I have NEVER been a fan of any mode in a game that throws seamlessly never ending increasing waves of foes at you in an arcade style whether it be RPG, first person shooters or any other.
My RPG play style has always been about developing my characters via the classic main story lines.
This is the reason why I never purchased the Crucible DLC as it initially actually had no appeal to me.
The same goes for Shattered Realm as I just used it to get the first devotion shrine and then ignored it.
To support Crate for their love and devotion to this game I decided to purchase the Crucible DLC anyway and make my Grim Dawn complete thinking that it would probably be just be a menu option in the game that would be rarely selected.
To my surprise I ran it with one of my fully beefed out level 100 characters and immediately started to smile and enjoy the ride. I completed all the way to Gladiator level and now know that my build for that character was a success.
I don’t think that I would ever start a character in Crucible as lots of players actually do initially to get shrines and experience etc. but it is definitely gonna be a nice endgame gauntlet run for my characters to do once they reach level 100.
That now brings me to Shattered Realm which is another ignored mode by me similar to Crucible for the same reasons.
I throwed the same character into shattered realm and he is surviving quite nicely at the moment, but I am waiting for Crate’s next patch that reportedly has enhancements for Shattered Realm before delving further up the levels.
Both Crucible and Shattered Realm in my opinion are now Grim Dawn’s endgame arenas as once you have maxed out you character out in the story there is not much else to do there apart from farming nemesis and other bosses.
It is awesome that this game can be played and completed in so many different ways. Play the main campaign to completion, level up in Crucible, get to FG and bash away at Shattered Realm … it goes on and on and on …
Still no ARPG out there at the moment can compete despite many promising, but dismal failed attempts.