Phoenix Labs Vows Changes to Regain Communitiy Trust After Dauntless: Awakening Launch & Review Bombing

mmorpg.com:

Phoenix Labs is vowing to work to regain the community’s trust with apology following the release of Dauntless: Awakening attracted criticism over monetization, the inclusion of loot boxes, broken systems, lack of custmization, and too many paywalls and barriers.

In a letter to the community this week titled Reflections on the Launch and What Comes Next, the team says, “We know many of you have felt let down. For those who feel your time, effort, and trust were overlooked, we sincerely apologize”, following the release of the Awakened update. 

This letter comes a short time after a previous letter defended some of the positions that they are now reversing–or alteriing–course on.

The Awakening update was intended to relaunch the game into its new seasonal schedule and add new systems, But some players lost progress, others expressed frustration over the weapon unlock requirements, where Trials were required and certain elements were locking people out of steady progression 

In addition to an apology,  the team announced some types of compensation, changes on the way, including an update out today that removes steel marks from Tier 3 weapon unlock requirements and reduces the Artificer lantern cost in the Trials store. For those who invested in these steps,  players will get refunds to their account.  The update also adds increased Rams rewards for quests, Behemoth kills, as well as Patrol chests as part of an overall list of changes to help right the ship a little bit on progression pacing and flow.

All game modes will be unlocked, letting everyone immediately access the content they want. Returning players will get 300,000 Rams, 5,000 Combat Merits, and an additional amount of Peerless Aetherite based on their weapon crafting before the Awakening update launched. 

When it comes to feedback (and review bombing into the “overwhelmingly negative” category on Steam)) in response to feeling like build customization was too limited and there were too many paywalls, there