The Void Shard loop in The First Descendant is one of the worst grinds in the game. Nexon’s previous changes weren’t enough to satisfy players, so more improvements are in the works.
In the patch notes for Update 1.0.5, The First Descendant director Minseok Joo acknowledges that players don’t like the existing Void Shard loop. With the Update 1.0.5, Special Operations now drop seven times more Void Shards than before, and the team is considering removing Void Shards from the Void Fusion Reactor startup. “This would make the Fragments necessary only when the Reconstructing Device is used at the Fusion Reactor,” the director wrote.
This is great if you want to farm Void Fusion Reactors for drops like Transcendent Modules rather than to open Amorphous Materials, as you won’t have to grind Void Fragments for every run. “We’re taking a close look at how the reward loop we planned works in practice. We’ll try to finalize a reward loop that players will be satisfied with in the near future,” the developer added.
Players called grinding Outposts, Void Fragments, and Void Fusion Reactors one of the worst gameplay loops in The First Descendant. Fortunately, the developer is dedicated to making it better. Hotfix 1.0.3 increased the amount of Void Shards from Void Fragments, and Hotfix 1.0.4 added Void Shards as a reward to Special Operations. The same patch also reduced the cooldown timer for Vulgus Strategic Outposts down to one minute.
There’s no exact timeline for the release of this change yet. The developer promises to implement major quality-of-life improvements, including a pity system to guarantee drops during seasons one and two, so we might see Void Shard improvements there, too.
