Update 32: Against the Slave Lords

So Update 32 (U32) was released last Tuesday, and not only did I have a chance to run it a few times, I was able to make the first couple of runs with Even and the rest of the Flower Sniffers of Destiny!

I wasn’t able to get many screenshots, but I’ll spatter what I have in amongst the post so you can see some of what it looks like. They will not have any specific order or placement, though, so bear with me. I will try to remember to take more the next time I go through each area.

Overall Appearance

I cannot give enough props to the people that worked on these areas. They look simply amazing. The models are proportionate and realistic, the skins are detailed and articulate, and every area is just plain beautiful! My personal favorite is the actual lair of the slave lords, where the overall look is of great interest to me, as it is reminiscent of some ancient civilization. Bravo, Turbine. Bravo.

Very nice model and texture work!

My Opinion on the Quests

There are three quests that make up this chain. I don’t remember the names, so I will just refer to them as Part 1 (pt1), Part 2 (pt2), and Part 3 (pt3).

Part 1 is pretty straightforward. You enter the quest, try to avoid the traps, kill the spawns, save the slaves, and loot the loots. However, I did notice some fundamental changes to some minor things. For instance, the shelves and other collectible sources now have more interesting names. Instead of Bookshelf, you get Component Shelf or some such. While this is extremely trivial, the changes tied to it are not. Where you would get basic collectibles from the original sources, you can now get other drop loot as if you’d opened a chest!

In all honesty, this is the type of quest my playstyle likes best. Run in, kill everything, move on. Puzzles slow down completion time, which means that I can do less in the limited time I have to play. Though I know there are others out there that prefer puzzles and the like, and I am glad that the game has such things for their enticement.

Wait… is this Ravenloft?

Part 2 is a little more complex, with hidden doors and puzzles to solve to continue on. I think Part 1 had maybe one puzzle towards the end, and part 2 has one room with at least two puzzles. I don’t usually do so well with puzzles, so this can make the quest take quite a bit longer, but none of them seemed over complicated.

Into the Sewers!

Part 3 was rather tricky. Mirrors and hidden doors and all the other cunning things you’d expect to find in the lair of slave traders. As someone that plays regular melee builds, this type of quest is troublesome, but can be fun in its own right.

Overall, I found the quests both challenging and fun. Aariah would not have been able to finish the quests without the aid of her trusted guild, the Flower Sniffers of Destiny! At least, not on legendary.

Citivyr had a lot of fun rolling through the Heroic content at level 20 (the quests are level 10 on Heroic Elite), so that proved no challenge, but it was more a chance to learn the quests rather than an attempt to overcome obstacles. Citivyr and my guild mate (@rayceroyal on Twitter) look forward to being able to run the quests at level at some point (I do not currently have a character at that level).

My new Wallpaper. 🙂

Crafting

Now let’s take a look at the new crafting system. This area will be a bit short, as I have not yet done anything with it except for deconstruction.

Those who have been collecting essences from the old system will be able to swap them out for the new essence. When I first heard of the change, I thought there would still be greater and lesser versions, so there would be a 1 to 1 exchange equivalent.

There is no lesser version of the new essence, so when you turn in lesser versions, there’s a 5 to 1 exchange. This means you’ll only get one for every five you hand in, which- being lesser essences- can be completely understood.

Reminiscent of an ancient civilization

The beauty of the new crafting system is that it is far simpler than the previous one, however since you can’t create bound crystals to hand to another player, there seems to be little need for a guild crafter anymore. Everyone will need to level up their own crafter, at least to a high enough level that they can create the effects they wish. This means those on the lookout for the higher effects will have more work than those more concerned about those more basic. Again, totally fair and comprehensible.

Where the issue seems to lie is in the lack of places to get the new ingredients. I’m not sure if they only drop in Legendary quests (seems so to me), but they most certainly do not drop in the Heroic content. Thus, those that run more Legendary and (possibly) Epic content will prosper more than those that run mostly Heroic. This seems rather lop sided to me, but then again, I’m not an authority on this topic, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Owlbear rugs! To get your own, contact The Poaching Poacher!

Overall, I’d say that Against the Slave Lords is a success. The quests are fun and interesting, the loot is new and appears to have some good potential. Time will tell if the crafting will work out fine or if it will prove otherwise.

Have thoughts or questions on what I’ve posted here? Feel free to comment below and let me know!

I’d like to take this time to thank Turbine for such a great job on not only the latest update, but the game in general! The game is still going strong even after a decade!

Thanks to you, my readers, as well for your time and attention. I appreciate each read!

Take care, and I hope to see you for my next post!