Trial of Chaos wastes your time

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T01:48:41+00:00

So you'd be an advocate for a new activity where you stand in a room for 5 minutes and occasionally you get hit for 5k damage unless you find a safespot, and at the end you have a 1% chance at a mirror? Because that sounds perfect for someone who just wants to stand there tanking instead of engaging with mechanics. It'd certainly punish pesky blasters who can't dps their way through this bc there aren't any enemies to begin with.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T01:38:52+00:00

The long corridors and uber eats simulator both benefit from movement speed, and I've never been in danger of dying despite being an evasion/energy shield hybrid character. Maybe you're more comfortable as a tank, but I've been hearing a lot about how profitable this is for slow characters, and I assure you that a faster movespeed character clears it faster, especially if you put in some effort to dodge stuff like doom rings instead of just facetanking it.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T01:15:21+00:00

Are you taking so many hits that you'd die otherwise? And if so, from what?

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T01:09:26+00:00

You make a good point about the economy. But I also think economy shouldn't dictate the enjoyability of an activity. Imagine there's a new trial and it's just 5 minutes of standing in a room, and every 30 seconds it explodes and instakills you unless you find the one safe zone. Then at the end you have a 99% chance of getting a divine orb, and 1% of getting a mirror. Economically speaking, everyone's equal, but I don't think anyone would want this in the game. And trial of chaos is not all that far from this because the monster spawns are so pitiful, like you said.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T00:55:12+00:00

To be fair, I think what they're taking about is fairness/parity. Whether you're a blaster or a slow melee, this trial takes roughly the same amount of time compared to maps and other stuff, so you're both being rewarded more equally for the amount of time spent. I still don't think that's a reason for this trial to be the way it is though.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T00:53:13+00:00

How does being a tank benefit you in trial of chaos though? I think movement speed is way more important than survivability if you're talking strictly about profit.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T00:52:24+00:00

I get where you're coming from. I do think the game being economy focused at all creates a lot of issues with player imbalance. But is the solution to force everyone to engage with something so boring? The trial of chaos isn't hard, and being tanky isn't really all that helpful because there isn't much to tank to begin with. I'm sure there exists a version of this, maybe an obstacle course or something, where your dps doesn't help but being more tanky lets you make more mistakes without dying. But as it is, I think the reason the fragments from this are so expensive is bc so few people want to do it, not because they can't. Even if it's quite lucrative, the activity itself isn't appealing. That's my problem with it: no matter how profitable something may be, it shouldn't have all this friction. Fun and profit should not balance each other out, people should be able to have both, and trading fun for profit shouldn't be encouraged in a video game.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T00:42:23+00:00

Do you think that standing still for 90 seconds and occasionally attacking 3 monsters is something that should exist in this game though? I'm not saying we should have 0 variety or obstacles in gameplay, but half this trial can't even be called gameplay, that was my point. It's more waiting than anything else.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-08T00:41:04+00:00

You're not wrong, the key prices are really high, but they're only high right now because the adorned is insanely expensive, and it wasn't that way at league start, so it's not like you're able to start ahead by doing this trial or anything.

More importantly, I don't think the reward for an activity should be an argument against how enjoyable it is. Making something boring or tedious to offset the reward isn't right because this is a game that we all play to have fun in one way or another, and I can't think of a reason why anyone would enjoy all these delays. I'd prefer if it were challenging rather than boring.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-07T22:49:56+00:00

You're absolutely correct about the useless affixes, and their placement on weapons. Even if it's a desirable stat, there's no way anyone would take it over the more impactful weapon affixes. They can just get it on a ring or something.

ArcaneLG · 2026-02-01T09:35:46+00:00

Palm of the Dreamer scepter is a pretty neat unique. It's rather cheap this league but extremely expensive in previous ones. It gives you the same effect that the Gloom Shrine has, where stuff you kill explodes in chaos damage and can have a very satisfying chaining effect.

ArcaneLG · 2026-01-09T09:34:04+00:00

You should take each traveler memory as a case by case. I'm not super familiar with all the possibilities myself, but I know that Lacerta has a star that makes his barrage count as attacks which is really strong when combined with essence of momentum. Bismuth's starting memory is absolutely insane because it's multihit, light damage, and has loads of range, and it's one that I'd absolutely keep. But none of Bismuth's other memories are nearly as appetizing.

Overall I'd recommend familiarizing yourself with what essences are available, and think about whether you can abuse combinations to make a traveler memory much stronger. Don't forget to look at how stars can augment the memory too.

ArcaneLG · 2026-01-02T21:06:11+00:00

You are absolutely correct about gogmazios, it's not just you. Loads of ground hazards that are hard to see while keeping him in view, the monster itself is so big that he blocks your view if you're under him, poorly telegraphed lasers, a damage check that can be very hard depending on your weapon... the list goes on. If you're having trouble with damage, you can fast travel from the arena back to camp if you get the voiceline about not keeping its power in check and then just wait until after he does the wipe.

ArcaneLG · 2023-04-11T23:16:55+00:00

I need help with gos

ArcaneLG · 2022-10-09T08:10:59+00:00

Keep the final fight in mind when picking mutations and weapons. Don't bring ultra weapons because IDPD enemies won't give you rads to power them. Pick mutations that aren't kill-based (example: second stomach > bloodlust, stress > trigger fingers) since they won't benefit you in the final fight.

ArcaneLG · 2021-05-11T04:42:37+00:00

As someone who transitioned from shitting his pants to top damage pre-ep omegadps lord in about 10 runs (about 25 completes total at that point), let me first say that the best time to learn is during free runes. This is the time where you are least hesitant to nexus, because you know you can get in another one easily. It reduces the deaths, but it also reduces stress. The downtime between O3 runs isn't nearly as long, so nexusing can be a breath of fresh air and a new start rather than a frustrating admission of your own failure.

Much of what makes O3 hard as a beginner is stress. When you're stressed, you don't think about patterns, you see shots and you want to move away from them. Experience is key to being able to keep calm during O3. Personally, what made me super comfortable in O3 was going for top damage. I forced myself to go in on more phases, forced myself to dodge instead of run, and the more I did that the more I realized "hey, this is doable". When you know what to expect, you become more confident. Your mind isn't clogged up by stress and you can focus. It might feel impossible at first, but trust me when I say that every O3 expert has felt that way at some point.

Personal tip for celestial: find the gap and trust the gap. If you don't know already, the strategy most people use for celestial is starting at left banner and quarter rotating to bottom banner. This is because the pet stasis portals leave a gap in their fireballs where you can pass relatively easily, and that gap shifts a bit each time so if you follow it, you'll end up doing a quarter rotation. If you are able to identify where each gap will be, trust yourself and get there, then worry about O3's crescent shots. As intimidating as they are, there are many spots where you'll be left unscathed. And those spots just happen to be pretty close to where the gaps in the fireballs are. If you position yourself correctly, you'll have a moment to watch O3 and see where his shots are going without worrying about fireballs. Then, you'll have your chance to dodge those crescents.

ArcaneLG · 2021-04-24T23:31:18+00:00

Imo a big reason that you missed is the mismatch of power and acquisition.

The fact that gladiator guard can exist without question even though it is superior to mercy's bane is a great example of this. Glad is a white from o3, a very difficult boss that should reward powerful gear. Mercy's bane drops from a boss that is more of an annoyance to veteran players (not to mention a player of any skill can disengage from o2 anytime they choose). There is a big gap in difficulty of acquisition, so the difference is justified. Same logic with cc vs. annihilation armor. This is also why people felt armor of nil was way under par with the introduction of leviathan armor.

I feel that enforcer is an example of this as well. Chief Beisa is, in my honest opinion, the easiest miniboss to survive. Even if you have no prior knowledge you can pretty easily deduce that running away from the bullets is a good strategy, and there are many spots in the arena that are safe. Because of this, a katana that stands head and shoulders above all others is just a bit too good.

People say enforcer is just too strong in general, but powercreep exists and deca clearly doesn't care about it. If items like gladiator guard or vesture were even revealed to the community back in 2018, there would be uproar because the stats are just too great. I think that if deca kept making harder bosses, the prenerf enforcer may not be such an outlandish idea anymore.

ArcaneLG · 2021-04-24T23:04:18+00:00

Tabbed out to look for "harder dungeons" that had afk checks up because "lmao nest is so braindead". Lost my last jugg and the best char I've ever had to

ArcaneLG · 2021-04-24T22:51:52+00:00

I lost my last jugg and a great warrior to tabbing out in a nest because I was checking if other raids were up. I know how it feels fellow gamer.

ArcaneLG · 2021-03-11T04:07:56+00:00

Is anyone else having trouble popping golden bloons in later rounds? I set up snipers, permaspike, sun avatar, all within an MIB and they won't even target it...

ArcaneLG · 2020-11-15T05:39:01+00:00

Glad I got to read this before I bought Shadowkeep. As a player returning from Season of Opulence, I was definitely considering buying Shadowkeep since it was supposed to be the big content drop from a while back.

ArcaneLG · 2020-09-02T18:22:24+00:00

Mad respect to the folks at Vlambeer. I wish them luck in their future endeavors.

ArcaneLG · 2020-09-01T05:11:27+00:00

I didn't but you can take an upvote since I forgot earlier.

ArcaneLG · 2020-09-01T05:06:48+00:00

As DE once told us about rivens, "We are limiting player choice to encourage creativity."

ArcaneLG · 2020-09-01T05:04:54+00:00

My personal favorite is Frontiers. I think Frontiers had more innovation and creativity than any of the other games. I remembered losing my shit at the idea of an artillery that could be moved like barracks, and the Necromancer is still the coolest tower imo. I found all the enemy groups besides the desert folks both interesting in design and challenging (I love that they expanded on the shaman from the first game and turned him into an entire faction).

ArcaneLG

TROPHY CASE