great patch but am i crazy or did the leap sfx get a lot quieter? there was a lot of bass before and it scratched an itch in my brain every time i used it.
Probably this:
There were a lot of reports that Berserker skills were louder than others.
1 Like
Ah man, I wonder if this is something adjustable in a config.
Speaking of being awake. How many days has it been for you? Every time I turn on my PC I see your face. Not complaining I just fear for your family and friends overall safety 
1 Like
Thereās an active workaround being confirmed involving your camera zoom. Head on to the bug discussion thread on these forums.
1 Like
Yeah, theyāre definitely having a busy time right now, especially āZ,ā but I guess thatās always the case with major game launches. Monitoring the web, gathering feedback, implementing fixes, and so on
1 Like
The nerfs to Onslaught stacks (my build had 19!) and Doombolt damage were warranted. I used the build to farm the Dread for Soul Fragments, one time I had 3 lucky Doombolt crits in a row and the Dread was gone in about 20 seconds. Itās still possible to defeat it with just 5 doombolts (now with only 14 Onslaught stacks) in less than 40 seconds thanks to the health nerf so Iām not gonna complain about that.
I might complain about the even slower trash mob kill speed though, now that Onslaught damage itself has been nerfed 
But in the end itās probably negligible, most mobs still die quickly enough to make an Ascendant playthrough not a slog.
3 Likes
Sure. But nothing like a friday production release to remind us all why weekends donāt really exist and are a product of our collective imagination.
3 Likes
They should be fine as long as Z doesnāt quit Crate and starts working as a janitor at the Overlook Hotel 
2 Likes
Hmmm. Now the question is, do I first finish my first run through FoA on 1.3.0 to experience all the hubbub about the balancing and broken bosses, or just install 1.3.4 right away to avoid HC death?
Was it really that bad initially? How certain is death when going in blind? Currently in ruins of Utak Kumar.
Hmmā¦ It seems that another thing that is very predictable is that after the smoke clears, the only people that never get a break are the ones asking to not make the game too easy on later difficulties.
That and the fact, that after weeks of listening to the constant and loud whining that the game is too hard and feeling yourselves forced to nerf your initial design, you have no more patience for our turn to complain. The only way to solve this is starting to complain in advance and try to beat the casuals to the punch.
4 Likes
Honestly, I really hate that you are backing down on making the game actually a bit of a challenge. Guess one guy pleading here, to not make the game piss easy, to not nerf the bosses, so itās not pre 1.3 face tanking, boss melting, is futile.
I was really pleased to read in that one Steam thread, that Bruno also thought the game is too easy. Seemed like you woulnāt budge to the complainers.
Iām really dissapointed. That combined with how awful the gameās performance is now, really kills the years hype for me. I canāt basically play the game now, anyway. Not with reasonable framerate and consistency. Money well spent, I guess. Should not have believed you canāt do wrong, that itās a safe bet trusting you.
Iām tired of all this, I just want to play the game, so maybe itās just the momental frustration speaking, but stillā¦
1 Like
Yeah. I canāt imagine myself ever stopping playing this game. My pattern since the initial release day has always been one full year, followed by another twelve month hiatus. But it is frustrating that the game only for very brief periods of time becomes what I would like it to be. I should stop caring. Iāll always play it regardless, until someday someone makes a better ARPG (canāt see that happen).
Very well said. Those who complain about the game being ātoo hardā are most likely the casuals, who only came with the infulx of players because the xpac came out. The type of player who finishes the campaing once and never ever touches the game again.
Iām more for listening the the core Grim Dawn fanbase. Us who are playing the game for years and will likely continue to play years to come.
I really love the game, so itās kinda heart breaking.
Also agree with your next post. Playing the 1.3.0.0 version would be a hassle and it of course comes with itās own set of issues.
Also canāt see anyone else making better ARPG, unfortunatelyā¦
But those are the people that bring money to the table. Crate is a company and Grim Dawn is their product which they sell to make money you know. If the game is considered ātoo hardā and give too much negative reviews, it will not sell as much. It is a balancing act.
3 Likes
I donāt envy your position, I understand that.
That being said, there comes a point where you have to put your foot down in order to ensure that your vision is what matters for the gameās general health.
Being frank, high difficulty in a game will always, and I mean ALWAYS lead to complaints at launch. Elden Ring got it, Sekiro got it, Limbus Company had that quite often.
But Elden Ring and Sekiro both didnāt really back down on that. In Elden Ringās case they only adjusted to make easier transitions into harder fights. Sekiro didnāt get changed period. Limbus Company nerfed content quite a bit until the Developers decided they were done listening to complainers and as a result:
The games are ultimately healthier for it in the long-term.
I understand that the drive to have more players is endless, but their is also a point where you have to be willing to put your foot down to ensure a gameās identity and difficulty doesnāt get ruined by players who donāt really know about the history of the game and why certain mechanics are the way they are.
Least thatās my take on it.
If you want me to give proper feedback: I would look to smooth out the transition from Ultimate over to Ascendant difficulty instead of nerfing the difficulty of Ascendant directly. Such an undertaking would probably require a genuine patch rather than a traditional hotfix but I feel like a smoother transition would help offset such complaints and be good QOL generally for long-term players.
1 Like
Wooo, GOG is on 1.3.0.4!
6 Likes
Of course, I know. I just somehow thought this is different. Grim Dawn being over 10yr old game thatās being held alive by those core players over the years. FoA being supposed ālove letterā to those players. I also thought Crate woulnāt prioritise profit over those players.
Again, maybe my fault for being this naive. Maybe Iāve read them wrong the whole time.
I think it is both ways
- FoA to give the old fans something new to stick their teeth into
- Modernize it to lure in new ARPG players who either are sick of how easy Diablo 4 is or how stale PoE 1 is or those who donāt wanna commit to half-finished games like LE, PoE 2 and TQ2.
A balance of old and, hopefully, new love.
A game is alive as long as someone is making money out of it.
3 Likes
Except the loudest critics of the balance changes werenāt new players. They were returning fans with hundreds/thousands of hours played upset that things changed too much.
Letās stop acting like political parties playing in opposition, its not casuals versus core players. The game received a tuning pass, like it had a thousand times before. The only real nerf to Ascendant was the Dreadās health being slightly reduced. The rest is fine-tuning rewards and repetition, where both the Dread and Nemesis bosses were spawning too often without boosting them in the altar.
37 Likes