Ascension vs Standard?

[syl]

I keep reading about how Ascension 15 limits the choices you can make in the game and thus makes it less fun. What do you all think about this? Does anyone who unlocked ascension 15 (or lower ascensions even) still play standard?

[Normal Flavor (BrandMChaos)]

Not really. I personally like the challenge. Right now I'm at ascension 4 and it's really fun

[Yxklyx]

I won Ascension 15 with each character - I'm back to playing Standard as I still find that challenging at this time and I win more often.

[ZappyDoggo]

Can't pass ascension 1. I keep getting seeds where all my paths have atleast 2 elites. I gave up after 3 tries. :/
I think Rett said something about how it isn't too fun after a while though.
Maybe he can confirm this.

[Freddie Mercury]

Ascension is fun if you like a good challenge. It's also one of those completionist mentalities. Nothing wrong with playing standard as it's still a challenge but you can get away with fun shenanigans.

[Ashardalon]

ascension 1 is lots of fun
more elites = more relics = more fun synergies and deck options

ascension 6+ is boring because you either follow the meta or die
there is maybe 3 decks possible per character and you need to follow them as exactly as if you are building a net deck
worst of all the meta is avoid all elites so you end up without the relics that can push decks over the top
there is no chanse that a lucky relic can make it possible to try something beyond those 3 builds

it gets dull quickly

[Xiarn]

Originally posted by xephosarkeyus:

Can't pass ascension 1. I keep getting seeds where all my paths have atleast 2 elites. I gave up after 3 tries. :/
I think Rett said something about how it isn't too fun after a while though.
Maybe he can confirm this.

That's... pretty rough. No offense, but this does actually make me take your balance suggestions/problems less seriously.

Honestly, I didn't notice much difference until the 2nd time the enemies got buffed (Asc 7?), everything after that the climb becomes noticeably tougher. I got to 12 and haven't been looking forward to climbing higher. Now I'm mostly trying for the 5 card deck achievement and playing dailies or with modded characters.

When I do play just to relax, it's about a 50/50 split on whether I tick Asc 1, since the extra Elites means more chances for relics with strong decks, and they're generally more fun to fight IMO.

Edit: While I do agree with the premise Ashardalon is putting forward, it's not near as strict as he's making it out to be. It's still fun to try and challenge yourself, but if you're just looking to constantly be doing dumb combos and still winning consistently high Ascension is not the way to go.

[Zu]

The thing is that you're forced to take certain cards to improve your chances against elites and certain trash mobs. Add the same old boring starter deck and you have a format that's pretty stale until like halfway through the run when you're starting to iron things out.

I've been wondering how the game would feel if every run started with the draft modifier (either 10 or 15). I guess they'd have to tie the rng to defeating the birst boss like la Neow's blessing to prevent rerolling, but early game StS is really starting to feel samey, even without ascension where the game's much more lenient about not taking cards or committing early.

[anoreoisme]

I haven't played standard since starting to climb Ascension. Currently on A13 and A9 with IC and Silent, respectively. Like Xiarn said, the first few Ascensions I didn't notice much of a difference until the enemies started getting tougher. Higher Ascensions have been kicking my ass but I do have that completionist mentality so I feel like I can't play Standard until I beat all of Ascension. The Dailys fulfill my casual needs for now. I am looking forward to going back and trying for win streaks and being able to take more risks for silly decks though.

[van the man]

Beat A15 both chars, once on ironclad and twice on silent, but I prefer competing with myself for winstreak on standard, rather than playing A15 and trying to work on the winrate. I still do A15, but I always get bored after dying to Laguvalin several times in a row and just go back to standard.

[Mordencranst]

Ascension 15 is fun for me, but it's a different kind of fun. Frankly, I would suggest alternating between asc and standard.

A15 I have to think about card choices and make sure I pass specific deck milestones and there's a very real risk my run dies if I make a poor choice, which is fun in its own way, but I'll probably end up winning with a large unfocused pile of Good Stuff which is just about good enough to beat the final boss and I won't have too much of a chance to try anything cool (although if I get the chance to try something new on A15, sure I'll try it, sometimes it works beautifully... I gave up on rampage.dek as a normal mode only strategy for ages but now it's a staple of mine for getting through act 2, and my first ever you are nothing deck with body slams was an A15 deck).

Standard on the other hand, allows me to do crazy stuff and be fairly sure that the run won't die immediately because I did it, so it's good for trying to go for specific decks that look fun or experimenting with combos that I wouldn't normally touch.

TLDR: I run plenty of both, and they both have their charms.

[Error404]

Originally posted by xephosarkeyus:

Can't pass ascension 1. I keep getting seeds where all my paths have atleast 2 elites. I gave up after 3 tries. :/
I think Rett said something about how it isn't too fun after a while though.
Maybe he can confirm this.

Wait, I thought you were SUPPOSED to go after A1 elites after a few regular encounters and take mediocre cards(which you could later remove or change) that kinda suck but will see you through to the first boss while getting relics that will help with the rest of the run and then avoid A2 and A3 elites?

[Mordencranst]

Originally posted by Darktenki:

Wait, I thought you were SUPPOSED to go after A1 elites after a few regular encounters and take mediocre cards(which you could later remove or change) that kinda suck but will see you through to the first boss while getting relics that will help with the rest of the run and then avoid A2 and A3 elites?

Yeah pretty much?

It's a bit situation dependent of course, sometimes you get arse for your first few card picks (or just good cards that are really bad against act 1 elites, cloak and dagger being the prime example) and it's better to just go for upgrades instead and try to avoid using 2/3 of your health to a bad Gremlin Nob fight.

With that said though, it is a sad deck indeed that can't take on 2 act 1 elites if it *has* to.

[My Little Omi]

Never played standart after unlocking ascension and I don't get all this "lul noobs I have 95% winrate on standart with any deck" bragging. Standart is basically an easy mode and no1 except those clowns cares about it

I'm playing a8 now, and it all really depends on starting relics/cards and first few drops, if they are good an combine togather - you can build almost any type of deck and it will be viable to some extent. But it happens rarely. More often you die not because you'v built a crappy deck, but because there was no reasonable choice to begin with.

[Ashardalon]

depends on who you are playing
ascension 1 ironclad you should smash into as many elites as possible on both act 1 and 2
only at act 3 it becomes risky but if you attacked elites in act 1 and 2 they also shouldnt give problems

for the silent tho
act 1 elites tend to counter the silent pretty hard and she doesnt have a relic to recover
so if you get lucky and its the tree floaters your going to have a good run
but if its the nob you need to have a plan b because a lagavulin after that without the ability to recover can end you before you even see the bos and then you have to drag yourself trough the most boring game in history before you can play your next run
act 2 and 3 tho are silents huntingrounds where she can go from elite to elite with little opposition and catch up in relics to the ironclad

only for ascension 1!

[Error404]

Originally posted by My Little Omi:

Never played standart after unlocking ascension and I don't get all this "lul noobs I have 95% winrate on standart with any deck" bragging. Standart is basically an easy mode and no1 except those clowns cares about it

I'm playing a8 now, and it all really depends on starting relics/cards and first few drops, if they are good an combine togather - you can build almost any type of deck and it will be viable to some extent. But it happens rarely. More often you die not because you'v built a crappy deck, but because there was no reasonable choice to begin with.

There's the subreddit, if you and xephos want to make the game easier. I mean, take a look at new Immolate. Yeah, it's a rare, but still.