- Demonic assaults on towns and cities.
- Conflict between native fauna and Demons.
- Unique Demons themed around the Lesser Evils.
- Unique Generals themed around the Lesser Evils.
- More visual emphasis on The Burning Hells bleeding into Sanctuary.
- Unique Assassin with a unique drop that hunts players based on number of Aberrant Cinders carried.
- Unique resource farmed from each General to, eventually, delve into the Burning Hells themselves to engage one of the Lesser Evils in a special end-game world-boss scale invasion event.
The general concept of the Helltide is great, but its execution has been fairly lackluster.
Instead of an event where it feels as though the Burning Hells are literally infecting Sanctuary, we’ve got a hodgepodge of overused assets tossed into a crimson tinted landscape with some periodic anxiety-inducing magma storms.
This can be vastly improved through the addition of some unique demons tossed in with those we’re already extremely familiar with. If these unique demons appear elsewhere, it should be incredibly rare, unless it’s in the Burning Hells themselves.
Demons should dominate the Helltide event, with only a few cultists and Khazra minions thrown in. It would be even better if the Khazra and cultist underlings were also from hell, and thus no longer appearing as their mortal kin…but as defiled versions of their mortal selves, reforged through their time within the Burning Hells as payment for their devotion prior to death. I assume the “Horrors” are Khazra who’ve died and gone to hell, reforged into demonic versions of their former selves…so more of that.
The traditional fauna of the region should either be fleeing the demonic host or engaging in battle with them…not just idly standing alongside them. The exceptions, of course, would be mobs whom align themselves with Hell, like cultists, cannibals, Khazra, etc. Spiders should be attacking anything that moves because why would they care if their next meal is demonic flesh or not? Same with bears, worgs, so on and so forth. These are creatures that should be attacking or fleeing the demonic forces…not fighting alongside them.
This creates the illusion of an actual invasion through conflict of NPCs.
When it comes to things like Pestilent Hosts…we need a reasonable explanation for their existence alongside the legions of hell, like Pestilence Demons…which would be a perfect addition, as a unique enemy for the Helltide event.
Make it all make sense and feel less haphazard.
The Helltide Assassin should also be unique and much more foreboding, perhaps given stealth and actively seek down players if they’ve amassed a high volume of Aberrant Cinders. This would increase the risks of going for those Mystery chests, but alternatively…Assassins should have some nice rewards upon being taken down. Basically, they should be the Helltide Butcher, rather than just an annoying mob most people avoid.
Each Helltide event should be themed after a Lesser Evil, with unique demons that reflect the Lesser Evil responsible for that particular invasion. The more unique each Helltide is to the Lesser Evil responsible, the better and more enjoyable it’ll be for us to engage with the event. Though, there can certainly be an occasional Helltide that’s pushed by multiple Lesser Evils, if not all of them…and this will increase the enjoyment through the excitement of always wondering what sort of Helltide we’re going to be getting, and varying challenges that come with it.
The Helltide generals should also be themed around the responsible Lesser Evil, entirely unique bosses.
Have them drop a special resource relative to the Lesser Evil they’re serving under that, when we’ve farmed enough, can be used to provide us access to a special event portal that opens sometime in the future and allows us to traverse to the Burning Hells themselves to take the fight to the Lesser Evil in question. This means that for each type of Helltide, we would be farming a resource that will ultimately allow us to invade hell and attack the Lesser Evil directly.
These “Burning Hells Invasion events” should be end-game world-boss scale fights. Bonus points if there’s a new NPC holy faction that amass armies to “aid” us in the invasion…martyrs who venture into the Burning Hells alongside us to create the illusion of an army in tune with the end of the campaign…as it would be much more realistic to have Sanctuary fight back in large-scale, rather than just a couple of us diving in with each other. They’ll die, of course…but it’s the thought that counts, right?
This event would be entirely separate to the Helltide and transpire at their own designated times…but you would use the resource you gathered within those Helltides to decide which area of the Burning Hells you were going to be invading. It would be a rare event, perhaps only a few times a month, if that, and a massive raid to add in a little end-game loop for people to enjoy.
To finish it off, you make the visualization of the Burning Hells bleeding into sanctuary more fluid…as though the infernal realm is - infecting - the very landscape and merging with it, which is going to take a little more than a few scattered doodads from Hell to accomplish.
What should be an extremely enjoyable event is drastically hindered by the redundancy of overused assets and extreme simplicity, endured only because of the rewards the event provides. The changes above would strip the redundancy down through the infusion of unique enemies and drastically increase the overall enjoyment for months to come. You would have people entering the event not just for the loot, but to enjoy the enemies they can’t find anywhere else.
Yes? No? Thoughts? Cheese? Crackers?
If you managed to read through this massive wall and enjoyed this, consider looking up “Improving: Seasons.”
It’s also much shorter, I promise… Time for sleep now.
