Dauntless Lays Out High-Level Details Of Progression Rework And Talks Playtesting

Phoenix Labs is upping its communication game again today, following up on its letter from CEO Jesse Houston last week. Two posts went up on Reddit today, talking about the Dauntless developer's plans for progression and a deeper dive into the company's playtesting philosophy and goals.

The progression post lays out the means by which Slayers will be able to reforge their gear after Patch 1.5 comes out in December and a new gear system is in place. As for your progress on the Slayer's Path, that will transfer over from your Mastery and quest progress, while Rams will be usable to unlock nodes on the Path. That's the "high level" description of what's to come, though the exact details will change as development progresses.

Meanwhile, the first State of Dauntless update touches upon a number of bases -- power creep, the meta, and Trials -- but focuses largely on playtesting, which -- shockingly -- is useful! It helps Phoenix Labs "validate our decisions," said both a system designer and senior designer, while combat designer Justin wants to make sure Slayers understand what's going on at all times during battle. Also, there are charts. Beautiful, beautiful charts.

All in all, the new hunt type coming in the update "represents our best thinking over the past year" and is being helped in its progression by the feedback the team gets from playtesters. "Hot topics" progression and solo queues will be covered in the next State of Dauntless report -- or whatever it's called.