I somewhat enjoy the new map, but I do think its a lot more difficult than other maps for a few reasons. Most of its alright even if difficult, but I feel there are two outliers.
The powering event. It is very difficult and I do have mixed feelings on it. Rather than asking for a massive nerf or anything, I’d rather just say that you should get probably twice as much time before it starts resetting. Resetting every time means more elites and specials, and thats one of the main reasons for wiping on this map in this particular area. Simply put, it starts to fail too quickly and you won’t have time to do it unless you are already right next to it.
The second area is after you take the railway to the next zone. I love the start of it. Its hectic, fun, lots of things to kill and can get pretty hairy. What I don’t like is the constant stream of elites and specials that spawn till you run to the end and push the button. While fun, the spawns could probably be calmed down a little bit after the initial rush so you don’t get bogged down by constant snipers, grenaders and armoured enemies from behind.
I find the very start to be pretty tough too, but I don’t mind that as much as it feels pretty fair. Only time it doesn’t is when the left side is blocked by a deamonhost, so you have to drop into a narrow tunnel on the right side and a beast/chaos spawn can spawn there lol. Its a bit cruel and I hate all the barrels that spawn here, but it is a fun if rather annoying area.
Anyways, just my thoughts. Was looking for other people’s opinions.
It plays as it should on higher difficulties, there are certain areas which it gets quite hot. The final even is fairly tame when compared to the rest. Occasionally the map can feel a bit empty, but that really depends on your team also.
pacing is a bit weird/unpolished, feels like much of the action happened in the first third or so then it quiets down quite a bit.
ending was a “thats it?” first time i played it, HISTG Damnation was the only upper option, since for whatever reason, fatshark decides to NOT put it into maelstrom cues
opening part with the barrels reminded me of… you guessed it
basically ass to the wall, straight into the corridors and, provided there´s no host laying around, you´re home free.
first battery room is simultaneously the most hectic in my short experience, though the outer half circle provides for ample cover if the timing setting up the batteries and pushing the button can be pulled off.
after the train section
this comes to mind btw,
there was only the brief cluster with the frozen gears that could have spawned a bit more heretics if the encounter was dragged a bit longer, end of the map was rather dull in comparison.
nothing they can´t fix though, the maps just 1 week old.
When people say it is too easy, then you look at their team composition!
Anyway.
But honesty I thought the same initially trying to complete new mission on T5 Auric. Then came across a person who demanded to stick together.
All the mission mechanics can be completely sequentially and roll as a team death ball, one by one staying together. Yea, can split up but it felt so easy. Alot of people lose awareness of team mates positioning/split up.
So the guy on VoIP simply said “Where I go, you WILL follow too” in a very commanding/leadership role type of way, so everyone just stuck to his ass. I had to double-check I wasn’t playing on lower difficulty afterwards.
He started blowing all the barrels in the beginning ahead of team because so many die from the start because of ledges. He would say at certain points to pull back to open area for more space for evasion/movement and not confined area.
Roll as a death ball. Staying together is good, let the zealots/vets play their role to hit ranged units only if a threat, but then they come back to group.
I agree with you in principal. I don’t know how much that applies to a typical PuG group though. I probably only hear someone talk once every 10 games, if that lol.
I think it feels pretty good on the highest difficulty. I like all the challenges posed by each area. Start is don’t get ledged, event is a dps / awareness check on the gunner & armor waves, after ride is push uphill, break the ice section is a taste of the finale, and then said finale is a big arena that’s all about rotating and threat management.
I like enemy spawns as a pacing tool for events or areas. It’s a natural hurry up button and keeps the game moving. I haven’t noticed it so much in that uphill area because I’m always running at the shooters / enemy groups anyway so I don’t get swiss cheesed and / or attritioned.
The only thing I might agree with is that boss spawn near the start where one side is a 1 way hallway seems a bit rude. I never progress that way now. Risk isn’t worth it when top is so safe. Could just be a me skissue though. The one way does have value when the monster is on the upper side and you can drop
Random matching. Yea most VoIP is quiet. Bit of text chat here and there.
But it just takes one person to use VoIP continuously and others will follow.
“What did I just say. Stick with the group, please come back now” - When I heard that sounded very commanding for sure. But ok makes sense.
I prefer random match making as it is fast and easy to jump in. One weekend I did make the effort of an organised group on official DT discord. There is no skill difference here, just did what I was told and made Auric turn into a normal T5 games.
Just that with discord - More effort into logging in, finding a group, check team balance, willing to use VoIP etc. Sometimes you just want a quick random match I feel the same.
Its mainly the first event i see pubbies struggle with. With some team coordination its really fast one to complete but usually it turns into a more of an slog than it should be.
The last one someone good at kiting can practically solo it.
Start is great, first event needs some time to get used to from the community (most teams don’t even know what they are doing there).
It isn’t really their fault either, game doesn’t do a good job of communicating what to do. You have to watch/follow the generators activating in sequence and listen to the sound of it failing even before the indicator appears.
The area after the first event/after the railway is probably the best part where you need to fight uphill. Finally a place where it’s intense while the difficulty isn’t from getting constantly surrounded by enemies spawning right next to you. 10/10
The area after that has some pretty broken horde spawns that are just total absolute bs.
End event is again “constantly getting surrounded central” while being pretty tame in general. I really hate this design.
Give us more elites to fight and don’t balance difficulty by constantly trickling trash and no walls/places to defend from, game has plenty of area denial specials to make us move…
What actually save the end event is the random objectives. It does an incredibly good job of keeping it fresh. It was a great idea, and I hope to see more of it.
So, as a pretty average player, I don’t think so. It feels to me that there are more “wider” or “open” spaces in comparison to other maps (which tend to be a bit more generous with chokepoints). So I don’t think it is more difficult, but rather it punishes mistakes and not being within easy reach of each other a bit harder than people can be used to. I think if you can find a group that sticks together, it isn’t too bad (though that’s a separate rng mechanic, I’m afraid).
Just remove the boss spawn from the first area. Map is fine beyond that, but fighting a Beast of Nurgle in that opening area is one of the least fun experiences in this game.
Yeah, the big thing that makes this map so hard is that for some Emperorforsaken reason, the design of it makes everyone want to run around with their heads cut off constantly… to anywhere other than where they SHOULD be, too. The winding corridors at the start? Good luck keeping a team together through those, everyone’s going to be wanting to discover their own randomized path through and no one will have each other’s backs. You basically have to pick a buddy and stick with them like glue because no one else is gonna do it for you.
The big open crescendo at the start is so much easier if everyone is simply moving as a group from objective point to objective point yet everyone DESPERATELY wants to ignore it as hard as they possibly can. And if you try to actually complete the objective by yourself you will become mincemeat in an instant, so much more than on any other map to date. So you’re at the mercy of your teammates having both situational and team awareness.
Then once you finish the big first event and move onto the next area after the moving lift, your team really needs to hurry it up and make it through quickly as a group… which of course means everyone will be picking daisies off in random corners and wind up completely overrun. Lots of teams that manage to make it through the first bit will get ended here.
If you have a team that can manage to actually play the map out properly, the rest of it will be a total breeze because they’ve already proven that they know how to be, well, a team.
This basically describes my experience with the whole game in general. Hopefully more buffs to the enemies will slap people back to actually play as a group.
They should remove the DH spawn or put a ramp on that ledge, its not fair to get stuffed there by a boss. Also get rid of the goddamn barrels, they are insanely annoying. After the start I like most of the map
Good tip is that I tell everyone in the team first then I blast all barrels ahead. Barrels are more liability than benefit when ledges nearby.
I’ve played with organised discord groups randoms LFG to give that a try instead of match making, it really does turn Auric into what felt like regular T5 missions.
But you have to be in a position to commit and not leave half way. i.e. Make sure you’re not going to be disturbed and no background noise on VoIP.
No harm even if you just commit to 1 mission, as long as you see it through.
