I would like to provide some focused feedback about progressing my first two characters (Level 132 Hammerzon, Level 122 Melee Sorc) through the Rifts the game has to offer.
ISLAND OF THE SUNLESS SEA (110)
This area does a good job of introducing the uber challenges and areas to come. Difficulty and reward progression felt fine on both characters.
The Secret Cow Level (110)
It's the Cow level. It's actually quite fun.
Torajan Jungles (110)
Love this area. It feels diverse, fun, rewarding. Forest Keepers are slightly annoying with their knock back.
The best thing about the Jungles is the very direct sense of progression. You get to play this zone regularly from 110 to 125 when you need to traverse it on your way to Kurast / Teganze / Toraja. The difference in clear speed and power from my 110 TU geared characters to ~120 with some Sets / SUs was very noticeable and satisfying and made me look forward to further progression. As a bonus, the drops in the Jungles are also quite good, with lots of juicy Signets. Well designed area and great idea to drop the various connecting portals here.
Kurast 3000a (115)
Another great level that is very fun to run. There's just something enjoyable about crushing lots of skeletons and the sounds they make when they "die".
This zone also has the best monster density in the game.
High Heavens (115)
I see this more as a Dungeon with a boss objective that you complete and then never bother with again rather than a true Rift which you farm for loot and XP and it's fine for that. The mechanics in this area are slightly annoying but perfectly fine to deal with. I did not overly enjoy my time here and was glad when I was done with it.
Tran Athulua (115)
This rift is a bit of a gear check - and for that it's fine, even though it feels a bit cheesy and you need to eventually turn down the audio from the endless amazon dying sounds. I had a great time with both characters and ended up farming here from 115 to 120.
Teganze (120)
Teganze is a miserable experience for me. After some gear adjustments I can clear it just fine on both characters but it's just so unrewarding. The drop rate of the essences are too low for the fact that you need them both to craft runes (for which you usually need not just one, but up to 6 of one rune) *and* you need them to level up the Umbaru Treasure, which is no one-time affair either as you might need several attempts to produce a usable outcome. I ripped two Treasures after dropping a bunch of essences into it and getting nowhere on my needed stats and it felt crushing.
I love a good grind, but Teganze is too much for me.
The Triune (120)
While The Triune is not my favorite zone either, it feels a lot better than Teganze. For once, the boss fight is actually interesting, although I can't imagine running it repeatedly for the trophy as it takes just too long to navigate Lucion around.
The overall drop rate of cycles is fine - but good luck if you're looking for specifc cycles (in my case Dex ones), this can take a long time to grind.
On another plus side, there is a very rare drop of a Golden Cycle.
Duncraig (120)
Bit of a love/hate affair initially, but after a while I got accustomed to it and ultimately I quite enjoyed running it after my characters became powerful enough. Especially the Hammerzon has a really good time in Duncraig (thanks for the guide, Crash!) and achieves a very high clear speed.
What's great about Duncraig is the Sacred Unique / Sets drop rate. I leveled my Hammerzon here from 120 to 130 and managed to fill two mules with loot and gear up both characters significantly. The potential for dropping SSUs is a great boon as well.
The downside is that if your character is having a hard time in Duncraig then leveling to 125 can become a severe road block that takes a lot of grind to break through. With Teganze and The Triune being pretty bad for leveling, Duncraig is really the best hope and it can be quite frustrating initially on a weak character.
I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of characters get stuck here and never make it to the 125 bracket as they hate all three 120 Rifts and expect things to only get worse from here.
Toraja (125)
I haven't figured this Rift out yet, but I suspect I need to swap gear a lot to minion focused items. Going in there as a non-minion build didn't get me anywhere in a reasonable speed.
Viz-Jun (125)
A bit of a gear check but a fun little zone to run.
Fauztinville (and Bremmtown) (125)
Reaching Fauztinville was a RELIEF after having had to endure the Kabraxis Elementals and I feel that is the design intent. Figuring out how to kill the Elementals was quite a challenge, but not an unwelcome one and the reward of reaching Fauztinville was worth it.
The monster density reminds me of Kurast, there is a good diversity as well. The XP gain is actually insane when I compare it to the 120-125 grind.
I also appreciate that you have the connected little farming zone of Bremmtown for a bit of a change of scenary.
Finally, let's not forget that you can access this zone without having to run somewhere first.
There are only two things I would like to highlight as worthy of improvement:
- The layout: There is an unnecessary amount of staircases and hardly visible altitude "levels". Initially I got constantly stuck and it's sometimes a pain figuring out if an item has dropped on low ground or high ground (and consequently having to teleport there). You get used to it after a while and just use fast teleport to move around.
- The drops: The drop rate of Great Runes feels ok, but the drop rates for Sacred Uniques are a bit underwhelming, considering that this is *the* endgame grinding zone. Unfortunately SU / SSU drop rates can't compare to Duncraig. Shame you need to run this for SSSUs.
There also seems to be a very noticable bias towards dropping rare / unique Rings and Amulets, which I find curious. Could somebody confirm this?
In Summary...
- Improve XP progression in the 120-125 bracket
- Improve Rune drop rate in Teganze
- Speed up Lucian a bit
- Fix drops in Fauztinville (too many rings / amulets, not enough sacred uniques)
Had a great time overall, but this game is not for everyone (but you all know that).