There’s nothing like opening the Access Info menu in The First Descendant, finding the resource you need, and seeing it’s only available in a mundane, repetitive early-game mission. Finding this dull, some players are pleading with Nexon to make the grind “harder” but more rewarding.
One player sparked discussion about The First Descendant‘s repetitive grinding pattern in a July 29 Reddit post. “Doing normal content at level 40 is dull,” the player said, but given the resources they’re chasing come from the normal mission, they’re suggesting Nexon significantly boosts drop rates for completing a more difficult version of the mission.
“Higher risk, higher reward is always good,” another player said, while others agreed, saying there was nothing wrong with the level of grind offered by The First Descendant—as long as it was fun along the way. “This game’s grind is too boring, easy, and needs to be done too many times. Something has to change.”
A comparison many drew was, again, to fellow looter shooter Destiny 2 and its Nightfall system. Destiny players run Nightfalls for the unique Vanguard weapon on offer each week, but increasing the difficulty of the Nightfall meant a higher chance of getting the weapon and important crafting materials. Higher difficulty content also encourages more effort into build crafting—something the post’s author struggled to see the reason for. “At the moment I’m only doing builds for Intercepts and that’s it—doesn’t matter what else I do, I just melt shit.”
Another option players suggested was to allow duplicate crafting materials to be combined to make other necessary materials like stabilizers “so our time isn’t 100 percent wasted” and so The First Descendant players aren’t burned out along the way.
Others said that if players find their grind for a particular Descendant code or item boring, changing up the hunt and picking something else they want to work toward helps break the flow and that even if the reward is lesser, forcing variety will re-spark enjoyment in the grind.
The First Descendant is certainly one of the more grindy games to pique the interest of players recently, but those familiar with the grind in Korean MMOs—some of which Nexon has had a hand in producing—know this is another stroll in the park and are in it for the long haul.
We’ll see what Nexon has in store for us this week with the release of Ultimate Valby and Luna. I’m expecting an incredibly long grind to unlock the new Descendants, but a jump in drop chance for harder difficulty versions of repetitive missions is surely something worth considering.
