Misery Mode

[Glacia]

This post gathers info and tips for surviving the new and most complex game mode added to the game: Misery

 

Experience:

You start at Pleasant Valley in a remote location between Thomson Crossing, the Farm and the Crashed Plane, at mid day (It seems weather it's always clear)

The temperature drop have reached the maximum at the start and there are no Feats avaliable.

You are gonna get over time 5 afflictions that make the game more complex and harder.

 

I have a little experience on the mode for now, but here my recommendations:

- Get rid of Frostbite ASAP, use whatever you get.

- Completely ignore high tier and heavy clothing, no matter what you can get you are always gonna freeze in the outdoors for basically.. forever until you get the best gear. Use light gear without movement penalty and try to speedrun outdoors using the best routes around spots.

- Warming Up Bonus it's the only consistent method of traveling long distances, but it's not completely safe. You need resources, time and you have the risk of end attacked by wolves for using several campfires in your travel.

Early game it's best to sacrifice condition (Once you don't have frostbite risk) and keep the Teas for later.

- Speedrun loot spots in the game, fortunately you are in the best spawn in the whole game. You should do this ASAP before the afflictions appears. The best routes are still a mistery but likely it's the old one of TWM + AC + PV then travel to other 'safer' regions.

 

Late game will be determined by how dangerous the new afflictions are, but the worst thing it's even reaching that. Grinding and get the best gear could be very hard even on the best spots in the game.

 

[ManicManiac]

@Glacia

This is some good Science!

Keep it up.

[Glacia]

First impressions:

- Definitely the best option it's rush pleasant valley ASAP and leave the region to loot another areas.

I haven't tried go to TWM or AC but i think it's suicidal, for the reasons im gonna explain in a moment.

- Speedrunning doesn't seems to be a good choice, your stamina bar already decreased it's gonna deplete very quickly, leading to several problems.

- ALL bars are set to 'Very Fast' decaying rate, the worst being the Hydration bar. 

¿Why? Because it lets you have a maximum of 6 hours of sleep without stopping condition recovery rate, making recovery an incredible hard and time consuming task. In a game mode where basically it's IMPOSSIBLE to avoid an small condition loss in the early-mid game, the problems snowball very quickly.

 

For the moment i have never experience problems with loot abundance, i never run out of resources of any kind. The problem lies about traveling and can't recover enough condition even in the best scenarios.

 

An hypothetical scenario of long-term (At least what im gonna try):

- Rush PV, starting place as you wish, you may choose the plane since it's very near the spawn point.

- Exit PV and start gathering Guts and scrap metal for crafting Fishing Tackles and later the Knife.

- The best choice seems to be Winding River and then Mystery Lake, loot the Dam and continue through the region.

- Select a base of your choice to start crafting the basics, you should have a Prybar and a Hacksaw at this point.

If not, keep searching until you find one.

- Craft as many fishing tackles as you can, a bow and a few arrows.

- Go to FM to craft a Knife in the Forge and also loot what you can.

- At this point (If you survived with a decent condition and enough resources) you choose what to do next *

Some options

* If you like Milton both to craft and loot, you may go here and start rushing the best items.

* Go back to mystery lake and start a long-term plan.

* Travel to Broken Railroad to use the region as your base (Best region in the game besides non-renewable things) and once you have enough things, venture into the DLC.

* If Fishing it's your main goal, start moving to BI or CH and see if you can survive.

 

I have not seen all the new afflictions still and i suppose they change everything, but for now this seems to be the best route.

You may try a more hardcore challenge looting TWM and AC but i don't think you need that, the goal it's just to survive.

[Raphael van Lierop]

I love seeing this! Thanks for sharing your strategies as they unfold. Misery might need its own category in the forums. 😅

[Leeanda]

Please remember to use spoiler tags  .

[Pencil]

Ditching heavy clothes is actually really smart. Keep just enough to stay above freezing in most interiors (so just over 5 C) and then stay light until you can get the animal coats. 

What's your opinion on crafting a hatchet at the forge? I'm currently in DP with a heavy hammer but not a lot of metal so I'm wondering if I should get lots of arrow heads or just a few arrow heads and a hatchet. If fishing is the long-term plan here then a hatchet might be nice to have for firewood. But at the same time, you'll need a fire to harvest wood which may take more than one coal at these temps. Maybe coal is the way to go; make regular visits to mines and caves. 

[Glacia]

11 hours ago, Pencil said:

What's your opinion on crafting a hatchet at the forge? I'm currently in DP with a heavy hammer but not a lot of metal so I'm wondering if I should get lots of arrow heads or just a few arrow heads and a hatchet. If fishing is the long-term plan here then a hatchet might be nice to have for firewood. But at the same time, you'll need a fire to harvest wood which may take more than one coal at these temps. Maybe coal is the way to go; make regular visits to mines and caves. 

I don't see good reasons to craft the Hatchet, it's heavy and mostly useless besides for the wood harvesting stuff.

In a world with the temperature already on the minimum, wasting a campfire to harvest things to make another campfire seems a bad idea (You also need windshield, and it's time consuming).

The best fire materials are the sticks, since you can collect a lot of them quickly and on the way before you freeze outside

[Glacia]

My feedback after playing enough time to get all afflictions and tested most of the game mode:

For anyone trying this mode, this is a challenge mode, not a mode where you should always play and expect to be your main experience. It's a semi-NOGOA style with better early game but an almost impossible late game.

What i really dislike it's the condition recovery being removed after the last affliction... it feels like a 'Well, you have reached this far, now die'. Other afflictions actually feel realistic and in theory you can survive all of them with enough effort and game knowledge, but Broken Body it's just to make sure you die anyways.

Besides that, i think Misery it's an incredible game mode and a fun addition to the game, but i think it should have worked better as a Challenge Mode (In a ATDS style) than a main difficulty setting.

 

A note on that:  I don't know if you can still recover condition with BBT, in this case you may have an inefficient and slow way to recover condition... but one may end surviving endless with enough knowledge.

[Veskaida]

I quite enjoy Misery and am always glad to see a new patch from Hinterlands, especially with new content; but as someone who's played a lot of the community Custom mode "No One Gets Out Alive" (NOGOA) I am not a fan of

Spoiler

"Broken Body" fully disabling Condition healing; I feel it makes gameplay too tedious and micro-management intensive. I also think there is design conflict between Broken Body and Haunted Mind. I think the game mode would be more fun if there was more 'back-and-forth' with healing enabled, even if Condition healing was always reduced by Haunted Mind, received extra damage from Broken Body, or disabled Condition recovery while awake, or only allowed item-only Condition recovery (similar to NOGOA, e.g. Birch Tea, TFTFT cooking recipes, Emergency Stims).

It sounds to me like Hinterlands/Raphael's goals for Misery Mode for Misery is to feel "apocalyptic" and "... eventually you will die" which I think it succeeds in, but I'd also argue that The Long Dark is a "survival game" and a core goal of players is to try and survive as long as possible; with one of TLD's biggest strengths being the subtly of it's gameplay and slow pace/uncertainty of it's decision making/consequences, so Misery I feel is a bit too ham-fisted (for my spoilered reason above) in telling the player that they're not allowed to continue surviving beyond a certain point. I think the game mode would be more fun if more of the focus was on trying to survive with 5-6 Afflictions, rather than facing a hard wall, especially in such an unforgiving world.

I hope this gets changed in the future, and also it would be nice to see the Misery afflictions added to the Custom Sandbox toolkit.

Also, it's minor but I'm not sure I agree with the decision to make Misery Mode a "sandbox" gamemode, at least in it's current state; as I feel it fits the description of a "Challenge" better, mainly for my Spoilered reason above (similar to As The Dead Sleep).

On 6/24/2024 at 4:17 PM, Glacia said:

You start at Pleasant Valley in a remote location between Thomson Crossing, the Farm and the Crashed Plane, at mid day (It seems weather it's always clear)

More accurately the Misery spawn is at "Draft Dodger's Cabin" which is burnt down in this game mode. This is evident by the rose bushes, reishei stumps and two rope climbs on the cliff nearby cliff to Skeeter's Ridge.

No, the weather is not always "Clear" it can also be lightly snowing. Windspeed and direction is also variable.

On 6/24/2024 at 4:17 PM, Glacia said:

- Completely ignore high tier and heavy clothing, no matter what you can get you are always gonna freeze in the outdoors for basically.. forever until you get the best gear. Use light gear without movement penalty and try to speedrun outdoors using the best routes around spots.

...

- Speedrun loot spots in the game, fortunately you are in the best spawn in the whole game. You should do this ASAP before the afflictions appears. The best routes are still a mistery but likely it's the old one of TWM + AC + PV then travel to other 'safer' regions.

Instead of "ignore high tier clothing" Misery should have it's own 'tier list'. Most indoors areas are below-zero, so a certain volume of clothes is necessary to make indoors warm; so even if e.g. "heavy and/or high mobility penalty clothes are objectively bad" they're still useful (and necessary) due to the global temperature being so low. There is also the nadir: the coldest time of the day (just before and after sunrise), this time is dangerous indoors even on Interloper especially if a Blizzard arrives.

I also feel there are probably two different "tier lists" for Misery (for my spoilered reason above), but I'd describe them as the early-mid game where you are highly mobile, and the 'late game' where mobility is irrelevant and only warmth matters.

Here is a rough Misery tier list:

• S-tier (game changing): Cougar Hide Wrap, Technical Balaclava, Tactical Gloves, Hockey Jersey, Thin Wool Sweater, Mackinaw Jacket, Thermal Underwear, Combat Pants, Wool Socks, Work Boots, Foreman's Tool Belt, Moose-Hide Satchel
• A-tier (great): Aviator's Cap, Wool Toque, Rabbitskin Hat, Rabbitskin Mitts, Tactical Jacket, Wolfskin Coat, Miner's Pants, Deerskin Boots, Improvised Insulation, Wool Ear Wrap
• B-tier (ok): Fleece Mittens, Bearskin Coat, Down Vest, Flight Jacket, Military Coat, Miner's Jacket, Moose-Hide Cloak, Simply Parka, Ski Jacket, Deerskin Pants, Trail Boots
• C-tier (frostbite deterrent): Baseball Cap, Cotton Scarf, Cotton Toque, Wool Scarf, Driving Gloves, Work Gloves, Dress Shirt, Hoodie, Plaid Shirt, Sweatshirt, T-Shirt, Light Shell, Sport Vest, Down Vest, Windbreaker, Jeans, Sports Socks, Leather Shoes, Running Shoes, Crampons, Improvised Crampons
• D-tier (harvest only): Combat Boots
• F-tier (never pick up): Hardhat, Chemical Boots, Ballistic Vest

On 6/24/2024 at 4:17 PM, Glacia said:

- Get rid of Frostbite ASAP, use whatever you get.

I disagree, Frostbite doesn't affect gameplay much on Misery, and waiting for Frostbite Risk to heal wastes resources, but especially time (with how fast Risk increases and how on-the-clock you are in Misery mode). I wouldn't actively ignore Frostbite/Risk, equipping clothes in all slots protects Condition, but progression is paramount to everything but survival and Frostbite itself doesn't kill.

10% less maximum Condition does not meaningfully affect Misery gameplay (even if applied multiple times), and for optimal play you only need enough Condition which can be healed in a single night (and maybe above the 10% threshold so you don't wobble). The only time it 'could' affect gameplay is if you're trapped indoors (because of a Blizzard, etc) and can do nothing but sleep while also being at/near maximum Condition. On Misery if you're trying to maximize Condition over progress and regularly resting 'just' to heal/reduce Frostbite Risk, then you are probably progressing through areas too slow.

Edited June 28 by Veskaida

[Veskaida]

Misery mode Tips:

Spend Matches Liberally

Matches are about as common on Misery mode as Interloper. Might take some legwork/luck to find your first box, but after that I'd recommend making fires as often as feasible to keep warm, cook, or even light torches to explore houses/caves/mines. There are more Matches on Misery than you'll be able to spend, better to use them to preserve your Condition than to die with some unused.

Don't Forge Improvised Hatchets

Forging Improvised Hatchet doesn't seem very impactful on Misery. I'd still recommend forging Arrowheads and a Knife though (mainly for Bow/Arrow crafting, and Animal-Hide Clothes crafting).

• Shared functionality: (harvesting animals, saplings, tree limbs)
  • +metal sawing
  • +0.75-1.75kg less weight (only Hacksaw VS Hatchet or Saw+Hatchet)
  • +easier to repair (Tools + Scrap Metal, VS Whetstone or re-Forging)
  • -struggle use
  • -breaking down certain furniture doodads
  • easier forging: less metal/coal/fuel/time needed
• Struggles are Suicide: past Day 2+ (Diminished Form) they're basically run-enders and are even worse late-game, even with the best available tool (Improvised Hatchet)

 

Misery mode feedback:

Misery Mode Afflictions for Custom Sandbox

I really enjoy the design and gameplay of the Misery Mode afflictions and the procedural Misery Affliction system. I'd love it of these MIsery Afflictions as a setting for "Custom Survival Sandbox".

Hacksaw spawn at "Draft Dodger's Cabin"

Draft Dodger's Cabin front porch (~5 seconds from the (currently only) Misery spawn) is a possible Hacksaw spawn point (think 60-70% chance), this creates strong pressure for the player at gamestart to immediately check this point for the tool (regardless of route) and/or reset the run immediately if it didn't spawn because of how impactful it is and how close it is to player spawn.

Suggestions:

• Disabled (0% chance): remove this Hacksaw spawn point for Misery mode because the tool/an RNG check is too impactful/disruptive so close to spawn/gamestart.
• Guaranteed (100% chance): make this Hacksaw spawn standardized for all Misery runs
• Relocate/Add Player Misery Mode Spawn(s): currently there is only one player spawn point for Misery, if there was a different/more player spawns (ideally also away from critical tool locations) this pressure would be greatly diminished.

Broken Body

Spoiler

Honestly not a fan of Broken Body as-implemented with it totally disabling Condition recovery (minus bugs). I understand this is a deliberate design decision, but I feel it is inappropriate for a main "Sandbox Survival" gamemode: no recovery past a certain in-game date feels arbitrary and is too disruptive, it feels like a game designer is telling me "No, you're not allowed to play this run any longer", rather than an oppressive or interesting force I'm trying to survive against.

Currently as Misery and Broken Body are implemented I feel fits TLD's definition of "Challenge" (e.g. As The Dead Sleep) better than "Survival Sandbox", e.g. "Can you survive 100 days of Misery?", with Broken Body being the final gauntlet the player needs to endure before beating the challenge. IMO the goal of a "Sandbox survival game mode" should be long-term survival, or at least have potential for such.

Suggestions:

• Double Damage: remove the 'disabled Condition healing' from Body Body, but make it's "twice as vulnerable to physical damage." into global double damage to the player (e.g. affects "Bruising" from a Wolf Struggles, Blood Loss, Scurvy, Freezing, Starving, etc.)"
• Enable Item Healing: allow Condition healing from Birch Tea, Emergency Stim and TALES cooking recipes which have "+Condition" (e.g. Prepper's Pie).
• Enable Passive Healing: allow passive Condition healing
  • "Haunted Mind" already reduces sleep-able time and Condition recovery (allow more player-engaging gameplay "Double Damage" listed above)
  • Disable healing from Sleep, make Sleep on Misery only as a means to restore Fatigue but allow passive healing while the player is awake if all four Needs (Calories, Hydration, Warmth, Fatigue) are met.
• Broken Body Mitigation: give the player some means to mitigate Broken Body, even if only temporarily. E.G.
  • They eat a good meal: eat a TFTFT cooking recipe food item (e.g. Ranger's Pie) of X calories or more, mitigates Broken Body for a time.
    • "You ate a heart meal! Your broken body feels more whole for the moment."
  • Add Point-of-Interests or Quests where if the player travels to this location or performs a specific action, it mitigates Broken Body for a time.
    • "You exercised a lot today..."
    • "You feel inspired from your Discovery/Mapping/Forging/Battle against Timberwolves/staying outdoors in a blizzard for 24 hours, etc"

Enable Feats for Misery (e.g. just one)

I understand the goal of Misery is to be "Apocalyptic" and "Eventually you will die" and I agree it meets these goals/feel, aka as an 'Interloper+', but I feel that since it both:

• Disables all Feat use
• Is a "Survival Sandbox" mode

I feel that this breaks the established norms, identity and player expectations of a TLD "Survival Sandbox" modes too much, and fits the definition of TLD's "Challenge Mode" better: E.G. if Misery was the "Misery Challenge: Can you survive 100 days of Misery?"

Suggestions:

• Enable the option for one feat to be used during Misery mode sandbox creation
  • More player freedom/choice
  • More incentives for players to unlock Feats
  • Fits the established identity of other Sandbox Survival modes better
  • Clearer feedback to new/learning players about what Feats are/mean ("can be used in Survival Sandbox, cannot be used in Wintermute or Challenges").

 

Edited July 4 by Veskaida