Ascending, what is it good for? (absolutely nothing)

[Klyern]

So pun aside, I've accidentally (not really and its normal so i can load back) made my sect leader into an immortal, I knew what would happen but i wanted to check if they would still be useful while taking harmony pills etc. Turns out that while waiting for that tribulation they will just spam practice and you can't send them out on adventures..... that is so annoying.

So i've got to ask whats the point of it, i know the guide says to avoid it and i obviously concur from what i've seen, but then from a lore perspective it seems like you are going against your own objective....

So is there any point to actually doing it?
Should I even bother to make a single one of my cultivators into an ascended? Or should i 100% avoid it even with the weaker dispensable ones.

[Rordar]

I fully agree, you play right and do everything right just to lose in the end.
Some may see this different but the whole point is too reach the end with your characters but since the end just punishes you for ''winning'' or playing right, why even bother reaching it?

This is a very good and enjoyable game but the 'ending' is just not there. There is no real goal and ascending your cultivator is more of a punishment than anything else sadly.

[Infern]

This is why i play with that Mod editor that allows me to "spawn" primordial laws to begin with. That way i can avoid the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of losing people to either a tribulation and focus on real things.

[Erikkustrife]

Originally posted by 123:

I fully agree, you play right and do everything right just to lose in the end.
Some may see this different but the whole point is too reach the end with your characters but since the end just punishes you for ''winning'' or playing right, why even bother reaching it?

This is a very good and enjoyable game but the 'ending' is just not there. There is no real goal and ascending your cultivator is more of a punishment than anything else sadly.

the end goal is completing the storyline, if your just looking for an endgoal.

2ndly 2 of the alters they leave behind are acutally extremly useful and are recomneded.

[❄ Demi ❄]

Demis-god get a stats boost and they are basicaly "defending" your sect, you can still make a squad of demi-gods to take over sects (you can do it with primordial too but well at least they do something)

[Kain Yusanagi]

Demi-Gods are great for attacking and defending and collecting stuff from maps/assassinating targets, as they can directly enter any site that you can enter, including other sects. A set of Demi-Gods in formation can cruise around and crush the sects, making them obey you in the end. Also once they ascend completely to being Immortals (as "Demi-God" is a bit of a mis-nomer; they're more like a half-step from becoming a true immortal. "Primordial Spirit" is the "Nascent Soul" stage of I Shall Seal The Heavens, if you've ever read that, and if you have you'll know that it's actually still part of the first step of cultivation when you're still a mortal cultivator).

[Rordar]

Ascending or becoming a demi god in this game just feels like like a setback. You will have to battle tribulations every few days which is just more to micromanage in a game that is already so full of things to micromanage. I don't even want to imagine how troublesome it is to have multiple demi gods in the sect.

I just feel like that it should be a pickable option because there are many people who dislike that function or at least make it worth it. The demi god stage has mostly only 2 pretty useless perks to pick from. So why even bother ascending? A Primo spirit stage cultivator already has like no travel time so the instant travel is a really, really weak reason to ascend and be forced to manage the tribulations all the time...

[VoiD]

Outer disciples do the hard labour
Inner disciples stop doing menial tasks and focus on cultivation
Demi gods stop doing menial inner disciple tasks and focus on themselves.

They will not work as delivery boys and fetch stuff from places, but they can gather every collectible resource in the map, in a single day, as they can just teleport anywhere instantly and enter every map.

While they are cultivating, which means all the time, their tribulation timers won't go down, I took one T12 Morrow pill and I have never seen another tribulation I didn't chose to fight, ever, I decided to ascend after a couple of years after exhausting all of my lifespam on body shaping miracles, collected everything onj every map and assassinated a few elders, and I still had about 100 days left.

[cadfan17]

I haven't hit the late game exactly but I think the idea with ascending for regular (not physical or shendao) cultivators is that

1. As a demigod you can defend your sect incredibly well and handle a few tough tasks, like making really powerful artifacts, and

2. Before you leave you can make a bunch of top tier stuff to boost your future cultivators. You know, with your sub spirits, so you leave behind a legacy for the next set of disciples.

And the better your demigod cultivator, the better job if this you can do.

Divine cultivators also get to leave behind a legacy.

I think it's just physical cultivators that are kind of boring when they leave. They just leave behind the ascension bonus doubling everyone's cultivation speed.

[Hermit]

A common trope in cultivation novels is ascending to a higher realm and cultivating all over again in the higher tiers. Would be nice to have something like that but I suppose that's way too much extra content. For now it really is useless.

[Kuro]

I forgot to take off items when ascending there goes Taiyi codex

[Rordar]

Ascending is just useless sadly. You just lose a cultivator and get something nearly meaningless in return that is in no way comparable to a very good cultivator.

Same with Shandao, even the big google guide says to just be prepaired to make a new one and do it all over again....like why?

The good thing is that you can counter Shandao divinity by making an elxier or consumable that reduces divinity so you never have to deal with that again.

[Tiwaking! 56k NZ]

The only reason to ascend is to get the Steam Achievement for Ascending.

My advice is:

Hard save your game (make a manual copy of your save game because immortal difficulty only allows 1 save).

Ascend 10 people at once.

Use Task Manager to force quit out of the game.

Reload your old save. You still get to keep your achievements.

If the game says you cant reload your save, overwrite the save file with your manual save.

[Kuro]

So I am looking at the benefits and the gift so far is pretty neat, rank 12 divine artifact with over 100 artifact power. The inspiration is useless since only 50k, haven’t tried the come back for a day and lecture

[Razorlight Entertainment]

I am not familiar with the Shen Dao universe per se, other than what I've read in stories, but since I come from a spiritual background, I think I can shed some light on the perceived benefit of ascension.

The ascension, shedding of one's physical body, and universal existence as a spirit, being part of the cosmos, and ultimately attaining God / Godhood IS THE END IN ITSELF.

That's the spiritual perspective. It'll probably be perceived differently or ignored as pointless in other cultures, but that's probably where the developers are coming from. When I have one of my cultivators ascend to immortality, that is a pretty big deal for me, because I see an immortal come to being before my eyes and imagine that he/she/it will guide and guard the world forever and that all that was possible because of my efforts.

*Shrugs* I am not sure if that's the developer's intention, but that could be why there's nothing more to do after ascension.

[Razorlight Entertainment]

Having said all that, there could be an expansion pack releasing tomorrow, titled "Amazingly Meaningful Travails of Ascension". Be warned. :D