The First Descendant dev promises 'a more rational and satisfying farming experience' days after nerfing the looter shooter's Destiny-style loot cave

Nexon acknowledges farming issues in 'The First Descendant' and promises a new system for easier item acquisition.

The First Descendant studio Nexon says it's working on an improved farming structure days after nerfing the looter shooter's fan-favorite Destiny-style loot cave.

For some context, The First Descendant recently reduced the amount of rewards you could get from the Fortress' Vulgus Strategic Outpost after mistakenly suggesting all other grinding spots would be buffed to match its output. That decision has naturally led to some confusion about Nexon's philosophy when it comes to The First Descendant farming more generally, and in the lengthy patch notes for update 1.0.5, the studio vaguely acknowledges the issue and says a solution is in the works.

The messaging is still vague at the moment, but Nexon says there's a whole new system in the works that'll make it easier to bag specific items.

"While all of our drop rate systems are operating fairly in The First Descendant, we do understand that some players are struggling with the vagaries of drop rate. To address this, we're planning to introduce a new system where you can more easily get the item you want after repeating the activity a certain number of times.

"The First Descendant has various missions and Amorphous Materials with chance-dependent rewards," reads a portion of the patch notes. "We're considering how we can effectively take care for the drop-rate issue in such diverse reward systems, and we're working to create a farming structure that players will be happy with. We hope to make improvements before long to provide a more rational and satisfying farming experience."

Until the most recent patch, the preferred method of quickly earning gold, EXP, and other resources in The First Descendant was the 'Valby run' method, which used the character Valby's 'Clean Up' skill to efficiently kill hordes of constantly respawning enemies at the Vulgus Strategic Outpost in the Fortress. Nexon initially said it would leave the Valby run alone and simply increase the rewards earned from other outposts to equalize everything, but later walked that messaging back and instead increased the Vulgus Strategic Outpost's spawn timer.

The whole situation is a little messy, but it's good to have acknowledgement from Nexon that'll ideally lead to a more consistent, reliable, and indeed "rational" farming system in The First Descendant.

In the meantime, here are the best First Descendant characters to pick before it's too late.