Shroud: damage over time instead instant kill

26 Jan
Sebastian Merged

instead of the shroud instantly killing you when he timer go out, you get extremely fragile health and blind (black out the screen, from edges to middle) a few heartbeats so you have a last ditch chans to get out.

8

29 Jan
Brendan Lauer Merged

There are times where I was forced into the Shroud lava due to terrain or gliding and was killed instantly. This is not fun or fair as I had no way to avoid it and the mechanic should be reworked.

7

30 Jan
inbinceable

I mean.... your given a timer for how long your allowed to be in the enshrouded zone already. The whole point of the enshrouded zone is to put a limit on you being in there and a punishment if you spend too long in it. Also emphasizes on a reason to go do the questing that levels/upgrades your flame altar > you get more enshrouded timer time. They also give you flasks which increase your Shroud survival time. Instead of having 30sec more to escape with a DoT ticking away... why not start planning to escape when you see you have 1min left to escape? If you can't escape in that 1 minute... whats the point in having a DoT that you are still going to die to because you didn't plan properly.

19

30 Jan
Marlei

At that point you would have two timers, I think it's good as it is. If you have a secondary timer then it could be too easy in certain cases.

Keep in mind you can also craft and carry potions to extend your time on the shroud

8

30 Jan
Judaspriester Merged

different games have used different options to mark no-go areas. the shroud and the shroud-lava are the options the enshrouded devs have gone for. And they have already thought about issues like yours, by placing your lost loot NOT always at the place you've died.
I've also made some navigation mistakes and died because of the lava shroud, but I was never unable to reach my tombstone.

6

30 Jan
Lee

No, but stepping on the red instant death is annoying.
You get the illusion that you can survive, but it keeps ticking after you get off of it.
Either make it instant death, or make the fast rate stop immediately when you step off.

4

30 Jan
Jaina

I strongly disagree, there's a countdown with a warning. if you upgrade your base and get some potions and find timer resets/flames you can stay in the shroud for as long as you need. you just need to prepare better. I find the shroud system to be very fun, as it gives me a reason to keep on task

4

30 Jan
TaylerBootz

I think it's fine the way it is. The only thing I HATE is when you are insta-killed by the red stuff (as it's usually not visible until you fall off the cliffs) and then you're stuck with all your inventory being unreachable. It's worse because you can't delete the map markers that constantly remind you of your unfair demise. (I feel like they need to tone down the fog - it not only makes the screen too bright and blurry in many situations - like the weird fog with the light potion- but it hides the ground color in many situations in and out of the shroud.)

4

31 Jan
Avatar Merged

If you fall into the shroud lava, the way to avoid it would be to be more careful. Don't glide into the shroud at all if you can help it, or spend the skill points to take the Updraft skill so that you can perform an emergency updraft just before your would-be landing into the lava to give yourself a second chance.

2

31 Jan
Lee Merged

Split it into two different kinds.

A trap kind that instant kills you used in dungeons to make no-go zones.

A overworld kind that gives you a debuff that speeds up your shroud time loss by half. You'll have time to climb out.

Punishing someone for exploring the overworld map is not fun.

However, we need an instant kill kind for dungeon navigation.

2

31 Jan
Ex

This shouldn't even need to be a suggestion. Insta-kill red floor/shroud just completely ruins the entire vibe of this game.
It's obscenely punishing for absolutely no reason, and it's basically guaranteed loot loss in most cases.

I can't tell you how many times I've been trying to parkour, accidentally open my glider and then just die.. or be having a good time exploring the shroud, only to fall into an obscenely well hidden pit full of red floor and instantly die. I don't mind if I'm playing a soulslike and the devs wanna put trolly traps in places, sometimes that is funny. But when I'm carrying a bunch of stuff I don't want to lose and I'm on the tail end of an excursion that took me an hour to get to where I'm at and I die to some absolute BS -- It's not charming.

99% of my deaths to red stuff have been because I accidentally opened my glider while trying to parkour, and it's a double wammy of aggravation.

9

31 Jan
Sebastian

It wont change much gameplay wise but the feeling should end up being more natural. I mean if you chilled there for 10 minutes you wont just insta die.

Either add some negative conditions near end of timer to tell you to really get the f out. ( Which would be horrible for early game so we should rather not)
Or
Let us take damage 10 % max health (non mitigatable) every couple of seconds, while the screen shows red or the character starts coughing heavily or something.

That would feel much more in line with the presentation.

3

01 Feb
Slick99

I think it works fine, you have a time limit and can see that. If you have low skill and wait till the shroud timer ends...well... you're going to die quick. Level up, get some health and shroud buffs and have fun. Doesnt need to change.

2

01 Feb
Isai Alcântara

All games need a challenge, and the shroud is an amazing one. If it is too hard for you, maybe its because you aren't paying attention to your timer, maybe you're not planning your excursions well or you just haven't played the game long enough to learn other mechanics that can keep you enshrouded for longer.

Keep the shroud as it is. It doesn't need any fixing.

3

01 Feb
Crazycga

I'm on the fence about this. Yeah it's frustrating the first time I hit red shroud I didn't know what killed me. But I learned to watch my timer like a paranoid junkie. It's just a part of the challenge of the game. I'm over 100 hours in, level 25 and I still pucker when I enter the Shroud near the bridge. It's a part of what makes the game fun. On the other hand there's entire graveyards within sight of Shroud edges. Which sucks.

1

01 Feb
Jihaku

I disagree with the post as well as Ex. Top comment is right. We are already given a timer. Prepare. anything less and the sense of danger that this game is presenting us with becomes a joke.

As for Ex's argument, The red shroud is a brilliant mechanic that informs the player visually AND through trial and error what IS and is not dangerous, while still remaining mysterious and beautiful at times. The red floor is just obvious, and not only enforces caution through the shroud, but provides the story that the shroud can ALWAYS be more dangerous. it is also useful for creating atmosphere underground, and informs us that the "wells" are in-fact a Well - For the shroud - which poured out and overflowed into the land - as the story says. So there should be red floor shroud. I just wish it "flowed" or something. Maybe had beasts in it. Lastly the Red shroud, particularly the floor shroud is detectable, as it makes normal safe shroud red. Giving a extra sense of danger when exploring.

2

01 Feb
Jihaku Merged

Mixed feeling about Lees idea. I think the current placement of the Insta kill shroud is correct, and we could even use more of it. But I love the idea of the shroud timer variant.

I think the alternative should not replace the current type, but I do think that getting bombed with things that reduce the shroud timer is not enough. Maybe more dangerous zones that increase the timer speed in unpredictable ways and unpredictable places would be awesome and make the shroud feel more alive.

Personally I want more danger, not less. We are facing a world entity after all.

1

01 Feb
Marco Merged

You die when you sprint through the shroud without using paths. Just sprint on the paths. And never use the glider into deep shroud areas which you dont know and where you cannot see what is below the fog, it is a learning process.

1

02 Feb
Emrys

I'm not so sure about this. We would end up abusing powerful healing potions so the DoT on health doesn't even matter and never have to leave the shroud, taking away that mechanic almost entirely. The shroud needs to stress us out a bit. That's what it is. At first, I wasn't sure I would like the pressure of the shroud timer, but as I leveled it up a bit and found potions that extend it, I find that one timer is plenty exciting and have come to really enjoy it.

1

05 Feb
GoliathFox Merged

I've actually had quite a few funny moments where I used a glider and landed in the lava. It can be frustrating, but it is easily avoidable.

1

06 Feb
Bongoboy Merged

I keep jumping off ledges like any other, looking down I see Miasma. Especially when I am in a hurry, I jump off and you can see the red barely. Why are there so many things having a so strong Bloom effect... but the most important thing barely glows red?

06 Feb
TheGrey08

idk, feel like the long timer covers this already. If the timer was shorter I could see it, but as it is you can increase it quite a lot. It's tougher early game, but I think that's kind of the point. Learning the dangers of it and getting used to it. Then later on you have a lot longer.

2

07 Feb
Avatar

I must admit I was very disappointed when the result of the timer running out was just instadeath, however I don't think just health drain is enough - as the poster said "now you get 30 extra seconds" which feels like it defeats the purpose of a timer. Obviously health potions and healing spells should just not function after time has run out. But I do feel like SOMETHING should happen where you are suddenly in very dire straits and the sense of urgency to get out becomes extreme. There is no music or any kind of real dread with an instadeath. The shroud's timer is a big strength of this game's mechanics and it should showcase more than just an instadeath on timer zero. I wouldn't even mind if something bad started happening when there are 10 or 30 seconds left on the timer - add an extra indicator up the top with a line where your character starts getting handicapped somehow. In some interesting way. Maybe even have this happen throughout the timer's run from start to finish.

3

07 Feb
Cali6an

Given the lore, the shroud is an agressive fungal spore that overwhelms you instantly - unless you're flameborn (lucky us!). So, a second timer seems unnecessary. The idea of maybe some coughing and/or heath issues towards the end of the timer seems appealing immersion-wise, though.

1

11 Feb
Tarrok

Instead of the timer working like an oxygen tank where hitting 0 means death (or DoT as OP suggested), I would change it to represent the shroud's awareness of you. The idea here is that you're a foreign body invading an ecosystem that, once aware of you, will defend itself. Based on the shroud timer remaining (such as 66%, 33% and 0% time remaining), increasingly dangerous effects would be triggered. Examples of effects could be stat drains, increased mob spawn rate and movement speed penalities at 0% time remaining.

Additionally, pair these stages with audio-visual cues: bioluminescence shifting hue, shroom trees and mycelia walls pulsating, the shroud itself roiling. Up the sound from creepy background noises to more foreground effects. Etc.

Make the level of the shroud play into these effects and, for bonus points, make shroud effects region/biome specific. Deadly shroud could still be impassible as it is now to gate progression.

Titular shroud deserves some character.

4

13 Feb
Cali6an Merged

It does at night.... :)

13 Feb
Tigerlilium Admin Merged

"Shroud Lava is a terrible mechanic" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-29), including upvotes (16) and comments (7), was merged into this suggestion.

1

13 Feb
Tigerlilium Admin

"Shroud dmg cutoff" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-26), including upvotes (18) and comments (9), was merged into this suggestion.

16 Feb
Liberty

Plus the number of times the game has left my tombstone in the lava (which of course makes it unreachable) is not fair. It's inconsistent - the tombstone marker is there but unreachable, or it's above the shroud on the edge of a cliff, or it has gone completely.

1

06 Mar
LadyFirechild

For my part, I like the different shroud mechanics. You have the normal shroud, which you can resist well.
There is the shroud for which you are still too weak. You should avoid these opponents or areas as soon as you are stronger or have more time. This is because it does not kill you immediately, but it greatly reduces your resistance/time.

And then there's the deadly shroud miasma. And you just can't do that. (Incidentally, it doesn't always kill you at the higher level, it just has a long after-effect time). You're not a god, just a Flameborn. However, there are really a few points where the developers have built in really (player)unfriendly lava shroud corners. Perhaps the shroud should be visible through a blanket of fog.

What I would really like, however, would be if you could "feel" more how the shroud corrupts you. Green veins that slowly move from the edge to the center as your vision becomes more and more blurred. Slowly, but unstoppably. Unless you find "fresh air" ;-P

1

13 Mar
Shanman150

I like LadyFirechild's suggestion above, and I want to join it to the "No" feedback from people who dislike the idea. I agree with them that you have a timer already, double timers seems wrong, but it just isn't threatening enough in the final minute to make you FEEL like you are dying. Then BAM! Dead. The Shroud is insidious and stifling, you should FEEL that on-screen before you die. It should impact your health, before you die.

So a good compromise solution here is to adjust the shroud timer so that the last 30 seconds is a different color, clearly a more dire timer at this point, and visual affects (and potentially health effects) become apparent. Death should not be instant in the shroud, it should be stifling.

[I know there are some purposes to insta-death red shroud, I won't touch on that except to say that instant death mechanics feel bad generally.]

26 Apr
Circe_Caster

*Taking unhealable damage that increases over time.*

07 May
Zaphkiel

This. I think the rate of shroud time loss should be a function of your flame and strength and the strength of the shroud you are in. This would make it less black and white and more of a spectrum of danger. So a new character in shroud level 6 would still die near instantly, but a 6/6 would still feel dangerous and exciting. This would also reduce the effect of increased shroud time nullifying the threat of the shroud, without diminishing its value.

Shroud: damage over time instead instant kill

Comments: 33