Ashlands is such a disaster

[FreeMe]

Landed and were directly swarmed by about 20 skeletons or something. Lost our stuff 3 times. Twice to sea monsters on the way there and then after the landing. Good grief, I want to murder everything in ashlands.

Edit: we'll try and get through it, but honestly, this has been the worst start to any biome. It might be where my valheim journey ends and I pick up a new game. Reading the other player experiences of ashlands just makes it seem like no fun - like a 3rd person tower defense.

If we could tame drakes, maybe it would be more fun.

[Str8blazn]

What difficulty are you playing on? If it's so hard that you'd quit, then turn it down.

For Ashlands preparation is key. A lot of the enemies there are weak to spirit or frost damage, and resistant to piercing. Frost is crazy useful here for it's slow effect. There are also the many magic staves that may be useful.

You cannot go into Ashlands like you have in the previous ones. Mistlands was a bit of a curve as well, but Ashlands kicked it up a notch. A lot of people say the landing is the hardest part overall, so prepare the best you can and get back out there.

[Niil]

Go in very conservatively. We didn't even make landfall until we setup a portal. We found one of those ruined towers just away from shore and set that up as a temporary base. We mined out one of those spikes to get the ashlands stone we needed. Once we had a portal in place and closed in we moved to shore. It was rough and we wiped once because we didn't realize it became night and got swarmed. That was last night. Today I spent the day farming the new stone and wood at the edge of the area we cleared last night and cleared a few more spawners I could get to solo. With that I started building a full base. Tonight we plan to go exploring more and kill more spawners. There were 3 of us playing on normal difficulty, so results may vary pending settings. I cannot stress how much more stuff spawns at night there. The fight that wiped us was 2 morgen, 2 askvin, and a ton of skeles. We hadn't even seen the askvin or the morgen until then.

[Nerevar]

Originally posted by Str8blazn:

What difficulty are you playing on? If it's so hard that you'd quit, then turn it down.

For Ashlands preparation is key. A lot of the enemies there are weak to spirit or frost damage, and resistant to piercing. Frost is crazy useful here for it's slow effect. There are also the many magic staves that may be useful.

You cannot go into Ashlands like you have in the previous ones. Mistlands was a bit of a curve as well, but Ashlands kicked it up a notch. A lot of people say the landing is the hardest part overall, so prepare the best you can and get back out there.

for any new biome preparation is key when you think about it.

tc was probaly a bit too confident and made basic valheim mistakes. if you fail the landing with 3 people youre definitly doing something wrong atleast on default settings.

what precisely he and his teammates did wrong is sadly not possible to tell given the lack of details of the failed landings.

[SumatranRatMonkey]

Yeah I also had the initial swarm problem but it's pretty fun after that. Just set up some defenses ASAP. You might want to use raise ground with the hoe (needs stone) since I found the moats I made too random there.

It's not the first biome that was tough at start. My first encounters with Plains, Mistlands, and even Swamps weren't pretty. Plains w/ fulings and deathsquitoes is probably the most memorable...

Of course you can prepare to a maximum extent but IMO it's more fun to just jump in when it makes sense to you and overcome adversity by turtling. The game really shines when one has to be careful as opposed to effortlessly running around the earlier biomes with denizens that now are pathetically weak. Enjoy Ashlands while it is new and difficult, it will never feel the same again.

[Nobbler]

I think many people like to dip their toe in the pool of the next zone, get a feel for it, and safely run like hell when enemies become too much..

In the dark forest, we fled from the greydwarf swarms, we stayed to the meadows at night, and circumvented trolls until we geared up and learned their behaviors. now you lead trolls around like a mining tool.

In the mountains, the wolf that bites you once teaches a tough lesson about cold resist and item recovery. But you can retreat, the next time you see the wolf you bite back, and one day lead your own pack.

In the Ashlands, tactical retreat doesn't work so well. You can't run anywhere but into danger, or the ocean. Sometimes the ocean is danger, too.

Stay close to your boat? You can't turn your boat around easily or quickly. It was difficult enough just to make landfall between all the rock spires. So I feel it when people say it kicked them hard.

Yes, for that reason I too think it is good to prepare. Yet, should players have to research about the new zone, and spoil it before they sample it? You can tell people to bring construction and base building supplies. You can tell them to get that portal out. Set a spawn point. Usual gamer tactics.. but.. that itch.

The itch of curiosity to just get there, and see.. what kills you. It's a hard landing. Not knowing what to expect, or where it comes from, or what it will do to you. Slow, cautious progress, constantly negotiating the conflicts.

FreeMe? trust that the Ashlands can be tamed. This is not the first time that Valheim was brutal to us as we step our first steps into unexplored territory. Good hunting!

[Zombits]

The new ashwood spike defence is quite powerful and resistant. I made a perimeter with it before taking a fort, covering hit and runs

[zombygunner]

Things like this back when it came out are why i dont play this anymore. To grindy to difficult and it looks terrible. Also very cheese filled to win type of game too. Thats just my thought.

[FreeMe]

We did prepare. We brought 200 stone, stuff to build a portal, enough wood for everyone to build a crafting station, but the second we landed, we were swarmed. Magician took 2 hits and died, another swam back to the boat but somehow creeps can hit you while underwater??? I stayed alive for a few more minutes, running around with stamina and health potions, tried to go back to get portal material (somebody else was carrying it), but didn't know about creeps hitting from underwater and got wasted the same way.

The difference with other biomes and ashlands is that you can run back into you biome. Setup camp outside of the new one and venture in slowly. This biome is just all or nothing. You need a big ship to get through due to the seamonsters, then you need to know a safe spot to land, and you need to make it all the way back if you die - losing multiple sets of armor.

I'm just playing at normal difficulty and refuse to lower it. Normal should mean manageable for casual players. The 2 crows were awfully useless too. Had they said something like "find a landmark looking like X before you set foot in the ashlands" or some other tip, it would've seemed like natural progression. Having to come to the forums to get tips on how to get a foothold is just bad game design. It shouldn't be necessary to access external sources, lower the difficulty, or use some kind hacks to make the game easier.

Maybe even giving a once over on the first death in Ashlands: "You died. Munin and NotMunin combined their powers and are able to retrieve your items in a safe location. They can only do this once. Would you like them to help you out this single time?"
Just that would make things kinda fit in the game and wouldn't be a cheat.
The next few hours will require getting close to Ashlands with minimal armor and risking getting one-hit by any creep, ad infinitum.

As I said. What a disaster of a biome.

[Zombits]

Its possibly not a game for "casual" gamers, on default .

[FreeMe]

Originally posted by Zombits:

Its possibly not a game for "casual" gamers, on default .

It was until Ashlands... we've been doing fine.

[OctoberSky]

I'm a solo player and my combat skills are honestly pathetic. But I could survive Ashlands using techniques of combat engineering. These are designed for new solo players but perhaps some of the suggestions, many pulled from the good players who have offered similar suggestions in this thread, may be of help to your team? Valheim is a great game. Everyone should have a chance to enjoy it. Even a dunce like me.

[JimmyEatSquirrel]

100% Solo... will admit my first foray into Ashlands was sketch but I managed to build a small walled in area out of black marble and slap down a portal. I think I popped bonemass the second I jumped off the boat and cleared the skeles that swarmed me with my trusty Mistwalker. I wont say its easy but getting down that foothold portal and shield generator at least enabled me to start fighting my way out of there and clearing spawners during the day.

[Nerevar]

Originally posted by FreeMe:

We did prepare. We brought 200 stone, stuff to build a portal, enough wood for everyone to build a crafting station, but the second we landed, we were swarmed. Magician took 2 hits and died, another swam back to the boat but somehow creeps can hit you while underwater??? I stayed alive for a few more minutes, running around with stamina and health potions, tried to go back to get portal material (somebody else was carrying it), but didn't know about creeps hitting from underwater and got wasted the same way.

The difference with other biomes and ashlands is that you can run back into you biome. Setup camp outside of the new one and venture in slowly. This biome is just all or nothing. You need a big ship to get through due to the seamonsters, then you need to know a safe spot to land, and you need to make it all the way back if you die - losing multiple sets of armor.

I'm just playing at normal difficulty and refuse to lower it. Normal should mean manageable for casual players. The 2 crows were awfully useless too. Had they said something like "find a landmark looking like X before you set foot in the ashlands" or some other tip, it would've seemed like natural progression. Having to come to the forums to get tips on how to get a foothold is just bad game design. It shouldn't be necessary to access external sources, lower the difficulty, or use some kind hacks to make the game easier.

Maybe even giving a once over on the first death in Ashlands: "You died. Munin and NotMunin combined their powers and are able to retrieve your items in a safe location. They can only do this once. Would you like them to help you out this single time?"
Just that would make things kinda fit in the game and wouldn't be a cheat.
The next few hours will require getting close to Ashlands with minimal armor and risking getting one-hit by any creep, ad infinitum.

As I said. What a disaster of a biome.

as i expected at first. you where not probaly prepared. you some of you made basic valheim mistakes (the mage guy i can tell that alone from him beeing 2 shot)

regarding the difficulty :

NORMAL. aka default is NOT meant for casuals. how can i say that for certain? look at what the lowest settings of the death penalty are named. do you think that nameing is there for no reason?

like the main reason the settings got added is that casual players can lower thier difficulty. that was the major reason behind this addition.

if you refuse to lower it you gotta adapt to the biome and not ask for changes. the later is entitlement on your end purely. especially with the "i refuse to"

you where overconfident. this is why your landfall failed.

you also never did a proper sea landing given your argument about walking into the biome. well now you gotta learn how to do that the hard way. no easy nearby meadows method here.

regarding enemies underwater : they are UNDEAD. you never seen the draugr walk unterwater in the swamp before? that aint a new thing at all. it was to be expected from undead to do that.

the sea monsters all share the same weaknesses as all other sea monsters for obivios reasons : THEY ARE ALL WET. so all share the weaknesses that come with this effect. this is something a player even a casual player should have learned multiple biomes ago. its not a new concept either.

what you call "bad design" i call : "user error"

a few examples of why you did not probaly prepare :

mage didnt have shield up. hence why he died in 2 hits. with shield its impossible to die in 2 hits unless the mage trys to melee things for no good reason or has zero blood magic level in which case he isnt a mage.

only 1 of 3 people had portal materials. < why? thats stingyness for no good reason. that isnt "we did prepare" thats "we did bring the bare minimum"

everyone had materials for a workbench. thats BARE minimum prep work.

we brought 200 stone. why? stone is teleportable by default. and stone isnt fire proof. you KNEW you where sailing into a fire biome. you know whats fireproof right? MARBLE. both is teleportable. there was no reason to bring 200 stone.

no shield generator? there is a reason the game gives you acess to it BEFORE sailing to ashlands.

no iron? no stone cutter ?

no pitstop to repair a 3000 health ship along the sail trough the rock spires? why not slam down a workbench and repair the ship?

the "sea monsters" have 1100 health. you ever tryed fighting them and actually KILL them? they have only about twice the health of a TROLL an enemy which is not a danger for anyone in mistlands gear. you had 2 people on the ship that where fully free to kill it with bow or the staff of frost. the birds are a non issue. and they on top share the frost weakness as you would quickly notice during frist combat with them given mistwalker and frost arrows.

why land with the boat right at the flat beach and pick a fight right away? oh i forgot. you never learned how to look for a proper spot to make landfall before since you always walked in. well the idea is that you find the right place to make landfall. not panic drive right into the next best spot you see. something that was commonly done in mistlands sea landings. you looked for the right spot before landing.

i can tell from your claims and post alone that this is in fact a personal user error issue entirely. just like most of the others.

and you try to blame it on the game because youre angry and dont wanna hear anything else. calm down. prepare PROBALY. aka OVERPREPARE. slowly inch your way in. and you will see success.

there might have been food stingyness issues with your teammates aswell given how fast they apparently died.

the rest is lack of combat system mastery entirely but that is not required to make landfall to begin with. it would have just saved you if you had it. since you apparently do not have that mastery you need to avoid getting into such a pinch in the first place.

and yes. this is possible to avoid by going blind aslong as you actually prepare and think logically.

[FreeMe]

Typical survivor bias. "I made it, so it's easy". Sound like the typical linux forum user. Your entire post boils down to "git gud". Gee, thanks.

[FreeMe]

Originally posted by JimmyEatSquirrel:

100% Solo... will admit my first foray into Ashlands was sketch but I managed to build a small walled in area out of black marble and slap down a portal. I think I popped bonemass the second I jumped off the boat and cleared the skeles that swarmed me with my trusty Mistwalker. I wont say its easy but getting down that foothold portal and shield generator at least enabled me to start fighting my way out of there and clearing spawners during the day.

Thanks. That's better advice. We didn't have bone mass. Assumed we'd need Yagluth and Moder to get there (which we did we met 3 seamonsters in the first run that destroyed the ship).