I love this place and the theme, But when i tried it in the base game ( Non modded ) I didn’t really enjoy it. Took forever. So i hit the editors. Moved some stuff around. Added in shortcuts here and there “Crate Style” I am enjoying it much more now.
takes way too long for me to get to Aldritch but the ground damage effects weren’t too crippling. at most yes i take one tick of damage and move. it helps i play ranged 
So true: you hit the crystal -> it reflects your resist reduction in you also -> monsters, seeing that you are weak happily go beat you.
Crying.
I do hate one thing about this dungeon: Valdaran has now more spawns because of it. He can spawn outside and inside of the dungeon, makes farming him more annoying.
And he can spawn next to a boss (it kills me today :mad:). but after three runs, one successful, i really like Port Valbury. it’s the more diversified of the rogue-likes, the music and global design is awesome, as the new MIs.
the thing i really like is that floor damage is reasonable, it’s the standard floor damage i guess not the huge one like in Conflagration.
the thing i don’t like much is Vakbury Outskirts, there’s nothing interesting there. in SoT and BoC ways, you have a devo shrine, a os chest and a tt. i think we should have something similar (although in the other hand that would force to explore the zone, not sure i want it).
but all in all it’s a very nice addition to the game, congrats !
Another thing. What in the holy hell are those aether tornadoes? Who summons them? They seem to come out of nowhere, you can’t even kill them and it makes them really annoying.
I honestly find them worse than the aetherfire.
I have done a full clear of the port on my CT Sorcerer, and the aether floors are less shitty than I expected, once you get out of the entry area. Them doing %hp instead of aether damage is still the dumbest goddamned thing ever and I will mention that every single time it comes up. The map itself is kind of a pain in the ass, since there are parts that have a sort of “layered” design but the map is rather shit at designating what is on top of what. There’s also a few places where I ended up going “well where the fuck do I go to get over there?” because a good bit of the map is divided by a 1px black border. Bosses are rather all over the place, to the point where if you aren’t doing a full clear you’ll likely never see them. The final boss is weird; I get the feeling there was a strategy I was supposed to be using, something that wasn’t “circle around the main guy while beating on his face until dead” but that is exactly what I did and survived (although I did pop a couple of each potion and mirror twice). Got both green MI belts, was less than impressed with them.
Overall, I give the dungeon a C- see me after class.
Because of the structure, of the overall floor corruption, of the number and type of mobs you encounter, this dungeon is nothing but annoying. Doing it more than one time for character is an exercise in masochism
Over-all, did like the new dungeon. It appears to be a great place for farming Aether Crystals, Aether Shards and the occasional Aether Cluster. Also good for Tainted Brain Matters.
Valdaraan spawned against me in so many GTFO situations. Many deaths due to this but don’t want it changed. Those heart-pounding moments are what makes the game worth playing.
If dungeon is any indication of how the expansion is going to be, I won’t be buying it. If they add another like this, I’ll stop playing, stop buying this game for friends, stop recommending it to friends, and update all my positive reviews accordingly
1. Takes too long to get to
2. Ground effects damage is worst part of this game, and this dungeon makes use of it liberally.
3. Aether tornadoes take the terrible ground effects and give them legs. They apparently do Percentage based damage and pets are too stupid to move out of it.
4. The map layout is way too convoluted and cramped. They took a big map and put a ton of winding crappy paths / houses in it so trying to dodge all the stupid #$%^ previously mentioned, you get stuck on stuff
5. Tons of random mob spawns behind you
6. AI completely ignore pets many times. Huge tough flesh hulks and abominations that ignore your pets and charge you repeatedly. Huge bosses that repeatedly spawn these guys. They will also spawn behind you.
All these factors combined with the “rogue like” garbage means so far “The Port of Valbury” has been the equivalent of me creeping through un-fun cheese BS only to be killed when random spawning mobs / aether tornados spawn behind me and sandwich me into something. I’ve not even made it to what sounds like frustrating final boss.
This is on normal mode as a level 60 conjurer with max resists and 6.2k HP. Right now I’m torn between trying to re-gear this guy into a different kind of caster, level up a different physical fighter, or just uninstall. It seems like the more Crate “improves” things the more convoluted and un-fun the game gets.
The whole dungeon feels extremely untested to me. I don’t see how anybody could go through it, and say “wow this is fun let’s add it”.
edit: It should be clear this dungeon is so frustrating that it motivated a previously happy customer who has put in 100 hours and bought it six times for friends to sign up on their forums and rant about it.
So either it’s REALLY terrible design or the direction Crate is taking the game is just not for me.
Either the above issues should be fixed or the rogue-like aspect of it removed, so it doesn’t feel like I’m wasting an hour every time I die to BS.
I like the dungeon itself in terms of design and layout, it’s unique, has a nice lore alongside it and generally is quite interesting etc. Shame about the issues with this patch at the start.
Otherwise the only issue, and this is the key one that more or less ruins everything else is all the aether floors absolutely everywhere, they just grind down my patience/enjoyment.
Sure you can avoid them to some extent, but you have to constantly think about avoiding them for 2 hours, while in combat and dodging aethernado’s. I want to play a game about Player vs. Enemy, not Player vs. Danger Carpet.
The environmental hazards in other area’s like immolation was a challenge to survive for a time etc, this is just a test of how long you can stand looking at green kill zones without going insane, while trying to play the game.
In short non-combat mechanics in combat games are pretty meh.
they are so few and far between and easy to avoid that they make no difference whatsoever for me, might as well not be there for all the impact they have
Sure you can avoid them almost always, but you have to think about avoiding them for at most 5 minutes out of the 2 hours it takes to clear the area
fixed that for you 
the aetherfire is great… it’s an aetherial infested town anyway. i dont find them distracting in fact it adds flavor to the game… it is a challenge dungeon for a reason so i would have expected more of them plus those aether tornados look awesome! can we have more of them in aldritch’s room devs please? … 
Not my cup of tea - both from aestetics point of view (find it the dullest dungeon in GD) nor how the area is designed, as many already pointed out.
As for the time it takes to clear it - i am very very happy to have Challenge dungeons, even if they are 1 death - you are out.
However the reward ratio vs challenge and time just doesnt exist, especially in Valbury.
I get above 20 legendaries from 1 hour farming Crucible.
How many do you get for that time in Valbury or in any other dungeon?
The aether floor is everywhere in Old town (whatever that are is called outside the gates)
Beyond the gates the aether floor is really easy to avoid. There are some green cracks but that isn’t damaging floor (they look really cool).
Aesthetically i liked it, it has a nice lore but i really hate running it due to the time it takes. I could skip trash in SoT and BoC. Here trash catches up to me by the time i am able to find my way.
It’s a problem when a god-damn Aetherial Terraformer (yes those dead-slow things) can catch up to you because you’re running in circles trying to figure out the right path.
Also the last boss is a pussy to fight you 3-on-1. Alkamos and Shar’Zul were pretty ballsy and took you 1-on-1 (and some times wrecked you :)). But then again i wouldn’t expect anything more from the weaklings known as aetherials (Venarius is thus my favorite aetherial boss in the entire game)
Obviously this isn’t a complaint, it’s my opinion. I am impressed by the design, loved it that it’s not underground or in some other dimension. Jarren was a really great boss-fight mostly because his design was unique. I love it how you can completely skip some of the unique boss-fights (if you can find your way that is :rolleyes:) I still prefer BoC’s fast paced action.
I did few more attempts. I like this dungeon very much. Only issue is clear speed for my characters. Maybe a bit less healthpool for abominations, terraformers and hulks.
I love this dungeon. I think it’s fantastic level design. For anyone who just wants to run and farm it’s harder and probably unpleasant. I think it was designed with this purpose in mind.
I like the new area vey much… But clear speed of my chars when trying to do the ‘full clear’ is… Well… Lets say… Disappointing… Maybe some of the mobs have to much hp? Undecided…
I like the area, but not as a dungeon and not even as a rouge dungeon. This area should be added to questing storyline with portal or ability to use personal portal.
On my first attempt, with 1.0.0.7 release, my tanky Witchblade was somehow oneshoted down. I tried it again after two hotfixes and everything was smooth and fine.
The way to the main boss is pretty confusing and in overall this dungeon isnt rewarding in terms of time/valuables ratio. I will visit this dungeon once again only bcos of Anesteria´s quest and i hope it will be one time deal there.
I only got around to playing through Valbury yesterday, once Hotfix 2 dropped on GoG.
In terms of level design and lore I was really impressed. There’s so much detail in the buildings and scenery…really, really well done. It has great atmosphere too. Good job, Crate!
I enjoyed playing through it. It might just be because I’ve only been through a couple of times, but it seemed a bit more tense than the other rogue-likes.
I found it quite hard to navigate though, but that could be because I don’t know the layout yet. Is it bigger / longer than SoT and BoC? It seems it. Maybe it’s just more fiddley to get about.
As others have said, I doubt I’d go there with the express purpose of farming, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
And I’m really not looking forward to be going there on the RPM / Devastation sorc I’m currently levelling 