Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Shadow of Mordor Sequel)

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Tuco

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This has a pretty good Steam sale right now at $12.49. Is this game worth picking up?
It is if you want an open world RPG where you slaughter orcs and lead epic fortress defenses and assaults.
 
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j00t

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The story is offensively dumb, but it's still a very fun game.
it's offensively dumb if you look at it as canon, but if you play it from a "what if" kinda of scenario i think it's perfectly passable
 
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Tuco

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If this game had base building and maaaaybe crafting, I'd never play anything else.
It has crafting in the form of upgrades to your gear that you get either through gems you fuse together and upgrades based on beating challenges. And it has rudimentary base building in that you configure your fortress for different attributes. But really the base-building is centered around the focus of the game and most novel contribution which is playing Orc pokemon to build unstoppable war machines that defend your base from other players or attack other bases with you.

I think true base-building like what Kenshi had is a bad idea because it'd be almost impossible to make work properly without a stupidly large budget. Crowfall is trying to do that in the MMO scene with voxels and sieging, but they're inundated with technical problems and the whole thing is burning from what I understand.
 

Tarrant

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I should hook my console back up and play this again. i only got like half way through it.
 
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Bandwagon

Kolohe
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It has crafting in the form of upgrades to your gear that you get either through gems you fuse together and upgrades based on beating challenges. And it has rudimentary base building in that you configure your fortress for different attributes. But really the base-building is centered around the focus of the game and most novel contribution which is playing Orc pokemon to build unstoppable war machines that defend your base from other players or attack other bases with you.

I think true base-building like what Kenshi had is a bad idea because it'd be almost impossible to make work properly without a stupidly large budget. Crowfall is trying to do that in the MMO scene with voxels and sieging, but they're inundated with technical problems and the whole thing is burning from what I understand.
The gems are an absolute joke if you're trying to look at them as a crafting system, unless I'm completely missing something, which is possible. I am admittedly as far away from a min/maxer as possible and almost never even look at anything other than orcs when playing the game, so I haven't spent more than about 7 minutes fucking with gear and skills. But aren't there like 5 gem options at 5 different levels, and that's about it?

I'm talking about really flashy skill effects with synergy, like Diablo or Borderlands. The option to highly customize gear effects. Is that in the game and I've just been ignoring it? Also, why does set piece gear always have the first effect highlighted in blue and the second one not? It doesn't have challenges to complete like the non set pieces and I have 4/6 equipped with the set bonus applied.

I knew I should have taken screenshots before starting to ask questions in here. I don't even know what anything is called and my TV is too far away from the couch for me to read most of the text, so I just shrug and murder orcs.
 
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Tuco

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The gems are an absolute joke if you're trying to look at them as a crafting system, unless I'm completely missing something, which is possible. I am admittedly as far away from a min/maxer as possible and almost never even look at anything other than orcs when playing the game, so I haven't spent more than about 7 minutes fucking with gear and skills. But aren't there like 5 gem options at 5 different levels, and that's about it?

I'm talking about really flashy skill effects with synergy, like Diablo or Borderlands. The option to highly customize gear effects. Is that in the game and I've just been ignoring it? Also, why does set piece gear always have the first effect highlighted in blue and the second one not? It doesn't have challenges to complete like the non set pieces and I have 4/6 equipped with the set bonus applied.

I knew I should have taken screenshots before starting to ask questions in here. I don't even know what anything is called and my TV is too far away from the couch for me to read most of the text, so I just shrug and murder orcs.
No, you're right, it's all minimal.

All the customization is wrapped up in the Orc system which I find to be totally refreshing because it's something no game has done before and I've done crafting in so many other games. These days I try to ignore crafting systems in games as much as possible because it's all so formulaic and boring. It's a big reason why I can't finish the Witcher 3, it's so fucking exhausting in games where I can only have fun if the game is difficult and can only properly play the game if I do crafting.
 
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Kolohe
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Oh, and I was going to ask about the best way to farm orcs and level them up to 80 today, but I think I found a good system last night just before bed. I know about Vendettas and I get some good Orcs in there sometimes too, but I still have a bunch that I need to level up and I'm trying to do both at the same time.

What I started doing last night is to die on purpose to promote a new captain, and then send one of my low level (40-60) level orcs to kill him. He gets 20 levels instantly, and I occasionally get a good orc to dominate at the same time. I was using the fighting pits before that, but it's slow and tedious, I'd occasionally lose an orc I didn't want to, and the game would lock up and require a restart about 20% of the time. The conquests can be chaotic and frustrating when there's one orc you're trying to dominate, too.

I've almost got an entire area to level 80 legendary orcs (with 3 pit fighters), then I'll take another crack at online conquests.

Tuco Tuco - what do you think about the tribal battle things for farming orcs? My boy Pushkrimp the slaughter berserker died in a siege last week and I've been wanting to replace him ever since. He was a fucking steam roller.
 

Dandai

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No, you're right, it's all minimal.

All the customization is wrapped up in the Orc system which I find to be totally refreshing because it's something no game has done before and I've done crafting in so many other games. These days I try to ignore crafting systems in games as much as possible because it's all so formulaic and boring. It's a big reason why I can't finish the Witcher 3, it's so fucking exhausting in games where I can only have fun if the game is difficult and can only properly play the game if I do crafting.
If crafting is what’s keeping you from finishing Witcher 3, I think it’s just not your cup of tea. The crafting is so minimal. Get a mod to apply oils and just beat it. It’s arguably the best RPG ever made.
 
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Tuco

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Oh, and I was going to ask about the best way to farm orcs and level them up to 80 today, but I think I found a good system last night just before bed. I know about Vendettas and I get some good Orcs in there sometimes too, but I still have a bunch that I need to level up and I'm trying to do both at the same time.

What I started doing last night is to die on purpose to promote a new captain, and then send one of my low level (40-60) level orcs to kill him. He gets 20 levels instantly, and I occasionally get a good orc to dominate at the same time. I was using the fighting pits before that, but it's slow and tedious, I'd occasionally lose an orc I didn't want to, and the game would lock up and require a restart about 20% of the time. The conquests can be chaotic and frustrating when there's one orc you're trying to dominate, too.

I've almost got an entire area to level 80 legendary orcs (with 3 pit fighters), then I'll take another crack at online conquests.

Tuco Tuco - what do you think about the tribal battle things for farming orcs? My boy Pushkrimp the slaughter berserker died in a siege last week and I've been wanting to replace him ever since. He was a fucking steam roller.
It's best to sample all the many different ways the game provides you to farm orcs. "Creating" orcs by dying to them or finding new ones in the fighting pits and then carefully leveling them up is what the game is all about.

Then when you want to scale up your orc pokemon, the best way is to play online sieges and capture orcs that OTHER people have built up. I actually think this is a cheesy way to do it because it proliferates a bunch of cloned orcs. It's also a bit tedious and frustrating because instead of hunting down specific orcs in your game and risking good rolls to level them up you just have to deal with a near-endless supply of well-rolled and high level orcs that are probably berserkers and annoying to mind control because they're berserkers. The "end-game" would be better, in my opinion, if you couldn't capture enemy orcs in sieges, and instead got some other Orc Pokemon reward for it like unique upgrades for achieving high defense/attack levels.
 
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Bandwagon

Kolohe
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It's best to sample all the many different ways the game provides you to farm orcs. "Creating" orcs by dying to them or finding new ones in the fighting pits and then carefully leveling them up is what the game is all about.

Then when you want to scale up your orc pokemon, the best way is to play online sieges and capture orcs that OTHER people have built up. I actually think this is a cheesy way to do it because it proliferates a bunch of cloned orcs. It's also a bit tedious and frustrating because instead of hunting down specific orcs in your game and risking good rolls to level them up you just have to deal with a near-endless supply of well-rolled and high level orcs that are probably berserkers and annoying to mind control because they're berserkers. The "end-game" would be better, in my opinion, if you couldn't capture enemy orcs in sieges, and instead got some other Orc Pokemon reward for it like unique upgrades for achieving high defense/attack levels.
You couldn't dominate orcs in online sieges and keep them when the game first came out, could you? I thought that wasn't an option the first time I played the game. I like having that option in there, it's just an absolute shitshow trying to catch one when it's broken, but before my slaughter army turns him into a puddle. Catching them out in the open, in duels or in vendettas is a whole lot easier. It's kind of fun trying to die to one specific type of orc, too. If I can ever find a spot to farm the olog, i'll keep going back there and dying to the same group over and over to create a bunch of those captains, too.

Oh, and before I forget, do you know what happens if you shame a level 81+ orc in an online conquest or vendetta? Or if the entire board is already full of orcs in singleplayer? Any reason to shame them and try to dominate later in those situations, or just kill them because you won't ever see them again?
 

Tuco

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You couldn't dominate orcs in online sieges and keep them when the game first came out, could you? I thought that wasn't an option the first time I played the game. I like having that option in there, it's just an absolute shitshow trying to catch one when it's broken, but before my slaughter army turns him into a puddle. Catching them out in the open, in duels or in vendettas is a whole lot easier. It's kind of fun trying to die to one specific type of orc, too. If I can ever find a spot to farm the olog, i'll keep going back there and dying to the same group over and over to create a bunch of those captains, too.

Oh, and before I forget, do you know what happens if you shame a level 81+ orc in an online conquest or vendetta? Or if the entire board is already full of orcs in singleplayer? Any reason to shame them and try to dominate later in those situations, or just kill them because you won't ever see them again?
I don't know. I just know that when I played last the best way to build up your forts was through online conquests where once you leveled up a bit you'd run into teams created with orcs that were probably better than the entirety of orcs you'd come across through the entire game. As in, after 60 hours of playing the game you'd have your crew of 20 orcs you liked with 2 of your heavy-hitters who were much worse than the worst orcs in a top-level fort, and you could, theoritically, capture all of the orcs you'd fight against. Not sure if they changed it.


If Shadow of War released a new content patch that focused on end-game, added multiplayer and made it impossible to capture orcs through online conquest I'd do another play through,.
 
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Bandwagon

Kolohe
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Hey Tuco Tuco - You know the encounters with certain tribes you find, like Tribal Warband? Where the hell can I find one for terror or dark tribe? The only ones I ever see are outlaw and slaughter.
 

Tuco

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Hey Tuco Tuco - You know the encounters with certain tribes you find, like Tribal Warband? Where the hell can I find one for terror or dark tribe? The only ones I ever see are outlaw and slaughter.
Not sure, it's been a while but i never found a reliable way to get arbitrary orcs. Both playthroughs i pretty much just used whatever orcs i found.
 
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a_skeleton_05

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So I bit off more than I could chew by trying to assault a fort with an Overlord that has 8 levels on me. He's an arrow proof shield tank and I can't hit him easily because he's always surrounded by a dozen or so goons. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to whittle him down while not getting hit by him (because it nukes my entire health pool when he does) and I finally fuck up and get downed without any cheat deaths left. I shrug and let go of the mouse, only to laugh my ass off when one of my orc captains shows up during the kill animation and lops the Overlord's head off with one swing and says "There's no shame in having me save you"

Fort captured.

Gotta love this game.
 
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Jais

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Fuck.

Just bought this and got my shit pushed in on Nemesis early on and got in a death loop so I lowered the difficulty and started again.

Is it normal for random ass Captains to come out of nowhere and attack you? I'll spend 30 mins trying to work down mobs around a Cpt that I'm going for, have the targeted Cpt 90% dead and then BOOM, another one miracles in, fucks me, I go for Vendetta, same shit, death loop of frustration.

I'm like 1hr in at most.
 
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Bandwagon

Kolohe
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Fuck.

Just bought this and got my shit pushed in on Nemesis early on and got in a death loop so I lowered the difficulty and started again.

Is it normal for random ass Captains to come out of nowhere and attack you? I'll spend 30 mins trying to work down mobs around a Cpt that I'm going for, have the targeted Cpt 90% dead and then BOOM, another one miracles in, fucks me, I go for Vendetta, same shit, death loop of frustration.

I'm like 1hr in at most.
lol,
1605831725640.png
 
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