AFK farmers are freeloading their way to huge XP gains in The First Descendant

Like any old cooperative shooter, earning XP is crucial to your progression in The First Descendant. Although grinding out levels while solo is completely viable, it becomes even easier when you play in a group since XP from defeated enemies is shared across all players. Unfortunately, this feature in The First Descendant is prone to being abused by AFK farmers, which is exactly what’s started happening in the game based on a few player complaints.

Now, we can’t deny that grinding out ranks can be a pain, even if you already know how to farm XP and level up fast in The First Descendant. But since the main goal of a multiplayer shooter is to, well, have you shoot stuff, going AFK for the entirety of a mission ruins the experience for the rest of your squad. “Isn’t the point of this game shooting and grinding? [Where] is the fun in idling, watching, and waiting?” asked disgruntled Redditor bloodmoonhtn.

User bloodmoonhtn’s comment was made in response to another user who had the unfortunate experience of having an AFK farmer on their team. According to Arcticz_114‘s harrowing retelling, the notorious freeloader they came across “followed [them] in missions” just to end up hiding nearby “until 5 seconds before objective completion.” As soon as the mission was close to ending, they would finally come out and deal a single point of damage to the enemy so they could claim the rewards.

This also isn’t the only instance of the game’s recent AFK farming trend, as user Gloomy_Drop_130 shared a similar story in a separate post. User Nplss then recommended others “just leave” the instance they see a freeloader on their team since there’s “no penalty for leaving and queues are fast.” Although drastic, this may be the only way of discouraging these players from going AFK, as there is currently no way to kick your squadmates from the team once a mission has begun.

However, with complaints about AFK farmers in The First Descendant beginning to rise, it may only be a matter of time before Nexon addresses this issue for good. But until then, why not check out our pages on how to get Shape Stabilizers in The First Descendant and how to get Code Analyzers in The First Descendant to pass the time?