We were hoping to hold them back until we had space to build out some new exotics. While we do want to get to that eventually, it's time we got those exotics back in.
New phone, who dis? :o
it me
When will the bug where you pull to a behemoth while right beside it with the chain blades be fixed? It's nowhere near a huge deal, but it is pretty annoying
I believe this was fixed in 1.6.1 that just went out! Check it out and let us know if it's still in there or not.
glitter's ultra armor, how will you get it since the slayers tree is no longer there? also sub classes, can you expand on it please? I'd love to hear more
For the Glitter Ultra "Chronoslayer" armour, our current plan is to have a free Event Pass for all players to get this armour. We're working on the number of levels and what else could be in that pass that fits the theme and activities. Of course, this is subject to change, but that's what we're working on.
How is your day going so far? :)
So far so good! Need more cofffffeeeeeeee
New phone, who dis? :o
daunto
MORE BEHEMOTHS!
THIS! We will always be adding more things to hit!
Questions are in order of importance to me
-How are you all doing ?
-What are the chances we will ever see a Glider skin on a Huntpass ?
-Is the Legendary Behemoth aswell as the Hunting Grounds going to stay after the Infinite Radiance season or will they vanish once the season ends ?
-Any chance for an Instrument emote we can play ourselves ? (something similar to the Guitar thing from Warframe for example)
-Can we change the direction we go while doing Moving Emotes ? (Emotes where your Slayer moves to the direction they're facing on their own)
-What's the best Behemoth (Design, Animation, Sounds, etc.) and why is it Pangar ?
I'm just gonna pick up the question here I do know the answer to:
I'm great!
Seriously though, in regards to the Legendary Behemoth and Hunting Grounds, yes. The Radiant Hunting ground and the Radiant Capstone behemoth shall be here forevermore.
Questions are in order of importance to me
-How are you all doing ?
-What are the chances we will ever see a Glider skin on a Huntpass ?
-Is the Legendary Behemoth aswell as the Hunting Grounds going to stay after the Infinite Radiance season or will they vanish once the season ends ?
-Any chance for an Instrument emote we can play ourselves ? (something similar to the Guitar thing from Warframe for example)
-Can we change the direction we go while doing Moving Emotes ? (Emotes where your Slayer moves to the direction they're facing on their own)
-What's the best Behemoth (Design, Animation, Sounds, etc.) and why is it Pangar ?
Doing good, thank you :)
Glider skin on a Huntpas, yeah!
Oh there already are a few instrument emotes! Xylobones, a flute, drums I think. We can look at more of those for sure, Slayer Band!
Fun fact about Pangar - its internal codename was McRollin
Will old cosmetics be returning at some point? The new reward cache as far as I see only has the stuff from this season pass, the old vault used to have random old items but it seems like as of now that is completely gone?
You're in luck! Today we dropped in some never-seen-before-in-Vault cosmetics. Look to the Reward Cache "Vault" tab and be ready to spend your Ancient Coins!
When you say you want to create roles through sub classes, is it related to the damage type you will do or more to a classic role like support/tank/damage dealer ?
Because if it's support/tank/damage dealer style, i can already tell you that only one sub class will be used : Damage dealer.
Great opportunities with this sub class, but it really needs to be balanced !
We are still experimenting a lot and having a ton of design meetings happening.
We are testing some of the classic roles right now, but also some strange ones...
More info in the future!
Alright, I’ve got two:
-Are we going to get more Ostia more with Heroes of Ostia?
-I’d like to know more about these subclasses. Are they going to grant Slayers the ability to focus on one specific aspect of combat (Ex. speed or strength)?
All Ostia all the time...maybe we'll even pay them a visit.
With escalations being out, presumably amps are also out. However I watching the behind the behemoth for Urska where I believe a designer mentioned that players enjoyed the "micro choices" of the avatars, amps, and talent trees from frost esca and that you would be really leaning into this for radiant season. So far with Primals we have not seen that.
Can you elaborate about what "micro choices" we will have knowing that the escalation framework is out for the radiant season. Will there be a talent tree, amps, avatars, or something different? I want to believe you have something good planned but primals being what they are give me doubts
Hiya, I said that, and this is definitely something I'd like to get more of in the game. I agree Primals and the Past Faction Tree didn't hit that mark in the way I'd originally hoped to. That said, we'll continue to have new Faction Trees, and I'm exploring ways to bring amps into other places in the game. This is still something I'd like to work towards, and I still believe in what I said there.
Any hint on whats the next weapon to receive a rework or balance changes??
Not confirmed yet, so... not really, but also there's a hint on the Roadmap itself :)
From the small artwork we saw about the Ostian HGs, what kind of ascetic are you going for? It looks really cool from the artwork and I love the colors.
So what I've been told is it will focus on Ostian tech and their aesthetic. The image we used in the Roadmap is actually an old image of when Admiral Zai first came to Ramsgate!
Is there an in-lore explanation for where the primal pillars come from? Are they also from the past or were they made by the people of New Ramsgate?
There is. We aren't sure yet when or how we are going to surface this lore, but we do know where they come from.
Why did you guys decided to delay or skip Radiant Escalation?
A few things at play that led us to build something else other than a Radiant Escalation.
At the core, it came down to wanting something that the largest number of players could get into and discover. Plus, we have the Hunting Grounds now which allow us to try out some more open-world style boss fights to add variety and excitement to that main game mode.
Radiant esca isn't off the table forever. But we are looking at a new level of Heroic Escalation.
So I've been having way too many problems with the game on Nintendo switch, is there going to be an update on the system where the game doesn't lag as hard or where its not going to be so buggy to where the game is almost unplayable?
Can you write into support?
They can help troubleshoot any issues you're having and collect information for us: https://support.playdauntless.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Do u have a plan to rework mastery system?
Not in the knowable future. We're turning our focus to more gameplay content and less system revamps.
what will be the codename of new ostia behemoth?
It has 'fire' in it, but I can't say more than that without giving too much away!
will we ever get legitimate cinematic style cutscenes for new seasons. i loved the animated shorts explaining the lore behind the void season as well as our big move to new ramsgate. some sort of new cinematic each season explaining how the world is evolving and why the new seasons theme is the way it is would be amazing.. plus seeing a behemoth in a high rez ZBrush semi-realistic style would look amazing lol
We don't have any plans at the moment, but we love doing these.
They're outsourced so we usually reserve them for our big story beats!
From the small artwork we saw about the Ostian HGs, what kind of ascetic are you going for? It looks really cool from the artwork and I love the colors.
Well, Ostians are a technologically advanced, militaristic group of folks. Ostians like Admiral Zai are all about grenades and repeaters. The environment artists are still working to define the island, but you can expect it to reflect those elements. We're really excited about something a little less...natural.
Do you have plans to add any new weapons? Maybe a bow? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻
What about a harp? (No plans right now, but there is always internal discussion about when and how to introduce new weapon content.)
Hey! I hope y'all having a great day, and thank you for the update. <3
Now, onto my question...
Any love for Chain Blades anytime soon? They remain the holders of the title of the most bugged weapon in the game, to this day.
We were promised a deeper look at CBs as a weapon-- yet, so far, only the invisible wall bug has been slightly "improved". Every other existing bug remains: the bugged i-frames one for example. Actually, every bug listed in the list that Rolia made and you guys have acknowledged around 7 months ago.
It saddens me as a CB main who've been maining it ever since OB: seeing my weapon become an absolute joke. And that's just talking about the bugs, I personally think CB need a rework just like Pike at this point, it is deserving of one. (Riftstrike is bad, LRRR combo is bad even with Hurricane, the RNG of Serrated Blades, RRR combo having pratically no usage whatsoever, etc.)
It would be really nice to have an answer about this, to know your stance on CBs' current state and your future plans regarding the weapon.
We are currently deciding which weapons need a refresh, and CB are definitely on the table.
We know they have some issues and we want to polish them up.
Are there any news about the cell rework? We havn't heard about it for a while and the last thing we got was just some rebalancing of existing cells.
Is there anything that can be shared at its current state?
there any news about the cell rework? We havn't heard about it for a while and the last thing we got was just some rebalancing of existing cells.
Is there anything that can be shared at its current state?
Nothing to share at this time. We're currently working on sub-classes and this may factor into the Cells (slightly, not a rework). We'll let you know once everything is hammered out.
wait, so will this mini pass end? or is it unlocked for future players when they beat glitter for the first time? or is this limited time glittter ultra set?
Still working out the details for all this, but you can expect a much longer Event Pass than we've had in the past.
Do u think the Myths and Legends items will return to the reward cache?
Definitely! We're working to get more of this content flowing through the Reward Cache. I can't speak to when exactly, but it is on the list!
Why did you add the stamina feature for gliders, instead of just having them be infinite??
We've been discussing lately whether or not this is really beneficial to the gameplay of them. Stay tuned, but we may change this behaviour, I can't promise yet.
When might styxian AI get fixed? Or behemoth AI/hitboxes? Or just the long-term bugs in general?
We're always working on bugs and polish. Check out our Favro board for what we're tracking: https://favro.com/organization/e5b8ad4a71148d7b5940992b/f86fee6bdc9be495922f7de2
Right now, Styxians aren't on our hitlist.
With the success of Dauntless, any plans further down the line for another Monster slaying game? Would love to see one with offline optional, maybe a larger world.
OoOoo! We are focused on Dauntless right now for sure. But we recently announced opening a couple new studios in LA and Montreal and there are new teams starting work on new things!
This is anything but an urgent question and it's absolutely not related to upcoming updates, but do you guys plan on making a second Artbook ? The first one is very pleasing to read and even more today, seeing how the game is sometimes going in the direction it wanted (with more fauna for example as shown in the book) and sometimes gave up on other ideas (like all the other exotics), and seeing our first Ramsgate taking shape gives me nostalgia.
Do we have a chance to get a book about the creation of Escalations, Hunting grounds and more in the future ?
ys plan on making a second Artbook
Wow! I would love a second artbook! We're not working on one right now, but I'll pass on the interest to the team.
Will the sub-classes have different attacks or specials?
Weapon attacks/specials will likely be not directly affected or changed with sub-classes, but we do want them to provide some more ability actions to Slayers as opposed to solely just buffs or effects like cells.
I am glad that Radiant Esca isn't off the table. For someone like me, I am a completionist if a way where if a set isn't complete, I complete it. And since Radiant is the last element to be added to the escalation pool, I just feel as though it has been left out. As long as it is still in your guys minds, I am okay with that. Just really want to have that experience of going through a gauntlet in the world of light.
Just a tip for Radiant escalation, instead of going in a linear way across a landscape, or descending down into the depths of Umbral, for radiant how about a continuous climb up a large pillar where you don't cross horizontally to the next area but always go up? Opposite of umbral where you always go down, this time you go up to the pinnacle of light. And maybe find out the source of that light..... :)
The new Hunting Ground, and the path to fighting the new legendary Behemoth miiiight give you some of what you're looking for ;)
1.) Does the leaderboard refresh now or do we still need to restart the game for that to happen?
2.) Are there any plans to make the leaderboard available outside the game? (on your website for example). It would also be neat to have the results of past trials available.
3.) Are there any plans to make trial restart faster? (Restart in < 10 - 20 seconds would already be great)
Thanks for the info!
Will we get an Ostian slayer hub world like Ramsgate or the Training Grounds?
No plans for another hub, but we will be seeing an Ostian-themed Hunting Grounds in the next season!
Was there escalation variants that didn't do it in the final release? Not really related, but I think it'd be cool info.
Are there plans for new exotics?
There are ideas that get cut at the concept, idea, or early design phase. But anything that has started to take shape in the game as a full-on variant has made it to the finished product.
What you said is correct and your answer to this makes me sad. Frost Escalation was a huge step in the right direction and everything since then is 2 steps back. Your answer makes me sad for radiant season. I won't be bothered to go farm parts to make weapons if it's just the drudgery of Hunting grounds with nothing cool about it.
Faction trees ain't it. There is no choice in them, you can't even redo points and getting the currency is a GRIND and a half. Primals ain't it. Regular old behemoths with a little modifier that you need to grind for hours isn't fun. Everything about 1.6 isn't it. Go back to the drawing board please. We liked escalations, we liked skill trees, we loved bad ass amps like virulent impact and lady luck. I personally loved the idea of Avatars. Scrapping all that is the worst move you could have made.
I'm super proud of Frost Escalation, the Avatar System, and everything I was able to accomplish there. The simple fact for Radiant season is that I set my sights too high, and wasn't able to execute on the level of complexity I had originally planned for. I hear your concerns about Primals, and Faction Trees, and I'll certainly be taking them to heart. I'd love to get back to the level of decision making and engagement I was able to build in Frost Escalation, but I'm also only one person, who will make mistakes, have successes, and always strive to improve.
they can do it in the way that two dmg dealers will be weaker vs one dmg dealer and one supporter
I suspect we'll lean into the existing damage build metas to provide at least a few viable DPS subclass options alongside other roles like support (e.g. providing heals or shields) or sustain (e.g. survivability, mobility), as well as some less typical RPG roles that might fit Dauntless well (e.g. what might a subclass called "Engineer" do?).
We definitely don't want just a single subclass to be the always-chosen-one as much as we can.
This may be a normal AMA, but I have lore questions and its been months since the previous lore ama. Feel free to answer as many as you can.
Do behemoths have organs and muscles to fulfill their bodily functions?
Urska eats its prey, but does it actually digest them and shit their remains, or does it just absorb the prey fully into itself or puke them out?
How does frostwulf call styxians, is it the howl, or does it have psionic abilities like boreus?
Are there current plans to reveal more about the other slayer civilizations(Farslayers, voidrunners, barbarians)?
What is the current situation of Ostia and St.Avellaine? We were told about a rebellion in Ostia, but we haven’t gotten updates since Uesca, how is the rebellion going and how is it affecting St.Avellaine?
Which islands are closer to the Maelstrom? Is it just islands with stronger behemoths that are closer to it? Will we ever get an updated map of the shattered isles? The art book states that islands closer to the maelstrom are colder, has this been retconned?
We are told that lower islands are colder and higher islands are hotter. If everything that is lower gets freezingly cold, how does the water system keep itself going? Wouldn't the water that falls into the void freeze down below and not recirculate? This goes entirely against the real world, is this just going to be “because da aether” or will it be retconned?
How do the hunting grounds stay afloat? They’re constantly ravaged by multiple behemoths and slayers can’t always be active on the island, wouldn’t the island completely drained of aether by now, or is it more gameplay than lore?
How do islands handle at most 3 types of aether each? Is it not possible for opposite elements to be present on islands?
What are the mechanics of behemoth disintegration? Because it makes the behemoth become suddenly hollow, is that just animation or something intentional?
Is shock aether unable to create variants, or is just because of dev time constraints?
What is it that actually kills behemoths? Do they bleed out, succumb to trauma, or spend their aether? How do aether vents heal behemoths?
Pining our lore writer for you! If they have time, they'll get to this :D
This may be a normal AMA, but I have lore questions and its been months since the previous lore ama. Feel free to answer as many as you can.
Do behemoths have organs and muscles to fulfill their bodily functions?
Urska eats its prey, but does it actually digest them and shit their remains, or does it just absorb the prey fully into itself or puke them out?
How does frostwulf call styxians, is it the howl, or does it have psionic abilities like boreus?
Are there current plans to reveal more about the other slayer civilizations(Farslayers, voidrunners, barbarians)?
What is the current situation of Ostia and St.Avellaine? We were told about a rebellion in Ostia, but we haven’t gotten updates since Uesca, how is the rebellion going and how is it affecting St.Avellaine?
Which islands are closer to the Maelstrom? Is it just islands with stronger behemoths that are closer to it? Will we ever get an updated map of the shattered isles? The art book states that islands closer to the maelstrom are colder, has this been retconned?
We are told that lower islands are colder and higher islands are hotter. If everything that is lower gets freezingly cold, how does the water system keep itself going? Wouldn't the water that falls into the void freeze down below and not recirculate? This goes entirely against the real world, is this just going to be “because da aether” or will it be retconned?
How do the hunting grounds stay afloat? They’re constantly ravaged by multiple behemoths and slayers can’t always be active on the island, wouldn’t the island completely drained of aether by now, or is it more gameplay than lore?
How do islands handle at most 3 types of aether each? Is it not possible for opposite elements to be present on islands?
What are the mechanics of behemoth disintegration? Because it makes the behemoth become suddenly hollow, is that just animation or something intentional?
Is shock aether unable to create variants, or is just because of dev time constraints?
What is it that actually kills behemoths? Do they bleed out, succumb to trauma, or spend their aether? How do aether vents heal behemoths?
Just a few questions? Stand by, this'll take a couple minutes. :)
ETA:
Did somebody say type "lore questions"?
This may be a normal AMA, but I have lore questions and its been months since the previous lore ama. Feel free to answer as many as you can.
Do behemoths have organs and muscles to fulfill their bodily functions?
-They absolutely do, but since they aren't organic life forms (they're aetheric) their bodily functions don't correspond to the typical organic being's. They consume aether in all its forms (and some, like the Urska, even consume other Behemoths to get it) but process it very efficiently, so there's not a ton of waste.
Urska eats its prey, but does it actually digest them and sh*t their remains, or does it just absorb the prey fully into itself or puke them out?
Future Behemothologist over here! Like I mention above, since its prey is also aetheric life, it consumes them pretty efficiently. Most of the waste is expelled as particles or gas.
Basically there's not really an analog to "spore" for Behemoths in the sense of finding a bi ol' pile o' poo, but Slayers (especially Farslayers) are skilled at tracing those more ethereal aetheric waste products as well as good old-fashioned track-following and sign-gathering.
How does frostwulf call styxians, is it the howl, or does it have psionic abilities like boreus?
Priyani's not entirely sure whether there's a psionic element to it, but there is definitely a basic "rally round our Alpha" thing going on when it calls them in, perhaps with a heavy dollop of "I say! Our favourite prey, an inattentive Slayer, is quite distracted now, old chaps. Let us strike, shall we?" (The Styxian language is rich, complex, and completely indecipherable to humans, but it turns out that among themselves they're pretty loquacious.)
Are there current plans to reveal more about the other slayer civilizations(Farslayers, voidrunners, barbarians)?
Yes, we will be expanding on all those groups as the game continues, as well as bringing in new and previously unknown groups (often, admittedly, in relation to new event and hunt pass content—good thing it's always so creatively inspiring!).
Currently we are working on some narratives that will delve a lot deeper into some folks you didn't mention, btw. But we've already revisited the Farslayers and the Barbarians and would expect us to do so again, and the Void Runners are also a big dangling plot thread I want to pick up again in the future even if nothing is scheduled yet.
What is the current situation of Ostia and St.Avellaine? We were told about a rebellion in Ostia, but we haven’t gotten updates since Uesca, how is the rebellion going and how is it affecting St.Avellaine?
The Triumvirate is still in control of Ostia and they've developed a cold war-ish position with Avellainia for now--but one that could erupt into more open conflict later. The Triumvirate is said to be experimenting with one of the few near-universal taboos in the Shattered Isles—direct control of Behemoth as was done in the pre-Upheaval days—and if that were to be realized the war could heat up pretty quickly.
Which islands are closer to the Maelstrom? Is it just islands with stronger behemoths that are closer to it? Will we ever get an updated map of the shattered isles? The art book states that islands closer to the maelstrom are colder, has this been retconned?
Since Ramsgate is in a different position than it was when the art book came out, that's no longer necessarily true.
I think of the Maelstrom as analogous to the galactic core, and there is something, or some things, in there acting as the "black hole" in this arrangement. But unlike a real galactic core, this Maelstrom (which is a very long-lived and permanent storm that may have been around since the Upheaval) doesn't necessarily spaghettify you or show you that time is a flat circle, but it does hypercharge islands and Behemoths and spit them back out--the earlier Escalation islands were like this, though we got away from that with more recent escas.
But to more specifically answer your question: On average, the Behemoths closer to the Maelstrom are stronger, but the isles area all in constant motion that's tracked by people like Arkan Drew. So from a lore perspective a static map wouldn't really work (and tbh could put some unnecessary restraints on the narrative).
Side note: in terms of temperature, lower elevation = colder and higher elevation = hotter, and that corresponds to the bands of the aetheric spectrum you will tend to find there. Ramsgate and most of the Hunting Grounds should be considered in the goldilocks zone (known as the Helic Risers).
(End part 1 - turns out you only get 10k characters per post who knew?)
Any word on DLSS and other optimizations?
No plans are this time!
Was there escalation variants that didn't do it in the final release? Not really related, but I think it'd be cool info.
Are there plans for new exotics?
We're bringing back our old exotics for now. Once we bring them back, we'll consider adding new ones.
How is your day going so far? :)
Many meetings, also our air conditioning is very cold
Will we be getting a way to convert all our extra combat merits we have into exploration merits, and vice versa? the trade off for aetherhearts is amazing, would be nice to have something similar for merits as well. like a conversion terminal or something.
There have been talks, but nothing concrete at this time!
We know that there are some stockpiles that need addressing that are adding up.
Any plans for upgrading the next Hunt Pass's return value? This one is not great compared to the previous ones and I don't have time for grinding the challenges just to get what was supposed to be in the Hunt Pass in the first place. Is there a chance that leveling up the Pass also gives at least an equivalent amount of tokens in order to buy the reward pieces?
We have definitely heard the feedback on this one and are discussing how to balance the content of the HP against that of the Reward Cache. Your suggestion is one of many that we're talking about and the discussion is still ongoing.
great question... as a content creator this would be amazing for thumbnails!
We have one in our test mode, and I would love to get it in the player's hands. There are some weird limitations with our UI that are difficult to get around right now though.
Right now I have 3 questions:
1) I'm very confused about the Cache's Vault function. I see there are only three past Hunt Passes in there for now. Will this Vault section of the Cache be expanded in the coming weeks or will this stay for the rest of the season until everything (from all tabs) rotate out for the next season and the Coins reset?
2) How exactly is sub-class gonna work? I didn't get the whole picture of what I read on the Roadmap. Please explain in detail if you can. (When I read sub-class I somehow think of Hybrid Vocations in Dragon's Dogma, but maybe that's not what you're going for.)
3) Also can you say anything about Skyfishing? Will that still have a chance in the future (maybe not a priority though) or is the idea completely scrapped?
> Will this Vault section of the Cache be expanded in the coming weeks or will this stay for the rest of the season until everything (from all tabs) rotate out for the next season and the Coins reset?
The Vault section will stay the same until the end of the season, when everything rotates out. We're going to see how everyone feels about that method and adjust based on future feedback.
About the Sub Classes. I see the potential in, I guess, enhancing combat? Any idea how this would play out? Meaning, are the current weapons edging towards roles such as Hammer (Tank) and these Sub Classes will further enhance the roles or is this a new introduction to how weapons will work in general?
Moreso the enhancing or altering your general playstyles and builds is the general goal, providing Slayers with some broader combat choices and experiences.
Love the Chronovore coming in with radiance. Just can't wait to see more. Hopefully we can get another sound teaser?
But the one question I have is how you are talking about the newest expansion while this current one is still in development. How do you juggle the upcoming one with the far off patch? Do you put heavy emphasis on one over the other or do you do all work on one and do little details on the other?
Behemoth related question: will we be getting some new Radiant behemoths? There are very few radiant behemoths and compared to Shock have the fewest amount of behemoths. I know you brought out some variants for Umbral, but will radiant get the same treatment? I just feel that Shock and Radiant are kind of feeling left out with their behemoth variance and need some love. I know that Thunderdeep Drask is coming back, but would like perhaps some confirmation that shock and radiant variants might come down the line in the future?
It's a balance for sure. Take today, for example. We are launching 1.6.1, finalizing 1.6.2, and getting all the new features ready for 1.6.3! Plus there are folks making sure we've got solid plans in place for the next season and beyond.
It takes a lot of smart people working closely and communicating a lot to make sure we are focusing on delivering quality now but also making good plans that incorporate feedback for the future. It's fun!!
We're not currently working on a shock or radiant variant - but would love to.
Love the Chronovore coming in with radiance. Just can't wait to see more. Hopefully we can get another sound teaser?
But the one question I have is how you are talking about the newest expansion while this current one is still in development. How do you juggle the upcoming one with the far off patch? Do you put heavy emphasis on one over the other or do you do all work on one and do little details on the other?
Behemoth related question: will we be getting some new Radiant behemoths? There are very few radiant behemoths and compared to Shock have the fewest amount of behemoths. I know you brought out some variants for Umbral, but will radiant get the same treatment? I just feel that Shock and Radiant are kind of feeling left out with their behemoth variance and need some love. I know that Thunderdeep Drask is coming back, but would like perhaps some confirmation that shock and radiant variants might come down the line in the future?
We're going to add more fun audio to the Roadmap soon!
Right now, our dev team is currently working on the Infinite Radiance content. Building and testing are happening in full force.
For the Heroes of Ostia Season, we've brainstormed the big beats and some of our designers are defining what they'll be. They will likely change a lot in the coming month as we figure out these features. By the team they're fleshed out, 1.6.X content should be wrapped up, and we can start the production of the 1.7.X. content.
We like to have our content chunks blocked out in advance so we know the sort of narrative we're serving our players. 1.7.X is combat and Ostia!
This is my second question, in the reward cache vault section? When will the items reset, is it like the old vault where after 7 days it replaces them with new items?
Nope, these items will be there until the end of this Season!
New phone, who dis? :o
wassaaaaaaaaaaap
The favro page has a picture of repeaters slayer for the weapon refresh, is that a hint at the next weapon getting retouched?
Will the Laughing Death mask ever return? Paid store cosmetic or vault?
Definitely. Reward Cache - and soon.
Turns out, later in May is the anniversary of Dauntless on consoles and the Hidden Blades Hunt Pass.
The favro page has a picture of repeaters slayer for the weapon refresh, is that a hint at the next weapon getting retouched?
Will the Laughing Death mask ever return? Paid store cosmetic or vault?
Who knows!?
The favro page has a picture of repeaters slayer for the weapon refresh, is that a hint at the next weapon getting retouched?
Will the Laughing Death mask ever return? Paid store cosmetic or vault?
Will the Laughing Death mask ever return? Paid store cosmetic or vault?
You can expect this to show up in the Reward Cache Soon™
1) Are you thinking about adding guild activities? (More or less it would be an evolution of Slayers link functioning would be the same)
2) I would like to offer a suggestion for having the exotic rumors bought in the trials store
We're planning to spend some time on guilds in a future season - keep an eye on the roadmap for updates! Exotics - we're bringing them back sooner than later. Roadmap should have more details soon!
Jordan mentioned in the past that some requested items that weren't in the vault sale would make it to the cache. Any idea when this will happen?
Today!
I know strikers is a newer weapon in terms of release for Dauntless. Is there any other plans to add in more weapons? If not then is there design changes if you loot the elemental variants of behemoths? Such as the void touched Drask or the Deepfrost Gnasher
We are totally talking about giving more reasons to hunt variants - different gear, etc.
As for a new weapon - we want to, and have some great ideas. For now, it's about finding the right time to focus on that.
Is Thunderdeep going to get a complete overhaul like Winterhorn did?
Yeah, if you were around in the Beta when Thunderdeep first appeared...it will be very different.
Will we ever return to old ramsgate with it overrun by umbral behemoths in a new hunting grounds
Ever since we destroyed old Ramsgate, we've talked about doing this.
Up until today, I've rarely had a need to consider using grenades in any hunt. Will grenades ever be touched up to make it into a more viable set of consumables?
Also, what are the plans for content beyond escalations?
Check out the roadmap!
https://favro.com/organization/e5b8ad4a71148d7b5940992b/f86fee6bdc9be495922f7de2
A new Hunting Ground with a new Legendary Behemoth to hunt! Portals! Sub-classes! That's just a taste of what's coming up.
Are the new things RPGs / Shooter or any broad category of game you can reveal?
I don't want to steal their thunder! They'll talk more when they're ready.
this is really REALLY exciting. Seeing hunting grounds become much more intricate environments with exploration and themes beyond just an element is really exciting and the kind of thing I had in mind when they were first talked about. You guys have made some really great locales in escalation and I'd really love to see more of that brilliant design make it into hunting grounds. A more fleshed out farslayer area with treetop huts that we can see in terra esca stuff like that all just has amazing potential. Ostia has a radically different look than every environment we've seen and I am really looking forward to it
Honestly. 1.6.3 has a new Hunting Ground that I am VERY excited about. The environment artists outdid themselves.
I got a couple questions for you guys...
Will we ever get a Strikers Special or Mods in the Trials Shop
When could we expect to get some Shock and Radiant Variants? Because ignoring those two elements sounds like a really dumb thing to do
Will the Weapon Refeshes be as ‘light’ as the Warpike Changes or could we see changes as drastic as the Sword Rework?
That is all, thanks
When we get some time to update the Trials shop, filling out the 'missing' mods/specials will be a priority.
The Refreshes will be similar in scope to the war pike changes. (Hence "refresh" instead of "rework")
Just a few questions? Stand by, this'll take a couple minutes. :)
ETA:
Did somebody
saytype "lore questions"?This may be a normal AMA, but I have lore questions and its been months since the previous lore ama. Feel free to answer as many as you can.
Do behemoths have organs and muscles to fulfill their bodily functions?
-They absolutely do, but since they aren't organic life forms (they're aetheric) their bodily functions don't correspond to the typical organic being's. They consume aether in all its forms (and some, like the Urska, even consume other Behemoths to get it) but process it very efficiently, so there's not a ton of waste.
Urska eats its prey, but does it actually digest them and shit their remains, or does it just absorb the prey fully into itself or puke them out?
Future Behemothologist over here! Like I mention above, since its prey is also aetheric life, it consumes them pretty efficiently. Most of the waste is expelled as particles or gas.
Basically there's not really an analog to "spore" for Behemoths in the sense of finding a bi ol' pile o' poo, but Slayers (especially Farslayers) are skilled at tracing those more ethereal aetheric waste products as well as good old-fashioned track-following and sign-gathering.
How does frostwulf call styxians, is it the howl, or does it have psionic abilities like boreus?
Priyani's not entirely sure whether there's a psionic element to it, but there is definitely a basic "rally round our Alpha" thing going on when it calls them in, perhaps with a heavy dollop of "I say! Our favourite prey, an inattentive Slayer, is quite distracted now, old chaps. Let us strike, shall we?" (The Styxian language is rich, complex, and completely indecipherable to humans, but it turns out that among themselves they're pretty loquacious.)
Are there current plans to reveal more about the other slayer civilizations(Farslayers, voidrunners, barbarians)?
Yes, we will be expanding on all those groups as the game continues, as well as bringing in new and previously unknown groups (often, admittedly, in relation to new event and hunt pass content—good thing it's always so creatively inspiring!).
Currently we are working on some narratives that will delve a lot deeper into some folks you didn't mention, btw. But we've already revisited the Farslayers and the Barbarians and would expect us to do so again, and the Void Runners are also a big dangling plot thread I want to pick up again in the future even if nothing is scheduled yet.
What is the current situation of Ostia and St.Avellaine? We were told about a rebellion in Ostia, but we haven’t gotten updates since Uesca, how is the rebellion going and how is it affecting St.Avellaine?
The Triumvirate is still in control of Ostia and they've developed a cold war-ish position with Avellainia for now--but one that could erupt into more open conflict later. The Triumvirate is said to be experimenting with one of the few near-universal taboos in the Shattered Isles—direct control of Behemoth as was done in the pre-Upheaval days—and if that were to be realized the war could heat up pretty quickly.
Which islands are closer to the Maelstrom? Is it just islands with stronger behemoths that are closer to it? Will we ever get an updated map of the shattered isles? The art book states that islands closer to the maelstrom are colder, has this been retconned?
Since Ramsgate is in a different position than it was when the art book came out, that's no longer necessarily true.
I think of the Maelstrom as analogous to the galactic core, and there is something, or some things, in there acting as the "black hole" in this arrangement. But unlike a real galactic core, this Maelstrom (which is a very long-lived and permanent storm that may have been around since the Upheaval) doesn't necessarily spaghettify you or show you that time is a flat circle, but it does hypercharge islands and Behemoths and spit them back out--the earlier Escalation islands were like this, though we got away from that with more recent escas.
But to more specifically answer your question: On average, the Behemoths closer to the Maelstrom are stronger, but the isles area all in constant motion that's tracked by people like Arkan Drew. So from a lore perspective a static map wouldn't really work (and tbh could put some unnecessary restraints on the narrative).
Side note: in terms of temperature, lower elevation = colder and higher elevation = hotter, and that corresponds to the bands of the aetheric spectrum you will tend to find there. Ramsgate and most of the Hunting Grounds should be considered in the goldilocks zone (known as the Helic Risers).
(End part 1 - turns out you only get 10k characters per post who knew?)
(Begin part 2!)
We are told that lower islands are colder and higher islands are hotter. If everything that is lower gets freezingly cold, how does the water system keep itself going? Wouldn't the water that falls into the void freeze down below and not recirculate? This goes entirely against the real world, is this just going to be “because da aether” or will it be retconned?
Behemothologist AND meteorologist, eh? I'm not scared!
You are obviously 100% right about how the hydrologic cycle works in the real world. I remember having my mind blown in 8th grade when our applied sciences teacher pointed out that if water, like almost everything else in the universe, got denser as it cooled instead of the other way around, ice wouldn't float, the oceans would freeze from the bottom up, and we wouldn't know about any of that because life as we know it would never have had a chance.
The Shattered Isles aren't just islands on a planet, though. They're suspended by the aetheric spectrum itself, pretty much, and that spectrum, like the light spectrum, changes from one end to the other.
So things in the lower reaches, into the Sky Below, and all the way to the surface of the old world (if it even still exists as such) get colder because directionally, that's the frost-ier end. Things get hotter the higher you go because that's the blaze-ier end. Terra tends to cling to the middle ground, just like Ramsgate and most of human civilization at this point.
That said, the hydrologic cycle still works as usual, more or less. Islands with lakes on them also contain natural springs or collect rainfall (which, fortunately, Slayers seem to avoid a lot?). True, the aetheric influence can have a more worldwide impact, making a place like Skaldeskar remain cold af even after it drifts into the Lower Risers, but one where the regular hydrologic cycle still functions.
How do the hunting grounds stay afloat? They’re constantly ravaged by multiple behemoths and slayers can’t always be active on the island, wouldn’t the island completely drained of aether by now, or is it more gameplay than lore?
The Behemoths are big, but the islands are bigger, and the isles of the Hunting Grounds represent some of the largest that are habitable. All of the islands that remain aloft do so because they have archonite cores that react to the aetheric spectrum in such a way that the island stays roughly in that band—or at least it has a tendency toward that band, even if it's been carried into a different one (again, like Skaldeskar). That archonite core, if not drained and consumed, will eventually "recharge" the island through resonance with the spectrum.
The HG islands can of course eventually be brought down with effort or a Behemoth population explosion, but one of the reasons they're the Hunting Grounds in the first place is that they're a relatively stable place to face off against the Bs.
Many islands are not so lucky, containing small or fracture archonite cores, and those can definitely be drained. And in much the same way we mostly only sort-of worry about a meteor strike or the sun growing into a red giant at some undetermined time or climate change turning us all into Costnerian gill-folk, for now, the fact that all of the Shattered Isles could, eventually, fall from the sky isn't something people are super-concerned about right now vis-a-vis the Hunting Grounds or other major settled island (and archipelagos) like the Ram, Avellainia, Ostia, Krolach, and Andar.
How do islands handle at most 3 types of aether each? Is it not possible for opposite elements to be present on islands?
Possible, but extremely unlikely lore-wise. It's aetheric physics. Opposite bands tend to want to separate and push apart, while others can resonate harmoniously. (Note that I say "lore-wise," but if it's for design purposes and makes the game better and more fun, Arkan Drew may discover a loophole upon deeper research.)
What are the mechanics of behemoth disintegration? Because it makes the behemoth become suddenly hollow, is that just animation or something intentional?
Once the "life force" part of the Behemoth is gone, everything holding the elements of the living-aether Behemoth immediately begins to break down. But those particles then spread into the atmosphere, and 1 in a million will land on a floating island, absorb just a bit of local aether, and begin to grow anew with frightening rapidity.
The reason you don't see child or baby Bs in general isn't just that they don't reproduce sexually, or because we don't necessarily want everyone beating up on cute and cuddly versions of our world-ending monsters—but they mature so quickly to adulthood (by design) they're exceedingly rare encounters and skittish until they're at full strength.
Is shock aether unable to create variants, or is just because of dev time constraints?
Not unable, no, just not any around at the present. Shock is very volatile. Behind the scenes, while the push to get Shock Escalation (the very FIRST Escalation) into the game was an exhilarating epic thrill ride, the focus was on the (at the time) brand-new hunt type more than variants.
In the time since, we have admittedly not gone back and added any to it (and I'm not sure we will). But there is some cool shock news you already may know: The Thunderdeep Drask is rumbling in the distance, getting a bit tired of GvK getting all the big-lizard press, and getting ready to call the thunder.
What is it that actually kills behemoths? Do they bleed out, succumb to trauma, or spend their aether? How do aether vents heal behemoths?
This is a really great question! I think it's easiest to say that, well, damage kills Behemoths. Duh. But obviously it's slightly more complex.
Damage and wounds, as you can see visually when they open up, actually cause living aether to bleed out of the wounds (though this is usally gaseous or particles). Once that matrix of living aether that keeps all the aetheric matter--it's body, in essence--can't maintain cohesion, it breaks down and the Behemoth dies. It then breaks down even further (from the inside out, as you noted) and then they spread (as described above).
Whew! That took a while. Is the AMA still going on? What year is it?
Pining our lore writer for you! If they have time, they'll get to this :D
For the fjords!
Is it possible to not have an island at all but instead a large ship that slayers can board? Ostians are proud of their ships, so imagine an island crashing against a Ostian ship. The story behind it will be that a large aether core lies at the center of the ship but is too unstable to move. The island will take time to remove, so slayers are called on constantly to remove the behemoths from the ship so that the Ostians can either remove the core or take the ship back whole (since they are a proud people). It would be something different from an island while still retaining that structure.
The idea of a fight on a massive ship has definitely come up, but no promises!
I sure did dig that big ship-based set piece in GvK, though...
About the Sub Classes. I see the potential in, I guess, enhancing combat? Any idea how this would play out? Meaning, are the current weapons edging towards roles such as Hammer (Tank) and these Sub Classes will further enhance the roles or is this a new introduction to how weapons will work in general?
A somewhat tortured analogy, but- if you think of a Dauntless build like a Magic: The Gathering deck, your weapon is like the color you choose (Blue, Green, Black, etc.) All weapons (colors) need to be equally viable at a high level, even if they're better or worse at certain mechanics than others. Like card draw or life gain in the case of Magic; Wound damage or Interrupting in Dauntless.
Sub-classes are meant to help define archetypes in Dauntless, give them more active gameplay, and add handholds to build around them. The equivalent in the Magic analogy would be control, aggro, combo, etc.
I couldn't make to to the scheduled AMA time, but to answer everyone who asked- the weapon refreshes for season 14 will be chain blades and repeaters.
These will be along the lines of the war pike refresh in terms of scope & how things change. For chain blades, fixing all the longstanding bugs and issues is a main priority alongside gameplay tweaks.
The repeaters refresh includes de-modularizing them so that they are crafted like other weapons.
I just want to know how you're all doing. Everyone staying healthy and happy?
<3 Doing good!
While it is nice that CBs are getting attention, the "refresh" terminology worries me in regards to one thing -- the chain throw attacks. They are probably the biggest and most disappointing leftover from when Dauntless as a game was very afraid of ranged capabilities, and are pretty much useless as a result.
Since I expect a weapon refresh does not involve heavy work in combo and animation departments, are there any plans to make the chain throws serve an actual function, and present a viable use-case to the players?
Short answer, yes. Giving all the attacks/combos in a weapon's kit a use case is a major goal for the reworks.
We can do animations if we need to (see pike rework). Ideally we'll find a way to not redo animations, as it saves that time for making new stuff though.
do u take into consideration that build with 4 same element armor parts gain some special perk?
It's something we've talked about a bunch.
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