The First Descendant was one of the breakout hits of 2024. But as we move into 2025, the game has lost 96% of its players. The game has been struggling with balancing issues for months, and while the devs at Nexon Games have acknowledged the issues, there are no fixes to be seen.
The devs recently addressed concerns again but it might be too little too late as we barely have any faith at this point. Buffs and nerfs are common in live-service games but the situation with The Last Descendant isn’t that simple. We need Nexon to make the hard choice sooner rather than later.
The First Descendant needs changes and it needs it now
At this point, The First Descendant is beyond simple buffs and nerfs. The character balancing in the game has reached a point where Nexon needs to rethink its approach. Players have pointed out that characters like Ines and Freyna are so good that others feel irrelevant. The problem we have isn’t just that these characters are too powerful, it’s also the fact that weaker characters remain weak.
People concerned about game balance can rejoice, the director has finally confirmed every issue the community raised
byu/silveredge7 inTheFirstDescendant
As Reddit user u/devinraven explained in a recent post, “The problem isn’t top dog being too powerful, it’s the underdog being too weak and irrelevant.” Other users argue that the game needs to start with nerfs to these overpowered characters before buffs can make a difference. But then we reach the typical problem of developers wanting to make new characters powerful, often at the cost of others feeling weak.
One of the more concerning aspects of The First Descendant’s balance issues is what it suggests about Nexon’s development process. We already brought up balance issues when Freyna first came out, but even with this knowledge, Ines came out as overpowered as she is. Did Nexon learn nothing? The developers recently addressed these issues but it doesn’t look like they actually plan to change anything.
Descendant “balancing”
byu/ToonDude-X99 inTheFirstDescendant
Comparing this to the fact that the devs have been quick to roll out premium cosmetics and questionable content updates. Look at the recent addition of a hot tub and bikini skins for example. We get the reason behind it, but players realize that the game’s biggest updates seem to focus on monetization rather than gameplay improvements.
If you look at the statistics, it gets worse
The worst part is that these aren’t just empty words and feelings from players. The game’s struggles with balance are clear when looking at the slowly declining player count. Despite launching with strong numbers, the game has seen a 96% player drop in just seven months (via Forbes). It doesn’t take an expert to tell that it’s far below expectations, especially for a live service game.
According to Nexon’s quarterly report, The First Descendant is performing “below expectations” due to a “decline in traffic attributable to lack of fresh content.” But we can argue that the real issue is the lack of meaningful balance updates and gameplay variety. So what’s it going to take for the developers to realize it? The problems have been pointed out, but will they fix it?
We’ve seen situations like this play out before. Nexon can either take the difficult but necessary steps to properly balance the game, or continue the cycle of power creep and cosmetics-driven updates. And it should be pretty easy to tell which choice is better.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
