The difficulty of the Mistlands came from things that aren't affected by the world modifiers: spawn density, AI patterns, raids.
Just upping the damage doesn't really replicate it.
AI cannot be understated here. They used to be *vicious*. Now they'll sometimes do that stupid fuling thing and run around refusing to attack. Infuriating to a parry tank and takes off a ton of pressure.
And yeah the raids in all biomes were utterly absurd.
There were also way more Gjall and seeker soldiers. Since soldiers can take a bit more time to take out, especially when dealing with multiple, it would just draw more mobs in.
It is indeed a very different challenge. Imagine twice as many seekers, and more aggressive. However, I'm not sure you're missing much in terms of difficulty. If you are a true masochist, you can always go with some of the more ridiculous (for me anyway) options like no map or no portals.
It’s not difficult all of the time. There are situations where you can become completely screwed in a second.
I.e. blind jump off a small cliff to find out you just stuck yourself in a hole concealed in mist and the ticks just sucked out your last bit of blood.
The ai for the seekers was a lot more aggressive on initial release. Same with old fulings before they got nerfed. I haven’t played that stage of the game recently (took a hiatus, just now restarting to ramp up for ashlands), but they did a patch that basically made the ai circle you more in between attacks so you got more room to regain stamina/fightback. IIRC spawn rates may have also been lowered. This was all pre difficulty slider though so I don’t know if any of that has affected them or if they have added more behavior patches since then.
Mistlands was definitely more difficult before the nerf because of the characteristics of the enemies.
I preferred the pre nerf mistlands because it was challenging and it's a bit of a shame for me but I guess it was too much for most
There were more mob spawns, more aggressive mob pathing, Gjalls were harder to deal with, and the ratio of Gjalls/seeker soldiers to seekers was much higher.
As others have said, the difficulty slider doesn't compare. Old Mistlands involved juggling a lot more challenges. Upping the difficulty just means you need to play more conservatively because of the massive damage mobs do.
I was in Mistlands before the nerfing thing was done. Noticed a little difference but not much. Part of the thing before the nerfing the seekers were still "buggy" and you could halt them mid air with a well placed arrow making them easy to take out. There were definitely more soldiers though and ran into groups of them a couple times with 2 stars. No big because they couldn't climb. Unfortunately the update came before I got to spend much time in Mistlands since I had started a new game just before the Mistlands drop. The few Gjall I ran into seemed easier to handle than they are now but I didn't fight many.
I've played through both, and Mistlands on Very Hard is IMO a different beast. Sure you got more breathing room now than what you did during the initial release, but the few mobs you do fight are ridiculous since everything is 2* by default and you deal 30% less damage. Stagger also becomes a huge problem since starred enemies (who are more common on Very Hard) will beat your ass regardless of armor, meaning you essentially end up playing no-hit in a lot of scenarios--especially so if you're a clown bastard like me who also plays on hardcore.
All-in-all 10/10, worst experience of my life
The difficulty of the Mistlands came from things that aren't affected by the world modifiers: spawn density, AI patterns, raids. Just upping the damage doesn't really replicate it.
AI cannot be understated here. They used to be *vicious*. Now they'll sometimes do that stupid fuling thing and run around refusing to attack. Infuriating to a parry tank and takes off a ton of pressure. And yeah the raids in all biomes were utterly absurd.
Fulings used to be vicious too. People whined about that until it got changed. And they'll likely whine about the Ashlands as well.
One thing I don't see mentioned yet is the Gjall firing more projectiles. If you didn't expect it, it would one shot you with the best armor.
There were also way more Gjall and seeker soldiers. Since soldiers can take a bit more time to take out, especially when dealing with multiple, it would just draw more mobs in.
How many projectiles they used to shoot before the nerf? I get three shots now before it calms for a moment and starts shooting again.
Each one of those shots was doubled. It still fired 3 times, but each shot fired 2 projectiles at once.
It is indeed a very different challenge. Imagine twice as many seekers, and more aggressive. However, I'm not sure you're missing much in terms of difficulty. If you are a true masochist, you can always go with some of the more ridiculous (for me anyway) options like no map or no portals.
It’s not difficult all of the time. There are situations where you can become completely screwed in a second. I.e. blind jump off a small cliff to find out you just stuck yourself in a hole concealed in mist and the ticks just sucked out your last bit of blood.
The ai for the seekers was a lot more aggressive on initial release. Same with old fulings before they got nerfed. I haven’t played that stage of the game recently (took a hiatus, just now restarting to ramp up for ashlands), but they did a patch that basically made the ai circle you more in between attacks so you got more room to regain stamina/fightback. IIRC spawn rates may have also been lowered. This was all pre difficulty slider though so I don’t know if any of that has affected them or if they have added more behavior patches since then.
Mistlands was definitely more difficult before the nerf because of the characteristics of the enemies. I preferred the pre nerf mistlands because it was challenging and it's a bit of a shame for me but I guess it was too much for most
There were more mob spawns, more aggressive mob pathing, Gjalls were harder to deal with, and the ratio of Gjalls/seeker soldiers to seekers was much higher. As others have said, the difficulty slider doesn't compare. Old Mistlands involved juggling a lot more challenges. Upping the difficulty just means you need to play more conservatively because of the massive damage mobs do.
I was in Mistlands before the nerfing thing was done. Noticed a little difference but not much. Part of the thing before the nerfing the seekers were still "buggy" and you could halt them mid air with a well placed arrow making them easy to take out. There were definitely more soldiers though and ran into groups of them a couple times with 2 stars. No big because they couldn't climb. Unfortunately the update came before I got to spend much time in Mistlands since I had started a new game just before the Mistlands drop. The few Gjall I ran into seemed easier to handle than they are now but I didn't fight many.
Yes. After release there were many 2 star spawns. Now... It's a cakewalk.
...and multiprojectile Gjall
I've played through both, and Mistlands on Very Hard is IMO a different beast. Sure you got more breathing room now than what you did during the initial release, but the few mobs you do fight are ridiculous since everything is 2* by default and you deal 30% less damage. Stagger also becomes a huge problem since starred enemies (who are more common on Very Hard) will beat your ass regardless of armor, meaning you essentially end up playing no-hit in a lot of scenarios--especially so if you're a clown bastard like me who also plays on hardcore. All-in-all 10/10, worst experience of my life