General Feedbacks as of now including Hunter's Path ones

[HeatAndRun]

It's been a while since the last delicious update. And I was genuinely surprised by the sheer amount of changes this Hunter's Path update brought. Truly appreciate to devs because of making such a bold decision about changing the entire gameplay progression system.

I also tried a completely new character save file to fully understand the overall progress changes. Most of those changes are nice but there are some minor flaws I found out based on my perspective, on top of some outdated stuffs. Allow me to show dah list.

 

1. No more Anomalies in Super Frenzy Hunt

Spoiler

Finally, multiple anomalies can appear on the map at the same time. However, the difficulty of anomaly maps are capped at gear level 9. The anomaly maps are the only reliable way to obtain some exclusive materials such as Heart Shards and Unidentified Gems. So basically you will and should repeatedly visit anomaly hunts over and over again in endgame play loop.

The problem is it is too easy to clear the anomaly hunts due to the low level cap (9) of the hunts. It almost feels like child's play when you aquired your first level 15 weapon - No risk and mediocre reward every time you play the hunt. Also, there're little reasons to visit Super Frenzy after you collected all Heartstones from the Boss rot ereas.

So here I suggest some possible improvements that the current anomaly system could use :

• You can increase the difficulty level of the anomaly before you start the hunt, up to gear level 15.
• You can choose the frequency of anomalies that appears while on the hunt. With higher frequency there could be a chance to show up rooms with all three kind of anomalies.
• Higher difficulty will offer more possible reward for the hunt. For example the teffra saturation bar will have 5 phases instead of current 3.

• Anomalies can appear on Boss Rot areas like before. Then you can choose anomaly hunts among 1 boss rot area and 3 miniboss rot areas.

 

2. Possible QoL stuff for Wellspring Upgrades

Spoiler

• Peak Performance QoL

It would be nice if there're some distinguishable line at the healthbar or some visual FX to the character if the health is at or above 80%. It's kinda hard to figure out whether you're over 80% HP or not sometimes.

 

 

• A little annoying Unspent Heart Shards! Alarm

Also, I think this "Unspent Heart Shards!" alarm shows up kinda.. Unnecessarily frequently. It would be great if there are some togglable option to turn off this alarm. Or perhaps the alarm shows up if you have more than 10 unspent heart shards.

 

 

• Group Hug QoL

Group Hug is an interesting upgrade, but the priority is quite low unless you're using Gourdo Weapons or Potion Specified armor builds. So I suggest to make the upgrade also work on Mothball armor sets. 

Which means, the effect of Mothball armors your friends are wearing, activates even from far away if you chose the Group Hug upgrade. But I'm not that sure about it because it feels a little inconsistent and not that intuitive... Meh.

Also, the radius of "healing-becomes-dealing mechanism" of Gourdo Weapons could be increased depending on the Group Hug upgrade radius. Since you'll probably use Gourdo Weapons if you invested on the Group Hug upgrade anyway.

 

 

 

• Hunter's Path Mission QoL

In multiplayer, if other players already chose where to go, you cannot see the hunter's path missions because you cannot access to the map. It would be convenient if the mission list show up on the damselfly before you start the hunt. Also, the hunter's path mission progression could be shown during the hunt, similar to the Mastery Board mission notification.

 

 

• Recommended Invested Heart Shards Amount

Currently, the hunt shows the recommended Party Gear Level when you browse the hunts list. But now the Heart Shards also play an important role to the strength of a player, I just throw a random idea to show the recommend amount of total heart shards invested to the wellspring. Also, I wonder if there is a way to see other players' total amount of collected heart shards in multiplayer.

 

3. Outdated Shop Economy

Spoiler

Nimble sometimes still demand around 10 boss rot materials for one power. But since players will less likely to kill Boss Rots due to changed hunts system the boss rot materials are kinda rarer now. Almost nobody will take the offer in current situation. A little tweak for the price would help.

 

4. Changing Equipment Function is not useful

Spoiler

Now you can change your armors or weapons at Alphonse's shop, but the options are very limited. The powers and usefulness of armors in Rotwood is not that balanced, so you'll probably using better armors (and weapons) compared to the ones at the shop, both early-game and end-game. There could be some extra changes that can be applied to this function. For example :

• You will obtain extra teffra (or a Corestone) if you change your equipments at the shop (If considering the equipment change as a  challenge)
• You can choose only one equipment part per visiting the shop. However you can choose any armor/weapon piece you have (If considering it as a benefit)

 

5. Anomalies QoL

Spoiler

• Night Anomaly

Combined with Some hunts where the ground is dark, the night anomaly can become a pain sometimes. I can't literally see things in the dark, which makes me quite frustrated until the hunt ends. Some white silhouette or distinct outline for interactable NPCS, Rots and Environmental Objects will greatly help. (Red outline for Nightmare Rots, white/silver outline for Regular Rots)

 

• Healing Wind Anomaly

This anomaly increases the healing bonus to every creatures in the room, but there're few Rots that can actually heal themselves, so this anomaly is hardly considered as a challenge or threat to the players. So I suggest to buff it a little more - Frequently Heal the entire Rots in the room every few seconds, like the Gourdo's seed does.

 

6. One Growth Acceleration Every Time

Spoiler

It's my personal taste, but I do hope there is always a random seed growth every time. Or at least more frequently. It's somehow disappointing when you couldn't see the growth boost after checking it multiple times.

 

7. Requesting Buff for Gourdo Hat & Pants

Spoiler

• Gourdo's Noggin-Padder

After the rework of Antleer Trophy Antlers, the Gourdo's Noggin Padder almost became an inferior armor to that  Antleer hat. It's too easy to exceed 20% healing bonus with Antleer Trophy Antlers. Heavy weight is some sort of downside compared to lighter armors in current status. A little more healing bonus will make this hat a great alternative to the Antleer hat.

 

• Gourdo Elasti-Shorts

Aaand the Hunter's Path rework made this armor piece nearly worthless. Feels hugely outdated, and I expect to see some increase of healing amount of this pants in the future.

 

8. QoL Request for Iriss Shroud

Spoiler

The explanation of this hat sounds a wee bit ambiguous. And it's so hard to know if the enemies are affected by the hat or not. Some kind of visual indicator would be great!

 

9. Requesting Buff for all Strikers

Spoiler

It's my personal perspective, but the striker is my least favorite weapon type and, the weakest of them all. The DPS of strikers is notably low compared to other weapon types due to its painfully slow recall speed. And the focus attack window is quite small. Also it's hard to hit multiple enemies unlike hammers, spears and bows. Moreover it's hard to catch the strikers in combat situations, especially in multiplayer. It's some sort of hot take but I think every strikers should bounce exactly like the Jackalope - the only properly functioning striker of them all. The strikers are not rewarding considering how inconvenient and weak it is to use. 

 

10. More Mobility for Power Class

Spoiler

When your weight is more than certain degrees, you'll become a power class. The description says you'll gain high damage resistance and low speed. But I personally really don't prefer to play as a power class unless I'm using cannons or wearing certain dodge-to-attack armors. Even though the invincibility window for dodge is longer, the dodge(dash)-attack combo will become extremely tedious that it feels like it's some sort of hard mode or penalty to play as a power class. Also makes me avoid wearing too many heavy-weighted armors or weapons.

Like it takes almost double or triple the time to land a dash-attack to enemies compared to balance and agile class. And I see no reason to make the power class gameplay that uncomfortable. Moreover, the more damage resistance is not that noticable. Compared to the agile armors it only gives about +10% defence to player, which doesn't help that much in higher difficulty levels.

 

11. More satisfying Imbued Gooseberry

Spoiler

Imbued Gooseberry attacks when their HP reaches 0. But turned out it's not as impressive as I expected when first saw it.  Adding a big blast radius like the purple pine cone plus some friendly fire damage to nearby rots will be much more satisfying and fun to kill the imbued Gooseberry.

 

 

12. Requesting NERF for that OP build everyone knows

Spoiler

I bet you probably knew which build I'm going to talk about - the infamous Gnarlic Dodgeless build. Each armor parts are not broken op, but the mixture of those armors makes an extremely strong build for the entire Rotwood history. I also often use the build in singleplayer when I'm bored to repetitive farming routine, and I'm against nerfing something most of the time, but this build... is a different story.

The build is even stronger after the Hunter's Path update because you can invest 500 Heart Shards into the Swiftness Hunter's Path upgrade. Without any luck or hassle you can easily become a killing machine at the very beginning of a hunt. And what's the worst is it completely ruins the multiplayer experience due to it's opness. In endgame multiplayer it's very hard to touch a single Rot with your weapons after entering a room. All you can do is just watching other random players killing the entire Rots in the room while wearing this build.

So I suggest one last nerf to the controversial Colossapphire Greaves : 

• Gain bonus Damage while standing still. Bonus resets on Dodge. Bonus decreases gradually when you move. (Pressing WASD)

 

I was considering writing it from the very beginning of the Hunter's Path beta but I slacked off a little bit since. The main reason was because there were no new Super Frenzy or new armor piece, but the 500 Heart Shards turned out to be a great new refreshment for the choice of diverse armor builds. I really appreciate the careful and delicate introduction of fun new system and progression. Then..

Until next time!

Edited September 10, 2025 by HeatAndRun

[Kacpert25]

Damn, I was hoping I would be the first person on the forum which by the way post brag about getting the maximum amount of heart shards XD.

1 hour ago, HeatAndRun said:

7. Requesting Buff for Gourdo Hat & Pants

I'd also like to add that the Bullrog Headgear also needs a change.

Ideally, a rework, as this piece of armor no longer makes much sense when you can obtain similar or even greater amounts of teffra through the passive ability from Seed Money.

[Creamean6_7]

With the help of the new system, it is easier for players to play in the super frenzy. So why turn off the abnormal weather of the super frenzy? I know there are many players who want to challenge more difficult. Closing the new system really makes it more difficult to play, but few people do. Now players are more likely to collect 500 chips before challenging the super frenzy. Maybe the new system is to make the experience of new players easier and avoid bad reviews from new players?

[Ketrai]

Strikers used to have the benefit of being the highest base damage weapons, which made them the best with damage dealing skills. They sort of still have a minor edge with things like the overdrive, where the balls can still do damage whilst you are attack-charging... But it's very niche.

I'm more worried that the powercreep is starting to make the game a little... too easy. I know half a dozen builds that are just nearly completely free wins, and it's mostly dependent on the weapon being broken rather than the build. The trophy hat with any Big Yammo Slammo skill weapons, for example. The shellshot blunderbuss has some of the safest, insanely bloated damage you can pump out at range. The tenderizer.. Any bonejaw's charge type weapon. 

Still, being able to carry 2000+ health in the form of potions on any given run with little opportunity cost is quite insane as well.