This DLC made me wonder why did I like isometric arpgs at all. Turns out I was looking for a replacement when Marvel Heroes Online shut down. It did its job well to help me get over the shut down of Marvel Heroes Online. But now, I wonder why did I even like Marvel Heroes Online in the first place. Anyway, back to this DLC.
First of all, let's start with the past. The devs claimed that set items are the most powerful items in the game. So I built around set items, complete set items. But guess what? These builds can barely handle Nemesis bosses and clear roguelike dungeons. Super bosses are totally out of reach. But since it was just a minor part of the game, I lived with the fact that I can't clear it. But this DLC, its ascendent difficulty turned Nemesis bosses into super bosses. And I haven't even turn on the ascension modifiers which will easily increase the stats of these bosses by another 100% or more for very minor buffs. And what is given to players to handle the spike in difficulty? Close to nothing. The use of potions have been seriously NERFed. In the past, I can use multiple oils, tinctures and elixirs simultaneously to deal with difficult content such as the roguelike dungeons. But now, I am limited to use one tincture, one oil and one elixir only. This wouldn't be so bad if potion crafting meant combining various oils, tinctures or elixirs of different types into one powerful oil, tincture or elixir. But apparently, I misunderstood this info. Turns out, potion crafting meant adding effects to potion of mending and potion of spirit. The default potions that runs on cooldown mechanics instead of quantity. The effect, negligible. Another 8% more life steal and a 8k damage absorption shield did not stop a nemesis boss from one shotting me. Which reminded me how much I hate the one shot mechanics of these isometric arpgs. After a few deaths, I thought I had identified the moves the nemesis bosses would make before a one shot attack. Only for other moves that I thought wasn't life threatening to one shot me instead. This makes souls-like games look like a walk in the park. Because even adopting a souls-like play style, which I will find a pattern eventually, I cannot find such a thing in GD. Skill is irrelevant in this game too.
The awaken epic items mechanics, mostly to the new items that came with this DLC. It meant the epic items I have on my main remained as it is.
Rerolling stats on magic and rare items, the materials needed to do so rarely drops. And the amount needed increases every few tries. The effect? Also negligible. As I said earlier, I build around set items. The rare items I have on my main, after trying to reroll for higher stats, it turned out I already had the best or close to the best. The rerolling actually made the item weaker so I had to reroll for my old stats. The gear dropped in ascendant difficult does not have higher stats either.
The new area, honestly, just a change in scenery only. Basically, a retelling of the Chi'ton arc in the main game on a frozen land. A fallen deity in a similar situation as FG DLC.
In summary, I regret buying this DLC because I feel like I bought agony. As mentioned, the difficulty spike came with serious nerfs. The promise of making builds stronger isn't as good as the devs made it sound. Overall, not worth the money just for expanded story, a new scenery to fight in and a lot of resentment.
