“Marking its debut on Steam, Dauntless: Awakening will be available on all platforms with cross progression, allowing players old and new to seamlessly continue their adventures across console, Epic Games, and Steam. The first season, Dauntless: Awakening, kicks off the new era, with a host of new content. Additional seasons are already in the works, bringing regular waves of fresh content, challenges, and rewards for Slayers to enjoy.”
As Phoenix Labs noted earlier, this new season and update will add an all-new Behemoth known as the Karkonos, the ability to swap between two weapons, multiple new weapons and armors, several armor-based updates, and the regrettable arrival of transparent lockboxes.
A related dev blog also confirmed how things will change for existing players: Bought cosmetics will not be removed; previously crafted weapons, lanterns, and exotic armors will become skins; special weapons like the Silver Sword and Twin Suns will immediately be available to those who already own them; and while all players will have to take up the new introductory quests, earned items and progression will not be removed.
There are a couple of things that are confirmed as fully removed without much recompense when the update arrives: aetherdust, aethersparks, aetherhearts, chronostones, and cache coins will be removed wholesale, and the old system of permanent battle passes will end, replaced once again by “one true Hunt Pass” release per season; Phoenix Labs points out that this change was confirmed alongside the arrival of lockboxes.
Previously bought passes that are not completed will automatically be finished for players, and those old passes will be fully retired though their items “may appear over time in other sources like the store for folks who missed them.” As for the aforementioned currencies, those will not be replaced, so players are urged to spend ’em all before downtime on Tuesday, December 3rd.