The problem with this argument is you make it sound like everything you do is to get to the boss with no rewards beforehand but those 7 rooms still contain chests and have massive drops from enemies. You can still get hella rare enchanted T3 weapons & armor from it that I’ve never found in the overworld.
I think that many people just want to have a go at the boss and the most important thing in that respect is practice. The crucible itself is kind of annoying and gets boring having it do it over and over for a single shot. Worse still when you die because of some innocuous reason like falling off a ledge.
The rewards from the crucible are pretty good in the beginning. But after a while you just same gear over and over and it all gets sold anyway. The crucible feels like padding.
Please, please, please stick a whisper in front of the boss gate and if we win then make us run the crucible again to get another shot.
I totally agree with this post. The Echo Knight is like Dialed up 20 times harder than anything you face prior to it. Having a Cerim Whisper once you reach this point to go back to town and repair would be good. I have been trying the knight for a good bit now. While I can easily get to him, I have even gotten him to half health. I feel like at that point you have to have all the perfect enchants, all upgraded gear max, etc. for you to be successful. At least give us check point before the boss so we do not have to use Fallen Embers over and over again to attempt the end boss of any crucible for that matter. I agree that it would then make things more enjoyable. It would also make sense as this would be in line with all other boss fights before this point. I even have 93 hours played thus far and decent set up.
I agree too. Put a whisper in front of the gate. I think the devs have a different idea though. They want it to a be rouge-like. Which means torturing us for our failure. I wish they reconsider though. It’s down-right annoying and largely the reason I have stopped playing for the time being.
Rogue lite is fun. However, to have to go through a whole run again to practice boss mechanics in this game, especially for Echo Knight, is rough. While the level could be a rogue lite of some sort, I do not see why implementation of a check point for the boss would not still be a viable option. That way at least if one makes it to the boss you have a chance to finish the run with the one Ember used. I think this would also provide incentive for people to not give up and quit the game due to frustration, and add to the replayability. I have played a ton of rogue lites, but, none of them make a player farm for components to keep attempting a level. Secondly, they all end up having a player pretty geared later on by the time the boss is reached with attempt over attempt. So far the gear found in the crucible (and most other portions of the game except for bosses - if you get a legendary) drop wise is meh. You then are forced into RNG god wishing in hopes of something decent from enchanting to make anything worth while. Which is also meh. I love this game truly. But, these areas need work to become much better to help players want to continue to the grind.
Unsure if it’s been said. I think a good fix would be increase the floors to ten, and provide a save fire on floor five, allowing you to have a check point but still have a bit of a punishment. And if you leave that closed out the Crucible so you have to make sure you have what items you think you will need keeping up a bit of thought before going into a crucible.
That I think is a good compromise but maybe change the numbers a little bit because you’d need dozens of rooms per Tier of the crucible to prevent burnout
I didn’t see this until now and sure that’s true but here’s the thing those people also just wouldn’t like the entire genre of roguelikes if they just want to boss rush. And the crucible is designed to be a roguelike & an optional one at that.
Disagree, I’ve beaten Crucible a solid 30+ times now but can see a checkpoint system would only ever improve it, especially if they plan on expanding it.
The game isnt Hardcore yet they added a soft Hardcore mode to the endgame, doesnt fit.
The idea that people will quit when they win only applies to a bad system or bad game, just look at Elden Ring for an example that kills that argument.
i think a checkpoint invalidates the whole roguelike/roguelite idea of the crucible.
when playing dead cells you do not get a checkpoint if you die before the boss, same goes for hades and all the other very popular games of that genre.
and the crucible being optional adds to that point as well. i honestly think its is a great idea to have a story arpg with all its loot and combat mechanics, and integrate an optional ingame content with roguelike elements. its a genius way to not limit the game to one specific genre, but blend the best of all worlds.
not having a checkpoint may be frustrating, i admit that, but it also motivates to grind it again and again, looting awesome gear on the way and getting better to finally beat the boss. it fits the games general tone to overcome challenges and obstacles and get stronger and better with each try.
Disclaimer: I’ve only played the crucible a handful of times because it wasn’t my scene.
Isn’t a core part of roguelikes/lites the fact that your build varies from run to run, thus changing your playstyle; thus reducing the tedium of re-playing the same(y) content.
yes, and i can’t find the post/tweet right now, but as far as i know it is planned that you pick up a perk on or after each floor to help you on the way to the boss. that’s just not there yet.
I only have 4 attempts but this approach is annoying in the long run. I have level 29 so I have no problem clearing all 7 levels but in turn it takes too long and this route discourages new attempts.
Not everyone has that much time to play. I love this game but I have max 1h per day to play and for the last 3 days I have been wasting it on going through all the levels again to fight 30s with boss and turn off the game annoyed after a defeat.
Yep, it’s definitely a slog. I’ve beaten him once and come frustratingly close a handful of times.
I get that the devs want to keep it tough, especially given the game’s current state. What if they were to add a chest at the end of your final room that has a small chance of dropping a special ember that took you right to him?
On a related note, i think it would be cool if the final version of the crucible added rare rooms to the rotation.
I have since been beating the Echo Knight regularly. However, what I said before about the Whisper before him holds still. I also think the rewards for beating the Echo Knight should be more and greatly improved. I had to get a lot of really good rolls on gear/enchants and upgrade a lot to be able to get to the point to where I regularly beat the Echo Knight (there are still times I die). However, I can see from people getting to him for the first few times and going through the crucible, it is very rough.
the crucible is not finished yet. as far as i know, there are more features planned, like for example picking up perks at or after each floor that buff you. Just like in roguelike games. So it will get more exciting and also easier i assume.
There are about 6 flames around the entrances right… I would like some compromise where you have 6 “retries” through the whole crucible (each one however costing one fallen ember again) where you can restart on the level you died… If it is a “normal” room, you still need to do the full 7 rooms again to get to the boss. If it is the boss room, you re-start there, until your flames are gone.
That would still require you to do the normal rooms in one run, but you would have a few tries for the boss until you have to start over again.
those altars are probably for more curicibles with different floors and bosses.
Where you display that is not important… what about the concept?
i honestly dislike each form of checkpoint, because it invalidates the whole roguelike concept.
when you play hades, dead cells, binding of isaac etc. you also do not get checkpoints.
I think it will all get better once we get the perk pickup after each floor and more crucibles.
It will also improve with higher tier gear, higher level cap etc.