As we all know, Dauntless has a farming problem. Fae Farm has stolen Devs from Dauntless resulting in less game content.

No, but seriously, the issue of excess parts and cells as well as guaranteed Behemoth spawns has been discussed quite a few times in the Dauntless community. Here's a suggestion with a solution which I believe can help kill those two birds with one stone, while staying true to the game's lore. I've divided the suggestion in sections for better understanding. No TLDR.

The Problem

Every slayer knows that their inventory has excess behemoths parts that have no further use after the desired weapons are crafted and powersurged. Same with the cells we get from opening the cell cores, although Devs sometimes add a quest or rumour, apparently to make players salvage them for Aetherdust usage.

The second and more problematic issue is that slayers, especially newer ones, have to deal with the frustration of farming behemoths that aren't guaranteed on any island. This problem isn't limited to farming parts for crafting gear, but also affects those who are looking to complete a rumour quest.

Currently, slayers have to deal with it by hopping from one island instance to another. Apart from the possibility of the desired behemoth not spawning, loading times and Arrival animations also eat up a lot of time making the grind quite lengthy.

The Solution

I would like to suggest a solution that will allow us to use those Behemoth parts and unused cells to help us guarantee the desired Behemoth we want. Basically, slayers would be able to craft a consumable using common drops from Lesser and Regular Behemoths, Aetherdust obtained from salvaging cells and Rams.

This consumable can be either a grenade or pylon whatever the players or Devs want it to be. Slayers will use this consumable by deploying it in the arena as a bait. Now, I assume there may have been a lot of bait suggestions in the past, but I'll still post this in detail for consideration and discussion.

Crafting --

As per the lore, Behemoths are created from Aether, feed on Aether and dissolve back into Aether when dead, except the broken parts don't dissolve and are retained.

As mentioned above, the consumable bait (grenade/pylon) will be crafted using Behemoth parts, Aetherdust and Rams. But specifically, the parts shall be Common drops (hide, scales, fur, etc) from a Regular Behemoth, that will be used to spawn the Dire or Heroic version of that Behemoth (since only they drop Epic and Rare stuff).

I am proposing the use of Aetherdust, from a lore POV, to kind of infuse a little amount of Aether in the Behemoth parts and make the resultant consumable potent with elemental energy (depending on the element of the Behemoth). Rams will obviously be used as fees by the NPC for completing the fusion of those two components.

Example 1: For spawning Earthshaper Fenroar, slayers will craft the consumable by providing Grimstone Hide from regular Fenroar + Aetherdust + Rams to the NPC.

Example 2: For spawning Thunderdeep Drask, slayers will provide Drask Hide from regular Drask + Aetherdust + Rams to the NPC.

The NPC can be Dr. Priyani since she is the researcher in Ramsgate. Lore could be that she partnered with the Middleman and General Kai to find a way to re-instill a little Aether in the Behemoth parts and make them vibrant with elemental energy, that can be used to attract hungry Behemoths of specific species (and then compress it in the form of a grenade or pylon).

Usage --

After crafting the consumable, which can be equipped in a similar way to grenades or pylons, the slayers can use it successfully only in the arena (obviously, since Behemoths cannot spawn out of arenas), otherwise they go waste.

Specifically, slayers will throw the Bait Grenade in the Aether Vent OR plant the Bait Pylon ensuring that the Aether Vent is within its radius. The Bait will consume all the Aether from the Vents to create a surge of Aether of that specific elemental energy, which will attract the Dire/Heroic version of the Behemoth (whose parts were used for making the Bait).

There could also be an Event-like timer of not more than 15 seconds so that other slayers could join the farming session. I think a 15 seconds wait is still better than reloading islands repeatedly. It would be somewhat like a triggered Event (e.g. Alyra) but without the Reward Cache for refilling supply.

The catch is the entire fight must be completed without access to the Aether Vent for healing since it would all be consumed (not a big deal for most players I think). Optional: If the Aether Vent is incomplete, slayers could rejuvenate the Vent by contributing their own HP to make the Aether Vent full OR slayers will need to deploy more Baits, corresponding to the amount of missing Aether.

Other Details --

The level of spawned Behemoths shall be according to the level of other Behemoths on that Island. The element of spawned Behemoths shall also be limited to the elements of that Island. Baits of incorrect element or Behemoth will go waste and expire without using up the Aether from the Vents.

There are 4 spawn locations on most islands, out of which only 3 are occupied by Behemoths, keeping 1 location empty. The empty spot is where the Bait consumable can be used, so availability of location shouldn't be an issue I think.

Also, perhaps such Baits should be usable only from a certain level of Islands, like from Conundrum Rocks or Coldrunner Key. Lore wise, it could be that the surge created from the Bait use is too low on lower islands to be significant enough to attract Dires or Heroics. Higher islands have more Aether in their environment so the surge created by the Bait is more powerful and, therefore, works.

I have seen Tempestborne Stormclaw and Scorchstone Hellion on mid-level islands like Undervald Defile (during Event), so I don't think summoning or triggering their spawn on such islands with a Bait consumable would be impossible.

The consumables could simply be named after the regular Behemoth + Bait (Fenroar Bait).

That's it. Feel free to add your suggestions. Perhaps the Devs will concoct a solution with something from the suggestions, if they come across this post.

Edit: Since there's already Part Alchemy and Specific Behemoth Hunts in production, I'll just keep this post open for your opinions and thoughts if the above suggestions were implemented.

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