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[antitrop]

It was a little confusing at first, but I love the upgrade and reroll system.

Yup, I had no idea how it worked until after about 10 hours of playing or so, but I really like it now that I've figured it out.

It took me a bit longer than it should have to realize you get stat bonuses for socketing cores into their matching sockets. I went way too long with mismatched cores.

 

[danowat]

Just a random thought, I was using the rush skill as a defensive move to give me some space when mobbed, but it actually works well as an offensive move as well, dash in, melee, get out, works well against enemies, like flamethrower dudes, who's range is greater.
To that end, keeping an eye on your gear stat that buffs your melee damage is also worth considering.

 

[Baalzebup]

I see a lot of people asking about the various icons next to your XP bar. They are as follows:

The first one is always your XP multiplier, which goes up when you earn XP and is reset when you die. It starts at 1x and maxes out at 5x. This can be temporarily doubled with the blue Xeno-flower

The white flower/snowflake with purple background is "Core Hog", a bonus you earn when you get 5x XP multiplier. It makes all the cores that drop for you become lv 2 automatically, essentially tripling your core drop values where getting higher lv cores is concerned.

The wings and up-arrow on a lighter purple / pink background is Second Wind, the ability to not die when you first reach 0% HP. Instead, you immediately heal to 25%. Works only once per life, indicated by the icon disappearing.

The treasure chest icons AKA Reward Hog, appear as you destroy the respawn beacons for a maximum of 3 chest for any individual player. They improve the loot you get from the chest at end of the level when the copper arrives to pick you up. This bonus is reset when you die.

The Xeno-flower ones should be self explanatory, so I'm leaving those out.

 

[NullPointer]

Thanks Baalzebup!

 

[firelogic]

Not sure if it's been asked already (probably has) but do you keep your progress when you die? For example, if I run into a hard level and keep dying, do I still keep the XP and gear/weapons when I die? Just want to know if I can keep grinding to overcome a difficult level.

 

[Omegabalmung9]

Yup, I had no idea how it worked until after about 10 hours of playing or so, but I really like it now that I've figured it out.

It took me a bit longer than it should have to realize you get stat bonuses for socketing cores into their matching sockets. I went way too long with mismatched cores.

I'm level 26 and I just found out about rerolling >.<

 

[DeepEnigma]

It's the Xenoflowers. They are like Shrines in Diablo.

You get bonus XP, or bonus movespeed, or something else for a limited time.

Basically buffs or status effects. They should have timers saying how long they will last.

Nice analogy, I was trying to put my finger on it. I think one is a berserker like where your melee damage is enhanced much more.

I see a lot of people asking about the various icons next to your XP bar. They are as follows:

The first one is always your XP multiplier, which goes up when you earn XP and is reset when you die. It starts at 1x and maxes out at 5x. This can be temporarily doubled with the blue Xeno-flower

The while flower/snowflake with purple background is "Core Hog", a bonus you earn when you get 5x XP multiplier. It makes all the cores that drop for you become lv 2 automatically, essentially tripling your core drop values where getting higher lv cores is concerned.

The wings and up-arrow on a lighter purple / pink background is Second Wind, the ability to not die when you first reach 0% HP. Instead, you immediately heal to 25%. Works only once per life, indicated by the icon disappearing.

The treasure chest icons AKA Reward Hog, appear as you destroy the respawn beacons for a maximum of 3 chest for any individual player. They improve the loot you get from the chest at end of the level when the copper arrives to pick you up. This bonus is reset when you die.

The Xeno-flower ones should be self explanatory, so I'm leaving those out.

Sweet, thanks!

Not sure if it's been asked already (probably has) but do you keep your progress when you die? For example, if I run into a hard level and keep dying, do I still keep the XP and gear/weapons when I die? Just want to know if I can keep grinding to overcome a difficult level.

Yes as far as I can tell, and the drops still stay on the ground as well so you can go back and get them if you died during an encounter.

 

[ChanMan]

I got to give this game more time as I only have time to play this late evenings after work while tired so I haven't been able to focus on everything in the game. Hopefully this weekend I'll get a good amount of time to play it and dig in.

 

[firelogic]

Yes as far as I can tell, and the drops still stay on the ground as well so you can go back and get them if you died during an encounter.

Great, thanks! Buying it now.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Great, thanks! Buying it now.

There is also a Hardcore Mode with permadeath, just like Diablo, etc..

 

[Tecnniqe]

Its not the timed effects, as like you say, those have have timers on them.

Just saw an example image in the console screenshot thread that shows both icons I'm talking about, just to the left of the XP multiplier:

Well if you destroy the respawn points you get a box there which adds loot to the end mission lootbox. I think.

 

[NullPointer]

Well if you destroy the respawn points you get a box there which adds loot to the end mission lootbox. I think.

That's my favorite one.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Well if you destroy the respawn points you get a box there which adds loot to the end mission lootbox. I think.

You only have to destroy 3, and it resets if you die, so it's good to keep the others just in case.

 

[Tecnniqe]

You only have to destroy 3, and it resets if you die, so it's good to keep the others just in case.

Yeah i figured such. Destroyed 4 but only got 3 boxes so i only destroyed 3 from there on out.


Also is there a reason NOT to destroy these on Hardcore?
You dont respawn anyway?

 

[gutterboy44]

Icons in the lower right:

Snowflake in purple square = Core Hog. Core hog is a buff that you unlock when you hit a 5x XP multiplier. The multiplier carries over to missions but resets whenever you die. With the Core Hog buff active, your core drops are of improved quality. For early missions, that means, level 2 cores drop instead of 1

Wings with up arrow = Second Wind (passive ability). This ability is the second column of the survivor row in your passive ability. This gives you 25% health back the first time you are downed since spawn in / respawn. Once you die, the icon will disappear until you die and respawn.

Treasure chest in orange square = Reward Hog. Reward hog is a buff to your end of mission loot drop (helicopter chest) that you get for destroying a respawn point (you can only destroy them if they haven't been activated yet) This buff stacks three times. You always want to try to have a stack of three Reward Hog before calling in the helicopter. You will get way more loot from the end of mission chest. This buff resets when you die

5x square = your XP multiplier. This resets when you die and stacks up to 5x. Increase your multiplier by killing shit. 5x stacks carry over mission to mission if you don't die. If you get a Xenoflower XP boost, you can have as high as 10x XP multiplier

Red square fist = Melee Boost (red) Xenoflower. Temporary melee damage boost for your entire squad

Yellow Square running guy = Movement speed (yellow) Xenoflower. Temporary movement speed boost for squad

XP blue square = XP boost (blue) Xenoflower. Temporary double XP boost for entire squad

Edit: Beaten.

Also is there a reason NOT to destroy these on Hardcore?
You dont respawn anyway?

There is a trophy for activating every respawn beacon in a map one time in hardcore. It is called, "what's the point" trophy or something like that. So other than that, yeah, they are pointless in hardcore.

 

[MythicReclaimer]

The level cap is 30, right? Then you get hero points or whatever? Would it not make sense to keep your resources until you get level 30 weapons and then re-roll/upgrade them?

 

[Sniffynose]

The level cap is 30, right? Then you get hero points or whatever? Would it not make sense to keep your resources until you get level 30 weapons and then re-roll/upgrade them?

Yes buuut when you get a legendary flame thrower that also shoots grenades you might get the urge to boost it so you can keep it a few more levels lol

 

[antitrop]

It really sucks when your teammates have an easy opportunity to revive you, but dawdle around instead, and then a Horde comes and kills them. Happens way too often.

 

[MythicReclaimer]

Yes buuut when you get a legendary flame thrower that also shoots grenades you might get the urge to boost it so you can keep it a few more levels lol

Yeah, "fun" is rather tempting.

 

[Ardenyal]

I feel like the arc ship rewards are a little bit underwhelming for the effort you need to put in to it. 50 minutes through three rounds and all we got was greens and blues.

 

[danowat]

I feel like the arc ship rewards are a little bit underwhelming for the effort you need to put in to it. 50 minutes through three rounds and all we got was greens and blues.

Maybe it is like Destiny after all then lol, all we need now is engrams and a cryptarch!

 

[Haloid1177]

The level cap is 30, right? Then you get hero points or whatever? Would it not make sense to keep your resources until you get level 30 weapons and then re-roll/upgrade them?

I'm not running low on any reroll supplies, and I get all my weapon upgrades back when I salvage them. So unless you're truly concerned with running low then it shouldn't stop you from making your current load out as good as it can be.

 

[gutterboy44]

Active Abilities Tips:
-If you were like me and my friends, you assumed your abilities were constantly on a cool down timer. This is false. All abilities are only cooled down via ability orbs,the blue lightning bolt. To see how many orbs you need to cool down an ability, mouse over the first icon of each ability in the ability tree. This gives a description of the ability as well as shows exactly how many orbs it takes to cool down each skill.

-If an ability is active, and you pick up an orb, it will still count toward its cool down when the ability is done. If you have all abilities up, and you see some orbs on the ground, might as well pop a skill and get the cool down right away. Otherwise those orbs are wasted and your abilities just sit there. Which leads me to my last tip

-Use your abilities often. I can't confirm it yet, but it seems like the game will drop more cool down orbs, the more abilities you currently have in cool down. I like to initialize medium to big encounters with abilities. More often than not, I pop some abilities, kill a ton of shit, and by the end of the battle, there are enough cool down orbs to bring at least one ability back up, if not all of them.

Edit: typos

 

[Hyun Sai]

The level cap is 30, right? Then you get hero points or whatever? Would it not make sense to keep your resources until you get level 30 weapons and then re-roll/upgrade them?

I THINK you get all your ressources back when salvaging a weapon ?

 

[potatohead]

This game is such a straight up advertisement of GPGPU physics holy shit.

Also fucking teammates, they won't let me destroy the respawn beacons! Lol.

 

[gutterboy44]

This game is such a straight up advertisement of GPGPU physics holy shit.

Also fucking teammates, they won't let me destroy the respawn beacons! Lol.

This is the worst. There needs to be more quick chat buttons. One of them being, "Troll the respawn Jeremy!" and, "Every one have a full stack?"

 

[DeepEnigma]

Active Abilities Tips:
-If you were like me and my friends, you assumed your abilities were constantly on a cool down timer. This is false. All skills are only cooled down via ability orbs,the blue lightning bolt. To see how many orbs you need to cool down a skill, mouse over the first icon of each ability in the ability tree. This gives a description of the ability as well as shows exactly how many cores it takes to cool down each skill.

-If an ability is active, and you pick up an orb, it will still count toward its cool down when the ability is done. If you have all abilities up, and you see some orbs on the ground, might as well pop a skill and get the cool down right away. Otherwise those orbs are wasted and your abilities just sit there. Which leads me to my last tip

-Use your abilities often. I can't confirm it yet, but it seems like the game will drop more cool down orbs, the more abilities you currently have in cool down. I tend to like to initialize medium to big encounters with abilities as often as possible. More often than not, I pop some abilities, kill a ton of shit, and by the end of the battle, there are enough cool down orbs to bring at least one ability back up.

Thank you! I at first thought they were wicked slow timers that orbs just refreshed. Glad to know exact mechanics.

This is the worst. There needs to be more quick chat buttons. One of them being, "Troll the respawn Jeremy!" and, "Every one have a full stack?"

Hahaha. Glad my first experience online was with a friend who knew what he was doing.

 

[bombshell]

The level cap is 30, right? Then you get hero points or whatever? Would it not make sense to keep your resources until you get level 30 weapons and then re-roll/upgrade them?

Saving re-roll materials, sure.

But saving upgrade cores has no benefit, because you get them back when you salvage a weapon.

 

[gutterboy44]

Saving re-roll materials, sure.

But saving upgrade cores has no benefit, because you get them back when you salvage a weapon.

Yep, there is zero reason to ever leave sockets empty on weapons if you have the cores. Once all your weapons are blue and above, you will always have weapons with cores in them and can keep cylcing in better and better cores. Although you can't un-socket cores, you can just swap out a core with a crappy level 1 core.

 

[antitrop]

The action can get so hectic the framerate goes down to single digits when the screen is 100% filled with particles and voxels, but holy fuck is it worth it to see all that.

I can't wait to see some tech analysis, because shit gets CRAZY. I want to hit the Share button after like every screen-filling explosion chain.

 

[5taquitos]

The action can get so hectic the framerate goes down to single digits when the screen is 100% filled with particles and voxels, but holy fuck is it worth it to see all that.

Yeah, the game is really a visual treat when you have a rare second to take it all in.

So I really think they nailed it with this game. It's taken all the best bits from Dead Nation, fixed all the worst bits, and surrounded it all with dat loot.

I can also see why local co-op wasn't the focus since splitting up a bit is pretty prevalent. Still hope they figure something out for local soon though.

 

[BashNasty]

Pretty interested in this, and from watching the pre-release footage it seems like the explosions and particles in the game are absolutely amazing.

So tell me, are the explosions and particles in this game absolutely amazing?

 

[DirtyLarry]

Ya, I played Dead Nation mostly by myself and had a really boring time.

I don't find that the case with Alienation, I've played it about 50% solo and 50% coop, and it's been fun either way. This game is fucking fun.

Perfect thanks.
Yeah full disclosure, I stopped playing Dead Nation pretty damn early on because I was bored.
Definitely going to pick this one up.

 

[gutterboy44]

Pretty interested in this, and from watching the pre-release footage it seems like the explosions and particles in the game are absolutely amazing.

So tell me, are the explosions and particles in this game absolutely amazing?

Yes, they are really top notch. Couple that with environmental destruction, and the explosions become a real treat. Moreover, the sound design is really good as well as the shooting feel. Landing rocket launcher shots is so satisfying. They have this very cool "arming phase" where they accelerate and become more damaging after getting a meter or two away from you.

 

[antitrop]

Pretty interested in this, and from watching the pre-release footage it seems like the explosions and particles in the game are absolutely amazing.

So tell me, are the explosions and particles in this game absolutely amazing?

I certainly think so

This game is explosion porn

And I've seen way cooler stuff than that since I've played more.

 

[5taquitos]

I certainly think so



And I've seen way cooler stuff than that since I've played more.

My new favorite smoke effects in gaming.

 

[MyNameIsRye]

Are hordes random?

 

[antitrop]

This game gets so much better the more you play it.

It was awesome at the start and it just keeps getting better. Pure chaos in the best way possible.

 

[GET2DAACHOPPAAAA]

How do you do Arck missions?

 

[S1kkZ]

hm...a bit surprised that i "beat" the story in less than 2 hours (alone on normal). i know there is a lot more to it (i hope), but i really expected there to be more (levels, variety, bosses). i will continue playing, loved the game so far.

edit: ok, seems i misunderstood something. the game made it sound like i am already "done".

 

[Se_7_eN]

This game is so damn good.... It is irritating to me that it isn't getting more coverage or as much praise as Helldivers did, especially on the PS4 subreddit.

 

[DeepEnigma]

This game gets so much better the more you play it.

It was awesome at the start and it just keeps getting better. Pure chaos in the best way possible.

Good to know, because I am enjoying what I played so far last night.

 

[Xevren]

How do you do Arck missions?

Beat the game on World Level 2 to get them to show up.

 

[BashNasty]

My new favorite smoke effects in gaming.

Yea, that just looks fantastic, I'm gonna go pick this thing up right now.

 

[GET2DAACHOPPAAAA]

Beat the game on World Level 2 to get them to show up.

Oh ok thanks, I just started World level 2.

 

[Omegabalmung9]

Finally got a Legendary primary weapon to drop.

 

[potatohead]

I had to take a break for a bit after only like 45 min... so intense on World 2 lol.

Is it worth joining people higher level than you? Do you get XP faster that way?

It seems joining a person two or three levels above you is not so bad gameplay wise.

 

[antitrop]

Is it worth joining people higher level than you?

You'll contribute very little and then the host will just kick you, that's usually how it goes.

 

[Haloid1177]

You'll contribute very little and then the host will just kick you, that's usually how it goes.

Or you'll find an awesome host who let's you stay in a support role and just grab awesome loot.

 

[potatohead]

You'll contribute very little and then the host will just kick you, that's usually how it goes.

Not really, like I said before I've joined levels 2 and 3 higher than me like I said and I did quite a bit.

If you have one legendary you can still easily contribute. I'm just wondering if the XP gain is higher or not.