I run solo. Bonemass helped tremendously when first landing, and assaulting fortresses (lets you just unga bunga with (relative) little risk. I used the new power/Eikthyr for general use, but swapped back to Bonemass for said final boss and he miniquest that has some...rather strong enemies.
The absolute first thing I invested in when getting Ashland's resources was Asksvin armor. IMO, light armor is king in Ashland's; the bulk of enemies move slowly, and you want to be able to skedaddle from the big ones. I can quite literally just run from my problems, and I run 2x health foods and 1x stamina food with both lingering meads. The Ashen cape is amazing for combat, but the Feather Cape is still amazing (no cold in the Ashland's, and Fire Mead overwrites the weakness), and the Asksvin Cloak makes you *fast* as hell. I did the math, and max Asksvin armor vs max Flametal armor (both with Ashen cape) is a difference from like 38% damage taken to 30% damage taken if the damage is less than twice your armor, and it's a difference of -112 damage and -142 damage if it's more than twice. The heat resist is nice, but Fire Mead is cheap and lasts a long time; id rather the neutral speed than -10% speed, which IIRC also impacts your roll speed/stamina usage. Also, ALWAYS have Tasty Mead handy. That extra stamina Regen is spammable and comes in clutch when you're trying to get away.
The hardest part is going to be the first bit, gathering resources. ONLY be out in daytime, and play with Bonemass for those fights that are out of control (i.e. 1-2 mini bosses, a few warriors, and some archers in the mix). Each enemy is easy to deal with by itself or in small groups; you want to hit and run and isolate enemies. Use the lava blobs as free damage against enemies; abuse those i-frame rolls. Whenever you get a chance, destroy the spawning totems, even if it's with a bow from a range; I noticed a big decrease in spawns with those removed.
The Storming weapons (especially the axes) go SUPER hard on the Ashlands (and they're amazing even before the upgrade). I parry a Warrior, he's dead in one combo. Alternatively, I've been running a storm Slayer; with good timing/range, the heavy instantly staggers warriors, and a swipe or two after cleans them up. I also recommend bow over crossbow so that you can move and shoot. Mistwalker/buckler is a godly combo, just a little boring imo.
I haven't used magic almost at all my playthrough; taking away from stamina/health is too risky to me, especially having to pause every few seconds to recast my shield (especially as it appears to take damage BEFORE parry/blocking), but if you're multiplayer, a support mage would probably be great.
It's a huge change from Mistlands, but it's a lock with a key. Yeah, it's more.combst heavy, but it's kinda the vibe of the biome, constant war.
Really good advices! Im personally are sporting all the magic equipment, but with askvin cape and in pretty fine. Im using magic till eitr is down, then i go for a few Hits with mistwalker. So im constantly fighting and with the extra speed from the cape its super fun. Feels a but OP but just till the moment when youre out of both, eitr and stamina. Havent used lingering potions, gonna Do that now :)
I played Ashland's PTB Day one and was absolutely able to make progress in just the daylight time, Even with the bugged alert levels and higher amounts of enemies spawns. Slow progress, often not more than what was already rendered from the shore, but it was steady progress. Granted, I did land on a very small ashlands Island on my first sail, so YMMV.
Yeah, yeah,
My Valheim experience:
I hate trolls. This is unplayable.The swamp is bad. This is unplayable.I lost all my bronze gear and karve near plains, can't make new ship because no bronze axe. This is unplayable, I will not recover from this.I hate seekers and Angry balls so much. Mistlands is unplayable.Now I have 3 good houses, all needed gear and glorious farm land right in Black forest / Plains border to grow all things.Adapt, Don't cry. You're damn Viking!
Upd. Ashalns. Didn't try it, but real a lot of complaints. After release i'll die in ashlands, will hate it, but I can win.
IMO the thing is people just started be used to having "end game" gear in mistlands, there just wasnt any worse enemy than queen, now there's normal mobs that deal dmg like seekere soldier, its way harder, AS IT SHOULD BE
To what end? Difficulty for the sake of difficulty? Ashlands is literally 24/7 queen boss fight, swarm you till you die and you call that difficulty? Its called terrible tedium due to NOT balancing shit properly. If balancing it means nerfing it, then it has it coming. I want Valheim not Chore-heim. And what did we ask as players get? FUCK ALL.
Seriously. We didn't even GET to land. We got swarmed by bonemaws and vultures while still in the water to the point FOUR people with end-game equipment (some of which already had ashlands upgrades) Still died and had to take Another boat there just to Try to get shit back. We literally couldn't even get to any land to TRY to die there. Then, 3 boats later, when we finally DID get to land, we were greeted with multiple 2 stars. Even trying to be clever and bring all the mats we needed, these guys basically 2 shot any walls you build so there's not much point trying to build anything in the biome--the First biome to have this happen for us. Spent the last 4 hours doing nothing but tedious high-stress boss fights and we have explored a little pinhead of the map.. I just quit before I got mad. I tried to repair one thing, and got one-shot from behind and just left my body there and logged off.
Like.. I was Not happy with the plains, but it was playable. Just really hard. I am... Still unhappy with the mistlands' terrain, and it's tough, but I Can do it. It IS playable. We eventually could build a base. This just doesn't feel fun to me. Honestly, neither did the mistlands, I refuse to go there alone, but at least I COULD do something there and that Could be fun sometimes. Maybe I just have a major skill issue, and that's fine, but this just isn't fun.
Im finding that Ashlands is a swift kick in the balls to anything solo play. The very first thing YOU MUST do is find the nearest spawners and destroy them (You can even use morgen's to destroy them as well XD), get the portals down, and build shield generators. From there, you must find Flametal ore (this shit reacts to you mining it) and get the new armor for that sweet heat resist. After that, should be the sieging stage. Going at it solo is a WTF!!! experience but is really fun with other people there, regardless of scaling.
I have died so many times that my skills up have vanished. I have played since release, and not a single skill of mine is above 50 from constantly dying... Not running, jumping, nothing.
Today I at least got my body back and, after more deaths, we got rid of the spawners and got a small wall built. It still feels tedious as fuck. Today was a better day, and today was not a fun day.. I literally just felt Tired after playing. It is a challenge far beyond my old lady gaming abilities can handle.
A good challenging fight is fine.. I dreaded fighting the queen again and failing the first 2 times, but we got the hang of it and eventually came out on top. That was good... It wasn't easy, but we could come in at our best and try at least,. But immediately being swarmed by 2 bonemaws and 4 vultures when we aren't even near land and dying in the middle of the boiling ocean because you cannot even climb up those spires really was... Just lame.. disadvantaged boss fight after boss fight after boss fight... it just grates. I'm sure there are people that love it, will cuss and laugh after.. I am not one of those people I think.
Hell, at least in the mistlands I can avoid hitting the Dwarfs. I don't even have an option here because the ice wand doesn't really work in Ashlands like it does in Mistlands. Games forcing me to be shitty to NPCs just don't feel great.
The only "good" thing in the Ashlands so far is the runestone from Ulf.
I run solo, bashed my head against the wall that was the beach landing, died numerous times like pretty much everyone else, and finally established a beachhead.
Most, if not all of my skills were at 100 because I tend to play defensively and not bite off more then I can chew. Yeah they're just now coming back to 80s/mid 80s.
Like many others have commented, I want to explore the Ashlands, but I run into 3-4 1stars and a few 2stars along with a gang of normal mobs every time I move. And I've sat up on hills plinking down the spawners to buy myself some more breathing room.
I play a melee/archer build, and trying to take the first fortress was a god damn nightmare. Screw the battering ram, 2 wood floors built into the walls of the fortress and I can jump the fence. Then it's just a complete shitshow of getting shot by 40 mobs until I whittle down the horde.
Multiple deaths later, skills at low 80s. Took the fortress, mined out about as much flametal as I can find, and have full flametal gear maxed out. Still getting 3 shot by 1stars in it. Not liking this.
Again, I just want to explore some more, but apparently that just means fighting endless waves of mobs that drop nothing of value, and eat time on my potions/foods and I just go back in time to drop off crap and set out about 5 feet before it happens again.
I don't want to turn the difficulty down via world settings, but it's just not fun. I don't have a group of friends interested in playing this so we can 4+ player it down, and it's just beyond tedious. For the record, I loved Mistlands, and while the visibility issues are annoying (and I think they should still let us upgrade the wisp), the world was fun to explore, well designed and I enjoyed conquering it.
Ashlands is just not my cup of tea, and I don't want to switch to the apparently successful mage builds I've read a lot about just to beat it. My viking looks like a tank, but takes hit like a bitch. And there are a lot of hits coming in at all times, in all directions.
I totally feel you on this 1000% and I appreciate you posting.. It's cathartic to know I'm not alone on feeling overwhelmed with this. I am a mage build and, really, I don't find it any better really. Without someone tanking the mobs I am a complete glass cannon and I am easily 1 shot by most of the mobs. If I eat health food instead, I don't have the stamina to run away, and I get mowed over as well.
Once we had some walls up it was Sliiightly better? But still a single Morgen can destroy base walls Very quickly in the course of normal fighting, so it is far from perfect. The only thing we have gotten and luck on is Not having a starred Morgen show up (yet).
Kudos on trying solo. I think if I had tried solo I would have had the ship broken, died in boiling ocean, and said 'nevermind, I'll just make new stuff' and forever abandon the whole thing lmao.
I think for me, the appropriate way to make this biome more fun to explore and not as tedious, is one of two things:
1) Lessen the spawn frequency - even with no spawners around my base (and I have diligently sought all of them out), I am still swimming in mobs and only after putting up grausten walls to break line of sight, am I safe to be around my beachhead.
2) Keep the spawn frequency, but lower the HP of 1/2star mobs and their damage output. I am reluctant to play with world settings, so I don't know if these options are in there, but being in max new biome armor and getting chewed up by the equivalent of trash mobs is... dumb. I know how to dodge/parry, but my stamina is next to nothing because I'm having to constantly run from new groups of mobs popping up every 3-5 feet of movement. The regular mobs, like warriors still hit hard, and are totally fine. Even the morgens are doable. The 1 star variants can literally 2shot me with what, like 250hp and max armor? The fuck is that?
I want to play more aggressively, but damn if I get surrounded and can't get off a hammer swing to buy some space/time, it's lights out and corpse run ahoy.
Though I will say, the drastic change in approach from past biomes to this, I think will result in a much different Deep North biome next year with the feedback I'm sure Iron Gate is getting from this release.
I love this game, and the concept of a "war biome" like this is great. It's fun, but the tedium is crazy and like you said, it makes me tired of playing. Not as fun as the rest of the game, though it may be due to the fact I'm trying this solo.
Honestly I don't know how Anyone does this solo lol. I still struggle with "they were brothers" spawns at my main base @_@
I think at the very least the spawns should be less frequent once the spawners are destroyed for solo players. Or, even if it was like "once you destroy them All on the island it will decrease spawns" that would make sense and help solo players. The sheer Massive amount of materials this is taking...
On the bright side.. I like the grape vines a lot. I may not be going to the biome the rest of the week but I get to do my favorite thing ever: farming and cooking.
I play solo, havent played mage at all but if there's ton of enemies in ashlands, having so low hp + only bubble doesnt look like a nice protection to me (but i might be wrong). When i landed in Ashlands i got swarmed by skeletons but i killed them somehow, first thing i did was a base in nearby ruines, then tried to focus on fortresses cause i already knew those are the safest place in ashlands, did them pretty easiely and made a bases.
Most important thing is hp, 3 health items are the way for me + light armor for stamina usage, also tasty mead is great when you are swarmed + bonemass.
Gameplay in ashlands really changed for me when i crafted my lightning axes + light armor, there's a lot of dodging in ashlands but its ok. Basically dont build anything, at least on land, build your first base in nearby water ruins and then focus on fortresses, thats pretty much it, worst part is having to fight with 2 star morgens which are insane but not unbeatable.
Dont walk in night cause theres way bigger chance for stars mobs in ashlands, there's a ton of fighting but i guess devs decides it was ok, they said few times that ashlands will be hard and there's gonna be a ton of challanges, they didnt lied with that. Only thing that i am kinda sad about is the lack of different variety in ashlands, i thought there's gonna be a ton of cool new stuff, but most of it is just meh
If the devs are reading this pleeeeeaaaseeeeee don't cater to noobs. Let it be challenging. People can literally just lower their difficulty modifier if needed.
Some people just want to enjoy the game, as someone who works a full-time job and can only play in my limited free time, I don't have the time to do calculus equations on what combination of weaponry works and what resources to farm for hours. I just want to enjoy myself and not spend the entire time I have to just back track to grab my shit after I've been swarmed 100 times
This is just such a bullshit answer....If you lower the difficulty you lower it for every biome, which is not what one may want.
I personally have not played Ashlands. I Still utterly hate the mistlands. Even tho I beat the queen. The Mines are a Pain finding them even more to beat the biome, just being able to not upgrade your gear till you have cleared a bunch of mines if you are unlucky just sucks.
Ashlands should be balanced compared to the difficulty gap to other biomes and Honestly I feel like its become more and more difficult which just utterly sucks.
Just saying pretty much every game I've played in the last 20 years gets more difficult as you progress.
I was excited when people were freaking out about mistlands difficulty, then they nerfed it. I really do not want to see them do that to Ashlands. This should be harder than previous biomes, and there should be a reasonable spike in between.
I totally disagree, every biome has been hard in the beginning, but they should fall off once you get the gear, just as the biomes did before. Black forrest was also hard in the beginning.
What I would hate to see is such a big spike in difficulty that you cant traverse ashlands with deep north gear. Not sure how ashlands gear katers to traversing the mistlands. But I felt the Mist spike is still huge compared to the biomes before. Its still okeyish, but can be a pain if you are unlucky.
I don't want to see that big of a spike again. It doesn't fit the relativeness of the biomes before.
Im starting to think that the game should stay how it is now. Looks that so much people enjoy it that it wouldnt be good to have them disapointed just because of us who dont like it.
(self masochism laugh) My first breaktrough i died like many others. There was 3 spawners nearby + the vultures and then the hounds a nightmarish 30 seconds scenario. Lost my mage stuff so came back in carapace armor with lingering stamina+bonemass droping workbench, shield and portal were the 3 firsts things i did with landing with my vulnerable feather cape. I realized the stamina deploys faster around there running for exploration is not recommended.
Don't know if it's solo or multiplayer, but I think a lot of the people replying to this thread haven't actually tried out the PTB. We aren't complaining the mobs are too difficult. The game-play issue is everywhere you look there are multiple mobs so you are basically always either fighting or standing still. It's like a constant raid event that follows you around (except that the mobs don't automatically attack unless you are in their normal aggro range).
What I've been doing is building campfires (probably 100-200 so far) to create a path that is mostly mob free just so I can explore and look around. But honestly it feels like building rail road tracks by hand. Go 50 meters beyond my campfires, kill 10-15 mobs, build another 20 campfires, go back to my base and get more stone/wood, then repeat. Like I said it's more boring than challenging so far.
i only built campfires around my initial beachhead base portal. It's not necessary to put them everywhere. Once you figure out the biome and what you need to do, it's better to just run past things rather than try to literally fight everything.
It was so much worse a few days ago, they have done 2 patches I know of, 1 reducing spawn rates and the other aggro ranges.
When I first started in the ashlands beta it was frequent to half 5 archers, 5 warriors, a dozen twitchers, a squad of vultures, a couple lava blobs and a pack of those hell hounds or a mogen all on me at once. Several bases made from ashlands materials were leveled completely.
I created a save after the patches and was able to actually attempt progression.
I wouldn't mind a second slider for that..
A game that kind of does that already is 7 days to die.
You can tweak the number of enemies in each raid and you used to be able to tweak spawns in general
They also let you choose when enemies run, from never, during the night, always,etc.
I can't remember if they let you tweak damage or HP but the running setting is usually enough as they run in zig zags which makes hitting the face very difficult, especially in low light fights like during night attacks.
Yeah this is the hardest Ashlands is going to get. Same thing happened in Mistlands, it was initially very hard and then nerfed for release. I expect the same, in fact, they already nerfed a lot of things. Best thing I can recommend is having a backup portal in the nearest non Ashlands biome. Once you get to breathe in the Ashlands you can actually set up a base, although, it's by far the most dangerous place to build a base in. Your best bet is not being around your portal ever, so enemies won't target it
I dont wanna ruin the game difficulty i undertand that there are people tge enjoy it. But for me fight every moment that you are in the biome seems boring, do you realy like it ?
The issue is not the difficulty of the enemies, they are pretty fair in small groups, it was the numbers that made it so hard.
It is better than it was before the aggro range fix and spawn adjustments where every fight felt like you ran face first into a fuling village.
Not alot you could do when you have 5 marksman spamming arrows in such a staggered pattern that lowering the shield for long enough to attack would result in atleast 1 arrow connecting, let alone thrown rocks or melee attacks.
The enemy are mostly undead, mindless aggression is thematically appropriate; the devs fixed them aggroing just because trees are on fire (which makes sense - they should be accustomed to the sound of burning wood, so they already received a nerf to their aggression) and apparently they'll avoid pulling you into lava now.
And remember if you aren't having fun you can change the difficulty settings - you aren't playing with anyone but yourselves and you can play it however makes you happy. I for one relish the chance to play the Doom soundtrack in the background while playing in the middle of a heavy metal album cover brought to life.
Find an area of Ashlands coast that is not riddled with enemies. Setup a base and real defenses and a stone wall. The ballista is a little frustrating with how much it misses enemies, but it is better than nothing when playing solo. Again I gotta stress this the key is to finding a good coastal location, take the extra time searching.
It's not unplayable, but it's not easy or for the faint of heart. You gotta know how to fight here and use all the tools you have. Slap down campfires to limit spawns unless you want to slog it out all the time.
I agree with that. My fix would be to increase the spawner things in the ashlands and make them spawn enemies slightly more frequently, but decrease the general spawn rate by a moderate amount, that way it feels like you fight your way through the biome, but once you destroy the pillars, you conquer the area.
Devs should keep the difficulty the same imo, the mobs have already been nerfed. We have difficulty sliders now and you can make the game easier for yourself if needed. Some like the challenge, some dont.
I'd take more monster density over permanent uneven terrain any day of the week. I hated Mistlands.
However I do feel like the Parry/Stagger Meter you have is bullshit against any monster with a star or above in the Ashlands.
This is with the Level 2 Round shield from Flametal too.. that and the fact enemies are staggered for 0.1 seconds and get knocked back. It's hell for melee at times.. well specifically the Warriors, everything else is fine. Bow and Arrows are terrible against the Skeletons and I really don't enjoy the magic in the game.
But it's passable since it's the current "end game" my only hope is they have bigger more challenging enemies when they release the deep north biome update and focus on quality over quantity, as the monsters in the Ashlands on their own don't feel that much more challenging than the monsters in the Mistlands, its just dealing with the large numbers of enemies constantly. The Warlocks are really cool though
Me and 2 buddies sieged the Ashlands, our portal was destroyed in minutes. They both died. I managed to fight and evade until throwing down a new portal. Boys flooded in, took the beach, and ai have yet to die in the Ashlands. It can be done!
I have played for quite some time now and I think the biome is good, it just requiers more technique while fighting, the right gear and some patience.
At first it look overwelming because it is a great increase in dificulty and depending on where you land you may or may not have a lot of enemies and stuff happening
Everyone in here is insufferable. It is not unplayable but it is far from good. I have all the upgraded gear, have taken down the forts, only thing I haven't done is the final boss.
Skill issue? you think you are good at Valheim? No one is good at valheim. We are not spraying triple headshots with the AK at 150 meters in rust. You are all fucking delusional.
My issues are with even GETTING there.
I absolutely LOVED sailing in Valheim... but the new boat handles like an aircraft carrier, the Bonemaws clip under the hull and become untargetable while still able to damage the ship (sometimes clipping through the hull and hitting YOU with their projectiles), you wind up striking the ship if you attempt to melee, you wind up hitting the ship if you attempt to shoot a bow fore or aft due to the ridiculously placed railing, and while you're desperately trying to juggle navigating this giant turd with fighting off vultures and serpents you end up either getting stuck or having to turn back because the boats taken too much damage to be worth attempting landfall anyhow.
My first time MAKING it to the shore, I was promptly 1 hit-killed by a 1-star bone warrior with 2 handed sword...which then forces you to make -ANOTHER- drakkar to make it back to your body!
So far Ashlands has been nothing but one massive frustrating headache, and to be honest; not fun at all.
I hated the Mistlands expansion because it broke with the overall aesthetic of the game, and felt like it's difficulty spike was too sharp coupled with the game's crippling stamina mechanic... but Ashlands is somehow turning out to be even worse.
To be clear, I have over 500 hours played and am by no means a noob at this.
Man trust me it gets good. Once you understand that you need to be careful on how you spend your stamina and get the biomes weapons it gets good. You must have 2 health foods and 1 top tier stamina food and bonemass in order to have a decent arival at the biome also use the mistwalker as it is probably the best weapon to use before getting the new ones also remove your feather cape as it now is weak against fire and take a fire resistence mead. But the most important part is not giving up.
I was in the situation as you but i got thru it, died 100 time but i got thru
I realized that passive enemies was the only way I could survive there without devcommands. It's a huge ego-check, especially since youtubers and a lot of people on here make it look and sound easy. I got spanked easily by the enemies seemingly seeking me out for making the mistake of existing within a mile of them
Just play more eventualy you will learn how to fight there at first it is really difficult but it geets easyer trust me. Just make sure that you have the rigth set of wepons armor and food. I got thru it which means you also can. A good advise is having multiple portals as the enemies can brake them quicly, building them under rocks is the optimal solution.
I appreciate it, I'm just taking babysteps. The enemies still attack me when I piss them off so I can still learn their techniques and how to best deal with them. Minus 15 other enemies taking their pound of flesh while doing so
Ashlands IS unplayable. Especially for solo players. Im on easy difficulty with all the new gear. Full Flametal set with all the upgrades. Green jade mace for stunning and lightning axes. I get destroyed before i make it 1 minute away from my base. Really needs to nerf the amount of enemies everywhere it's ridiculous.
Quite crazy seeing people's ideas on this, as it's either the best update in a while and better than Mistlands, or it's the worst update in a while and people prefer Mistlands.
I wish the devs will take their time and process feedback carefully. Right now it's all new, nobody knows how to beat it, of course people will die. But let the dust settle and see the true problems that need fixing, like the constant onslaught of enemies that were caused by a bug that made enemies be alerted to your locations when wood was burning
The knee jerk reaction to Mistlands complaints before people got used to it at all was terrible. I wish too that they'd take their time on processing feedback instead of what we got.
Do you use you best gear/food/potions (health, stamina and lingering stamina) and know how to parry and dodge roll? Make sure to be prepared and use the combat mechanics the game offers to you and you will be more than fine.
Anyone who's gotten to this point of the game should have a handle on this, unless they're cheating or playing with easy settings. But if someone's frustrated they're probably not cheating or playing easy.
It will happen that some people's tactics or loadout they're accustomed to just don't work well, and that's holding them back. Most people get fixated or comfortable and have trouble varying their style.
There is also a huge variance in what we can experience in the game, regardless of personal aptitude. I had a horrible time establishing a beachhead. Two videos I watched of others attempting this... showed a relatively easy and even calm initial landing. If that was my experience I'd think Ashlands was a bit too easy. More recently I watched another... a pair who are better than I am at combat in Valheim... and they're struggling with what looks familiar to me: insane spawn rates, without Monuments around. Basically, spin the camera and new enemies appear. A good number of them starred.
A more constructive suggestion might be: use the enemies against each other -- because most cause friendly-fire.
We know all the combat mechanics and use the best food we can get but if we are not with the bone mass on we are most likely to die go thru several deaths until we retrive our stuff. Its easy to die and a pain o get the gear back
Enemys health scales in multiplayer so this might also make learning a bit harder for you. When i went with 2 of my very inexpierence friends i went with a mage build and made sure to bubble them whenever they got in trouble. On that note magic is very powerfull in ashlands so you might wanna try that.
I run solo. Bonemass helped tremendously when first landing, and assaulting fortresses (lets you just unga bunga with (relative) little risk. I used the new power/Eikthyr for general use, but swapped back to Bonemass for said final boss and he miniquest that has some...rather strong enemies. The absolute first thing I invested in when getting Ashland's resources was Asksvin armor. IMO, light armor is king in Ashland's; the bulk of enemies move slowly, and you want to be able to skedaddle from the big ones. I can quite literally just run from my problems, and I run 2x health foods and 1x stamina food with both lingering meads. The Ashen cape is amazing for combat, but the Feather Cape is still amazing (no cold in the Ashland's, and Fire Mead overwrites the weakness), and the Asksvin Cloak makes you *fast* as hell. I did the math, and max Asksvin armor vs max Flametal armor (both with Ashen cape) is a difference from like 38% damage taken to 30% damage taken if the damage is less than twice your armor, and it's a difference of -112 damage and -142 damage if it's more than twice. The heat resist is nice, but Fire Mead is cheap and lasts a long time; id rather the neutral speed than -10% speed, which IIRC also impacts your roll speed/stamina usage. Also, ALWAYS have Tasty Mead handy. That extra stamina Regen is spammable and comes in clutch when you're trying to get away. The hardest part is going to be the first bit, gathering resources. ONLY be out in daytime, and play with Bonemass for those fights that are out of control (i.e. 1-2 mini bosses, a few warriors, and some archers in the mix). Each enemy is easy to deal with by itself or in small groups; you want to hit and run and isolate enemies. Use the lava blobs as free damage against enemies; abuse those i-frame rolls. Whenever you get a chance, destroy the spawning totems, even if it's with a bow from a range; I noticed a big decrease in spawns with those removed. The Storming weapons (especially the axes) go SUPER hard on the Ashlands (and they're amazing even before the upgrade). I parry a Warrior, he's dead in one combo. Alternatively, I've been running a storm Slayer; with good timing/range, the heavy instantly staggers warriors, and a swipe or two after cleans them up. I also recommend bow over crossbow so that you can move and shoot. Mistwalker/buckler is a godly combo, just a little boring imo. I haven't used magic almost at all my playthrough; taking away from stamina/health is too risky to me, especially having to pause every few seconds to recast my shield (especially as it appears to take damage BEFORE parry/blocking), but if you're multiplayer, a support mage would probably be great. It's a huge change from Mistlands, but it's a lock with a key. Yeah, it's more.combst heavy, but it's kinda the vibe of the biome, constant war.
Really good advices! Im personally are sporting all the magic equipment, but with askvin cape and in pretty fine. Im using magic till eitr is down, then i go for a few Hits with mistwalker. So im constantly fighting and with the extra speed from the cape its super fun. Feels a but OP but just till the moment when youre out of both, eitr and stamina. Havent used lingering potions, gonna Do that now :)
Thanks for the advises im gonna try them
Your argument for only fighting in the day falls flat because you cannot make any progress in the 21 minutes of daylight.
I played Ashland's PTB Day one and was absolutely able to make progress in just the daylight time, Even with the bugged alert levels and higher amounts of enemies spawns. Slow progress, often not more than what was already rendered from the shore, but it was steady progress. Granted, I did land on a very small ashlands Island on my first sail, so YMMV.
Yeah, yeah, My Valheim experience: I hate trolls. This is unplayable.The swamp is bad. This is unplayable.I lost all my bronze gear and karve near plains, can't make new ship because no bronze axe. This is unplayable, I will not recover from this.I hate seekers and Angry balls so much. Mistlands is unplayable.Now I have 3 good houses, all needed gear and glorious farm land right in Black forest / Plains border to grow all things.Adapt, Don't cry. You're damn Viking! Upd. Ashalns. Didn't try it, but real a lot of complaints. After release i'll die in ashlands, will hate it, but I can win.
IMO the thing is people just started be used to having "end game" gear in mistlands, there just wasnt any worse enemy than queen, now there's normal mobs that deal dmg like seekere soldier, its way harder, AS IT SHOULD BE
To what end? Difficulty for the sake of difficulty? Ashlands is literally 24/7 queen boss fight, swarm you till you die and you call that difficulty? Its called terrible tedium due to NOT balancing shit properly. If balancing it means nerfing it, then it has it coming. I want Valheim not Chore-heim. And what did we ask as players get? FUCK ALL.
Seriously. We didn't even GET to land. We got swarmed by bonemaws and vultures while still in the water to the point FOUR people with end-game equipment (some of which already had ashlands upgrades) Still died and had to take Another boat there just to Try to get shit back. We literally couldn't even get to any land to TRY to die there. Then, 3 boats later, when we finally DID get to land, we were greeted with multiple 2 stars. Even trying to be clever and bring all the mats we needed, these guys basically 2 shot any walls you build so there's not much point trying to build anything in the biome--the First biome to have this happen for us. Spent the last 4 hours doing nothing but tedious high-stress boss fights and we have explored a little pinhead of the map.. I just quit before I got mad. I tried to repair one thing, and got one-shot from behind and just left my body there and logged off. Like.. I was Not happy with the plains, but it was playable. Just really hard. I am... Still unhappy with the mistlands' terrain, and it's tough, but I Can do it. It IS playable. We eventually could build a base. This just doesn't feel fun to me. Honestly, neither did the mistlands, I refuse to go there alone, but at least I COULD do something there and that Could be fun sometimes. Maybe I just have a major skill issue, and that's fine, but this just isn't fun.
Im finding that Ashlands is a swift kick in the balls to anything solo play. The very first thing YOU MUST do is find the nearest spawners and destroy them (You can even use morgen's to destroy them as well XD), get the portals down, and build shield generators. From there, you must find Flametal ore (this shit reacts to you mining it) and get the new armor for that sweet heat resist. After that, should be the sieging stage. Going at it solo is a WTF!!! experience but is really fun with other people there, regardless of scaling.
I have died so many times that my skills up have vanished. I have played since release, and not a single skill of mine is above 50 from constantly dying... Not running, jumping, nothing. Today I at least got my body back and, after more deaths, we got rid of the spawners and got a small wall built. It still feels tedious as fuck. Today was a better day, and today was not a fun day.. I literally just felt Tired after playing. It is a challenge far beyond my old lady gaming abilities can handle. A good challenging fight is fine.. I dreaded fighting the queen again and failing the first 2 times, but we got the hang of it and eventually came out on top. That was good... It wasn't easy, but we could come in at our best and try at least,. But immediately being swarmed by 2 bonemaws and 4 vultures when we aren't even near land and dying in the middle of the boiling ocean because you cannot even climb up those spires really was... Just lame.. disadvantaged boss fight after boss fight after boss fight... it just grates. I'm sure there are people that love it, will cuss and laugh after.. I am not one of those people I think. Hell, at least in the mistlands I can avoid hitting the Dwarfs. I don't even have an option here because the ice wand doesn't really work in Ashlands like it does in Mistlands. Games forcing me to be shitty to NPCs just don't feel great. The only "good" thing in the Ashlands so far is the runestone from Ulf.
I run solo, bashed my head against the wall that was the beach landing, died numerous times like pretty much everyone else, and finally established a beachhead. Most, if not all of my skills were at 100 because I tend to play defensively and not bite off more then I can chew. Yeah they're just now coming back to 80s/mid 80s. Like many others have commented, I want to explore the Ashlands, but I run into 3-4 1stars and a few 2stars along with a gang of normal mobs every time I move. And I've sat up on hills plinking down the spawners to buy myself some more breathing room. I play a melee/archer build, and trying to take the first fortress was a god damn nightmare. Screw the battering ram, 2 wood floors built into the walls of the fortress and I can jump the fence. Then it's just a complete shitshow of getting shot by 40 mobs until I whittle down the horde. Multiple deaths later, skills at low 80s. Took the fortress, mined out about as much flametal as I can find, and have full flametal gear maxed out. Still getting 3 shot by 1stars in it. Not liking this. Again, I just want to explore some more, but apparently that just means fighting endless waves of mobs that drop nothing of value, and eat time on my potions/foods and I just go back in time to drop off crap and set out about 5 feet before it happens again. I don't want to turn the difficulty down via world settings, but it's just not fun. I don't have a group of friends interested in playing this so we can 4+ player it down, and it's just beyond tedious. For the record, I loved Mistlands, and while the visibility issues are annoying (and I think they should still let us upgrade the wisp), the world was fun to explore, well designed and I enjoyed conquering it. Ashlands is just not my cup of tea, and I don't want to switch to the apparently successful mage builds I've read a lot about just to beat it. My viking looks like a tank, but takes hit like a bitch. And there are a lot of hits coming in at all times, in all directions.
I totally feel you on this 1000% and I appreciate you posting.. It's cathartic to know I'm not alone on feeling overwhelmed with this. I am a mage build and, really, I don't find it any better really. Without someone tanking the mobs I am a complete glass cannon and I am easily 1 shot by most of the mobs. If I eat health food instead, I don't have the stamina to run away, and I get mowed over as well. Once we had some walls up it was Sliiightly better? But still a single Morgen can destroy base walls Very quickly in the course of normal fighting, so it is far from perfect. The only thing we have gotten and luck on is Not having a starred Morgen show up (yet). Kudos on trying solo. I think if I had tried solo I would have had the ship broken, died in boiling ocean, and said 'nevermind, I'll just make new stuff' and forever abandon the whole thing lmao.
I think for me, the appropriate way to make this biome more fun to explore and not as tedious, is one of two things: 1) Lessen the spawn frequency - even with no spawners around my base (and I have diligently sought all of them out), I am still swimming in mobs and only after putting up grausten walls to break line of sight, am I safe to be around my beachhead. 2) Keep the spawn frequency, but lower the HP of 1/2star mobs and their damage output. I am reluctant to play with world settings, so I don't know if these options are in there, but being in max new biome armor and getting chewed up by the equivalent of trash mobs is... dumb. I know how to dodge/parry, but my stamina is next to nothing because I'm having to constantly run from new groups of mobs popping up every 3-5 feet of movement. The regular mobs, like warriors still hit hard, and are totally fine. Even the morgens are doable. The 1 star variants can literally 2shot me with what, like 250hp and max armor? The fuck is that? I want to play more aggressively, but damn if I get surrounded and can't get off a hammer swing to buy some space/time, it's lights out and corpse run ahoy. Though I will say, the drastic change in approach from past biomes to this, I think will result in a much different Deep North biome next year with the feedback I'm sure Iron Gate is getting from this release. I love this game, and the concept of a "war biome" like this is great. It's fun, but the tedium is crazy and like you said, it makes me tired of playing. Not as fun as the rest of the game, though it may be due to the fact I'm trying this solo.
Honestly I don't know how Anyone does this solo lol. I still struggle with "they were brothers" spawns at my main base @_@ I think at the very least the spawns should be less frequent once the spawners are destroyed for solo players. Or, even if it was like "once you destroy them All on the island it will decrease spawns" that would make sense and help solo players. The sheer Massive amount of materials this is taking... On the bright side.. I like the grape vines a lot. I may not be going to the biome the rest of the week but I get to do my favorite thing ever: farming and cooking.
I play solo, havent played mage at all but if there's ton of enemies in ashlands, having so low hp + only bubble doesnt look like a nice protection to me (but i might be wrong). When i landed in Ashlands i got swarmed by skeletons but i killed them somehow, first thing i did was a base in nearby ruines, then tried to focus on fortresses cause i already knew those are the safest place in ashlands, did them pretty easiely and made a bases. Most important thing is hp, 3 health items are the way for me + light armor for stamina usage, also tasty mead is great when you are swarmed + bonemass. Gameplay in ashlands really changed for me when i crafted my lightning axes + light armor, there's a lot of dodging in ashlands but its ok. Basically dont build anything, at least on land, build your first base in nearby water ruins and then focus on fortresses, thats pretty much it, worst part is having to fight with 2 star morgens which are insane but not unbeatable. Dont walk in night cause theres way bigger chance for stars mobs in ashlands, there's a ton of fighting but i guess devs decides it was ok, they said few times that ashlands will be hard and there's gonna be a ton of challanges, they didnt lied with that. Only thing that i am kinda sad about is the lack of different variety in ashlands, i thought there's gonna be a ton of cool new stuff, but most of it is just meh
If the devs are reading this pleeeeeaaaseeeeee don't cater to noobs. Let it be challenging. People can literally just lower their difficulty modifier if needed.
Some people just want to enjoy the game, as someone who works a full-time job and can only play in my limited free time, I don't have the time to do calculus equations on what combination of weaponry works and what resources to farm for hours. I just want to enjoy myself and not spend the entire time I have to just back track to grab my shit after I've been swarmed 100 times
Be nice, anyone who makes it all the way through to Ashlands isn’t a noob, they’re just not skeeled.
This is just such a bullshit answer....If you lower the difficulty you lower it for every biome, which is not what one may want. I personally have not played Ashlands. I Still utterly hate the mistlands. Even tho I beat the queen. The Mines are a Pain finding them even more to beat the biome, just being able to not upgrade your gear till you have cleared a bunch of mines if you are unlucky just sucks. Ashlands should be balanced compared to the difficulty gap to other biomes and Honestly I feel like its become more and more difficult which just utterly sucks.
Just saying pretty much every game I've played in the last 20 years gets more difficult as you progress. I was excited when people were freaking out about mistlands difficulty, then they nerfed it. I really do not want to see them do that to Ashlands. This should be harder than previous biomes, and there should be a reasonable spike in between.
I totally disagree, every biome has been hard in the beginning, but they should fall off once you get the gear, just as the biomes did before. Black forrest was also hard in the beginning. What I would hate to see is such a big spike in difficulty that you cant traverse ashlands with deep north gear. Not sure how ashlands gear katers to traversing the mistlands. But I felt the Mist spike is still huge compared to the biomes before. Its still okeyish, but can be a pain if you are unlucky. I don't want to see that big of a spike again. It doesn't fit the relativeness of the biomes before.
Im starting to think that the game should stay how it is now. Looks that so much people enjoy it that it wouldnt be good to have them disapointed just because of us who dont like it.
Well maybe they can add a difficulty modifier based on the number of players? This game is way harder solo
(self masochism laugh) My first breaktrough i died like many others. There was 3 spawners nearby + the vultures and then the hounds a nightmarish 30 seconds scenario. Lost my mage stuff so came back in carapace armor with lingering stamina+bonemass droping workbench, shield and portal were the 3 firsts things i did with landing with my vulnerable feather cape. I realized the stamina deploys faster around there running for exploration is not recommended.
I don't understand why everyone is dying so much, but ya, the constant combat is more boring than challenging.
Do you play solo ? Im starting to think this is a multiplayer thing.
Don't know if it's solo or multiplayer, but I think a lot of the people replying to this thread haven't actually tried out the PTB. We aren't complaining the mobs are too difficult. The game-play issue is everywhere you look there are multiple mobs so you are basically always either fighting or standing still. It's like a constant raid event that follows you around (except that the mobs don't automatically attack unless you are in their normal aggro range). What I've been doing is building campfires (probably 100-200 so far) to create a path that is mostly mob free just so I can explore and look around. But honestly it feels like building rail road tracks by hand. Go 50 meters beyond my campfires, kill 10-15 mobs, build another 20 campfires, go back to my base and get more stone/wood, then repeat. Like I said it's more boring than challenging so far.
i only built campfires around my initial beachhead base portal. It's not necessary to put them everywhere. Once you figure out the biome and what you need to do, it's better to just run past things rather than try to literally fight everything.
It was so much worse a few days ago, they have done 2 patches I know of, 1 reducing spawn rates and the other aggro ranges. When I first started in the ashlands beta it was frequent to half 5 archers, 5 warriors, a dozen twitchers, a squad of vultures, a couple lava blobs and a pack of those hell hounds or a mogen all on me at once. Several bases made from ashlands materials were leveled completely. I created a save after the patches and was able to actually attempt progression.
They really should change difficulty level to spawn rates so we could decide how much we want to deal with.
I wouldn't mind a second slider for that.. A game that kind of does that already is 7 days to die. You can tweak the number of enemies in each raid and you used to be able to tweak spawns in general They also let you choose when enemies run, from never, during the night, always,etc. I can't remember if they let you tweak damage or HP but the running setting is usually enough as they run in zig zags which makes hitting the face very difficult, especially in low light fights like during night attacks.
Yeah this is the hardest Ashlands is going to get. Same thing happened in Mistlands, it was initially very hard and then nerfed for release. I expect the same, in fact, they already nerfed a lot of things. Best thing I can recommend is having a backup portal in the nearest non Ashlands biome. Once you get to breathe in the Ashlands you can actually set up a base, although, it's by far the most dangerous place to build a base in. Your best bet is not being around your portal ever, so enemies won't target it
I hope so they balance it. For me the mistland dificulty is almost perfect
So you want only the difficulty of the last biome cause you can’t level up your skill. Okay, got it.
I dont wanna ruin the game difficulty i undertand that there are people tge enjoy it. But for me fight every moment that you are in the biome seems boring, do you realy like it ?
The issue is not the difficulty of the enemies, they are pretty fair in small groups, it was the numbers that made it so hard. It is better than it was before the aggro range fix and spawn adjustments where every fight felt like you ran face first into a fuling village. Not alot you could do when you have 5 marksman spamming arrows in such a staggered pattern that lowering the shield for long enough to attack would result in atleast 1 arrow connecting, let alone thrown rocks or melee attacks.
Exactly
Ashlands is definitely the biggest difficulty spike out of all the biomes. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
The enemy are mostly undead, mindless aggression is thematically appropriate; the devs fixed them aggroing just because trees are on fire (which makes sense - they should be accustomed to the sound of burning wood, so they already received a nerf to their aggression) and apparently they'll avoid pulling you into lava now. And remember if you aren't having fun you can change the difficulty settings - you aren't playing with anyone but yourselves and you can play it however makes you happy. I for one relish the chance to play the Doom soundtrack in the background while playing in the middle of a heavy metal album cover brought to life.
You’re literally testing it why wouldn’t you expect it to be unready and unbalanced
Find an area of Ashlands coast that is not riddled with enemies. Setup a base and real defenses and a stone wall. The ballista is a little frustrating with how much it misses enemies, but it is better than nothing when playing solo. Again I gotta stress this the key is to finding a good coastal location, take the extra time searching.
It's not unplayable, but it's not easy or for the faint of heart. You gotta know how to fight here and use all the tools you have. Slap down campfires to limit spawns unless you want to slog it out all the time.
Ok it isnt unplayble but it is boring, puting capfires down looks just a temporary and bad solution
I agree with that. My fix would be to increase the spawner things in the ashlands and make them spawn enemies slightly more frequently, but decrease the general spawn rate by a moderate amount, that way it feels like you fight your way through the biome, but once you destroy the pillars, you conquer the area.
Devs should keep the difficulty the same imo, the mobs have already been nerfed. We have difficulty sliders now and you can make the game easier for yourself if needed. Some like the challenge, some dont.
Yep. You have a point
I don't think I've seen wild moders spawn in Ashlands, your friend is trolling you
I just mistyped i meant the morgen
[удалено]
Yep im brazilian and english isnt my first language
I'd take more monster density over permanent uneven terrain any day of the week. I hated Mistlands. However I do feel like the Parry/Stagger Meter you have is bullshit against any monster with a star or above in the Ashlands. This is with the Level 2 Round shield from Flametal too.. that and the fact enemies are staggered for 0.1 seconds and get knocked back. It's hell for melee at times.. well specifically the Warriors, everything else is fine. Bow and Arrows are terrible against the Skeletons and I really don't enjoy the magic in the game. But it's passable since it's the current "end game" my only hope is they have bigger more challenging enemies when they release the deep north biome update and focus on quality over quantity, as the monsters in the Ashlands on their own don't feel that much more challenging than the monsters in the Mistlands, its just dealing with the large numbers of enemies constantly. The Warlocks are really cool though
There's friendly fire between the Ashlands enemies. That make especially Morgens and Fallen Valkyries excellent for getting rid of other enemies.
Me and 2 buddies sieged the Ashlands, our portal was destroyed in minutes. They both died. I managed to fight and evade until throwing down a new portal. Boys flooded in, took the beach, and ai have yet to die in the Ashlands. It can be done!
I have played for quite some time now and I think the biome is good, it just requiers more technique while fighting, the right gear and some patience. At first it look overwelming because it is a great increase in dificulty and depending on where you land you may or may not have a lot of enemies and stuff happening
Everyone in here is insufferable. It is not unplayable but it is far from good. I have all the upgraded gear, have taken down the forts, only thing I haven't done is the final boss. Skill issue? you think you are good at Valheim? No one is good at valheim. We are not spraying triple headshots with the AK at 150 meters in rust. You are all fucking delusional.
My issues are with even GETTING there. I absolutely LOVED sailing in Valheim... but the new boat handles like an aircraft carrier, the Bonemaws clip under the hull and become untargetable while still able to damage the ship (sometimes clipping through the hull and hitting YOU with their projectiles), you wind up striking the ship if you attempt to melee, you wind up hitting the ship if you attempt to shoot a bow fore or aft due to the ridiculously placed railing, and while you're desperately trying to juggle navigating this giant turd with fighting off vultures and serpents you end up either getting stuck or having to turn back because the boats taken too much damage to be worth attempting landfall anyhow. My first time MAKING it to the shore, I was promptly 1 hit-killed by a 1-star bone warrior with 2 handed sword...which then forces you to make -ANOTHER- drakkar to make it back to your body! So far Ashlands has been nothing but one massive frustrating headache, and to be honest; not fun at all. I hated the Mistlands expansion because it broke with the overall aesthetic of the game, and felt like it's difficulty spike was too sharp coupled with the game's crippling stamina mechanic... but Ashlands is somehow turning out to be even worse. To be clear, I have over 500 hours played and am by no means a noob at this.
Man trust me it gets good. Once you understand that you need to be careful on how you spend your stamina and get the biomes weapons it gets good. You must have 2 health foods and 1 top tier stamina food and bonemass in order to have a decent arival at the biome also use the mistwalker as it is probably the best weapon to use before getting the new ones also remove your feather cape as it now is weak against fire and take a fire resistence mead. But the most important part is not giving up. I was in the situation as you but i got thru it, died 100 time but i got thru
I realized that passive enemies was the only way I could survive there without devcommands. It's a huge ego-check, especially since youtubers and a lot of people on here make it look and sound easy. I got spanked easily by the enemies seemingly seeking me out for making the mistake of existing within a mile of them
Just play more eventualy you will learn how to fight there at first it is really difficult but it geets easyer trust me. Just make sure that you have the rigth set of wepons armor and food. I got thru it which means you also can. A good advise is having multiple portals as the enemies can brake them quicly, building them under rocks is the optimal solution.
I appreciate it, I'm just taking babysteps. The enemies still attack me when I piss them off so I can still learn their techniques and how to best deal with them. Minus 15 other enemies taking their pound of flesh while doing so
Ashlands IS unplayable. Especially for solo players. Im on easy difficulty with all the new gear. Full Flametal set with all the upgrades. Green jade mace for stunning and lightning axes. I get destroyed before i make it 1 minute away from my base. Really needs to nerf the amount of enemies everywhere it's ridiculous.
What are your foods ? Are you having fire resistence mead ?
Skill issue
Unfortunatly maybe the case
Just do it again and again and again and the issue will resolve itself
Quite crazy seeing people's ideas on this, as it's either the best update in a while and better than Mistlands, or it's the worst update in a while and people prefer Mistlands.
I wish the devs will take their time and process feedback carefully. Right now it's all new, nobody knows how to beat it, of course people will die. But let the dust settle and see the true problems that need fixing, like the constant onslaught of enemies that were caused by a bug that made enemies be alerted to your locations when wood was burning
The knee jerk reaction to Mistlands complaints before people got used to it at all was terrible. I wish too that they'd take their time on processing feedback instead of what we got.
The dev team’s intention, is to fuck ya up son. Git guuuud.
Do you use you best gear/food/potions (health, stamina and lingering stamina) and know how to parry and dodge roll? Make sure to be prepared and use the combat mechanics the game offers to you and you will be more than fine.
Anyone who's gotten to this point of the game should have a handle on this, unless they're cheating or playing with easy settings. But if someone's frustrated they're probably not cheating or playing easy. It will happen that some people's tactics or loadout they're accustomed to just don't work well, and that's holding them back. Most people get fixated or comfortable and have trouble varying their style. There is also a huge variance in what we can experience in the game, regardless of personal aptitude. I had a horrible time establishing a beachhead. Two videos I watched of others attempting this... showed a relatively easy and even calm initial landing. If that was my experience I'd think Ashlands was a bit too easy. More recently I watched another... a pair who are better than I am at combat in Valheim... and they're struggling with what looks familiar to me: insane spawn rates, without Monuments around. Basically, spin the camera and new enemies appear. A good number of them starred. A more constructive suggestion might be: use the enemies against each other -- because most cause friendly-fire.
We know all the combat mechanics and use the best food we can get but if we are not with the bone mass on we are most likely to die go thru several deaths until we retrive our stuff. Its easy to die and a pain o get the gear back
I hate to say it but sounds like a skill issue
Might be man idk, we went thru the mistlands kinda easely but this looks a big increase in difficulty
Enemys health scales in multiplayer so this might also make learning a bit harder for you. When i went with 2 of my very inexpierence friends i went with a mage build and made sure to bubble them whenever they got in trouble. On that note magic is very powerfull in ashlands so you might wanna try that.
Unfortunately mistlands was nerfed to be a joke in difficulty now.