The First Descendant director shares planned matchmaking options to avoid annoying AFK players

Nexon are always looking to improve The First Descendant, and they have continued to do a terrific job since the game’s launch earlier this year. There are a lot of improvements on the way via new characters, skins, content, and additional features, but there is one drawback players have wanted a resolution for since day one and that’s AFK players. While it is a problem that continues to annoy, The First Descendant director has shared planned matchmaking options to help fans avoid annoying AFK players.

There are a lot of plans for the future of TFD. Collaborations with other IPs are officially “under review,” and Nexon has declared that they are adding “jiggle physics” sometime in the future. In addition, the developer has responded to fans wanting a change in price for Season 2 skins, and Nexon has confirmed reworks are on the way for Valby and Luna.

All the new upcoming content revealed for Season 2 is exciting, and the developers have shared even more plans with the community through socials. One of these plans involves adding more matchmaking options for multiplayer.

The First Descendant planned matchmaking options to avoid AFK players

It’s not only The First Descendant’s producer who has been active with the game’s community on Discord as TFD’s director has been responding to queries, too.

In the QnA channel, one player posted “I would like to have your opinion on people who launch activities such as the 400% colossi or dungeons or waves and are leaving even before the activity begins or leave in full activity without any reason”.

TFD_Director_Jooms apologized on behalf on Nexon “for the inconvenience caused by AFK players or those who leave mid-activity”. The director shared Nexon are “continuously monitoring AFK behavior through reports and an internal detection system”.

As for how culprits are being punished, it was revealed that “Repeat AFK players are being placed in a separate matchmaking pool for a certain period as a countermeasure”. This is fantastic as it means repeat AFK offenders and those who leave mid-activity should only be getting matched with each other, albeit for a “certain period” only.

The director admitted that it’s hard for players to avoid AFK offenders as multiplayer currently “relies heavily on random matchmaking, leaving players with limited options to ensure matchmaking quality”.

To fix this, Jooms said, “We believe that introducing features like “Party Finder” would provide more choices and improve the experience”. The director also stated Nexon are considering “both private matchmaking (including solo play) and public matchmaking as a fundamental approach”. In addition, Nexon “are preparing to add private matchmaking options to special operations as well”.

For more The First Descendant, we have a guide to the best skills and loadout for Viessa, along with the best skills, gear, and mods for the hugely popular Bunny. We also have a guide for Freyna along with fundamental tips for beginners.