Grim Dawn - Fangs of Asterkarn

Good enough

So I had 272 hours in original game plus expansions. Now I added at least 300+ hours to my playtime with new expansion “Fangs Of Askerkarn”. They added so much new stuff for 18 euros. New zone, new items, new class, new difficulty mode, new ascension alter and additions to gear. New celestial bosses, like "The Dread"(lovely soundtrack) etc. I just came from blizzards new "Reign of warlock", which literally only added a new class, and made old bosses "ubers" and nothing else really, no new zones, no new quests, no new enemies, nothing and they charge 40 euros for it(around 25 euros on sale if you already have D2R-which also cost 40 euros, which is the old game D2 LoD just with new graphics). I was super disappointed with blizzard, I don't think I will buy more from them tbh. Let me say it like this, Grim Dawn only surprises me positively. This indie team made the best ARPG game I have played. Totally worth the 18 euros(was a release discount even). New Sunder mechanic: Idea great, execution poor. Impacts melee classes the hardest since it removes "life leech" and damage etc. if you get hit by it, even the constant dodge is a dps break. Ranged just kite anyway or pet builds that click one skill and resummons a new pet. At the same time they added timer for Beronath(his black puke), making sunder even worse because it removes melee damage over and over. Constantly a few seconds we need to avoid. Plus boss dots tick dmg on you and no life leech. If they want to remove "face tanking", which is great(we don't want "paladin smiter” from D2R), what is the logic in making a skill that doesn't change game play for pet builds, casters and ranged then? Sunder made arcanist and necromancer better for tanking now than a soldier etc.? Especially necromancer which will reflect more damage back at bosses during a sunder! Suggestions to boss mechanics: Boss aoe slam skill that has increased damage to pets, meaning weakest pets dies. Some boss skill that mind controls pets for 5 seconds, “run from your pets” if you fail dodge. Or something that targets ranged players(at least some bosses use “trap”). More boss spell reflection for ranged and casters so they need to stop dmg if they fail to dodge. Like wars can do in WoW etc. Add more boss pools, healing and such instead?(Take Kubacabra, he heals in his pools, so we are forced to move). Sunder is super nasty for melee only, and I am not sure they thought about it in shattered realm with 5 bosses spawning in a small room etc. Some bosses spam sunder constantly, Grave'Thul etc. Had rather seen some boss skills that actually makes life harder for all classes than a lazy "sunder" mechanic that pet builds, casters and ranged don't care about....I did all content anyway as melee(warder and archon, so it's possible, but try celestials with sunder). It's also a bit schizophrenic to design melee this way and then punish melee for having life leech and these mechanisms, gear etc. Some new devotion having reduced sunder stuff for melee? Ascendant difficulty: Great, not that harder(probably in crucible and shattered realm though now with multi bosses doing sunder over and over, need to try 60 shard. We can even make the game harder with ascension altar! And get more loot. Problem with ascendant it is that it boosts bosses defensive skills so much that your crit chance as a melee char(that needs defence too to actually "tank") gets 0 % crit chance against bosses, entirely removing "on crit devotions" and "on crit gear", which again impacts melee hardest since physical RR like "assassins blade" no longer procs in ascendant. Funny thing is, a retaliation warlord doesn't care plus they have Guardians of Empyrion - probably the best skill on ascendant. Take Ultos set, it's pretty useless in ascendant(in fact I got ascendant “The Dread” and “Beronath” on my Ultos Archon, even with 0 % crit chance lacking tons of proc's and damage). People assert D2R is hard, but it's absurd easy with gear. Grim Dawn veteran mode is harder than hell scaled to 5+ players. Then Diablo 2 always kept their broken things like hammerdin/smiter, mosaic etc. New dodge function: New dodge function is great imo. Much more fun than tank and spank, to use it to avoid boss stuff etc. I am actually using the new dodge mechanic in Grim Dawn a lot! The flaw in most ARPG's is the bizarre element that the games are harder in start due to no gear, skills or devotions and then becomes easier and easier.....Literally the same in all ARPG's. Try veteran mode in Grim Dawn without gear etc. It's actually pretty hard, some bosses are bizarre with 1 hit mechanics etc. And sometimes you can meet enemies that are 5-10 levels above you, they will eat you, try the dungeons etc.). No matter what people say, designs based on tank and spank and life leech ONLY are just not really great designs?(Not to mention, if only one class and spec can do content(like smiter paladin). Take D2R again, actually nothing but a tank and spank game, expansion changed nothing. Suggestions in general: Add a bestiary in Grim Dawn 2. Also, I want to look at the enemy designs etc. You need to explain certain stuff better in the game like "resistance reduction" and "- resistance" etc. How it works. Because there is no way a player would know that some stacks and some won't. Thanks Google AI. List with buffs and debuffs, really missing imo. “This icon means this”. I can move my mouse to see my debuffs, but not debuffs on the monsters. Would be nice with a monk class? Always a fun class. My concerns for the new berserker class: Disappointing that berserker have no pet summons(equal nature people as shamans are etc.) Give berserker 1-2 summons, either player bonus scaled or pet bonus. Either spirit wolf/bear summons, maybe one invincible spirit summon and a normal pet. On the logo, Chieftan queen have a white wolf(no spoilers), we should be able to summon that white wolf imo. And not only from a certain head armor. Big massive bear or baby elephant pet. Would be cool if the bear could splash slam when you proc some skill etc. Even oathkeeper got summons!? Wish there were more attacks for the werewolf form in some ways. Surely I can add shouts and such, but would be nice if the skill line had added a bit more cool stuff. Also, there is no difference between the female and male shape forms? A bit sad. Would also be fun if berserker could ride an elephant into battle for 3 seconds xD as a skill etc. like “vires might” just on elephant back. New city: Kurn Hold is great. What the game needed, a place where you can access almost anything etc. Lore, game designs etc.: New zone is well made imo. New lore is okay too imo. “Hello lowlander”. Voicing improved compared to original :P “need something stashed!?”. Graphics also improved. Sadly no new devotions, as far as I know? For take, sunder. I like new potion system, but some of the new potions can be considered a bit op maybe? Gruldir and his immortal wolves hits like a truck. Give him sunder xD Conclusion: If we ignore the bad graphics and voicing, I give this game and new expansion 9,4/10. Best ARPG I have played. As isolated ARPG genre game design I give it 10/10. I have 670 hours(minus around 50 afk hours) and I am not done yet, I still have fun. I still find new stuff etc. Nowadays it became popular to design ARPG's with only 4 skills plus right click and left click....Jeez. People can understand to use more than 4 skills with huge CD's or else learn. At least Grim Dawn allows a big skill bar pool etc. I will really look forward to Grim Dawn 2(if I survive that long), that is for sure. I like the dev's and their game, much better than large companies. Please don't change too much in GD2, you really hit the nail, nearly perfect ARPG design in Grim Dawn imo. Only thing the game needs are graphic upgrades and as mentioned in my suggestions above. Great dev's I want to support and follow, Blizzard lol....The money milking jeez....