Shroud is irrelevant

['norabseven]

The shroud should do more to your character for being inside it, and then we should have more potions/foods that reduce the effects as currently shroud is just a timer for death and almost pointless as the timer is so long, there is no fear or reason to not go into it, other than the shroud that kills you if your flame isn't high enough level that is.

What the shroud should be is a debuff to your character based on it's flame-level-entry-requirement and then each flame level should reduce these debuffs making it easier.

Could add in a increasing effect of debuffs based on time left in the shroud, so running out of time isn't just "oops your dead" and more "it's getting to high an effect to survive".

Also just remove the Shroud-Flame-Level-Gate-Death type shroud mechanic, with debuffs on shroud level vs flame level it should just debuff you into the ground but allow you to be in it, if you need to chug health pots to survive so be it, having a Shroud-Death-Area is kind of boring.

Anyway an example of how each level of shroud could affect your gameplay in some way could be:
- Damage Player once every X seconds or something, so that it's a constant threat.
- Reduce standard Health, Stamina, Mana regen, need potions/skills to regen.
- More damage taken by enemy attacks.
- Enemies constantly spawning around you. More or Harder versions depending on shroud level
- Hallucinations of enemies that chase and attack you for zero damage but look real, so constant threat when mixed in with standard enemies.
- Friendly Fire (at high shroud levels or low timer values) kind of like you or your friends are being taken over by the shroud and can no longer tell friend from foe, could be distance based, the farther you are the more enemy like they appear

If there is a constant threat in the shroud there could be benefits added also, like Shroud-Ore which when refined if 2x it's non-shroud version, better loot drops (loot is terrible but that's a different story) there is loads that can be added.

The shroud currently is just a dark area of the map, that has a timer, nothing more.

Given that the shroud is supposed to be the core thing in the game lore it's just irrelevant.

EDIT:
(I'll add one of my comments here so people don't comment "I don't want it harder" etc anymore)
I'm not bothered about it being harder or easier, I just want more agency, more something interesting about the shroud, just something.

Currently it's just a timer that when it expires you go *poof*, that is not a very engaging mechanic and I'd like to see anyone defend it as a "mechanic".

What I'm suggesting could be super easy things, things that don't need any skills or mega strategies to get around but if you're not careful or paying attention they will very much get in the way.

[Katitoff]

Originally posted by mushy:

Yeah, no. I got the game specifically because the game is so laid back in terms of survival mechanics and overall difficulty. An optional hard mode or modifiers for stuff would be a better way about it.

Game advertising itself as survival, which does not challenge player in any way is not a survival.

[Wizard_of_Nozs]

I think it should start out strong and get pushed back, becoming weaker and weaker as you take over more territory, upgrading your bases. Being tiers of it where the outside is weak, but further you go in, the stronger it gets which is almost is how it is currently. Then as your base levels up, you get more time and it does less damage.

[Theocolphus]

How about no.

[tmaddox]

Originally posted by Katitoff:

Originally posted by mushy:

Yeah, no. I got the game specifically because the game is so laid back in terms of survival mechanics and overall difficulty. An optional hard mode or modifiers for stuff would be a better way about it.

Game advertising itself as survival, which does not challenge player in any way is not a survival.

Not all survival games have a pre-determined minimum difficulty. Just like other game genres the games will vary based on the devs and the intended audience.

That said, I would be fine if they added options to fine tune the game server, especially in single player and non public servers. While many may look down on PalWorld, it's options for changing different settings for your game world are pretty impressive.

[Sugam]

I have to agree, it is a joke but the devs are aiming for that hand holding experience though so I do not see it happening. You can't blame them for this, the average gamer is not that good really nor want to put the effort in. Have to caste the widest net to catch the most fish. You have a timer, multiple ways to extend it, a magic map that literally tells you where you are always. Its 100% on the player if they die or even struggle in it.

I will give them credit though, you cant fast travel out of it. I will be surprised if that stays that way as I am sure people will demand that removed soon enough.

[Wasted]

I agree thatbthe shroud should be way more dangerous, excellent suggestions in OP all around.

[Sandpuppy]

Originally posted by Damedius:

The shroud reducing visibility is enough for me. Wandering around inside a maze when you can barely see is already really annoying..

Seriously. Constantly struggling to see through the pea soup has me on the verge of shelving this one.

[Spacecraft]

Originally posted by Foxglovez:

How bout just accepting it for what it is? Maybe not a game that scratches your itch because what you really want is a hard mode specifically for yourself, to be perfect for you... Kind of unlikely.

Look they do have a point. The shroud is supposed to be a dangerous place, yet I've never had any problems completing any content in it with plenty of time to spare. I don't want the Shroud to become annoying with difficulty slapped in for the sake of difficulty, but I'd be ok with them trying to reach some middle ground.

Originally posted by Blue Hasia:

The more the timer goes down the more we hallucinate be rad

I actually love this idea. Maybe we just hallucinate enemies that poof into smoke when we smack them. Just a way to keep us on our toes, make real fights a little scarier.

[Bongoboy]

What I would like allot more is if Shrouded areas feel more like a Dungeon in Legend of Zelda. More enemies, more puzzles and with a chest at the end.

I am not the biggest fan of that timer, all it does is induce stress because you die if it runs out. Taking damage while in it reduces that timer even further. Fog areas should feel dangerous because of what is found within... imagine the movie The Fog from 1980, that hits it pretty well.
Hallucination and other stuff would be cool, I just find the timer lame.

[Arndell]

The little pockets of shroud clouds near the start aren't a problem with 5 minute timers, and if you just sprint right out of that first valley, that's fine too.

But that one Elixer Well I did where you fight the boss at the end after running down the stairs, the 5 minutes seemed right for that and it was just the first one, so basically a tutorial.


If demand for that kind of stuff is high enough, the devs should just add a server setting toggle where you can pick how low your death timer is, but if they make it default it will just be tedious for a lot of people.

From the looks of the stuff in the distance and the areas I can see with red fog, it seems like the timer won't be enough for a lot of it and the need for shroud potions and fire upgrades will be felt.




On a related note, I don't really understand the "gamer logic" that you see with so many people ever since the Soulsborne stuff genre became a mainstream thing.

We get a game with hp bars, resource management and combat, if we use the tools given, the game is manageable and things make sense.

But then the skillbros play some, and basically say:
"This would be so much more fun if they removed my HP bar, die in one hit, and I don't like having all this inventory space, I wish i had to fill it with buff items...also I dislike how the enemy dies so easily after only 5-10 hits, I wish I needed to hit them 100 times while making sure I never get hit once"

None of that stuff is ever appealing, it's just tedious, sure I "could" play a game for hundreds, or thousands of hours until I have all the NPCs timings burned into my muscle memory, but i'm likely to be getting tired of the game by that point anyway.

Why not just never equip any armour and only use fists to fight if the super stacked hard mode is all that can give the sense of challenge?

[Nitro_Maniac]

Originally posted by 'norabseven:

The shroud should do more to your character for being inside it, and then we should have more potions/foods that reduce the effects as currently shroud is just a timer for death and almost pointless as the timer is so long, there is no fear or reason to not go into it, other than the shroud that kills you if your flame isn't high enough level that is.

What the shroud should be is a debuff to your character based on it's flame-level-entry-requirement and then each flame level should reduce these debuffs making it easier.

Could add in a increasing effect of debuffs based on time left in the shroud, so running out of time isn't just "oops your dead" and more "it's getting to high an effect to survive".

Also just remove the Shroud-Flame-Level-Gate-Death type shroud mechanic, with debuffs on shroud level vs flame level it should just debuff you into the ground but allow you to be in it, if you need to chug health pots to survive so be it, having a Shroud-Death-Area is kind of boring.

Anyway an example of how each level of shroud could affect your gameplay in some way could be:
- Damage Player once every X seconds or something, so that it's a constant threat.
- Reduce standard Health, Stamina, Mana regen, need potions/skills to regen.
- More damage taken by enemy attacks.
- Enemies constantly spawning around you. More or Harder versions depending on shroud level
- Hallucinations of enemies that chase and attack you for zero damage but look real, so constant threat when mixed in with standard enemies.
- Friendly Fire (at high shroud levels or low timer values) kind of like you or your friends are being taken over by the shroud and can no longer tell friend from foe, could be distance based, the farther you are the more enemy like they appear

If there is a constant threat in the shroud there could be benefits added also, like Shroud-Ore which when refined if 2x it's non-shroud version, better loot drops (loot is terrible but that's a different story) there is loads that can be added.

The shroud currently is just a dark area of the map, that has a timer, nothing more.

Given that the shroud is supposed to be the core thing in the game lore it's just irrelevant.

Tbh I think this could be a rework for deadly shroud to add risk to venturing into areas you’re not meant to be in yet, because simply dying on the spot is so much more annoying. It can be utilised as a way to gate players without outright killing them. While I empathise with people being reluctant about applying this to the shroud areas in general, I reckon this could be much better mechanic to the deadly shroud than its current instant death mechanic currently.

[T@F]

it's ok as it is imo.
The devs just need to add something like hard mode for the elite players.

['norabseven]

A lot of you are misunderstanding my post a little, I'm not bothered about it being harder or easier, I just want more agency, more something interesting about the shroud, just something.

Currently it's just a timer that when it expires you go *poof*, that is not a very engaging mechanic and I'd like to see anyone defend it as a "mechanic".

What I'm suggesting could be super easy things, things that don't need any skills or mega strategies to get around but if you're not careful or paying attention they will very much get in the way.

Take the ticking health damage, it could be so small it would take a few minutes to kill you but it's there, touching you, it's constant, it's something you need to think about and if you forget it even though you have time left in the shroud it could get you.

The enemies spawning around you, I mean the current shroud enemies are not hard to kill they just shamble towards you with the occasional wraith thrown in, more spawns of them wouldn't really increase difficulty as you can literally walk away from them, but they would be there, as a constant, meaning you can't sit still and if you do they catch up.

I never said I wanted it harder, just something MORE in the shroud, currently just having a timer is a waste of what should be the main mechanic of the game.

I mean, it's called enSHROUDed isn't it!

[$$Billionaire Trash$$]

Originally posted by ThePunkPanther:

Originally posted by 'norabseven:

The shroud should do more to your character for being inside it, and then we should have more potions/foods that reduce the effects as currently shroud is just a timer for death and almost pointless as the timer is so long, there is no fear or reason to not go into it, other than the shroud that kills you if your flame isn't high enough level that is.

What the shroud should be is a debuff to your character based on it's flame-level-entry-requirement and then each flame level should reduce these debuffs making it easier.

Could add in a increasing effect of debuffs based on time left in the shroud, so running out of time isn't just "oops your dead" and more "it's getting to high an effect to survive".

Also just remove the Shroud-Flame-Level-Gate-Death type shroud mechanic, with debuffs on shroud level vs flame level it should just debuff you into the ground but allow you to be in it, if you need to chug health pots to survive so be it, having a Shroud-Death-Area is kind of boring.

Anyway an example of how each level of shroud could affect your gameplay in some way could be:
- Damage Player once every X seconds or something, so that it's a constant threat.
- Reduce standard Health, Stamina, Mana regen, need potions/skills to regen.
- More damage taken by enemy attacks.
- Enemies constantly spawning around you. More or Harder versions depending on shroud level
- Hallucinations of enemies that chase and attack you for zero damage but look real, so constant threat when mixed in with standard enemies.
- Friendly Fire (at high shroud levels or low timer values) kind of like you or your friends are being taken over by the shroud and can no longer tell friend from foe, could be distance based, the farther you are the more enemy like they appear

If there is a constant threat in the shroud there could be benefits added also, like Shroud-Ore which when refined if 2x it's non-shroud version, better loot drops (loot is terrible but that's a different story) there is loads that can be added.

The shroud currently is just a dark area of the map, that has a timer, nothing more.

Given that the shroud is supposed to be the core thing in the game lore it's just irrelevant.

Agree with your points. The shroud needs to be reworked completely. There is no sense of danger at all. Instead of 5 mins, we should have only 1 mins and if you want to stay longer, you need shroud potions. Enemies should also be tougher, more deadly and more numerous. Higher enemies could also spawn after you defeat x number of enemies. Loot should also be more rewarding indeed. Getting worn clothes in a chest after defeating a bunch of enemies is not very satisfying.. Hallucinating enemies would be a cool feature indeed.

Who think time pressure mechanics is actually fun? 5 minutes is fine, but they could add other things to make it 'seem' deadlier.

[matke587]

Fog can be quite deadly if you're not careful... as I found out. Ran into some red fog running round a corner... my timer went from 4:20 to :40 seconds in a blink of an eye. I just made it out of the fog with seconds to spare. Had to sprint my way out of the fog!