The First Descendant is addressing a major farming exploit by buffing other resource farms

Since The First Descendant is a looter-shooter, farming resources efficiently take the front stage for long-term progression - and to some, even for personal enjoyment. After the recent patch 1.0.3 hotfix, a new 'Valby run' exploit surfaced that gives you everything you could ever want: XP, Kuiper Shards, Gold, and Modules, at an astoundingly high rate.

Many players were rushing to abuse this glitch before it would invariably get nerfed. However, rather than the expected crackdown on the Valby run, Nexon is going to buff multiple other common resource-farming spots.

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The Valby run exploit in The First Descendant is getting handled with hotfix 1.0.4 soon, but not with a straight nerf

Comments from the Game Director (Image via The First Descendant Discord)

The First Descendant's Vulgus Outposts are a battlefield side-objective where you draw out the Elite commander to disable the Outpost and get some rare ingredient drops. However, a recent exploit surfaced where players deferred killing the Elite indefinitely.

At the time of writing, this causes unusually high enemy spawns without cooldown, and the popular venue of choice for this massacre is The Fortress Outpost, an end-game area.

Over the course of two days, the exploit has already risen to be the meta Kuiper Shard and XP farming tactic. It is called 'Valby run', as the most efficient party comp contains multiple players with high-range Valby builds to make DoT water carpets.

Its lure is so universal that many players have rushed to craft Valby for the sole purpose of cheesing the Outposts. Keeping this player investment in mind, the developers put out a post yesterday with an unexpectedly balanced outlook on the exploit.

Posted on an official The First Descendant Discord post, Game Director Minseok Joo himself addressed the Valby run in an open letter to the players, saying:

"To maintain our game, and to be adored by our players for a long time, we believe that it is wrong to just look on and leave the unbalanced content, which is providing biased rewards."

However, they will still introduce a countermeasure to ensure that 'Valby runs' continues to be a viable general strategy. The Director's comment explains how they plan to balance out the exploit:

"So, we would like to inform you, that we’re preparing a patch without completely blocking The Fortress Outpost issue and to keep allowing the players to enjoy playing like before. However, at the same time, we will update other farming locations to match the efficiency, equivalent to The Fortress Outpost."

The comment then elaborates further on the goal of The First Descendant hotfix 1.0.4, saying:

"The main purpose for patch 1.0.4 is to reduce the cool time for Vulgus Strategic Outpost and rebalance the locations for collecting Void Fragments. Also, we’re planning to diversify methods for Gold supply by enhancing Gold efficiency within Special Operations."

The main nerf to the Valby runs will not be to the character itself - so all Valby mains can rest assured.

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Update: Translation misinterpretation caused some confusion regarding Fortress Outpost treatment in The First Descendant 1.0.4

While we, and The First Descendant community, interpreted the game director's message as-is, it appears there is a translation gap.

A crucial part of the original post read:

"However, at the same time, we will update other farming locations to match the efficiency, equivalent to The Fortress Outpost."

Nexon has now posted an alternative translation to more accurately reflect the game director's intention:

"However, at the same time, we will update the Fortress - Vulgus Strategic Outpost to match the efficiency of other farming locations."

That being said, the message still states the intent to buff Void Fragments and Vulgus Outpost Coolodowns across the board for patch 1.0.4 - so our original understanding of the situation still stands correct. Valby runs will also remain just as viable, only with less efficiency on Fortress Outpost.