Glacia

I have some time played on the new game mode, with mixed feelings but overall i think it's an amazing idea but with some unhealthy things.

I think some changes could improve the game mode drastically:

- Broken Body:

* All condition recovery disabled > Condition recovery from BBT, stims and other Condition restoration items reduced by 50%.

* Doubles all damage from all sources >  Doubles all damage but sprains.

- Rheumatic Joints:

* Sprains deals 2% condition damage and happens 50% faster >  Removed.

¿Why?

Most players agree that Misery could be much better if you actually can keep recovering condition, even if the % it's very low. The idea it's a challenge and i think trying to explore and experience all the game contents even if the death chance it's 95% it's MUCH better than reaching day 50 and die from a random sprain.

The changes are not massive, but may help the mode become more popular. If broken body changes the % recovered by items, this can make the late game very hard without needing to fully disable the condition recover.

Amazing to see this.

Thank you for making the right desition.

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.

Definitely making high tier clothing makes no sense with the -10 C temperature.

I don't see an scenario where you can survive for even an small period of time outdoors without depleting the temperature bar..

So.. ¿Misery meta lies around light and basic gear?

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

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.

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.

Amazing update!

Im curious about how Cougar react to other animals, for a example if a Cougar can attack you inside a bear or moose territory? Same for timberwolves i guess.

This can create some kind of 'Animal Shield' around certain spots on the map if it's true.

Glad to see the new update coming!

Im very surprised, my thoughs on the new things:

1: Cougar

Very interesting to see a new mob dynamic rather than being just another dangerous stuff wandering in circles, since we need to see how it works and feel i can't say much more about this one.

2: Mountain Pass

Seems good, a mix between ash canyon and other more industrial regions. 

3: The Third Tale

I expected to see the end at the final part of the DLC, but anyways im excited to see how the history concludes!

4: Misery Mode

Surprised to see very few people excited for this. This is a whole new fresh game-mode specially made for veterans and people wanting a challenge, something even challenging than Interloper.

Of course it's hard to tell how enjoyable this mode can be without knowing the afflictions and effects, but i feel it's like 'A really CD DA' style mode.

Very excited for this new mode and for surely it's gonna become my main game mode.

5: Cheat Death System

I have to disagree with the hype and possitive opinions on this.

I understand, this is something you can ignore and not use at all, but whats the point?

The core concept of the game lies about the one-live concept, the game even have a pacific and hiper-easy game mode setups to be more enjoyable for different types of players. This have worked perfectly for ages!

Permanent consequences for overconfidence?  We already have Frostbite, clothing breaking forever for taking damage, losing items/damaging them, or just dying, as usual.

I don't think this damages the game in any case anyways, it's just a weird and curious choice, and i share the opinion of @Laika Ivanova, a waste of resources/time considering this update have been in work for months.

¿Overall?  Very solid update, i have high expectations.

I know this question have been already a common topic since the game exist, but several things have changed with new resources, mechanics and extra difficulty layers like the newly introduced Scurvy affliction.

So if we take everything you need on the long term, beachcombing and a resonable fishing source it's a must; you eventually run out of cloth, leather, arrow resources and other essential stuff. Even if you fish on lakes to prevent scurvy, you can't survive forever without renewable cloth and arrows (Mostly, the second).

Actually i find coastal highway much more punishing and tricky than other 'hard' regions, because cabin fever, long travel distances and the lack of forge/milling machine are a great annoyance. It's anyways the go-to for most players, but i think living on desolation point or bleak inlet let you survive infinitely without ever needing to leave the region:

- Easy beachcomb to get all needed resources and also food.

- Easy hunting and less risky than other regions.

- Forge or milling machine for infinite tools.

- Small regions = It's easy to quick move and avoid any damage, even on bad weather.

- At least if you have the essentials tools and clothing, you can keep them forever.

If we even go further, bleak inlet offers the best fishing spot shared only with the timberwolf mountain hut, a cabin a few steps of your home. This is something desolation point can't offer, and also the six stove on the lighthouse enables the best efficient cooking in the entire game because it's windshielded and outdoors to get the bonus duration. So bleak inlet it's harder but much more rewarding once you get the idea than DP, making it 'arguably' the best region by far in the game for the long term, and desolation point the second best but with a much easier experience surviving here.

What safehouse you use for the very long term?  

Thanks for the effort and happy holidays everyone! 

Historically accesories have worked as a very rare loot and also only ear wool wraps/crampons/moose satchel existed, creating an interesting and balanced situation for what you can wear on that slots.

The DLC have introduced 3 news accesories with different effects but with an overall bad performance vs the BiS (Best in slot) accesories.

The belt and chief holster are pointless vs the moose hide satchel, ear wool wraps have becomed completely useless even on early game and ballistic best it's more niche as ever. The DLC have ruined the accesory slot progression 

So... if we see the items, ¿Why we can't just equip all at the same time?  

My idea it's something like an extra slot on the right side of the interface, new accesories slots related to the another body parts:

- Head: Ear wool wrap

- Inner Torso: Improvised Insulation

- Outer Torso:  Ballistic vest (If this even becomes possible, a nerf/change it's mandatory)

- Pants:  Foreman's belt

- Boots:  Crampons/ Improvised crampons

- Hands:  Nothing for now.

- And the current two accesories slots, now called 'Miscelaneus':  Moose hide satchel and rifle holster.

This is something you could do IRL, and i think this change can make the tales rewards more interesting and overall makes progression better.

Actually you don't get more warmth with a system like this since the highest value it's 4 (Two insulations), you just get better weight management and other minor features. Getting a bit of additional weight capacity isn't a crazy idea considering the DLC have introduced a lot of new items.

For what can i understand, rudiger it's trying to extract, research or use certain aspect of the mind for an unknown reason.

The workers discover the truth late, and the security chief fails to destroy the machine, so this is likely the reason why an epidemic disease have expanded around the island and killed every worker of the project.

This says nothing about what rudiger's knows about 'the world that is coming' and what exactly the machine does, but it's a start. I really like the lore of the tales because it is not so obvious and several theories or explanations can surge.

Update after update i have changed a bit my thoughs about the trader, because i see the direction of the game and perhaps the trader makes sense for a lot of things.

The most notably it's offering non-renewable resources like the new cooking ingredients, but it can offer a lot of interesting stuff, we are still missing a lot of content of the dlc. And i think they are adding an NPC, even if this breaks the inmersion a bit (At least for the 5 minutes you interact with it).

Games evolve and sometimes offer unortodox content to give variety and new gameplay experiences, thats fine after all.

Excellent !

3 hours ago, Admin said:

Fixed an issue where Bearskin Coats only required 1 hide to craft instead of the intended 2.

And while not being a bug exactly, this change it's very welcome, most players prefer the classic crafting of the bear hide rather than being easier 

11 hours ago, Glflegolas said:

I think by "The Long Dark is finished" what is meant is that: Episode 5 of Wintermute is released.

As long as the game remains popular, there's no reason for Hinterland to not release another DLC. This can occur as the studio is developing new games which I'm sure will be very enjoyable too!

Yes, but sadly i don't seem this very plausible, because HTL it's likely gonna be focused on the next IPs rather than expand an already big and polished (And by the time, finished) game.

In any case, we still have more than a year of content and new gameplay to enjoy! 

First attempt:  Failed

Avoiding cabin fever, a blizzard moves on and makes me waste my last flare.

Even surviving the night, i dead shortly after trying to return to the residences due to the cold and hunger.

The main concern of the challenge, no matter what region, it's the matches and fire ignition sources. Every flare it's gold and should be used on specific scenarios. Also, hibernation and saving food/antibiotics it's another highly advisable, albeit not necessary, strategy.

Now on day 20.

My trip to the far part of the region was sucessful, however i don't have a lot of options.

The last days i spent the time beachcombing thanks to many blizzards and this keep me alive (A lot of fish). Also i find more clothing, but at this point it's useless since cold isn't my concern.

This is the main problem of the run:  I only have a marine flare.  No more matches or other ignition sources, this means no way to eat safe food or boil water (This is less important thanks to my massive supply of bottles on the lighthouse).

Also, im getting cabin fever. This is very dangerous because i can't use the bear cave (Even with a bedroll), since the bear it's alive and wandering.

I can't use the cannery complex without drawing the full pack of timberwolves, so my only 'reliable' option it's travel to a relatively-safe cave in other point of the map. Even with this, if a blizzard moves on, im likely not gonna stay warm without campfire (And i can't make more).

Making an eternal campfire sounds interesting on paper, but makes the run incredible hard if not impossible since now firewood and fire resources are not a concern. My only hope to survive it's getting flares or matches with beachcombing and stay healthy before this happens.

The best scenario:

- Survive cabin fever without a lot of condition loss.

- Keep healthy for a few days without using my last flare.

- Get al least one more flare with beahcombing.

Repeat the process.

With a calm dusk, i started my travel to explore the last part of the map.

I leaved a campfire near a carcass to defrost it while i explore the rest of the region; soon i realized this was a dumb idea.

The high winds started and my campfire blows out, but i find several good items:

- 12 reishi.

- 36 rosehips.

- 18 cattails.

- 6 pieces of BBT.

With the night coming and likely a blizzard, im stuck on a cave waiting for the next day. I can solve my hunger for now, but i have one less fire source.

Hope the next blizzard wash something usefull on the residences.

The biggest problems of my challenge are the following:

- Soon, im gonna get out of matches/flares.

If i can't find more and saving what i have for very specific reasons, im gonna end unable to cook anything or boil water.

- I have no food and a few ideas about what i can get to eat:

* At least i have found two deer carcasses safe from predators but i need to waste one match (In the best scenario without wind) to get the Meat.

This is likely my only solution for short term.

* There is an small part of the map that i haved ignored, the one near the FM cave with several BBT spawns and maybe some resources, even a hunting den.

However, it's dangerous and very isolated.

My best scenario it's get enough food to stay a few days and wait for a lucky beachcombing cicles, with al least one fish spawning.

The problem it's the matches and i am completely vulnerable to food poison (No reishi or antibiotics)

I managed to survive 7 days and this is what happened on my run:

Day 1 (Spawn)

My spawn was the isolated island near the cannery, luckily safe from timberwolves and nearby a shelter. Midnight and without bad weather, i looted the trailers all the way to the residences avoiding the cannery.

Day 2 to Day 4

Beahcombing and looting everything i can get, i decided to explore and loot the map places for a single time. Since there is nothing else of interest and full plaged with timberwolves, i have no reasons to come back here and rushing the areas it's the best idea before the cold gets worse.

I managed to explore the isolated cabin, the cannery, the secret mountain path and other interest points without being attacked. I waste 2 flares to survive the cannery before returning to the residences.

Day 7 (Current day)

With relative safety, there is no longer more manufactured food on the map and very few ways to get more (No blizzards, no effective beachcomb).

My core resources are the following and with this, my problems of the next 43 days:

- 3 Matches and 2 flares.  Enough to make fires for some time, but the best scenario it's get more flares with beachcombing.

- Decent clothing at least to survive and avoid frostbite.

- Prybar, sadly useless at this point with everything looted. ¿Maybe as a last resource for melee struggles?

- No medical resources besides painkillers and bandages.

- Enough cloth, firewood, scrap metal and common resources for several days.

- I reallized that lines for fishing needs a workbench, so i can't fish. This really changes the challenge and im not sure of what can i do.

- 5 herbal teas and hunger bar at 10%, no more food and beachcomb items are unavaliable right now.

- More than enough water and four cans for relatively-efficient water boiling at the lighthouse.

13 hours ago, James Hickok said:

You will have no means of gathering wood from pallets and the few limbs that spawn near secret mountain pass.

Unlike what most people thinks, BI have several stick routes with a very good number of sticks scattered near the residences (Also safe from timberwolves).

13 hours ago, James Hickok said:

There was a distress pistol spawn in the fallen lighthouse before the update but i dont know if its the case anymore after they changed the loot

Sadly, you can't get the distress pistol on Interloper at the lighthouse. And without workbench, you are completely passive and vulnerable to predators. The only food source (Besides beachcombing) it's fishing and the very rare rabbits.

Otherwise a pistol shot can secure the bear kill, making the challenge trivial.

5 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

and your only source of coal is likely going to be in the cave to FM (which has a moss bed) or in the cannery itself (maybe?).

4 pieces of coal respawn outside the residences, but with high respawn rate (15 days). Anyways you are not gonna explore a lot and coal it's just another fire source, you really don't care about the temperature of the campfire/stove.

Also, FM cave it's disabled for the challenge since it's a transition cave.

This challenge it's gonna be a lot intricated than i though, for several reasons:

- First of all, since you can't go to the ravine, you can't unlock the cannery (No workbench, so no crafting). This also limits your access to certain quality loot inside the cannery and the upper level of the region.

- This also means no weapons, and even if you are lucky enough to find a hammer; the only use it's breaking stuff, timberwolves do not engage on struggles usually and if you end this way, you are likely dead anyways.

- Hunting it's impossible and Ptarmigans do not spawn on BI, you can just hunt the very few rabbits with a very high respawn rate (Also you can't craft traps).

- You can find some decent clothing on the region, but nothing of high interest. The first days are relatively easy but eventually the cold it's gonna get worse at the point of being locked on the residences.

- Timberwolves limits your stick-gathering routes.

This is my first ever attempt for one of the most popular community-made challenges: Region lock

The concept it's simple:

- Interloper settings, without changes and two feats as usual.

- Custom spawn on the region only for the challenge.

- You can't leave the Region for 50 days, survive with the few items and resources you can get on the region.

Some regions are harder due to lacking forges and other essential resources.

Indeed this challenge it's fun to play on harder regions than starter ones!

Let's see if i can survive on the arguably hardest region in the game without leaving it!

42 minutes ago, hozz1235 said:

I wonder if HL has scaled the loot down a bit...

Or my theory about a ciclical system of washed items it's true 

Since the BC update, most players experience some points of extremetly common stuff and then the item becomes rarer (if not completely unavaliable) for a while. This happens with the toolboxes and other items, at least on Interloper.

This doesn't happen with common loots (fish, sticks and so on) but happens with high tier items, and maybe it's region-related (Like passing some time on a region changes the cicle of washed items).