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[2020] AMA with Phoenix Labs and Founder/CEO, Jesse Houston


Original Post — Direct link

Hey everyone,

As most of you know, we were acquired yesterday by Garena. Garena has been one of our longest-running investors. They have been a close partner and ally for four years now. You may know them from publishing games like Call of Duty: Mobile, Arena of Valor, and League of Legends to millions of players. You can read all about it in Jesse's letter: https://playdauntless.com/news/letter-from-jesse-2020/

That being said, this is an easy time to panic speculate so we thought this would be a good way to answer some questions from the community. We want to provide the answers you need right away.

The long and short is Phoenix Labs has full creative control of Dauntless. We are still the same team, and our main focus is improving the game. This acquisition will provide us with the resources and support to push Dauntless to new heights.  

Ask us, including our CEO and Founder, Jesse Houston, anything you’d like to know about Phoenix Labs and Dauntless, future, present, and past.

External link →
almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Alihsoccer

Will you ever change the look of Ramsgate?

We’re actually currently working on some big changes to Ramsgate. Check the roadmap for more Details

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Alihsoccer

What’s you’re favorite in game cell?

Iceborne for sure

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Alihsoccer

Was dauntless bought out yesterday or is this a partnership?

Garena purchased the remaining outstanding shares of Phoenix Labs yesterday. Garena has been a great partner for the last 3 years. We absolutely envision this as a partnership, where each group can help support the goals of each other. I think we have a lot to help the Free Fire team with and I believe they have a lot to teach us. For example, we’re almost entirely built around Console and PC development, and have done some great and innovative things there, we can absolutely share that AAA dev knowledge with the Free Fire team. Meanwhile, we have not done a lot of mobile development and very much have a vision of bringing Dauntless to mobile, I can’t wait to learn from them!

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by goodclass

What will Garena be doing to the game that will clear up things for the stated release of more content?

Currently there is no plan for Garena to work on Dauntless at all. Phoenix Labs will continue to be the developer on Dauntless.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Dahvikiin

Any ETA for client-side detection? or servers outside USA and EU?

It’s currently actively being tested internally! It’s actually live but shut off (because it’s still has bugs we want to resolve)

almost 5 years ago - /u/Jordahan - Direct link

Originally posted by ShitInUrHandAndClap

Is the water in Ramsgate wet?

Well... I.. Uhh...

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by NotOverfrostyZ

Why did y’all make it sound like a partnership when y’all were really bought out by Garena? Feels like y’all were purposely trying to misdirect your community.

We went back on Twitter to clarify, as when we drafted the messaging, we didn’t foresee the confusion. Internally we consider this a partnership as it’s not structured as a classic acquisition. Phoenix Labs will remain almost entirely independent, I am still the CEO and Head of Dauntless, we’re keeping our email addresses, and you wont see Garena in any of our branding in general.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by nokytn

Are we ever gonna get another city to roam around in?

Maybe! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

almost 5 years ago - /u/Penguinjetski - Direct link

Originally posted by beardyboiii

Will the Lightning Escalation rewards still be available in the new hunt pass tomorrow? I’m desperately grinding for that Malkarion transmogs set.

Do you mean the talent tree? The Hunt Pass and Escalation rewards are separate. So yes, you'll still be able to play the Lightning Escalation once the new Hunt Pass starts tomorrow!

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by ShitInUrHandAndClap

Is the water in Ramsgate wet?

oh... oh no

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Ragnaniak

Hi there! Huge step for Dauntless! I'm more than happy to see the game thrive.

Your announce was mentioning "New languages". Could you tell us more about that?

Our localization efforts (along with our awesome translation team) have been focused on English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. We want to localize the game into Russian and Polish, and in the future to Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other languages!

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Vozu_

Can you give us a thorough answer on what is the reason for the lack of transparency when it comes to in-game numbers? The most obvious problem is, of course, the drop-rates (of artefacts, bounty tokens, epic components) but the community had to invest a considerable amount of work into understanding and figuring out damage numbers, interactions between bonuses and so on.

What is the reason for this behaviour? I am asking primarily because PHXL has always been doing their best to be a player facing, open and fair company (we see that in many aspects of the game), yet somehow this element of the game remains obfuscated for no good reason (at least in my opinion).

Or is that a shameful admission that the current tooltip and information-disclosure systems just not good enough to dynamically adjust to changes, and as such everything is kept vague to avoid confusing inconsistencies? Because we already have examples of that, like the drop tables on the airship.

Sorry for the long question, but this has been bugging me for a while, and I really think it needs addressing.

Drop rates aren’t something we’re interested in sharing because we change them very regularly, and sometimes via live updates. When you start to broadcast this stuff, folks will often log them on places like the Wiki, forums, and in third party tools. We don’t have the bandwidth to communicate with everyone every time we make these changes (often times several times a week) and so we’ve decided to not share the underlying details, even though we know folks would love to know them.

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by Alihsoccer

What’s your favorite bethemoth?

Reza for the armour, Shroud for the weapons, Quillshot for the fight.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Sinistrem

Any chance of adding more complexity and depth to existing weapons? In many cases right now you just spam one combo most of the time, with barely any decision making in the process.

Yes, we definitely want to continue to add more to the weapons we currently have as well as introducing more weapons to the game.

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by General_Fives

Will the New colour System Come soon?

To clarify: what do you mean by colour system?

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Drylen

Warpike Rework ?
AirStrike Rework ?
Pet ?
Housing ?
Funny activities in Ramsgate ?
Guild's/Personnal's Farm or House or HUB. (For being more than 4 together) ?

More than 3 of these are a yes ;)

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by raypembar7

No news about returning servers to the SA region? Should we give up and lose hope?

This is one area I’m super excited to get help from Garena with. They’ve got a great operations team in Brazil who we’re being introduced to over the next few weeks. Ideally, we’re able to work with them to find a solution to bring back game servers into South America.

almost 5 years ago - /u/Phx-FireJuggler - Direct link

Originally posted by MooseGooseHat

Load times on Switch are monstrous. Can they be optimized? Loading Ramsgate takes forever after a hunt.

Yes! I'm on the performance team, and load time optimization (on Switch especially) is certainly on our radar.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by xanaxphantom

Going forward, how do you think this will impact the current release schedule of Dauntless.

Thanks,
Xanny

Hey Xanny! For the immediate future, not a whole lot. As we grow the team and broaden our focus, I think we’re see more stuff coming. I want to be careful about over promising as this stuff can take time to play out. But we have a vision of expanding to help make moar Dauntless.

/edit autocorrect fail (I’m on my iPad)

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by KorrupiKid

Can we expect to see more lore in the future? At the current point in time most lore is from outside the game itself and from previous available quests. Being a huge fan of the world and it's inhabitants, I feel like a lot of stuff doesn't get the attention it deserves. Even with all the lore currently available I still find myself asking a lot of questions.

I'd like to see more lore brought up when new behemoths gets announced. A good example was the release of Koshai. It gave a good look into how big a threat Koshai was and its impact on the shattered isles.

Also bring back some of the "lost" lore that was part of the previous questline.

Yeah, absolutely. We always want more lore, both in-game and out! As far as marketing goes, we are working on a plan to incorporate more lore flavour text into our marketing efforts as well (inbox, newsletters, website, social media).

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Dahvikiin

Any ETA for client-side detection? or servers outside USA and EU?

Also we have servers outside US and EU already. The only area we’re missing servers today is Africa and South America, and that is due to logistics issues related to getting hosting that fits our needs at a price that makes sense. We ABSOLUTELY will be getting the SA servers back online, it isn’t if it’s when.

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by gtez

Maybe! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by goodclass

What will Garena be doing to the game that will clear up things for the stated release of more content?

We are planning to expand our team, which will allow us to create more content on a faster cadence <3

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Vozu_

Why would the rates change that often? This sounds excessive from the point of view of a player unless the rates are adjusted dynamically upon releasing a new behemoth/piece of equipment and tinkered with based on progression numbers, then finally stabilised.

But even then, several tweaks a week sound like way more than necessary. Could you explain how can it happen that a rate is changed so aggressively?

This is a fairly normal amount for most non-competitive live service games. Also we don’t release changes in giant batches in terms of balance tweaks, we may see that a level 3 Gnasher sword is doing a little to much part damage and drop it a little bit. Then check a different weapon. There are over 100 folks actively developing against Dauntless every day, that means there’s A LOT of changes that have been made. Over 180,000 changes have been made to the game client alone in the last 4 years. And that doesn’t include the web servers, the platform services, or any of the live data tweaks, etc...

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by KorrupiKid

Next season as in Aetherpunk or the one after?

Next escalation season there will be a new behemoth! Not tomorrow <3

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by Dragonpeter86

Will the Nintendo Switch version receive any updates to increase graphics and framerates?

Totally. Our team is constantly working on optimization for all platforms, and will continue to do so.

almost 5 years ago - /u/Phx-FireJuggler - Direct link

Originally posted by ttrixy

Does this open up many things for Dauntless, and for you guys?

As in, is this beneficial and will give you guys more resources to make the game better and satisfy your playerbase?

Also, what is your target in term of players (casuals and competitive) when it comes to Dauntless? There is many complaints about the game being a huge carry-fest and that the game holds the player's hand way too much.

Personally, I'm really excited for the future of Dauntless. This will allow us to take a more long-term approach when planning, and build things in a more sustainable way. It gives us more stability.

almost 5 years ago - /u/Phx-FireJuggler - Direct link

Originally posted by Dragonpeter86

Will the Nintendo Switch version receive any updates to increase graphics and framerates?

Yes, Switch performance is something I am actively working on as we speak, and it's a primary focus of my team. You'll see some improvements in the next few patches.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Fran_19

Where are you hiding Thunderpeep drask?

Drask is a very old behemoth and needs some love. When we have capacity to do a rework on him, we’ll see a very large number of changes on him.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Chuka_Dooka

I understand that the main focus is Dauntless (similar to Riot Games is with League of Legends) so could we see Dauntless expand into other media like graphic novels, figures, spin-off games, animated shorts, etc?

I would really love this. I think we have a great world where many stories can be told. I’m super keen to continue to develop narrative both in game and out.

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by Tamned

Are there any plans to look at potential pets?

P.S. Will the doggo by Lady Luck's store ever get event costumes? Very important.

1) Pets are something that we are all VERY motivated to have in Dauntless. 2) I would like to also petition for a costume on the turtle

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Anime-SniperJay

Any plans to add something of a semi open world aspect? Somewhat like Monster Hunter

There are some great ideas rolling around about how we can further develop the islands. We’ve got some great stuff cooking that I can’t share yet, but it’s gunna blow your socks off.

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by Rucaodermio

WHEN A PHOENIX BEHEMOTH??? .. i mean...

WE CAN'T ENCOURAGE KILLING PHOENIXES! (But for real, that would be so freakin cool).

almost 5 years ago - /u/Penguinjetski - Direct link

Originally posted by Izadude

Are there going to be any Oceanic servers?

Already there!

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by bunheadwhat

WE CAN'T ENCOURAGE KILLING PHOENIXES! (But for real, that would be so freakin cool).

There are a number of beliefs about the mythical Phoenix. I subscribe to the one where there can only be one in existence at any given time. So making a Phoenix Behemoth means that we’d kill the One True Birb. This would be bad as I wouldn’t have anywhere to work anymore.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by mayoineko77

Monster XXXter is famous action game in South korea. Almost of korean has own gaming PC but resctict on Epic store so cannot playing normal way. Any plans to localizing and release to South Korea?

There’s a number of legal hurdles to supporting Korea’s anti-addiction laws, as we mature as a product more, we’ll definitely get support happening.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by FroZ_Shadow

Are we going to be getting a new weapon with this new season?

Nope - It takes a LONG time to get weapons right. It’s Soon(tm) but not super soon. Sorry!

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by GrizzLeo

/u/gtez Why don't you answer my phone calls any more? Where did I go wrong? 😢

Real talk though this is exciting, it makes me happy to see the success and growth of Phoenix Labs and Dauntless. With this additional support, will the team take on ideas that may have been shelved because of difficulty to implement?

Cause Discord refuses to save my bloody password and I hate using it for that.

And yes, definitely will revisit stuff we’ve not thought about. We recently talked about adding the first thing we cut due to scope in the history of the game. (No spoilers ;) )

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by JontheNerd

I guess my main concern is either the game being shut down or drastically altered due to a situation where decisions were made to change the game to make as much money as possible and thus becoming unsustainable.

I am really enjoying the game right now (recently got back into it) and can really see it staying around for a long time.

Garena has been an investor for more than 3 years. If they didn’t like how we operated the business, I doubt they would have bought us. If past history can be an indicator of future action, I have a very strong feeling we’re in better shape today than we were last year.

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by Cpt_Maelstrom

Any plans on "Behind the Scenes" or "Work in Progress" streams? I would like to see how things were made, what was the base idea, balancing and stuff.

Other question, any plans for more competitive mode(s)? Like, a 1vs1 Trial (arena) run or something.

1) We are working on "The Making of X Behemoth" videos for our YouTube as we create them, starting with the Behemoth who is arriving in the next season of escalation.

2) As far as I am aware we are focused on cooperative modes at the moment.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by MooseGooseHat

Cool, thanks! I play exclusively on Switch. Great work getting on there :)

One of the reasons we delayed Mobile is to focus on performance on Switch and consoles. We’re a relatively small team for the size of game we operate and so we needed to make a priority call there.

almost 5 years ago - /u/Penguinjetski - Direct link

Originally posted by [deleted]

Are there any plans to look at potential pets?

P.S. Will the doggo by Lady Luck's store ever get event costumes? Very important.

Fun fact - the Ramsgate doggos are named Max and Bruna :)

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by frostyjokerr

Congratulations on the extended partnership everyone at Phoenix Labs!

My question is, are there any guild related things in the works (early stage)? Such as a club house in the new Ramsgate rework, bonuses for slaying with Guildmates, mini-games, etc.

There’s a brand new team that we spun up recently that is focused on new social features such as more guild stuff. Right now they are polishing the friends list. I can’t wait to share more of their vision.

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by gtez

I would really love this. I think we have a great world where many stories can be told. I’m super keen to continue to develop narrative both in game and out.

DAUNTLESS COMIC WHEN

almost 5 years ago - /u/Penguinjetski - Direct link

Originally posted by Anosyn

Hey!

New player here, playing since 3 days, and I REALLY like it so far. Now, I'm interested in your honest to god opinion, would you as devs recommend the upcoming elite pass to a university student who only has a couple of hours a week to play?

Oh, and also some tips to get good at the game, if you have some. 😄

Thanks for the support! I'm personally really into the look of Aetherpunk, so I'm definitely going to drop $10 on it. You can be pretty strategic with your bounties so a few hours here and there will go a long way towards progressing through the Hunt Pass. That said, you should always spend your time (and money) wisely! :D

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by tehMorag

Any chance on a rework of the queue system to lower the minimum 30 second timer to leave Ramsgate?

We saw the new Reapater Weapon hit the store and came with some varied feedback. How did this experiment go and how will it influence what you see as a "good fit" for the store in the future?

Right now they are seen as Exotics but I feel there could be something bigger ever since the mod system came into play for weapons. What is in the future for new weapon sub types that change up gameplay?

And because I'll keep asking, any chance of bringing back the alpha hammer (was more focused on using the blast and elemental debuffing)? :)

Hi /u/tehMorag <3 - I think we’ll revisit the queue system soon-ish as we get to work on some new island experiences.

I think the Twin Suns was a great addition to the store, I’m not sure what the future holds there to be honest.

Hammerbro’s unite (Not sure of the specific answer, but I love Alpha hammers so much too - That’s more dibs’ area and something I should be super careful to comment on)

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by OppressedGamer01

Will this partnership change Dauntless’ vision much going forward? Will there be more focus on cosmetics or will it stay the same as it is right now?

The acquisition does not change the vision of Dauntless. We are still Phoenix Labs, and we still want to bring our awesome game to as many people as possible. We are excited to focus on quality of life improvements and more game modes - basically we want to double down on making the current Dauntless the best it can be (and more).

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

I gotta run to some meetings! Thanks so much for the great questions! I’m super excited to keep working on Dauntless for a long time with y’all!

almost 5 years ago - /u/Penguinjetski - Direct link

Originally posted by [deleted]

Thanks for that. Edit: I forgot to ask because the pup by the bar just seems like a Max, but which is which?

IIRC Bruna has silver-grey fur, Max has blondish-brown fur!

almost 5 years ago - /u/bunheadwhat - Direct link

Originally posted by General_Fives

Yes i mean the dye sheens

I have no timeframe for them at the moment - sorry! <3

almost 5 years ago - /u/Penguinjetski - Direct link

Originally posted by Nosnorb94

Where are these servers based? I feel like I have a lot of latency issues playing from Australia.

Not sure about exact location but we have servers spun up in Australia and Oceania in general.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by Nosferatuu777

Maybe someone will teach Drask how to aim too.

Cause when you guys hit him with the nerf hammer, he seems to have forgotten how to do so.

Yeah, we hit him with the Nerf jack hammer. He used to be a triple shot sniper. Maybe one day someone will bring reimplement that encounter for a Trial. Though I doubt folks would love it as 3 people would be dead before they land in the arena.

almost 5 years ago - /u/gtez - Direct link

Originally posted by ocotfungus

On the topic of liking Iceborne, do you feel as though the aim of dauntless has changed since the beta? In the beta/alpha it took 10-15 minutes to fight things, you didn't have potions given to you for free, you didn't have self revives given for free, and you could actually fail hunts. Has that aim, for a difficult game that didn't hold your hand and you actually had to be decent at the game to win fights, gone out the window? I don't want to sound rude, but I want to understand if the "casual" experience becoming the main focus is an accident or the new aim of Dauntless?

Not at all. But I don't think that removing things that were anti-fun means that the game got casual. Building a system that supports forgetting to bring health pots and wasting 10 minutes of a group's time is not good game design.

I think making a game that's fun for groups to play is the focus. Dauntless' vision statement hasn't changed. It’s about being a bad ass playing with your friends slaying behemoths in a science fantasy world.

Over the years, some stuff has gotten easier. Some stuff has gotten harder. Some stuff has gotten too easy because tutorialization is hard and adjusting difficulty can be a good idea. For example I feel (and this isn't a shared opinion throughout the studio) that the path to 'Into the maelstrom' is too fast, and I feel we should increase difficulty and at the same time add a bunch of tutorials to facilitate learning core mechanics better (Dodge roll iframes for example)

The nature of a live game is for us to change stuff and see what happens. As a small team sometimes we won't come back to it for a long time (Drask).

almost 5 years ago - /u/Phx-FireJuggler - Direct link

Originally posted by -ShagginTurtles-

Obviously I'm about 5 days late but is there any plans for the Switch version to get graphic updates?

I notice on everything else the eyes for the Shrowd helm glows but on switch they're just always white. I don't know if that's a bug or just something that wasn't put into the Switch version

Sounds like a bug to me! I'll log it in our internal database. :)

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