Dauntless Closed Beta 0.3.1 Patch, Frostfall Event Lore

Following the release of the major Sharpen Your Skills update, the folks at Phoenix Labs have launched another smaller quality of life update for their co-op action-RPG Dauntless. This 0.3.1 patch was for the most part guided by community feedback and, apart from fixing a few bugs, it focused on making the game more user-friendly. Here are the latest patch notes, along with a list of known issues that should be addressed in the near future:

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Airship Ready Rooms
  Top Slayers know that coordinating the right tools for the job only makes a difference when it complements their hunting party! To make this a smooth process and enhance the matchmaking experience, we are adding the Airship Ready Room. This new lobby system will allow Slayers to form strategies, tailor complementing loadouts, and lay out tactics before the hunt. Expect to encounter more than a few bugs with this first iteration — and let us know about it in your feedback.
• Private Hunts
  Sometimes three or four is a crowd and you’d rather hunt invite-only. And, while the life of a lone wolf is often short in the Shattered Isles, it doesn’t stop some Slayers from going ronin. To accommodate different social situations, we are introducing a private hunt system. This will allow for both solo hunting and for dedicated two, three or four person hunts. This system is in its early stages, so for now you’ll need to party up before embarking on a private hunt. Let us know what you think!
• Weapon Crafting++
  The thrill of forging a new weapon — What could be better? Per player feedback, we’re adjusting and increasing Slayer weapon damage to make each weapon upgrade tier feel more impactful.
• Yonder Keys
  Slayers let us know that the transition into the Yonder Keys was a bit of a brick wall. Getting one-hit on your first hunt never feels good! We are tuning Behemoth damage against different armour tiers. This should reducing daunting by 234% and improve being Dauntless across the board.
• Hammer Boops
  If the hammer’s good at one thing, it’s acting like a rocket sled as you jump off of a cliff. If it’s good at two things, it’s rocket sledding and interrupting Behemoth attacks. Per player feedback, we are increasing the speed of the hammer secondary attack from stationary for greater interrupt utility. Let us know what you think!
• Archonite Requirements
  Archonite became a vital resources with Sharpen Your Skills. We heard from players that Archonite requirements for crafting gear needed another look. This change will allow slayers to more quickly craft and upgrade gear
• Graceflowers
  You should stop and smell the flowers. But not… this much. We’re increasing the number of Graceflowers that will spawn and making them less hard to find.
• Titles
  Granted Founders Pack titles for anyone who may not have had them returned after the recent wipe.
• Fixed a bug that caused daily hunts to disappear when failed. They will now only disappear once they are successfully completed.
• Fixed bugs that caused resolution to scale improperly when switching from fullscreen to windowed.
• Fixed a bug wherein Skraev and Kharabak’s armour recipes had incorrect requirements.
• Fixed a bug that caused an invalid axe recipe to show up at the armoursmith. We now offer only the finest axes.

CLOSED BETA KNOWN ISSUES

• Pressing play will currently connect you to the last region you were connected to. To ensure you are connecting to the correct region, you should cycle to a different region in the selector and then move back to your desired region before connecting. For example, if you were last connected to EU but typically play on NA, you will need to cycle away from NA and then back on the server selector before pressing Play or else you will be connected back to EU.
• Menus, icons, and controller support are a continued work in progress. Please use a mouse and keyboard where a controller is not fully supported. There may be menus where controllers do not function properly. The Airship Ready Room has limited controller functionality that we are working to expand upon in the future.
• We’re continuing to optimize and improve performance, especially in Ramsgate. If your game is crashing while joining or while in Ramsgate, please try lowering your graphic settings (especially resolution).
• The newly added systems are a continued work in progress and will continue to be tweaked and changed as we gather feedback and data from players.
• Do not log into Dauntless from multiple places at the same time. It will lead to account data corruption.
• To turn in “Beasts of the Blue” Slayers will actually need to defeat an Embermane (not Kharabak), a Drask, and a Skraev as well as earn Slayer Rank 15.
• If you are in a party and your game crashes, you will need to leave that party before you can depart on a new hunt.
• When you salvage an item, you will need to fully exit the menus before the notes show up in your inventory.
• When you purchase any items from the in-game store, you will need to fully exit the menus before they will show up in your inventory.
• Founders credits are currently missing from the main menu, we are aware and are working to add this back.
• Some Behemoths may not drop style cores, we are currently looking into why this is.
• Behemoths may occasionally walk in irregular patterns. Fix this by slaying them.

And when not working on fixing those issues, the Phoenix Labs devs are busy preparing the festive Frostfall event. A few paragraphs about it:

The sudden infusion of frost in the Shattered Isles influences the behavior of Behemoths, especially those that feed on the cold. Skraevs and Pangars, for example, find more territory suddenly open to their chilly presence. And although this sudden surge in frost aether makes Behemoths even more aggressive and deadly, the people of Ramsgate meet this chilling challenge every year with steadfast determination and spirit-raising social gatherings. And none do more to give Ramsgate reasons to celebrate the season than the Slayers themselves.

The annual Frostfall hunts are a busy time for the Slayers, but most enjoy the competition and camaraderie of a challenging pursuit. To honour their efforts, the Regent of Ramsgate has ordered his coinsmiths to strike a healthy supply of seasonal coins called silver stars. Silver stars prove to Kat’s scouts that a Slayer can handle the deadliest Behemoth pairings, more badges of status than currency.

The Bosun has taken to experimental creations during Frostfall, incorporating cold-blooming crocus flowers into everything from self-contained fires to lantern coolant to bountiful airdrops. And the time-honoured family Frostfall Warmer recipe he attributes to his great-great-grandfather Owen is a key ingredient in another Frostfall creation: canned campfires. A touch of blaze, he says, adds just enough kick.

During Frostfall ordinary citizens tend to stay huddled in their homes, sharing large meals, exchanging gifts (often of food or seasonal treats), and celebrating with friends. Slayers and civilians alike enjoy steaming glasses of blaze-kissed seasonal drinks to help keep the cold away. And of course youngsters everywhere (along with the young at heart) await the arrival of Silver Nikola, a legendary figure who spreads gifts and cheer from her magical airship to all the people of the Shattered Isles on the coldest night of Frostfall.