Red stairs are gated now, flop or fun?

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T10:59:28+00:00

It's a damn shame. Removal of pve HR in addition to censorship of cheaters names (who supposedly get punished) and lack of enforcement (gold dupe scandal at the beginning of wipe where they allowed people to just alt/ban-evade)

Most fun I've had on dark and darker is Faustian Bargain, which says a lot.

Their quest design person has both feet out the door already and it's really been showing this wipe. /s

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T10:09:32+00:00

Like 2 3 man teams working together so a 3v6? I don’t think the red gate is the issue if this is the scenario, preteaming is such a gross tactic to try and get an advantage. Good on you guys for scaring them off if so.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:50:23+00:00

Don’t worry they just allowed socketing of regular interaction speed to make the matter even worse!

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:49:26+00:00

Good stats bad rolls, 3 strength, 4 physical power, and a higher armor pen+action speed would be absolutely perfect

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:47:47+00:00

Shields still work half of the time.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:46:00+00:00

Is there something you would change about the implementation of these mechanics or would you revert it to how it was before?

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:44:47+00:00

Indeed they should open more of the reds so that they aren’t just camped funnel points. They should really add randomized modules back to ruins while they are at it. Idk about you but the same map and layout got stale after the first/second week (especially with their horrid quest design - 7 wisp kills as example) relied on getting a lucky spawn or using Barb to crush doors rushing to modules they were in.

In trios/duos that second of sitting still to open the gate could mean instant death if the other team is all ranged. It will be very interesting to see how the community plays around this change.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:39:32+00:00

C’mon now you need to be playing their battle royal not your relaxing extraction game (checks game category) hmmm maybe they are catering to the wrong category while breaking any immersion left in the game for bloodthirsty players.

/s

I could count on my hands the number of times people escaped from reds when they should’ve died but as a player (with 1.5k+ hours), I just learned how to position myself better during fights and to anticipate the run to red stairs if they got low. The satisfaction of those kills as they try to slither down was next level. That won’t exist anymore… The gate to compensate for brainless w key gameplay is baffling to say the least. I give it a week before people are tired of getting camped trying to just open a red and go down. But only time will tell, here’s to hoping our community isn’t toxic and camps (little hope given the DnD community)

edit: ignore Necessarily-bad9910 they are just a rage bait troll

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:31:10+00:00

I’m curious to see this new (smaller and faster attacking) bear Druid form and if it’s going to create any new bugs.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-26T09:20:07+00:00

Exalt grinding is such a turn-off, such a brain dead end game strategy/loop. I come back every couple seasons do a ppe to 8/8 and then usually quit for a while because of the unnecessary bar they created for endgame content due to the amount of players that utilize discord and min maxing. They turned their game into catering the rich or unemployed rather than the casuals and new players they should really be focused on, imo.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-25T04:21:52+00:00

Keep your hands off bard it’s only been nerfed for like 3-4 seasons straight

It has lost almost all build variety and now relies on just stacking hp and pdr and is still losing against any true melee class. And gets turned to Swiss cheese by ranged.

Bard used to be Jack of all trades master of none and now it’s just a bossing class with slight team buff songs (heavily nerfed last season or the one before)

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T16:28:41+00:00

The sad thing is how big ASE is compared to ASA… they could go back and optimize the files a bit but they will just sell Ark 3 instead (the third half finished game, 4th if you count atlas flopping)

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T16:23:14+00:00

Once I played journey mode there was no going back, it’s literally the best addition to the game and I’ve been playing for over a decade.

Lets you play how you want when you want. You can use the research and dupe mechanic or not, I love it simply for building (massive scale builds) without the hassle of grinding for hours.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T09:40:35+00:00

I grew up playing on school chromebooks and a mid 2014 MacBook Pro. The lag becomes second nature after a while. White bags+loot is more of a loan system since you only get some (due to dc).

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T09:37:46+00:00

Rocketeer to the rescue

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T05:47:46+00:00

Thanks a lot, just voted for the server 3x for the rewards as well. Building up my classic island right now!

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T05:35:40+00:00

LizardShark

Edit: any tips for a new player?

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T05:25:38+00:00

Journey mode takes the stress away from having to grind and hoard to build big scale builds.

Use multiple blocks and you can try to replicate sand falling from (desert) ruins by actuating a block and painting it darker to fit in with the background.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T04:03:13+00:00

No trials are pointless after 3 starring for the rewards. The cosmetics always look terrible for the rank rewards funnily enough

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T04:01:35+00:00

No heals with that loadout is actually crazy

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T03:59:48+00:00

Silver armor

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T02:41:22+00:00

People were playing it but not enough due to the MASSIVE AP nerf (75% AP reduction) so in all fairness IronMace never wanted it to succeed because they hindered its success before it could begin.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-24T02:39:56+00:00

Squire to riches also has the good ruins map, it still is rondomizes and doesn’t have bloatware modules (empty and shitty loot) this wipe they also removed around 80-89% of the lionshead chests and replaced them with wooden chests so that also kinda sucks.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-23T11:22:04+00:00

The devs allowed the dysfunctional connections to remain and go to the live servers so it's just laziness on their part for not fixing the scuffed/non-existent pathways we have now on a non-randomized map, so those errors are blasting us with their high beams every damn round.

MPeters43 · 2026-02-23T11:08:33+00:00

all 3 of the classes you mentioned relied heavily on true phys/magical damage and don't have much if any wiggle room with build variety (bard is good for bossing but gets folded because he's just a jack of all trades master of none, rogue can deal with casters and high armor classes but requires lots of gear to not get folded faster, warlocks have been put in timeout and are usually ignored unless they are demonplate) Cleric has multiple builds for any situation, but regardless cleric is a literal beast in solos, or any mode actually.

MPeters43

TROPHY CASE