Act 2 Update Initial thoughts.

[Vλgaβoηđ]

I will keep it short as most things have been said already on the forums.
The update is a mixed bag of good and bad.

The Bad:
1. The grind. 4 talent points per complete run. Each run is 20+ minutes. 36 max talent points. 9x20=180min=3h+ minimum for EACH character. Talent points aren't universal. So at best (read: perfect) 18h+ just to max out all characters. This is a middle finger to all those that 100% the game previously.

2. Talent Tree is still very WIP and needs more time in the oven. i.e. Merris has two talents that do the same thing (increase Cast damage). Other than that, it's a cookie cutter feature, instead of a replacement for signs. Only a handful were interesting, less so unique.

3. Characters and/or Gear got nerfed. Previously D30 Act 1 Merris and Nixi able builds, now can't even complete D15. Without a reliable way to get Gem High, it's substitutions are sub par, about which...

4. Gem High is needlessly nerfed. For a legend rarity blessing it's useless. +60% AS and abyssmal MS. This forces to pick Summer and Leigong, to get Master blessings for AS and MS. Should've just been the old version, but with a longer duration.

5. Act 2 in general. Darkness - 0. The amount of "WTF just hit me" baffles me. I double checked to see if I increased the stats. Full Tier 1 Mythic gear Nixi at Max Talent Tree barely reached Wasp boss.

The Good:
1. Talent Tree idea in of itself. The execution is poor, but the idea is still good. It just needs to expand and improve on previous Signs.

2. New Blessing types. Didn't expect to like it. At first it's confusing a bit, but it becomes intuitive later on. The limitation to Strike, Cast, Power is up for debate, I myself have no opinion on that matter. A glossary of all blessings would be a great addition.

3. New Blessings overall. Of those that I did manage to get, I liked most of them.

The Average:

1. Build diversity is only viable at D0, and even then limited to Act 1.
2. Voice acting is still the weak part, this is a nitpick and forgivable.
3. Slower gameplay and snowballing builds/blessings nerfed, which kinda ruined the most fun part. This might be intentional, but then again, it's a Vampire Survivor clone, snowballing with absurd builds is the whole point, so I'll just leave this quote: "If everything is OP, nothing is OP."

[mic01851165]

If act 2 can only be enjoyed with maxed skill tree, i feel like is poorly design
I was gonna grind act 2 slowly since i sinked in 100+ hrs in act 1 with some of the best gears available already. I even beat act 1 highest darkness back then too.

And now i keep dying at 13 min bosses zzz
And you tell me to go back act 1 just to grind points?
Way to kill the excitement and will to play the game. All my progression are basically reverted.

Also back then you can choose your powerful beginner perk which is kinda unique.
Now you just grind your way to max and every playstyle is the same.
Also they kinda gutted summon/ cast too which is pretty enjoyable back then. Now they do next to no damage and keep occupying the levelling options.

[Lord SloppyDong]

I mean I've Completed up to Difficulty 41 On Act 2
Farmed gear for Everyone and Now i Dont even Need talents to clear act 2
Doesnt matter what Blessings I take either.
But I really Don't Like farming for Talents.
So i mean I did in a way that works for me.
I've cleared act 2 diff 41 With Larian and Skadi.
the one legendary Trait (has a Chance to Kill enemies by % and elites by %) is Down Right BROKEN.

Tier 1 Items are Useless if you want to play act 2
Farm Tier 2 Gear. I know its Dumb to completely Make Tier 1 gear Obsolete.

[Lord SloppyDong]

Originally posted by mic01851165:

If act 2 can only be enjoyed with maxed skill tree, i feel like is poorly design
I was gonna grind act 2 slowly since i sinked in 100+ hrs in act 1 with some of the best gears available already. I even beat act 1 highest darkness back then too.

And now i keep dying at 13 min bosses zzz
And you tell me to go back act 1 just to grind points?
Way to kill the excitement and will to play the game. All my progression are basically reverted.

Also back then you can choose your powerful beginner perk which is kinda unique.
Now you just grind your way to max and every playstyle is the same.
Also they kinda gutted summon/ cast too which is pretty enjoyable back then. Now they do next to no damage and keep occupying the levelling options.

I would just farm act 2. Because you get better gear and you also get talent Points at the same time.

[mic01851165]

Originally posted by Lord SloppyDong:

I mean I've Completed up to Difficulty 41 On Act 2
Farmed gear for Everyone and Now i Dont even Need talents to clear act 2
Doesnt matter what Blessings I take either.
But I really Don't Like farming for Talents.
So i mean I did in a way that works for me.
I've cleared act 2 diff 41 With Larian and Skadi.
the one legendary Trait (has a Chance to Kill enemies by % and elites by %) is Down Right BROKEN.

Tier 1 Items are Useless if you want to play act 2
Farm Tier 2 Gear. I know its Dumb to completely Make Tier 1 gear Obsolete.

It's a vicious loop
How to get act 2 gear?
Clear act 2 bosses/ increase darkness for purple/ mystic tier 2 gears to drop
But then you cant clear act 2 with act 1 full mystic gears. DARKNESS ZERO

So what to do then? Grind talent points?

Maybe they should at least make darkness ZERO bosses reasonable so people can start grinding some basic act 2 gears?
If it's higher darkness ofc it should be very tough, but that 14 min boss is a big middle finger for act 1 gear progressing players .

[Lord SloppyDong]

Originally posted by mic01851165:

Originally posted by Lord SloppyDong:

I mean I've Completed up to Difficulty 41 On Act 2
Farmed gear for Everyone and Now i Dont even Need talents to clear act 2
Doesnt matter what Blessings I take either.
But I really Don't Like farming for Talents.
So i mean I did in a way that works for me.
I've cleared act 2 diff 41 With Larian and Skadi.
the one legendary Trait (has a Chance to Kill enemies by % and elites by %) is Down Right BROKEN.

Tier 1 Items are Useless if you want to play act 2
Farm Tier 2 Gear. I know its Dumb to completely Make Tier 1 gear Obsolete.

It's a vicious loop
How to get act 2 gear?
Clear act 2 bosses/ increase darkness for purple/ mystic tier 2 gears to drop
But then you cant clear act 2 with act 1 full mystic gears. DARKNESS ZERO

So what to do then? Grind talent points?

Maybe they should at least make darkness ZERO bosses reasonable so people can start grinding some basic act 2 gears?

Hey im not saying its Good Design. I literally Kept farming till The Cursed boss
Picking up all tier 2 Loot and buying tier 2 loot from the Shop. That was enough to get my started on clearing Darkness 0 Act 2

[alexxxx129]

Not sure why people are complaining about act 2. Aside from Djinn boss, which I have yet to figure out how to consistently beat, I see no issues with the rest of the bosses.

[Leanna]

Nixi can't beat Act 1 Darkness 0 without a maxed Stone Shield before the Baron's Pets.


This update really pushed the necessity of running meta builds and killing any kind of experimentation or build diversity. And as a Nixi enjoyer who hates meta builds, I'm not going to farm the Necromancer for 20 hours so I can do again what I was able to do before but at max darkness.

[Omni]

I cleared Act 2 first try diff 0 with roughly full t1 mythic/epic equipment and no talents on Nixi. I didn't feel it was that difficult, sure the mobs that telegraph under your feet and throw shockwaves took me by surprise at first, but once you know what to look for a few proper dodges makes quick work of them. Similar to the bomb throwers, they aim in the direction you're running, so just properly zigzag your walking and stab them as you make your way to more notables. Maybe I just got lucky and didn't realize it, but I've consistently been clearing Act 2 diff 0 with little to no talents on everyone. You get 8 talents points compared to Act 1's 4, so the farm hasn't felt that bad to me personally.

[RiskoDad]

Originally posted by Omni:

I cleared Act 2 first try diff 0 with roughly full t1 mythic/epic equipment and no talents on Nixi. I didn't feel it was that difficult, sure the mobs that telegraph under your feet and throw shockwaves took me by surprise at first, but once you know what to look for a few proper dodges makes quick work of them. Similar to the bomb throwers, they aim in the direction you're running, so just properly zigzag your walking and stab them as you make your way to more notables. Maybe I just got lucky and didn't realize it, but I've consistently been clearing Act 2 diff 0 with little to no talents on everyone. You get 8 talents points compared to Act 1's 4, so the farm hasn't felt that bad to me personally.

Did you go justice, did you get amazing blessings?

[Lord SloppyDong]

Originally posted by RiskoDad:

Originally posted by Omni:

I cleared Act 2 first try diff 0 with roughly full t1 mythic/epic equipment and no talents on Nixi. I didn't feel it was that difficult, sure the mobs that telegraph under your feet and throw shockwaves took me by surprise at first, but once you know what to look for a few proper dodges makes quick work of them. Similar to the bomb throwers, they aim in the direction you're running, so just properly zigzag your walking and stab them as you make your way to more notables. Maybe I just got lucky and didn't realize it, but I've consistently been clearing Act 2 diff 0 with little to no talents on everyone. You get 8 talents points compared to Act 1's 4, so the farm hasn't felt that bad to me personally.

Did you go justice, did you get amazing blessings?

i can clear with Literally any Blessings.
But my Gear allows me to get Expert/Master Blessings most of time
But it doesnt matter what blessings i Use.
I have 0 Talents on 5/6 Characters and beat it with all but Kront

[RiskoDad]

Idk why you responded to this, I quoted the guy who said he beat it first try. But nice you have good tier 2 gear now so you can beat it with any set of 3 gods. It's hard to imagine you have 0 talents when you can beat act 2 with any character and any gods.

[OntologicalWeevil]

according to ya'll playing the game is a grind

[CabbitGurl]

You're supposed to be using tier 2 gear in this area. It makes a ton of difference. And gear drops like candy anyway, and also the bee queen boss is all you do is kill her minions, and she's no longer invincible. Her laser is annoying, but all lasers (catgirl scorpion lasers included) and the Djinn flamethrower can be negated by a pillar, or the dash of the new Goddess. (still sad we didn't get a hot guy god instead ;_;)

I don't even take lightning boy unless forced (because I run out of banishes or alterations) I mean he's sort of cute but i hate his personality.

Another thing that is good to pay attention to is the new way the stats work. Strike damage, Power damage, Summon damage, Dash damage, spell damage. All of these matter immensely.

Most of the enemies give indicators where they are going to attack. Just treat them like fresca knights (the ones that sound like an opening can when you kill them lol) and dodge around them or through them. The werewolf things do attack pretty fast but with quick fingers you can dodge their stuff. Depending on who you are you can just run away and kill them with like merris or something. (Except the dumb insect witches with the instant hit under you explosions, those can die in a fire. Same as the bomb goblins. very annoying but any CC can handle them or DoTs)

Get gear with high life if you can. Also check the shop often.

Also, don't look down on Gods you previously considered weak. All the Gods got some awesome reworks, Winter isn't the weakest anymore. If you're dying a lot take Lady Justice, reprisal and retribution are very strong for melee builds. Also her dash lets you reposition really well, and kite enemies and bosses as Skadi.

Lastly, just dash the fudge away around the map and collect as many blessings as you can. The desert's blessings are insanely strong. They have sooo many good stuff, even free attack on hit heal.

You got this, I at first was like... this stuff is super hard, then I kept at it and now it's just fun to me :D

Oh and cursed can die in a fire too, but CC usually deals with his bum rush. (Unless your melee and try not to take an acid bath while hitting him x.x)

[RiskoDad]

I beat cursed my first and only time today, then proceeded to die to these things that fly around and put a zone under you. Idk where all these amazing tier 2 drops are that people are talking about the gear I'm getting is pretty mediocre. I've gotten a couple good pieces but mostly just slightly better or worse than my mythic/immortal tier 1 stuff. And people keep saying "oh but you get 8 talents per run in act II" well that doesn't matter if you never kill a boss. I've probably done 70+ runs, 85% just end run when the gods get ruined, 14.9% lose at or before Cursed, .01% beat Cursed died before next boss.

[Lord SloppyDong]

Originally posted by RiskoDad:

Idk why you responded to this, I quoted the guy who said he beat it first try. But nice you have good tier 2 gear now so you can beat it with any set of 3 gods. It's hard to imagine you have 0 talents when you can beat act 2 with any character and any gods.

i can screenshot my Achievements and show you my talent trees if you want