Surtling Cores need a balancing pass.

[Caz]

Almost 11 hours in and I've only been able to find one burial crypt, and it only had one surtling core in it. So, in my frustration, I hop on the Steam forums and browse a few threads on reddit to see if something is wrong. And it seems there is. But it's not simply bad RNG.

The spawn of cores is all over the place. More than RNG would account for. Some people are swimming in them like Scrooge McDuck in his gold vault. Others are hours in and haven't found a single one. Both sides are not happy with this. Either they're too easy to get or they're practically non-existent.

This needs a balancing pass.

At the very least, five cores should be obtainable within the first couple of hours, guaranteed. If they're harder to get after that, that's cool. But being locked behind this gate does not qualify as challenge or difficulty. It's not fun.

On the other side, I've seen some people say they've found 15+ cores in their first hour. That's not challenging, nor difficult, and also is not fun.

It's not often a builder/survival game makes me not want to play it. But my experience thus far (which includes far more than the surtling core problem) has really pushed me toward not wanting to play.

[Jᴧgᴧ]

The cores are very random in the small burial chambers. I like it as it is - you never know if you're going to get a dusty old empty crypt, or the motherlode of 10 cores. Exploration is key in Valheim - keep trying your hand at them and you'll eventually get lucky.

60+ hours in and I'm still in fully upgraded bronze gear, haven't killed the second boss yet. There's no need to rush through a game for which exploration is key, and building is such entertainment.

[Giacomo]

You must have been really unlucky. On my map there is usually 2 or 3 burial crypts in each black forrest area and I seem to average about 5 cores per full clear.

[Caz]

Originally posted by Jᴧgᴧ:

The cores are very random in the small burial chambers. I like it as it is - you never know if you're going to get a dusty old empty crypt, or the motherlode of 10 cores. Exploration is key in Valheim - keep trying your hand at them and you'll eventually get lucky.

As I said, enough cores to get you started. I shouldn't be 11 hours in and only have one core. Exploring is fun when you're rewarded for it. Exploring is not fun when you're made to feel like you've wasted your time.

60+ hours in and I'm still in fully upgraded bronze gear, haven't killed the second boss yet. There's no need to rush through a game for which exploration is key, and building is such entertainment.

I'm not looking to rush through anything. 60 hours in and you're still in bronze? That's not encouraging. But I'm pretty sure that's not the norm. At least I would certainly hope it's not.

[Ramza Beoulve]

I can't sympathize here...in fact, I find them to be in abundance..

I was about 8 hours in (I spent A LOT of time building my cute little house/village). When I needed cores, I read online where to get them, went into the Black Forrest, and found 5 cores in the first delve, 4 cores in the second, and.....14 cores in the third. I now have a kiln, furnace, and 4 portals, and some cores to spare.

It seemed like a steep curve at first, but honestly, it's not nearly as bad once you are strong enough to take on the delves.

Tips:
-Use a shield, delves/dungeons are far too crammed and dark to rely on rolling, running, or terrain. Put your shield up, and you'll be fine.
-Upgrade your armor and weapons, this makes a huge difference in both survivability AND damage output.
-Skeletons seem to be weak to clubs/blunt damage. Take advantage of different attack types.
-Don't be afraid to close doors, to block skeletons out, and separate the packs.
-Stay away from their summoning pits (whatever they're called) they'll summon endlessly, and it's too much to deal with. When you see those, run in, loot, and run out, then shut the door.

I did it with a level 3 club, level 2 leather armor, chest, and helmet, level 3 deerhide cape. The skeletons are sort of a joke now..I am now fighting them with a level 3 spear, and they're still pretty easy, dying in 3-4 hits, instead of 1-2 hits.

As far as what you NEED...if you can only find 5, well...make a kiln, burn LOTS of wood, then break the kiln, and make the furnace. You should have plenty of coal to get your ores! If not, simply bust up the furnace, make the kiln again, burn more wood, and repeat.

I'm now in a second world, about 4 hours in, and poked my head in a delve for the heck of it, and found 3 cores, didn't fight a single thing, and ran out. My girlfriend is in a third world, and has maybe 10+ delves/dungeons/crypts around her, she hasn't explored them yet (she's a big baby, and is afraid), but I'd say that she would have well over the 5 needed (maybe well over 10) if she'd just run in and grab them.

If you're not finding them in delves, build a raft, they're cheap enough, and sail to a swamp. Surtling are EVERYWHERE in the swamps, and the best part is..1. They respawn 2. You can find spawners, and just farm the heck out of them. Use a bow + flint arrows, or just melee them + roll. I've sailed to the swamps, and though I have yet to explore them, I've seen TONS of Surtling, and in fact, most are on the coast, so you don't even need to go in.

[Jᴧgᴧ]

Originally posted by Caz:

60 hours in and you're still in bronze? That's not encouraging. But I'm pretty sure that's not the norm. At least I would certainly hope it's not.

Probably not the norm no, I like to take my time with things, explore a lot, fully prepare for the next area, build and try new things out. I expect I could have beaten him after hour ~20 or so despite it being my first playthrough, but felt no need to rush to it.

The game really is what you make of it, though there are certain mechanics that do make you work a bit for the needed resources. If it helps any, after that 60 hours messing around I have about 50 cores total, including those I've put into portals and smelters/etc that I've made. Probably more than I need for a good while - you just have to get lucky a couple of times in crypts.

[Caz]

Originally posted by Grafeit:

Tips:
-Use a shield, delves/dungeons are far too crammed and dark to rely on rolling, running, or terrain. Put your shield up, and you'll be fine.
-Upgrade your armor and weapons, this makes a huge difference in both survivability AND damage output.
-Skeletons seem to be weak to clubs/blunt damage. Take advantage of different attack types.
-Don't be afraid to close doors, to block skeletons out, and separate the packs.
-Stay away from their summoning pits (whatever they're called) they'll summon endlessly, and it's too much to deal with. When you see those, run in, loot, and run out, then shut the door.

I did it with a level 3 club, level 2 leather armor, chest, and helmet, level 3 deerhide cape. The skeletons are sort of a joke now..I am now fighting them with a level 3 spear, and they're still pretty easy, dying in 3-4 hits, instead of 1-2 hits.

Did all this except using the club (which, being a rpg gamer for over 30 years is painfully obvious.... modern games don't do this, though. gettin sloppy in my old age lol)...
and closing the doors. Didn't even consider this, but I'll definitely use it next time.

I've only been able to find one dungeon so far. And since they don't respawn....

[SvartSol]

In the swamp: Find a surtling spawner jet. Dig down over the top of it until it's sitting in the water. Hide. Surtling spawn and die, leaving cores. Loot up.

[Giacomo]

Closing the doors works great if you need to run and buy time to heal or there is just too many to fight at once

[Acty!]

Completely agree with OP. Bad design to bottleneck progress on a completely random item, but a good fix would be to make them a bit more common.

[DarkFenix]

I'm in the same boat. 8 hours in, found only 1 crypt, which contained a single core. To say it's getting annoying is an understatement.

[Aieonae]

Yes, unfortunately this is an actual issue that I had tried server hopping resolve the resource issue, the fact not all seeds are the same nor its resource distribution.

I am not too sure if you have issue with having multiple games to get those resource, to me its a game if its too difficult this way I would look for easier way out. And so far its been fun settling on many the many worlds I visited and bringing resource to those I wish to settle upon.

[Caz]

Originally posted by SvartSol:

In the swamp: Find a surtling spawner jet. Dig down over the top of it until it's sitting in the water. Hide. Surtling spawn and die, leaving cores. Loot up.

I did see a video of that. I'd be surprised if they didn't address this. It's not an exploit or cheat, but it certainly doesn't seem intended either. lol

[Ketamarine]

There are burial chambers EVERYWHERE in dark forest biome, which is probably the most common biome in the first few islands. I have found 14 in some dungeons and none in others. That's what makes exploration interesting.

If you don't like those mechanics, you are going to have a bad time in the swamp...

[Caz]

Originally posted by Ketamarine:

There are burial chambers EVERYWHERE in dark forest biome

Three dark forests completely explored, one burial crypt across all three. Apparently map generation needs some attention, too.

[Neyreyan_Youtube]

Well, its supposed to make you explore the map, unless you provide a picture with your map it could be that you didnt search beyond the first biomes.
From what i saw there are specialised biome islands that are abundant with resources so it would be easier to create a portal with your first cores and the find the right biome to farm.
Of course this is not explained or shown but there are defineyly biomes made for resources while others are dungeons