The Cell Vendor isn’t the only thing Slayers can look forward to in patch 0.5.5. We’re also putting your feedback to work in the form of major improvements to matchmaking! We know that Slayers want faster load times, more customization flexibility, cohesive parties, and reliable hunt scaling, and we’re delivering on all fronts.

Take a Load Off

Slayers will no longer need to hang out in their airship while they’re waiting for other players to join their hunt.

Instead, you’ll be able to roam around the city as we match you with a party. Get slicked up with Gregario, embark on a rooftop adventure, or make a few improvements to your gear! The game will inform you when a match is ready. Then, you can choose whether or not you’re ready to leave for the hunt. Additionally, Slayers will no longer launch into solo hunts unless they specifically choose to skip matchmaking.

We’re also reducing the amount of loading that Slayers will need to do. This ultimately translates to more time slaying and less time waiting.

Synchronized Slaying Styles

Every player brings their own distinct combat style and customizations to the hunts they embark on. Expressing yourself and showing off what you’ve accomplished are a big part of Dauntless. But what if you want to coordinate your arrival animations so that you look more like a radical squad of teenage turtles bursting onto the scene? Or sync up your banner colours before you hit the island?

Good news: You will now be able to transmog your gear, change your cells, and tweak your cosmetics in the airship before dropping into the hunt. Give it a shot!

Don’t Break Up The Band

One of the reasons that we focus so much on cooperative play is that we believe in gaming’s ability to bring people together.

Partying up with friends is a great way to slay, and we’ve been working to ensure that those parties stay strong. With OB 0.5.5, pre-formed parties will be able to use /party chat during hunts without alerting pick-up companions. We’ve also addressed some issues that caused parties to fall apart after hunts or encounter difficulties when trying to reform. We will continue to smooth things out going forward.

Additionally, we’re stomping out some of the bugs that caused problems with Behemoth scaling. The difficulty of any encounter changes to suit the number of Slayers who load into a hunt. Prior to this week’s update, if Slayers disconnect during matchmaking or as they’re loading into a hunt, it can throw this balance out of whack and result in lopsided fights.

Improvements to our systems should prevent this from happening in OB 0.5.5 and onward. We know that internet connections aren’t always stable things, and we’re always working to mitigate the impact that this can have on Dauntless players.

β is for βeta

The gremlins that make their home deep within the internet’s dump trucks tubes are fickle creatures. One moment they’re delivering pixel-perfect combat between continents and the next they’re dropping packets into a cyberspace woodchipper.

After a strict feeding schedule (so, like, if Dauntless operates in every time zone then which midnight can’t they eat after?) and a strict abstention from water, we think we’re making headway in getting these glitchy critters corralled. But when it comes to things of this nature, there’s just no being sure.

Let us know if you hit snags while playing or if your experience improves. We’d also love to hear your feedback on the new matchmaking flow.

Our work here isn’t done, but we’re happy to be hard at work making Dauntless a better online game. Thanks for being a part of it.