Hey Slayers!
Welcome to the second installment of our monthly dev blogs discussing ongoing development work for The Shattered Isles. In today’s blog, we will be discussing a revitalized game mode that is being prototyped to potentially replace the current Hunting Grounds, and introduce some new inhabitants of the Shattered Isles! Let’s dive right in!
A New Take On Pursuits
Come Summer 2024, Pursuits will be making a return, with planned changes that will make them bigger and better than before! We are still in the early stages of development for this game mode, but we wanted to share some high-level ideas and a few of the things we have been working on – to allow you to share your feedback and suggestions with us as we continue to iterate and improve on our designs!
Our goal is to introduce new encounters and new ways for you to defend the Shattered Isles, all while keeping the focus on targeted Behemoth hunting and bringing you valuable rewards that will make every hunt worth your while.
Targeted Behemoths
With Pursuits, you would be able to choose a specific Behemoth to hunt each time you embark on a hunt. We know that the way the Hunting Grounds is currently set up can result in a lot of unnecessary repetition just to fight a specific Behemoth.
One of the challenges we currently face is figuring out how to make this main game mode fun and rewarding for players that have very different goals – ones that will want to just zero in on killing the targeted Behemoth and leave, and ones that enjoy exploring the island for other encounters and objectives.
Rewarding Objectives
Each island might also present a host of unique side quests and new encounters for you to discover. Ideas we are exploring include: protecting explorers, helping researchers discover new secrets about the Behemoths and the Shattered Isles, and defending structures from rampaging Behemoths!
Side quests may have themes that allow you to explore the world of Dauntless more deeply, so you might find ones that involve helping Xelya the Farslayer track a dangerous Behemoth, gathering data for Dr. Priyani, or protecting Granny Strega as she gathers some herbs. You could potentially earn quest rewards and power-ups to help with your Behemoth Pursuit.
New encounters may include things like other wandering Behemoths and other adversarial creatures you can fight, Behemoths attacking NPCs or structures on the island, shrines, and more! These encounters may change with every Pursuit, so each trip outside Ramsgate might bring you novel new combinations of challenges to overcome, all of which contribute directly to leveling up and improving your weapons!
One of the new creatures we have designed so far presents you with a stealth attack. At first glance, they look like gatherables you can interact with on the island. When you interact with them, you will either get a reward immediately or trigger a creature that you can fight for a greater reward. Note that, unlike the lesser creatures you might encounter on the Hunting Grounds before, these new creatures have far more complex mechanics. Each fight is not only challenging, but also rewards you handsomely!
Multiple Difficulty Levels
Each of the islands in Pursuits will likely have multiple difficulty levels. You may find similar Behemoths as the difficulty increases, but not necessarily the same ones always. For instance, one island might have an Embermane at Tier 1, but a Blood Fire Embermane at Tier 4. To unlock the different islands and their difficulty levels, you would have to complete new main story quests.
A Whole New World
The Shattered Isles are under constant threat from Behemoth attack, and we are currently working on a world map that will finally show off the frontier of the Shattered Isles in a way you have never seen before!
We will share more details about Pursuits as we progress. As we are still iterating and making design changes, the points we mentioned above are subject to change, so let us know your thoughts and feedback in our upcoming AMA, or anytime on Twitter, Reddit, and Discord! We value your input as we continue to make changes based on your feedback, in addition to what we already have planned.
Have you visited our Dauntless Community Hub yet? The hub is where you can find live updates on all our developmental news, in-game and community activities, and more! In October, we will be running a selection of weekend bonus events and celebrating the spooky season of Dark Harvest.
Clear skies, Slayers!
