KickStarter Grim Dawn

[Zboj Lamignat]

Define "hard". I found it the most tedious aspect of the game. You need to run around all the mines, killing Cronley gang bosses and those flaming molotov chucking dudes.

 

[Shitty Kitty]

Cronley's gang is pretty easy meat even on Ultimate. I preferred crafting dynamite once the option opened up and I had enough Aether Shards piled up (relatively easy to do). By the time Ultimate rolled around the only reason I'd do Cronley runs was to get Devil's Crossing faction, farm Cronley's ring or possibly hit Fabius once I reached Nemesis with Cronley.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Well, did some runs to get dynamite or to clear bounties (i like the idea but i didn't like how by the time i got access to them most of the missions involved going back to areas that are already too low level for me), cleared most of the sealed areas in act 1, did the first skeleton key area in act 2 (had to leave behind so much loot and the merchant inside you can't sell your stuff to was a nasty bit of trolling. Not that i need money but it's the OCD that was gnawing at me), and now it seems i'm either over leveled (i'm at 46 and i just went past that locked gate you have to almost die walking on all that green shit to reach) or over geared for the regular areas as the difficulty dropped dramatically.

Found my first legendary as well, some crappy looking mace that has -71 dps than my current green axe lmao. WTF. The game looks pretty good visually in most areas but i think icon and item design leaves a lot to be desired compared to old Diablo. The legendary mace in question has the same icon as that low level gear-like shield. So no unique graphics for purple items.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Ho, i just took a look at the mace and it has a +1 on all skills for shaman. Guess that's going to be my first alt.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Looting ain't that great in this game, imo, and the fact that you can find blue/purple items that have shit dps compared to whatever generic stuff you're currently wearing is a big factor in that.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Looking at only DPS on weapons can be a bit deceptive though. Rares and Legendaries usually have skill boosts or damage conversions (or both) that can dramatically increase performance in a build suited to them.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Looking at only DPS on weapons can be a bit deceptive though. Rares and Legendaries usually have skill boosts or damage conversions (or both) that can dramatically increase performance in a build suited to them.

Yeah and some skills don't need much weapon damage like Eye of Reckoning. % damage ups or skill boosts are better in those cases.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Well, I was obviously talking about builds depending on weapon dmg, which is definitely the case, especially in case of blues.

 

[Lone Wolf]

High end rares were always supposed to outperform epics in the numbers game. However, pretty much every end-game build is centred on legendary sets that no rare can touch.

 

[Shitty Kitty]

High end rares were always supposed to outperform epics in the numbers game. However, pretty much every end-game build is centred on legendary sets that no rare can touch.

There are some absolutely amazing rare MIs (monster infrequents) but some will require constant rolling of affixes, so get ready to farm like crazy for one with optimal affixes. (Easily my least favorite thing to do.)

To some extent end-game builds being centered on legendaries is a matter of convenience, where it's easier to actually get the legendary set than endlessly roll affixes for an MI - some builds have a legendary in a slot that can be swapped out for a much better affixed MI, but that assumes you HAVE that MI. I do think rares at high levels could use a little love to make them the "potentially significantly better but harder to secure" option but having a baseline for a build that uses more reliably-obtained gear is handy.

I figure either that, or let people reroll affixes on rares/MIs without re-farming them. I've never found farming to be even remotely entertaining, and some green MIs are a royal pain to get (never mind the legendary MIs, those Forgotten Gods rings are obscenely difficult to get)

 

[Hobo Elf]

Most people who post builds on the Crate forums that have all those godlike MIs just use GD Stash to edit them in, most of them don't actually farm for loot like that. They're constantly just trying to come up with the most optimal Rift/Crucible farming bot and that means that they just use cheat characters.

 

[Shitty Kitty]

Most people who post builds on the Crate forums that have all those godlike MIs just use GD Stash to edit them in, most of them don't actually farm for loot like that. They're constantly just trying to come up with the most optimal Rift/Crucible farming bot and that means that they just use cheat characters.

I tend to ignore any build that relies heavily on perfectly-affixed MIs for partly this reason. If the build isn't workable with more easily-obtainable gear it's not a good build IMO. It's one thing to potentially upgrade a piece to a well-affixed MI but a build that relies on that is not something you're going to be able to realistically manage. Sometimes a build has a good IDEA behind it and is workable with "lesser" gear, and some builds run into issues where the best epic/legendary for a given slot is really not that great (legs and boots are the most common culprits I find). I'm still trying to hammer out a couple builds to work well without MI support but some builds (some class combinations, really) are starved for gearing at the moment.

There's also the issue of sets that imply a build is dual-damage-type focus (see Korba's trickster set) and that never works as well as Crate seems to think it would. I personally have misgivings about the sometimes sheer-indispensable nature of set bonuses that elevate them above any other type of gearing, but that's slightly less of an issue than having fewer good gear options for certain builds/classes, the current state of some skills that sets focus on (Aegis of Menhir is honestly pretty bad at the moment despite the cool concept, meanwhile Eye of Reckoning is commonly referred to as Spin2Win because it's just that good), and the general messiness of the MI/affix system due to the sheer number of possible affixes and drop rates.

 

[Lyric Suite]

All i know is that i'm basically wearing all greens, except for a pair of blue pants i'm wearing only because they give me a whooping 50 to poison/acid resistance but i have green pieces with better overall stats.

I'm stashing all the blues i'm finding (while using dynamites on duplicates) but i'm not sure whether it's even worth it.

Game is super easy now i think i broke something. All the mobs are around my level though so i don't get what happened. A friend of mine told me he was 50 by the middle of act 4 i have no idea how i got so high while i'm still in act 2. All i did is finish all the extra areas (which he admitted he mostly skipped) and grind for some dynamite (not even that much).

This is going to become like Diablo 2 again, where i sleep through normal just so i can wake up again in nightmare or hell.

 

[DeepOcean]

I find Grim Dawn harder than Diablo II, finished Diablo II and never had much of a problem on Hell, on Grim Dawn, there are things like the Lord of the Sands on the Forgotten Gods expansion, that thing spanked my 24000 health lighting warden with top resists like it was nothing. That thing was criting me for 10000 damage, oh, how I missed a better defense and physical resist.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

The whole "play through the same game 3 times in increasing difficulty" design trope for ARPGs really needs to die off faster

 

[Lacrymas]

The whole "play through the same game 3 times in increasing difficulty" design trope for ARPGs really needs to die off faster

You only have to do that once in GD if you have the Forgotten Gods expansion, you can skip to Ultimate after that with every new character.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Game is super easy now i think i broke something

Just in case you're still in the first difficulty:

The game has three basic levels. The first difficulty can be considered an extended tutorial. It lasts until lvl 45-60, depending on whether you do the expansions, and introduces you to all game systems. The game can be finished with yellow (magic) gear, if you really want to, because skill point investment is enough to beat the content. The second difficulty is a gear check. It lasts until lvl 70-80, depending on what you finish/don't finish and cannot be finished without solid gear. The third difficulty (Ultimate) is the real endgame and takes you from lvl 80-100.

If your complaint is that the first difficulty is too easy, you can go straight to the second after finishing the main campaign (at roughly lvl 45). Eventually, you'll be able to skip the first two difficulties completely.

Allow me to assure you: Grim Dawn is a beatable game without crazy unfair 1HKOs like in POE. However, it does have difficult content. The Shattered Realm and the Crucible will tell you how powerful your character really is.

 

[Average Manatee]

The whole "play through the same game 3 times in increasing difficulty" design trope for ARPGs really needs to die off faster

You only have to do that once in GD if you have the Forgotten Gods expansion, you can skip to Ultimate after that with every new character.

Unfortunately that doesn't give you devotion points, which is roughly 1/3rd of building a character.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Spend a few levels in Crucible and you're set.

 

[Lyric Suite]

You can get devotion points in other ways?

 

[Shitty Kitty]

You can get devotion points in other ways?

Yes. If you have access to Crucible you can trade the points you get for completing waves of 10 there in for Devotion points. Before FG added a bunch more shrines that didn't require things like rare/expensive crafting materials and fucking RELICS to restore, I made a habit of putting my first 10 or so Devotion points on the board using Crucible.

The Shattered Realm and the Crucible will tell you how powerful your character really is.

Being able to break past wave 150 in Cruc at ALL is considered the hallmark of a solid character build and skilled player. There are players that have taken builds through 150+ Cruc in something like under 7 minutes. This is pretty ludicrous. SR is arguably even harder. Cruc and SR are excellent stress tests for builds and good ways to hone certain skills. Past 150 in Cruc you will see some absolutely heinous shit like a wave with 4 Nemeses, or things like Ravager showing up to make your life hell. Think one Nemesis wave I faced had 2 Iron Maidens, a Valdaran and a Zantarin. Valdy tele-pulled me, this triggered Blitzes from BOTH Iron Maidens and because Valdy and Zant were close together that got capped off by eating a Zant vitality shotgun. That's kind of the game saying "yeah I'm bored, go play something else for a bit would you?"

 

[Average Manatee]

Crucible is gay. I'm here to play a game not grind some stupid made up fight.

 

[Shitty Kitty]

Crucible is gay. I'm here to play a game not grind some stupid made up fight.

Good for you. I don't give a shit.

Still trying to hammer out this Purifier build. Dual pistols is not the strongest playstyle right now, but being a powderpunk John Woo is fun.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I'm in the middle of Act 4 and i'm starting to feel rather bored.

The game has become an absolute cakewalk, and it's making me stop caring. It's a shame because i think it is a good game in general but i'm not feeling the incentive to continue playing when i just disintegrate everything on screen without effort.

I just finished The Hidden Path, which is supposed to have an hard final boss but it was actually way easier than the Warden in Act 1, just because of the difficulty drop i experienced in Act 2 which hasn't let up at all.

I think i'm going to take a long pause than unlock elite/ultimate with some mod and try again. Unless i can unlock those options just by finishing Act 4, since Act 5, 6 and 7 are the expansions, right?

 

[coldcrow]

You need to beat the tentacle monster at the end (Necropolis).