For a while now, the developers of Dauntless have been promising that Trials mode would be getting some attention, and it looks like the next couple of patches will be when that promise is kept. An official Reddit post has outlined what these two patches will do to Trials as Phoenix Labs seeks to make the mode “more accessible, more fair, [and] more fun.”
First, players entering Trials will have their gear score normalized to 550; any unlocked Slayer’s Path boosts, slotted cells, and equipped elemental resistances will still factor in, but this adjustment is meant to let players play Trials without worrying about whether to Reforge their equipment, which would effectively lock themselves out of the mode.
Trial fights themselves are also getting a full tuning, including reduced Behemoth part health; reduced Dauntless-level Trial difficulty; a static 30 seconds for when modifiers go off instead of randomly applying between 25 and 30 seconds; the removal of the Inferno modifier; and increases to Behemoth health by 65% to make fights longer — “the shorter a fight is, the more that random factors can influence the outcome, and that isn’t fair,” reasons the post.
Finally, there will soon be new chases for Dauntless players to pursue like weapon-specific leaderboards and Trials Goals that reward players for winning, not getting downed, getting staggers and part breaks, and clearing a Trial in under five minutes. Incidentally, the way players earn Marks will also be linked to completing these goals instead of only based on time in an effort to lessen the grind.
