Is Ashes of Malmouth and Forgotten Gods worth it?

[Rontemon]

I bought this game long time ago along with the Crucible DLC and played through the game once. Thought of returning to it again when I can get the expansions on a good sale.

Does the expansion improve the game combat animations, effects, graphics, etc?

[canuck250]

IMO 100% worth it and then some. Adds a bunch more content and new masteries

[Shellbie]

The kid gloves are off once you enter the dlcs zones.

[+|A.O|+]

for the millionth time, yes.

Malmouth adds an armor class with highest base armor values, the necromancer character class and uniques related to it.

The Forgotten Gods expansion adds new armor types for non-physical damage or bleed/poison damage, the oathkeeper character class and a new skeleton key dungeon.
Also, when you have both ashes of malmouth and forgotten gods, a new monster totem type and new map areas get unlocked along with new boss rare drops that enable certain builds.

Finally, Forgotten Gods expansion adds a special feature for the inventor and gives you an endless dungeon called Shattered Realm.

[Rontemon]

Originally posted by +|A.O|+:

for the millionth time, yes.

Malmouth adds an armor class with highest base armor values, the necromancer character class and uniques related to it.

The Forgotten Gods expansion adds new armor types for non-physical damage or bleed/poison damage, the oathkeeper character class and a new skeleton key dungeon.
Also, when you have both ashes of malmouth and forgotten gods, a new monster totem type and new map areas get unlocked along with new boss rare drops that enable certain builds.

Finally, Forgotten Gods expansion adds a special feature for the inventor and gives you an endless dungeon called Shattered Realm.

Sounds good! Guess I will wait for a sale before picking it up.

Since there are so many new modes and even a new endless dungeon added in the expansions, there is basically no incentive for me to ever play the Crucibles DLC then?

[canuck250]

Mal also add the inquisitor. There are still reasons to run crucible.

[DeMasked]

Originally posted by Merciful:

Since there are so many new modes and even a new endless dungeon added in the expansions, there is basically no incentive for me to ever play the Crucibles DLC then?

Crucible is a survival arena mode while Shattered Realm is more of a time attack challenge where you have to run through small levels collecting essence in order to continue + it has little boss arena fights interspersed as well.

[Tenkillsmore]

Originally posted by +|A.O|+:

for the millionth time, yes.

Sorry, but a search of all data reveals that the number is 789,456 1/2 times

[Enfild]

Originally posted by Merciful:

Does the expansion improve the game combat animations, effects, graphics, etc?

No.
But if you care for such a thing, why play this type of games?

[FlamingX21]

Originally posted by Tenkillsmore:

Originally posted by +|A.O|+:

for the millionth time, yes.

Sorry, but a search of all data reveals that the number is 789,456 1/2 times

At this speed and rate... we will get there.

[Sehkh]

Originally posted by Enfild:

Originally posted by Merciful:

Does the expansion improve the game combat animations, effects, graphics, etc?

No.
But if you care for such a thing, why play this type of games?

exacly, if beauty is for some reason better than gameplay new world is a better choice even in the messe its in right now

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

if you like the game, then content wise yes
if you think they somehow changed the look of the game and expansions turn this into Wolcen visuals or something then no
there was some graphical updates after AoM release, where game got DX11 support and other stuff and little changes, but it still looks like Grim Dawn should

some mentions on the visual updates

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Melee Looks – The way the game processes melee animations was completely overhauled with v1.1.1.0. While this change had no impact on actual gameplay performance, it made melee combat feel much more satisfying with snappier animations and sharper weapon trails.

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Spell It Out – As work progressed on Grim Dawn, not only did our standards for quality go up, but also our own ability to execute upon those standards. We spent significant time in 2019 going back to some of the game’s oldest spell effects and overhauling them completely.
Not only that, we improved the tech for out skill modifiers to allow for more visual updates. This meant we could take most of our 100% Conversion skill modifiers and add alternate visuals for all of those skills. Finally Trozan’s Sky Shard could look acidic when you turned its damage into acid/poison.

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Monstrously Updated – As with spell effects, some of our oldest monsters fell woefully behind the quality of our more recent creations. First in line were Zombies, Bonebacks and Rifthounds, but several other monsters saw adjustments as well!

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Deferred Renderer – Probably one of the biggest improvements to the engine, the deferred renderer significantly improved performance for many players and allowed us to enable dynamic lighting on many of our spell effects

probably more and more detailed mentions in individual patch notes for the various patches where graphic and visual updates happened

Medea dug this up for me
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/grim-dawn-version-1-1-4-0/86026

[Deferred Rendering]
With this patch, you can now toggle Deferred Rendering under the Video Options.

Deferred Rendering utilizes additional graphics memory to reduce total draw calls per frame by around 30% or more. This should result in a decent performance increase, especially at high video settings. Complex scenes, such as Devil’s Crossing and parts of Fort Ikon, should see the largest gains.

With Deferred Rendering also come additional video setting levels: Very High for Reflections and Particles. With Particles set to Very High, you can enjoy awesome lighting effects on various spells and abilities that will make combat at night and in undergrounds especially dynamic!

Note: Deferred Renderring does require DirectX 11, so if you are running DirectX 9, you will not be able to toggle this setting. Deferred Rendering also uses FXAA Anti-Aliasing, so that option becomes a toggle rather than a drop-down when the new renderer is enabled.


[Art]

Boneback rats & Rifthounds have received a visual update to bring them up to our modern standards, just as many early game enemies did before them!
Spell FX override priority has been reversed. Now the last override applied take precedence, meaning item skill modifiers with fx updates (ex. Callidor’s Tempest) will take priority over transmuter visuals (ex. Wrath of Agrivix).
Updated Spell FX for many projectiles, explosions and ground effects used by player and monster skills.
Updated Spell FX for many toggled and activated buff skills from masteries and items to reduce blowout and improve visuals.
Updated FX for Feet trails to reduce blowout.
Updated FX for Flames of Ignaffar & Transmuters to reduce blowout & improve visuals.
Updated FX for Olexra’s Flash Freeze to be a little…cooler.
Updated FX for Panetti’s Replicating Missile.
Updated FX for Rune of Kalastor & fragments to reduce blowout.
Updated FX for Sigil of Consumption, sigil texture & Transmuters to reduce blowout & improve visuals.
Updated FX for Trozan’s Sky Shard to reduce blow-out and improve visuals.
Updated various basic damage effects.

[Niczu]

If you've enjoyed the base game, then definitely yes. Besides the actual content, the expanded stash size is also nice if you don't plan to use GD Stash or any other external programs.

[danchr4]

I enjoyed both expansions very much.

[Rontemon]

Originally posted by gNuff!~©~gNom3™:

if you like the game, then content wise yes
if you think they somehow changed the look of the game and expansions turn this into Wolcen visuals or something then no
there was some graphical updates after AoM release, where game got DX11 support and other stuff and little changes, but it still looks like Grim Dawn should

some mentions on the visual updates

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Melee Looks – The way the game processes melee animations was completely overhauled with v1.1.1.0. While this change had no impact on actual gameplay performance, it made melee combat feel much more satisfying with snappier animations and sharper weapon trails.

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Spell It Out – As work progressed on Grim Dawn, not only did our standards for quality go up, but also our own ability to execute upon those standards. We spent significant time in 2019 going back to some of the game’s oldest spell effects and overhauling them completely.
Not only that, we improved the tech for out skill modifiers to allow for more visual updates. This meant we could take most of our 100% Conversion skill modifiers and add alternate visuals for all of those skills. Finally Trozan’s Sky Shard could look acidic when you turned its damage into acid/poison.

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Monstrously Updated – As with spell effects, some of our oldest monsters fell woefully behind the quality of our more recent creations. First in line were Zombies, Bonebacks and Rifthounds, but several other monsters saw adjustments as well!

Originally posted by "Zantai, post:1, topic:95076":

Deferred Renderer – Probably one of the biggest improvements to the engine, the deferred renderer significantly improved performance for many players and allowed us to enable dynamic lighting on many of our spell effects

probably more and more detailed mentions in individual patch notes for the various patches where graphic and visual updates happened

Medea dug this up for me
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/grim-dawn-version-1-1-4-0/86026

[Deferred Rendering]
With this patch, you can now toggle Deferred Rendering under the Video Options.

Deferred Rendering utilizes additional graphics memory to reduce total draw calls per frame by around 30% or more. This should result in a decent performance increase, especially at high video settings. Complex scenes, such as Devil’s Crossing and parts of Fort Ikon, should see the largest gains.

With Deferred Rendering also come additional video setting levels: Very High for Reflections and Particles. With Particles set to Very High, you can enjoy awesome lighting effects on various spells and abilities that will make combat at night and in undergrounds especially dynamic!

Note: Deferred Renderring does require DirectX 11, so if you are running DirectX 9, you will not be able to toggle this setting. Deferred Rendering also uses FXAA Anti-Aliasing, so that option becomes a toggle rather than a drop-down when the new renderer is enabled.


[Art]

Boneback rats & Rifthounds have received a visual update to bring them up to our modern standards, just as many early game enemies did before them!
Spell FX override priority has been reversed. Now the last override applied take precedence, meaning item skill modifiers with fx updates (ex. Callidor’s Tempest) will take priority over transmuter visuals (ex. Wrath of Agrivix).
Updated Spell FX for many projectiles, explosions and ground effects used by player and monster skills.
Updated Spell FX for many toggled and activated buff skills from masteries and items to reduce blowout and improve visuals.
Updated FX for Feet trails to reduce blowout.
Updated FX for Flames of Ignaffar & Transmuters to reduce blowout & improve visuals.
Updated FX for Olexra’s Flash Freeze to be a little…cooler.
Updated FX for Panetti’s Replicating Missile.
Updated FX for Rune of Kalastor & fragments to reduce blowout.
Updated FX for Sigil of Consumption, sigil texture & Transmuters to reduce blowout & improve visuals.
Updated FX for Trozan’s Sky Shard to reduce blow-out and improve visuals.
Updated various basic damage effects.

This is really good to know thanks! As I played Grim Dawn before AoM was released.

I like good gameplay but of course having nice visuals helps as well.

[Bonham]

Oh yes. Worth every cent.

Warlord for life