PTS Update 40 - Feedback Thread for Infinite Archive

RicAlmighty · October 2023

The more I play this and the more I think about it, the more I believe that having a Leaderboard component to this activity is what's holding it back. I would argue that having the leaderboard has more drawbacks than benefits.

Firstly, the leaderboard can only record Arc/Cycle/Stage, so there will be numerous "ties" at the top, since this is not timed (nor should it be) the only way to "top" someone else will be do go through at least another Cycle. This does not seem compelling enough to entice board chasers if they realize that the best they can do is a "tie"

Secondly, without a leaderboard, there is no need to preserve the "integrity" of the run per se. Take away the leaderboard and we can now have in-run saves, be able to start at any Arc, have more than three threads, etc. You now have what can be much more accurately described as an "endless" archive. At some point the difficulty will get so high that players will simply not be able to proceed, but they can keep trying to get past without having to play for 10 hours straight first. You can use an Armory assistant to gear up properly for the different bosses. You can do all of this because how far you progress only affects you and no other players. Without any kind of leaderboard, a lot of the current restrictions can be lifted without affecting anyone else's run.

It's just my opinion, but I think this activity would be better, and probably played more often if the concept of the leaderboard was removed. Just have it be an endless arena with ramped difficulty. Let players save their last completed Arc and start from there when they return. Remove or increase the number of Threads that you have, so you can progress further and/or have more chances to tackle a really difficult Cycle boss or Tho'at. You can introduce penalties like all of your visions go away if you save and return, or something along those lines

And oh yea, make the reward structure better. Right now it is comically stingy. A player should not need to run the equivalent of 5 Arcs just to buy something decent at the vendor.

Just my thoughts.

Nebs · October 2023

I'm really disappointed there isn't a Daily Group Finder reward for Endless Archive that rewards a bundle similar to the Battlegrounds Daily or Random Dungeon Daily purple chests that have bundles of transmute crystals. I'm also disappointed that there isn't a daily, or even weekly quest inside the Endless Archive that would award transmute crystals like the Undaunted Pledges and Trials.

You're creating 7 new sets in all three weight categories, and there isn't a single way to get transmute crystals anywhere in the entire activity. Ways of acquiring daily or even weekly transmute crystals inside the Endless Archive would go a long way to incentivize players to try the activity even if their favored class doesn't have a set they like and they don't like nasty looking furnishings (As an aside, the furnishings are lovely and done beautifully nasty, but they have narrow use).

Without the promise of transmute crystals, this place has no draw if you're not farming for the sets or furnishings because all of the resources and other things you can purchase are abysmally overpriced and never worth running the archive for. Even the things like the cycling leads and monster shoulders are so expensive that they're not worth running for because if I'm ever after a specific one I'd have an easier and much faster time grinding for it. I have little doubt I could get 10 Undaunted keys to get 2 shoulder chests for a high likelihood of getting the cycling shoulder than I could getting enough archive currency to buy the shoulder that shows up there.

I'd also like more lootable urns, trunks, and the like throughout the archive. People love looting, and it would be really cool to have a vast drop table of furnishings and maps inside the archive from these.

The large empty dull-looking floating platforms could use some life in them, and maybe even lootables that somehow reflect the enemies you're up against for any desperate splash of color that dreary place needs. I can see how the art team did their best with the tight constraints of the ugly and dreary locale of Apocrypha, but the floating isolated platforms all quickly look exactly the same and none of it is pleasant to look at.

The Elder Scrolls universe has an actual canvas painting world compliments of TES: IV Oblivion where we fight actual Paint Trolls but this place looks exactly the same as the rest of Apocrypha when you had the opportunity to go absolutely nuts and weird with the influence of these stories affecting the archive.

Nebs · October 2023

Also wanted to add though that I found a lot of the dialogue from the Fliers and Master Malkhest really charming.

I also liked that the boss fights weren't perfect recreations of their fights in the dungeons and quests, but very familiar. Baron Zaudrus's fight was a great reaction (although I was really missing Lyranth's help during it!

) and the fight with Vila Theran was enjoyable with the sphere of protection moving around the stage.

It felt good for my previous knowledge of these encounters helping a ton with how to handle them here.

Bobargus · October 2023

I vote for the Endless Archive to have two different difficulty options; one for casual players who prefer overland and normal dungeons, and one for veterans who can handle vet dungeons and trials.

MudcrabAttack · October 2023

General feedback:

The leaderboard seems like a strange thing to add when so much of the encounter is based on RNG

It’s so late in the PTS cycle to be asking this, but when players enter the archive please give them a placeholder stamp that updates with number of threads and progression, and stays in their pocket when they leave. The player would rejoin with someone else later and it takes them to the lowest stage, least number of threads between the two, and perhaps nullifies leaderboard progression when they return and pick up where they left off. Or maybe the leaderboard progression expires at the end of the week but the stamp continues to live on in their pocket

There’s no way I’m ever going to find time to progress past just a few stages. I love a good challenge, but working through the first few stages over and over each time I log in means I’ll never get to the challenge

RaptorRodeoGod · October 2023

MudcrabAttack wrote: »

General feedback:

The leaderboard seems like a strange thing to add when so much of the encounter is based on RNG

It’s so late in the PTS cycle to be asking this, but when players enter the archive please give them a placeholder stamp that updates with number of threads and progression, and stays in their pocket when they leave. The player would rejoin with someone else later and it takes them to the lowest stage, least number of threads between the two, and perhaps nullifies leaderboard progression when they return and pick up where they left off. Or maybe the leaderboard progression expires at the end of the week but the stamp continues to live on in their pocket

There’s no way I’m ever going to find time to progress past just a few stages. I love a good challenge, but working through the first few stages over and over each time I log in means I’ll never get to the challenge

I second this

code65536 · October 2023

People have talked about this before, but I want to once again highlight the grindiness of collecting the class sets.

So, let's look at Maelstrom Arena.

There are 9 arenas in Maelstrom. Each arena is broken down into 4 rounds: three trash rounds and then the boss round. And each round consists of multiple waves. If this sounds familiar, that's because it's the same structure as an Endless Archive cycle, before the cycles were shortened.

But even with the shortened cycles, it's still a fair comparison.

In Maelstrom, the completion of an arena rewards you with one piece of curated gear from the six 5-piece Maelstrom sets. And in the Endless Archive, the completion of a cycle rewards you with... enough currency to buy just one-tenth of an uncurated gear piece (aside: the currency gain relative to the cost of the gear coffers makes the currency route nearly irrelevant when it comes to collecting the class sets). In the Archive, you don't get a gear piece until after 5 cycles, which would be as if Maelstrom Arena had only two loot opportunities instead of nine.

Alright, alright, you guys heard about how we thought that the cycles are unrewarding, so you magnanimously gave us... overland gear?! Nevermind that overland gear is easily acquired from their natural sources (and BoE), the main draw for the Archive is supposed to be the class sets. After all, Maelstrom gives us Maelstrom gear, not some random overland stuff.

Oh, and there are six 5-piece sets in Maelstrom, with 22 items per set. There are seven class sets, with 36 items per set. So there's much more gear to collect, and the rate at which we can acquire them is considerably lower than what we had in Maelstrom.

I doubt that this is some unintended oversight. Omitting gear from the cycles originally was probably deliberate, and throwing in a pittance of overland sets to quell the criticism was probably deliberate too. I can only assume that this is some cynical ploy to boost engagement numbers, which I find distasteful.

Let the content stand on its own merits (of which it has many). People should run it because it's interesting (and it is), not because they feel like they're forced to because of artificial grindiness.

Necrotech_Master · October 2023

code65536 wrote: »

People have talked about this before, but I want to once again highlight the grindiness of collecting the class sets.

So, let's look at Maelstrom Arena.

There are 9 arenas in Maelstrom. Each arena is broken down into 4 rounds: three trash rounds and then the boss round. And each round consists of multiple waves. If this sounds familiar, that's because it's the same structure as an Endless Archive cycle, before the cycles were shortened.

But even with the shortened cycles, it's still a fair comparison.

In Maelstrom, the completion of an arena rewards you with one piece of curated gear from the six 5-piece Maelstrom sets. And in the Endless Archive, the completion of a cycle rewards you with... enough currency to buy just one-tenth of an uncurated gear piece (aside: the currency gain relative to the cost of the gear coffers makes the currency route nearly irrelevant when it comes to collecting the class sets). In the Archive, you don't get a gear piece until after 5 cycles, which would be as if Maelstrom Arena had only two loot opportunities instead of nine.

Alright, alright, you guys heard about how we thought that the cycles are unrewarding, so you magnanimously gave us... overland gear?! Nevermind that overland gear is easily acquired from their natural sources (and BoE), the main draw for the Archive is supposed to be the class sets. After all, Maelstrom gives us Maelstrom gear, not some random overland stuff.

Oh, and there are six 5-piece sets in Maelstrom, with 22 items per set. There are seven class sets, with 36 items per set. So there's much more gear to collect, and the rate at which we can acquire them is considerably lower than what we had in Maelstrom.

I doubt that this is some unintended oversight. Omitting gear from the cycles originally was probably deliberate, and throwing in a pittance of overland sets to quell the criticism was probably deliberate too. I can only assume that this is some cynical ploy to boost engagement numbers, which I find distasteful.

Let the content stand on its own merits (of which it has many). People should run it because it's interesting (and it is), not because they feel like they're forced to because of artificial grindiness.

it sounds almost as bad as trying to get weapons for those 6 5-piece sets, since you only get 1 of those per run of maelstrom as it only drops on the final run

this means that it takes like a minimum of like 72 runs in maelstrom to get all of the gear for those

im just now finally getting close to finishing that lol, i have ~10 more drops left from there lol

Bobargus · October 2023

Lol, i guess my "one for casuals and one for veterans" suggestion about the Endless Archive is ignored by the devs.

What a shame, having to need a decent build and gear just to play in this endless dungeon seems like a hassle to me.

For now, in my opinion, this game mode is not worth the time that much, if at all.

Light100 · December 2023

While the concept is good, I find implementation is a bit underwhelming. With a friend I played up to 5 cycle, and we just got tired of this and simply quit, since it takes too long to complete it. When playing solo I was able to get to 4 cycle but do not complete it since I had too squishy damage dealer build, and at that stage it's simply too vulnerable. With npc companion and with a bit more armor and health I was able too get to 5 cycle, but I didn't even tried it, since I had too low damage and completing 4 cycles took too long, about 2-3 hours, and at 5 cycle even trash mobs have too much health, also during that run I had a really bad luck regarding to visions, and I wasn't able to get vision to boost status effects, which is the best damage boost for my build.
So to make it more enjoyable I would like shortened stages with simple mobs from 2 to 1, and better visions that boost damage, since at later stages if you don't have luck to get a few visions that really boost damage, then it would be simply too tiring to play it. Most damage visions give too small damage boost compared to that status effect boost, so if you wasn't able to acquire at least a few stacks of that vision, then your damage would too low to comfortably play cycles above 4.
Or the most easy solution would be to simply allow us to start from stage 4 or 5, where we start to get more loot and really have a challenge with more difficult gameplay, and not to force us to play first cycles which after a while becomes too boring and repetitive.

Prophet_of_Malacath · December 2023

What level were you when you went through Infinite Archive? - 1979
Did you play solo, with a companion or with another player? - Always with a Companion, but recently with Other Players
What Stage, Cycle, and Arc did you reach? - With a Companion, I struggle with the 2nd Tho'at (with Atronach), so I've quit going beyond the 1st. With a Player, I can usually kill the 2nd Tho'at & try for the 3rd Arc (but die on the 3rd Tho'at).
Which bosses were the toughest? Marauder Gothmau is significantly stronger than the other two.
Which Verses did you find the most and least effective? Fire Orb & Flame Aura are favorites & life-savers. Defensive Verses are least engaging.
Which Visions did you find the most and least effective? Most? Defensive. Least? Utility. I wish I got more Avatar ones tho, so I could try the Ice Avatar / Iron Atronach / Bestial Transformations.
Did you use any Portals to the Unknown? Always!
Which side content did you do? All of them!
Did you feel adequately rewarded? I really enjoy the way it seems to prioritize sets I've not completed. Instead of re-farming basegame (which I did years ago, before gear Collections), the Archive lets me fill out old libraries.
Did you use any Verse Scrolls? I think?
If so, how effective were they? Can't remember. Verses are so temporary, only the nicest ones are memorable. I usually just shrug.
Would you use them again? If they're in my inventory, maybe. They temporary & random chance, plus inventory clutter, which combined isn't my thing. I love the Visions tho.
Did you have fun? Sure!
Do you have any other general feedback? Orcs deserve, need, ache for some structural furnishings - tents and stuff is ok, but how about those of us who want to help rebuild Orsinium? Surely Herma Mora must have some ancient building plans in his archive.

Ehntu · December 2023

Hello devs. Thanks for asking for feedback. I hope this echos what some other players are thinking.

But before anyhting else - the Archive has been such a fabulous edition to the game and I've never felt so across/understanding a dungeon within the game. I also appreciate the demos of the bosses that I haven't fought in Trials yet. I really, really like this content, and hope more will be added to it, or some seasonal extras will be included every now and then.

What level were you when you went through Infinite Archive?
All my characters were CP 160+

Did you play solo, with a companion or with another player?
I've played all modes. My preference is:

Solo - Solo is punishing but I like it most because I like to got at my own pace and occasionally I can go off and grab a coffee since the sessions are extremely long and I don't feel like I'm holding someone up.
Another Player - Because it's substantially easier and you get a lot more rewards and it doesn't feel as punishing.
Companion - Companions are awful and lack intelligent behaviour and controls. At and after the first Tho'At, any companion just dies too quickly to AoE. They're truly useless, and the worst thing is you are hampered in the 'Duo' section because they largely do nothing.

What Stage, Cycle, and Arc did you reach?
Not sure what my highest score is with another player, it was in Arc 5. My current score this week is Arc 4, Cycle 4, Stage 2.

Which bosses were the toughest?

Lady Thorn - Exasperating, boring long phases. I encounter this boss more than any other for some reason and so annoying to be animation locked when the adds spawn behind the moving light refuge.
Dragons - Annoying but also obscure too much of the platform - if Gw pops up you can't interrupt him due to their massive hitboxes.

Which Cycle and Arc did you fight the boss on?
All arcs. They're tough because they're exasperating, not because they're difficult.

Which Verses did you find the most and least effective?
Most Effective:

Augmented Areas, Class Embodiment, Exsanguinate, Fire Orb, Fire Aura, Guardian of Pestilence, Magical Multitudes, Swift Gale, Tomefoolery, Transfusion, Eye Catching.

LeastEffective:
Essentially, if you're heading from Stage 2 to Stage 3 with a boss, any of the abilities that require you to 'slay an enemy' for them to work are awful to get. 9 of the visions (majority of the Utility verses) require an enemy of die for something to proc, and while some bosses have adds, a lot of them don'. Eg: so if you get bad RNG and are offered Pustulent Globs, Restorative Elixirs and Energetic Expiration and you fight something like Rakkhat bye girl you just got taken for a ride. With that in mind, other hugely niche or borderline useless verses include:

Glamorous Scholar - A worse version of Eye Catching
Archival Assault - Only 2 of these skills cause damage and they are hard to unlock so a lot of players don't have them.
Archival Worldliness and Guild Superiority - Personally I find this annoying but I can see the use for vampires.
Defensive Maneuver, Enhanced Remedy, Fortified Dexterity, Restorative Enabling - They all require dodging and then actively blocking or vis versa and usually you're trying to get away from enemies when you do those actions. Probably more useful in a group, but I speak from a solo persepective.

Which Visions did you find the most and least effective?
Most Effective:

Ferocious Support, Scorching Support -> Scorching Strikes, Focused Efforts.
Most of the offensive buffs have their use depending on the build you're using.

Least Effective:

Well-Trained Command - Pets and companions are absolute idiots that can't stop themselves from basking in AoE. Delete it. Good idea in theory but mechanically impossible.
Lessons Learned, Full Coffers - Literally who is going into this to make money or get XP. I get so mad when this is offered. Delete.
Unrestrained Endurance, Energeizing Salve, Effortless Acrobatics, Bolstering Mending, Effortless Aegis - I get the idea but these need to be substanitally buffed. They are too weak.

Did you use any Portals to the Unknown?
Yes, all of them each, time they pop up. I pop my head in and see what the stage is.

Which side content did you do?
All of it, however now I don't care for the Seeker transformation and I find the Treacherous Path takes far too long. If I'm lazy I also avoid the Theatre of War however it's doable.

Did you feel adequately rewarded?
When I get a nice drop, yes (antiquitiy lead, collection fragment). When I just get a junk treasure and a verse scroll, no.

Did you use any Verse Scrolls?
Yes.

If so, how effective were they?
They are effective when:

You have been dropped in a Stage 1 after a boss, and you encounter a Marauder so you need to give yourself a quick burst of literally anything.
You are at a boss and have been cheated by the RNG and you need literally anything useful.

Would you use them again?
Sometimes you're forced to so yes, they have their place. I mainly use the Offensive and hope for something good.

Did you have fun?
Mostly, although some feeling of resentment over the RNG is starting to creep in. I've probably run it about 70 times and when it gets good, it gets great. Othertimes feels frustrating and slow.

Do you have any other general feedback?

The whole experience is too long. I don't want to commit 3ish hours to a long run to Arc 5 as a solo player.
I feel it would be a better run as 3 Cycles.
It feels unfair that the Solo/Companion/Duo journey is the same. Enemies should be knocked down a third in health/damage if you're solo.
Marauder Grothmau is WAY harder than ever other Marauder, and hits too much damage in the second arc. His damage need to be adjusted down. 22k per hit for light weapon attacks is too much.
I would be interesed in a 'challenge mode' or a 'stripped mode' where you can opt to not fight the Marauders, or opt out of the Leaderboard in exchange for a checkpoint system.
I hate to say it but Focused Efforts should probably be nerfed by half.
I really appreciate the Monster Helms in the Vendor!
The armor sets are not useful for any class it seems. Sorry! I assume we'll get another line for each in a further update though.
It would be nice if this was offered in the Group Finder for a daily since it could give transmutes too!
With the minigames, once completed it would be really nice if they had a randomised level of difficulty because some of them feel high stress all the time (the Watcher maze yikes).
When using a Verses scroll, it would be great if the effect could stay the entire Cycle, rather than the one stage you're in.
I would be interseted in an offer of like, spend 1000 Archive Fortune at the start of the run to pick ONE vision so you feel like RNG isn't being wretched constantly.

I'm typing this now on Arc 3, Cycle 3, Stage 3 and although I'm still on 4 lives, I think I'm going to call it soon since it's soooooooooooo long. Thank you though! Back to it....

SlippyCheeze · December 2023

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for Infinite Archive. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

This is quite late for PTS feedback on the new content, but since the thread is open I hope it still has some relevance. If nothing else, it provides some useful structure to talking about my experience with it as a newly-returned player.

What level were you when you went through Infinite Archive?

50, CP 300-550, with one crafted and one pvp set (deadly) on my arcanist. Around 70k parse on the trial dummy with full buffs and all that jazz, I expect, though not when I miss switching my bar and spend time casting on the wrong set of abilities.

Did you play solo, with a companion or with another player?

With companion, and once with another player.

Companion was Sharp, level 20, in blue gear, and a tank spec.

Other player was someone who is part of the veteran trials progression team, and parses in the 100k+ range on at least some of their characters; I think they were on an alt, so don't know how close they were to that when we ran together.

What Stage, Cycle, and Arc did you reach?

One Tho'at Replicanum kill, and barely anything further. Largely because I'm running in a PvE DPS-mostly setup with no actual attention to the requirements of the Infinite Archive, and so, not much capability of surviving as things get mildly hard.

Which bosses were the toughest?

Anything with knockback attacks: any other boss is tough in pretty direct proportion to how well I know their mechanics, but bosses with knockback are constantly deadly.

Specifically, falling off the platform and so to my death: when I do it myself by messing up positioning and rolling off the edge, that sucks, but at leaast I can "get good" in theory.

When the boss has some sort of knockback, and I'm standing in melee range, and I thought pretty close to the center of the platform, then wind up off the edge because they hit me (and they will, because I don't really have anyone to attract their attention), they feels pretty unfair.

Which Cycle and Arc did you fight the boss on?

They usually seem to come up in the last two before the Replicanum stage.

Which Verses did you find the most and least effective?

Least effective: on-kill effects, like stamina/magicka/health recovery or increase, followed by "most of them", since they are mostly "invisible": either they work and so I don't notice them (DPS increase, damage reduction), or they don't work and I die.

Which Visions did you find the most and least effective?

Least effective: collect three of <...> and get a transformation; even if I had any chance of collecting three of them, the transformation seems like it'd be a strictly negative effect, reducing my ability to perform. IF I could practice with them for a while, maybe they wouldn't seem like such a bad idea, but the combination of randomly available, needing three from the same line when I doubt I'll see more than one in a run for some time, and unfamiliar .... yeah, no thank you.

Most effective: anything that boosts AoE damage, because my two major damage dealing abilities (which also provide damage reduction, shielding, and healing) are flagged as AoE and channel, being an arcanist.

Most effective strategy: always, always, pick the defensive choice, and ignore offensive options.

I'm pretty sure that is only good strategy because I have a build designed for a different activity, and I should actually run a "very tanky" build, and then use verses and visions to get myself the damage I need to clear things out. So, if I approach it for anything other than maybe a bit of daily quest, or seals of endeavour, probably everything I've learned so far is wrong.

Did you use any Portals to the Unknown?

Yup. Pretty much always, when they pop up.

Which side content did you do?

Find me five pages of something quest, in that I accepted it, and have found exactly zero pages so far.

Carry/herd one ghost light mote to the center, which was awful the three times I did it, even if I finally got it on the third try. First time I literally had no idea what was going on.

Fight a duel with the arcanist; won every time, though it has been close. To my surprise, apparently my partner in the run-with-human hadn't been able to win that before, which was a surprise to me.

Did you feel adequately rewarded?

I kind of feel like if they replaced one of the normal fighting stages, instead of giving an extra buff thing, it'd actually be better. but yeah, seemed fine.

Did you use any Verse Scrolls?
If so, how effective were they?
Would you use them again?

Nope, put them in my bank and have never gotten around to using them, and really, just no. They seem kind of pointless: I can't know if they will be valuable, because I have no idea how challenging the next zone is going to be, and especially, if I am likely to need more defense or offense.

So "save them until you need them" kicks in, and using them feels wasteful... except that I'll never know I'm going to need them until it is too late.

Did you have fun?

Generally, yes, though it was clear I need to actually put in effort to figuring out strategy and build to be able to succeed at anything but the very basic difficulty level. Which is honestly pretty good, as these things go: it is nice to feel like there is space for growth and challenge, with a smoother atnd more gradual difficulty ramp than dungeons and trials have.

Do you have any other general feedback?

Generally, like it. The only thing that feels really unfair is "boss knockback, off the edge of the platform, reset fight", because there just isn't that much I can do other than memorize every single boss that has knockback, and then make sure I'm always facing them so that 75 percent of the platform is behind me ... and hope they don't have long lasting ground damage spots, or I'll have to choose to either stand in the fire, or not die to knockback.

Especially when knockback is, far as I can tell, unavoidable; certainly, seems like block, dodge, or damage shields, all fail to protect me from flying backward in some cases, making it basically "unbeatable" for me at this point.

Marto · December 2023

What level were you when you went through Infinite Archive?
I've tried it at max level, and with a level 10-15 character. Difficulty felt a bit overturned for level 10, but nothing out of the ordinary. I think content like this requiring closer to level 20-30 before being viable is perfectly adequate.

Did you play solo, with a companion or with another player?
Companion, and with another player. I'm not big into score pushing, so I saw no point on running it solo.

What Stage, Cycle, and Arc did you reach?
I played a bit of Arc 5 once. But most of my runs I end after 2. The jump in difficulty in arc 3 is not unbearable, but it makes it a lot more exhausting.

Which bosses were the toughest?
Lady Thorn, Dragons, and the Maw of Lorkhaj boss. I appreciate adding bosses with complex mechanics to IA, but I think we (both players and devs) can all agree dungeons/arenas/trials before Scalecaller didn't do a great a job at guiding the player.

Which Verses did you find the most and least effective?
Any verses that dealt damage felt REALLY powerful. It was fun though, becoming overpowered for a bit made for a fun change of pace from the standard dungeon/arena/trial experience.

Which Visions did you find the most and least effective?
The damage based visions never felt impactful enough to be noticeable. 2% extra AoE damage is not something I can see with my own eyes.

Did you use any Portals to the Unknown?
Always! Extra loot and a fun silly activity are great to break up the monotony.

Did you feel adequately rewarded?
I felt the rewards were a bit slow. But on the other hand, adding rewards after each Stage would be overkill. I think I would enjoy the reward pace more if it was 3 or 3 Cycles per Arc, instead of 5.

Did you use any Verse Scrolls?
Yes! But I didn't really buy them. I only used the free ones, so I don't spend my savings. Would be nice to get them as rare loot.

If so, how effective were they?
Maybe not enough to be worth it.

Would you use them again?
Yes.

Did you have fun?
Yeah!

Do you have any other general feedback?
I'd be nice for IA to take less time, in general.
The permanent upgrades look nice, but it'd be better if they were staggered. At the rate I'm going, I'll end up jumping nearly immediately from no upgrades to all upgrades.

warich · December 2023

What level were you when you went through Infinite Archive?
CP 2300ish

Did you play solo, with a companion or with another player?
Solo since runs take too long to run with a friend

What Stage, Cycle, and Arc did you reach?
7 3 1

Which bosses were the toughest?
Marauder Gothmau, by far. He hits way too hard and too fast, and nothing you do can save you. He ended my run, and many runs before and since.
Which Cycle and Arc did you fight the boss on?
Multiple times throughout the run.

Which Verses did you find the most and least effective?
Most effective is the icy gale, exsanguinate, flame aura, fire orb, and transfusion and the curse
Least effective is the utilities that leave an aura to increase a max resource

Which Visions did you find the most and least effective?
Most effective vision is focused efforts, its the only way you can keep up with the upscaling health as the arcs increase. I have a good appreciation for the blood support vision (the one that gives you a DoT when you use a heavy attack).
The least effective visions are the increasing crit chance, crit damage, and duration of the various types of attacks, since your skills after a certain point stop dealing enough damage to enemies.

Did you use any Portals to the Unknown?
I've done all of them, but I usually only use them right before an arc boss since they are tedious and take too much time.

Did you use any Verse Scrolls?
Yes, I use them every first stage after arc 2, and on the arc boss if I don't have a chance to get the marauder in cycle 5
If so, how effective were they?
They're hit or miss, depending on if RNG favors you.
Would you use them again?
Yes because facing marauders without verses is extremely difficult.

Did you have fun?
YES!!!!! This is my favorite part of the game now, and outside of scheduled trials/dungeons with friends and guildmates, it's the only thing I do.

Do you have any other general feedback?
I love how it challenges me to build my character for my runs, since you can't just go in full parse gear. The archive has made many crafted sets actually have a use and become viable, especially since they can be crafted in the different armor weights.

The only negatives I've found with the archive is the amount of time it takes to make any decent progress (my runs usually take 2-3 hours if I make it past arc 4), and the difficulty of Marauder Gothmau. Aside from occasional bugs that steal threads from me, gothmau is singlehandedly the cause of ending most of my runs. Something needs to be done about him because his difficulty is around 5x higher than any other marauder. He hits harder than a truck and none of the visions for reducing damage seem to have any effect on your surviveability against him.

Over all this is a wonderful addition to the game, and I can't wait to see what becomes of it!