KickStarter Grim Dawn

[Zboj Lamignat]

Couple of months ago they "patched" the game so that it became way more frustrating/tiresome. Don't know the logic behind that, but the vocal minority with copied ultimate builds and farmed super items on their forums is probably giving them steady seal clapping.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

Are you talking about the patch that made normal difficulty sorta relevant again? IMO it was great, previous version of normal difficulty was way more tiresome, due to lack of challenge (veteran included). You could only die if you passed out while playing. Now it is a bit more interesting and you can actually play on normal, instead of going to Elite from the start (which was the way to go previously)

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

There was enough places to die on veteran compared to hns standard, tackling rogue dungeons early, hidden path, bug queen, etc. Normal could do with increased difficulty, of course, but not with pre level 10 poison mob melting tankiest classes in seconds and everything requiring multiple hits to kill. This is like playing higher difficulties at level one, but without increased rewards - who wants that?

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I mentioned in the D4 topic that I recently revisited this game after a few years from it and thinking it wasn't anything too special and actually really came to like it. Don't know if they changed stuff around but of the current era of ARPGs in this particular vein I think it's the best one. Managed to make a pretty decent Nightblade/Necromancer Cold-centric melee and have begun leveling a Nightblade/Oathkeeper with Poison as the primary focus and it has been annihilating things in seconds even with bad gear. The whole Devotion thing I'm not entirely sure what would be optimal so I've played it as safe as possible by focusing on +Cold damage constellations or ones that give resistances/defense/health.

Does anyone have an Oathkeeper build that is either 2H focused or sword-and-shield centric?

 

[HoboForEternity]

my past experience with ARPG have been meh (titan quest and van helsing adventure). i can't help noticing the glowing praise of this. is it worth a damn?

generally my problem in both:

-gameplay are repetitive. there are tons of enemy types visually but in the end you just click click click.
-scaled loot are just generally frustrating
-little to no role play. the game dont even have dialogue choices and the loop is linear. go to town -> kill trash mob in dungeon -> face some bosses
-dungeon are just mostly maze, especially in titan quest. most of them are just random caves with 10000s trash mobs. van helsing have better dungeon that it have some traps, puzzles even gimmick fights that i find entertaining, but most of the time it's ok.

do i just hate ARPG or the games i played are just kinda mediocre?

 

[RoBoBOBR]

Does anyone have an Oathkeeper build that is either 2H focused or sword-and-shield centric?

Ran a combo Soldier-Oathkeeper sword'n'board to lvl 100 on HC not that long ago, basically picked all defensive skills in soldier (Menhir's Will is good, Overguard is very good with transmutor) and offensive ones in Oathkeeper (shield toss, fire charge). Also eventually got Blitz from Soldier for more mobility (Oathkeeper's dash attack is better, for you can target ground with it and move around, Blitz requires you to target a mob) and another dash attack from that thingie you apply to your relic, also for mobility. Devotions -- i went for a number of "on block" ones, and constellations that buffed defense and shield parameters.
So you basically dash around like a pinball, and if things start getting hairy just push Overguard button (with mutator and some gear it can be quite close to 100% uptime btw), it turns you unkillable and ups your DPS on top of that (on block procs).
Was a fun playthrough.

 

[Haba]

do i just hate ARPG

Yeah, you do.

 

[Hyperion]

gameplay are repetitive. there are tons of enemy types visually but in the end you just click click click.
-scaled loot are just generally frustrating

It's a problem with ARPGs and ARPG grognards. It's a power trip for most of them, and the struggle for gear and survival isn't really a thing anymore in ARPGs.

-little to no role play. the game dont even have dialogue choices and the loop is linear. go to town -> kill trash mob in dungeon -> face some bosses

Grim Dawn actually has some roleplaying, C&C, and lots of dialogue and lore.

-> face some bosses
-dungeon are just mostly maze, especially in titan quest. most of them are just random caves with 10000s trash mobs. van helsing have better dungeon that it have some traps, puzzles even gimmick fights that i find entertaining, but most of the time it's ok.

Grim Dawn is pretty straightforward, mostnplaces not labyrinthine at all. Kinda boring in that regard.

 

[Outmind]

I've fired Grim Dawn up three times now and always quit after a time. The longest I've made it was to the end of the base game on normal / start of Malmouth. Idk, it's too repetitive and not compelling enough to do all of it over again, and I say this as someone who loved the original Diablo along with Titan Quest and Dungeon Siege 2.

 

[HoboForEternity]

I've fired Grim Dawn up three times now and always quit after a time. The longest I've madew it was to the end of the base game on mnormal / start of Malmouth. Idk, it's too repetitive and not compelling enough to do alll of it over again, and I say this as someone who loved the original Diablo along with Titan Quest and Dungeon Siege 2.

if you like TQ and find it repetitive then i guess it's not for me then. thanks.

 

[Lacrymas]

Well, it depends on what you mean by "repetitive". Before you get to max level, your playstyle can vary itself depending on what skills you get and in what order. From all the ARPGs I've played, I have only ever stuck with Grim Dawn for more than just a playthrough on normal difficulty. It offers great variety in terms of game modes and when you are bored with one char, you can start with another. Nobody is forcing you to complete the game on any difficulty or farm for gear. I haven't completed Forgotten Gods on any character yet for example. You get enough gear while leveling to twink in part another char, so there's also that gameplay loop of wanting to try these cool new items that have dropped and you get even more items to use. The gameplay is challenging enough that you want to use these items if you can get your hands on them. Then there's scaling challenges like the Crucible or Shattered Realm. Really, though, if you find even Grim Dawn repetitive and boring after half a playthrough, this entire genre is not for you, there just isn't any hack and slasher that is more varied than it.

 

[Outmind]

I've fired Grim Dawn up three times now and always quit after a time. The longest I've madew it was to the end of the base game on mnormal / start of Malmouth. Idk, it's too repetitive and not compelling enough to do alll of it over again, and I say this as someone who loved the original Diablo along with Titan Quest and Dungeon Siege 2.

if you like TQ and find it repetitive then i guess it's not for me then. thanks.

Don't dismiss it if you're a TQ fan. You may find it enjoyable if you've played TQ, especially since the maps are randomly generated this time around. Maybe it was the enemies, the setting, or the fact that I've seen one version or another of it for god knows how many times that ultimately led me to give up. It might not be the same for you.

 

[Lacrymas]

Grim Dawn doesn't have randomly generated maps (except the Shattered Realm) if that's what you are talking about. Tbh, I think this game would've benefited from having random maps because the map design isn't great, it's actually one of GD's biggest weaknesses. There are areas (especially some dungeons) which are very blocky as if designed to be modules that can stick to each other to create random maps, but they actually aren't random, it's very uncanny. They've doubled down on uninteresting design (endless fields, swamps and forests) while the more creative and appropriate tricks are swept as fast as possible under the rug (like the ascent to the fortress before act 4).

The other big problem is the meandering storyline, it's not clear what we are doing and why, and whether it's having any effect whatsoever. It's not bad if we are doomed forever and we are only prolonging our terrible existence, but that should at least be hinted at, yet there's nothing like that at all. Things are presented as if we triumph, but the lore and overarching narrative point to something else, so it creates a Schrödinger's Story situation.

 

[Dramart]

This or Titan Quest?

 

[Lacrymas]

This.

 

[Modron]

+ How much dlc?

 

[Lacrymas]

Forgotten Gods is better than Ashes of Malmouth in the sense that it adds the Shattered Realm, but it requires AoM anyway. I wouldn't say Ashes is a *good* expansion, it fixes basically none of the problems of the base game, it simply adds more of the same quality content. Well, you do get access to +experience potions to level up alts faster. The thing is, you don't play GD for the content, which isn't very good I'm sorry to say due to the aforementioned map and story issues, you play it for the variety of builds in a grim dark world that somehow always has a happy ending but not really, along with challenge content like Crucible, Roguelike dungeons, super bosses, Shattered Realm, etc. Forgotten Gods is the better expansion because it adds the SRs on top of the content that is the same quality, but at least has an Egyptian theme this time around and you aren't swirling around tight 19th century concrete domiciles. Don't get me wrong, I like me some 19th century vibe, but the map just isn't goooooood, ugh it makes me a bit angry thinking about it, lol.

Anyway, what is good about the expansions is that they add variety to the usual fields, forests, swamps and same-y dungeons of the base game. Try the base game and you'll see if you like it enough to buy the expansions or Crucible. I'd advise getting Crucible either way because it's a good arena mode that lets you test your builds while getting juicy rewards doing it.

I'm making it sound worse than it is, GD is definitely a must-play game even if you have a cursory interest in this genre (or perhaps video games in general).

 

[Snorkack]

Bought this in the winter sale with addons and since then I've probably sunken more hours into it than into all other games together the past 18 months (which isn't saying much tho). GD does a lot of stuff right where Diablo 2, Torchlight 2 and PoE failed imo.
However, I'm in the first chapter of elite with my OC/SH zookeeper and I start getting bored of watching the game play itself, so I wanted to restart with something more active... just to find out that I have to start at veteran difficulty all over again, which is quite the cakewalk.
Is there any way to start a new character straight into a higher difficulty level?

Another question. I also play this with a cheapskate friend who hasn't got any addons, just vanilla. Any time we want to play together, I need to uninstall the addons. And everytime I want to play solo, I have to re-download all 4.5 GB of DLC. Any clue how to do this in a less... uh, retarded way? Talking about steam client.

 

[Alpan]

This is quite literally just a guess, but maybe try renaming the "gdx1", "gdx2", "survivalmode1", "survivalmode2" folders in the Grim Dawn install folder before unchecking the DLC, then rename them back before checking them again. Those clearly refer to DLC and come down to about 5.34 GB size in total. Could at least reduce the re-download size, if not get rid of it outright.

 

[Watser]

Bought this in the winter sale with addons and since then I've probably sunken more hours into it than into all other games together the past 18 months (which isn't saying much tho). GD does a lot of stuff right where Diablo 2, Torchlight 2 and PoE failed imo.
However, I'm in the first chapter of elite with my OC/SH zookeeper and I start getting bored of watching the game play itself, so I wanted to restart with something more active... just to find out that I have to start at veteran difficulty all over again, which is quite the cakewalk.
Is there any way to start a new character straight into a higher difficulty level?

Another question. I also play this with a cheapskate friend who hasn't got any addons, just vanilla. Any time we want to play together, I need to uninstall the addons. And everytime I want to play solo, I have to re-download all 4.5 GB of DLC. Any clue how to do this in a less... uh, retarded way? Talking about steam client.

I also bought GD during the winter sale and I have been having a blast with it thus far. I was wondering about the same question as you, and it turns out the wiki has the answer https://grimdawn.gamepedia.com/Difficulty. Complete act 1 and you can unlock Epic for your new guy.

 

[Renevent]

Bought this in the winter sale with addons and since then I've probably sunken more hours into it than into all other games together the past 18 months (which isn't saying much tho). GD does a lot of stuff right where Diablo 2, Torchlight 2 and PoE failed imo.
However, I'm in the first chapter of elite with my OC/SH zookeeper and I start getting bored of watching the game play itself, so I wanted to restart with something more active... just to find out that I have to start at veteran difficulty all over again, which is quite the cakewalk.
Is there any way to start a new character straight into a higher difficulty level?

Another question. I also play this with a cheapskate friend who hasn't got any addons, just vanilla. Any time we want to play together, I need to uninstall the addons. And everytime I want to play solo, I have to re-download all 4.5 GB of DLC. Any clue how to do this in a less... uh, retarded way? Talking about steam client.

Yes, once you beat the game on ultimate (or at least get far enough, forget), you can buy tokens to give to your other characters which allows you to start on either epic or ultimate, including granting all quest skills points from normal/epic as if you had done them yourself. You will still be level 1 starting out though, and it's def difficult at first. That said you'll level up faster and once you get rolling is obviously not as tough anymore.

It's a nice feature though, after going through veteran/epic so many times it feels like such a huge amount of busy work that we can now finally bypass.

 

[Lacrymas]

However, I'm in the first chapter of elite with my OC/SH zookeeper and I start getting bored of watching the game play itself, so I wanted to restart with something more active... just to find out that I have to start at veteran difficulty all over again, which is quite the cakewalk.
Is there any way to start a new character straight into a higher difficulty level?

There are certain builds that have a muuuuch easier time than others, a pet build is one of them. They recently very seriously buffed early game, so a melee character has quite a tough start and spellcasters isn't exactly easy mode either. You should try that to see how the difficulty is for you, but if it turns out it's still a cakewalk you aren't interested in, then yeah, you can buy tokens to allow another character to skip difficulty levels. I *think* you can get a token for Elite difficulty while being in Elite difficulty, but I'm not 100% sure about that. If you get to the Forgotten Gods content in Ultimate, you can 100% buy tokens to unlock either Elite or Ultimate for another character. Starting at lvl 1 on Ultimate is tough, though, and afaik it relies on crafting overpowered-for-the-level gear from the Crucible to get most builds up to snuff for the first 10 levels or so. There's also the angle that since you've been playing for a relatively short time, you haven't built up a selection of twinking items, so Ultimate would probably be too hard for you in general as a new character with no twinking options, I have no idea about Elite, I did it basically twice before FG came out and I just beelined for the base game end boss.

To give you an idea about what Ultimate was like for a melee character which went through veteran normally and beelined to Ultimate, I had quite a few 50th level legendary items (the purple ones), including two legendary weapons (it was a Necro + Nightblade) and I still got quite easily destroyed by mobs before changing to more defensive gear.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

Yes, once you beat the game on ultimate

No, you do not need ultimate for that. As soon as you have an access to the latest add-on (Forgotten Gods) location on elite difficulty you can purchase a token that can be transferred to another character via bank that will unlock elite for said character on use. That location is accessed via an NPC at the starting city. You can also purchase items that are applied to your relics (or medals? i forgot) and grant you nice movement skills, like a dash attack. They can also be transferred.

Snorkack also to not "watch game play itself" i'd suggest going for more direct build, i had a blast with oathkeeper + soldier, for example. Shield tossing like Captn. America, three dash attacks (oath, soldier and item), great survivability and synergy with block-activated skills from constellations and Overguard skill of Soldier. Started at elite. Do mind that this way of getting to elite gets you 5 bags right away, but no constellations so when you get to like lvl 35-40 do a dash through normal difficulty to pick those up (item that unlocks elite will also unlock all portals on normal, so that's fast).

 

[Perkel]

I really hope Crate will make GD2. GD is nice but it has major issue. Most of the builds feel the same because most of active skills behave similar. Though i love default attack builds.

 

[Contagium]

Greatest action RPG ever. Fight me about it.