Is Atlas of Discovery worth buying just for Ancient Relics mode?

[OmegaXesis]

I'm pretty new to the game, and I have a normal and adventure mode run going. But I keep seeing comments about Ancient Relics mode being better. What do you like about it?

[Nelots]

I'm currently in the middle of an Ancient Relics mode run and I think it's better than Adventure mode in just about every way (and it's quickly become my favorite game mode of the four). That said, it is a decent bit harder than any of the other game modes. For example, you have to take on your first dungeon with all of your stats capped at just 10. I don't think I would say it's a great game mode for newer players, unless you like a challenge and reading up on the wiki.

That said, the DLC has plenty of redeeming content outside of the new game mode. The two new skills, Archaeology and Cartography, are very fun and unique. Cartography in particular is likely my favorite support skill in the game. And some of the gear in the later part of the DLC are very powerful and fun to use. So I just think it's a good buy in general.

[OmegaXesis]

Originally posted by Nelots:

I'm currently in the middle of an Ancient Relics mode run and I think it's better than Adventure mode in just about every way (and it's quickly become my favorite game mode of the four). That said, it is a decent bit harder than any of the other game modes. For example, you have to take on your first dungeon with all of your stats capped at just 10. I don't think I would say it's a great game mode for newer players, unless you like a challenge and reading up on the wiki.

That said, the DLC has plenty of redeeming content outside of the new game mode. The two new skills, Archaeology and Cartography, are very fun and unique. Cartography in particular is likely my favorite support skill in the game. And some of the gear in the later part of the DLC are very powerful and fun to use. So I just think it's a good buy in general.

Perfect! I had actually purchased the dlc last night. And I started a relic mode run!

Archaeology and cartography are kinda confusing to me though. Are these things I should focus on early game, mid game, or late game?

[Nelots]

Originally posted by OmegaXesis:

Originally posted by Nelots:

I'm currently in the middle of an Ancient Relics mode run and I think it's better than Adventure mode in just about every way (and it's quickly become my favorite game mode of the four). That said, it is a decent bit harder than any of the other game modes. For example, you have to take on your first dungeon with all of your stats capped at just 10. I don't think I would say it's a great game mode for newer players, unless you like a challenge and reading up on the wiki.

That said, the DLC has plenty of redeeming content outside of the new game mode. The two new skills, Archaeology and Cartography, are very fun and unique. Cartography in particular is likely my favorite support skill in the game. And some of the gear in the later part of the DLC are very powerful and fun to use. So I just think it's a good buy in general.

Perfect! I had actually purchased the dlc last night. And I started a relic mode run!

Archaeology and cartography are kinda confusing to me though. Are these things I should focus on early game, mid game, or late game?

Cartography is a skill you can focus on whenever. Your main goal is to just explore the map and find points of interest. Some points of interest give one-time rewards, whereas more important ones will give permanent buffs so long as you stay on that hex. Early on you can survey hexes near where you start and travel to them very cheaply, but you wont be able to progress too much until you have a decent bit of money. Because it only costs money to travel and not to survey, Cartography incentivizes idling more than other skills might.

So with that in mind, it's never the first skill I would train, but it's still something I would get into pretty early on. Archaeology on the other hand is more of a mid/late-game skill. Dig sites are found through Cartography, so you wont get much out of leveling Archaeology beyond whatever Cartography is at. That said, Archaeology will become necessary later on in order to efficiently clear the later AoD dungeons.

[RaptorSolutions]

I'll say that the AoD skills are worth going early for https://wiki.melvoridle.com/w/Golden_Wreath
Just keep in mind that Archaeology generates a lot of junk so keep some bank space for that.
This is more or less how I started my HC char recently, just got that and you have a multipurpose headgear for the rest of your run.

[Soulfly205]

It's probably the best way to play the game. It's challenging and also rewards powerful upgrades for getting past more dungeons. The only thing I don't like is a lot of resource recoup and doubling effects for crafting are removed, but I think there's a mod you can get that makes those things available for relic mode.

Once you solve your food problem (and there are several ways to do that), the game mode doesn't feel as punishing as it does for the first 2-3 dungeons.

[Herr Gutentauben]

I honestly don't see the appeal of ancient relics. The fact that it removes the recycling/duplication from mastery (which is basically what mastery level is for) is a complete deal breaker.

[Soulfly205]

Originally posted by Herr Gutentauben:

I honestly don't see the appeal of ancient relics. The fact that it removes the recycling/duplication from mastery (which is basically what mastery level is for) is a complete deal breaker.

It balances crafting with farming monsters/thieving for crafting materials. With the bonuses crafting is by far the best way to get certain materials. Because skill cap increases are random and valuable, it's better to increase the cap on smithing and farm monsters instead of increasing mining and smithing which could potentially stretch your build too thin and make progression very difficult.

[RaptorSolutions]

Originally posted by Herr Gutentauben:

I honestly don't see the appeal of ancient relics. The fact that it removes the recycling/duplication from mastery (which is basically what mastery level is for) is a complete deal breaker.

Because you get some crazy bonuses. I think one of the relics basically gives you character wide 10% duplication bonuses.
Crafting capstone gives 90% chance of urns being enchanted btw, whatever you waste without the preservation/doubling bonuses you can save there.
Thieving has a no HP damage on stun, no need to waste time farming food.
Smithing capstone means you no longer need coal to craft ingots. Though this is less useful than it sounds later on because even my normal characters has millions of coal somehow.
Archaeology there is way better if you're lucky because one of the relics basically doubles all your archaeology drops.
Defense also has a DR relic too. It's not much, but it's something.
HP has a relic which basically removes the bonus damage taken on stuns. Basically means you're reducing the DR requirement for a whole bunch of stuff.
Agility capstone completely removes the negative debuffs for all of them.

But yeah, just look at what the relics gives. While there are some stinkers in there. Looking at you summoning capstone, most of them are completely OP.

[Nelots]

Originally posted by Herr Gutentauben:

I honestly don't see the appeal of ancient relics. The fact that it removes the recycling/duplication from mastery (which is basically what mastery level is for) is a complete deal breaker.

That's a pretty reductive way of looking at Mastery. It has many other uses. Literally the only skill in the game that doesn't get non-doubling/preservation buffs through mastery is Smithing. But even if it were true that Ancient Relics mode makes Mastery useless, you could just look at minor and ancient relics are a far more interesting replacement for Mastery. The buffs they provide are insanely powerful.

Honestly, my biggest issue with Ancient Relics mode is that many base skill capes do nothing. Fishing, Fletching, Herblore, Magic, Mining & Smithing (both of these because of the master relic is just way better) are all made completely useless. It isn't until you get the superior skill capes with their "+100% chance for 1 additional resource" that they actually become somewhat useful. Still, a couple bad skill capes is pretty minor compared to the massive buffs relics give.

[「SHAORUNE」]

Deleted both my adventure / normal character to do a completely new Ancient run because of how fun it is. There is a always a clear goal to do, the relic are satisfying and powerful to unlock, and the skills level restriction place on you mean you have to explore what to do in every skills to pass the next dungeon. You can't just over level one skills to just breeze through the game contents.

[OmegaXesis]

Originally posted by 「SHAORUNE」:

Deleted both my adventure / normal character to do a completely new Ancient run because of how fun it is. There is a always a clear goal to do, the relic are satisfying and powerful to unlock, and the skills level restriction place on you mean you have to explore what to do in every skills to pass the next dungeon. You can't just over level one skills to just breeze through the game contents.

I'm currently doing a normal mode, adventure mode, and relic run at the same time. I think I'm having more fun with adventure right now. I'm just letting my relic run earn more money first.