Today, Phoenix Labs have folded out the first main content update with regard to Dauntless, their free-to-play brawler where players team up in groups of four to battle giant monsters. Create Your Legends provides a new tutorial, a Halloween-themed event, and—not least of all—the transition away from its current loot box-based microtransaction model.

On Thursday, Phoenix Labs hosted a roundtable to talk about the new up-date and announce their own plans to decrease loot boxes in favor of a system they feel is more "player-first. inch

"One of the stuff that we felt is not the best of encounters is our loot box-based monetization, inch said design movie director Chris Cleroux. "We're going to be moving away from that as our own primary monetization to more of a bespoke model like Warframe and Path of Exile, where you can choose and pick the things you want to purchase rather than go through the Cheap Path Of Exile items gotcha-box method. We feel like it's a lot more player-first in how functions, and it also reflects a changing interest in the community. "

Currently, Dauntless lets players purchase cosmetic alterations to their character through Chroma Cores—devices that sound suspiciously like a loot package in that they include a random assortment of banners, emotes, and sigils of varying examples of rarity. It was a microtransaction model which Phoenix Labs said it settled upon years ago and never revisited. The developers said that, soon, that system will be replaced by one that lets you pay directly for the cosmetics you want.

The decision came in response to both suggestions from the community as well as their own internal discussions, said co-founder as well as executive producer Jesse Houston, who, right after reading a recent Ars Technica article about loot boxes and also the annoying trend that every game must have all of them, decided Dauntless wouldn't be one of them. "When we sat down, Chris and I had been kind of the main motorists in this decision, inch he said. "We were just like, yes fuck, this article is actually kind of right. A few just move away [from loot boxes]. I think players will view which more favorable, therefore we're going to do it. inch

"I don't wish to build a game that folks expect and are okay with, " Houston added. "I wish to build a game where folks get driving the choices that we create and they believe what we do and we do it for the right reasons. Everything I do, I want to do it with the player in mind and I would like the player to feel like we're doing it to allow them to deliver a quality experience that they will then praise us with their cash. I do not want to build a company that is reputed for being able to extract capital, or some other hokum, out of [players]. "

It's one of the cool changes arriving the Forge Your Legend update. The very first phase of a completely revamped tutorial can also be being added, one which Phoenix Labs seems is a much better introduction to the rather down and dirty monster brawling and will better arm brand new players as the video game nears open beta in early 2018. Also coming is the Dark Harvest seasonal occasion, which makes the floating sky-islands of Dauntless a lot spookier whilst also adding a few new scary brand new versions of behemoths to hunt.

For veterans, the group has been working on expanding the player customization tools, adding more hairstyles and makeup options. Forge Your Legend also replaces a lot of the placeholder weaponry and armor, so you can finally feel happy with the beasts you've slain and the gear they've dropped.

Create Your Legend isn't very the only major up-date coming in 2017, possibly. During the preview, Phoenix Labs also teased a December up-date that features a massive revamping of Dauntless' combat and progression. Along with two new behemoths and a new weapon type, players will be able to upgrade their gear through a new advancement system, adding cheap poe items much more depth to combat.

Dauntless is in shut beta right now, which you can buy into if you're interested, but sometime right after February 2018 it will launch into open beta and be free-to-play. That puts this toe-to-toe with the other big behemoth within the room, Monster Hunter: World, which is because of launch on consoles in January as well as (hopefully) soon after upon PC.