The Abyss League Challenges and Rewards

So together rewards + abyss items create an abyss set :D?

So, first off... I'm probably gonna skip Abyss League; I go big (See that 40 next to my name for the next few days) or I go home, and in this case... I think I might just go home rather than repeat 40/40 again. I did it in Harbinger, yes, but half of it was that I wanted a new character through Acts 1-10; as this expansion is endgame-only, I'll just do it from my extant characters on Stnadard.

The rewards look better than Harbinger's, but that's not saying that much. The portal doesn't look AS great as I was hoping, and the back attachment seems to be the only stand-out. (on a side note, when are we gonna hear about the supporter packs? Those cosmetics always excite me.)

As far as my analysis of the 40 challenges, here's what I have to say.

(I was intending to colour both my criticisms and praises of GGG, but for some reason the only color I can get to show up us RED, so apologies for the positive notes not standing out as well)

• 15 (Relatively) Easy Repeats from prior leagues - Use these Currency Items, Items From Vendor Recipes, Complete These Encounters I&II, Vaal Side Area Items, Defeat these Act Bosses I&II, Kill these Unique Monsters, Defeat the Gods, Complete these Quests, Identify 100 Unique Items, Fully Upgrade Your Hideout, Achieve Ascension, Reach Level 90, Level up a Gem to 20. These fifteen challenges will be roughly inconsequential to anyone who is just blitzing to reach into endgame content. They require minimal (if any) going out of the way from normal race behavior, and will just happen to almost anyone, even in SSF. While they won't strictly be the first 15 gotten (see the next category), as they can all be accomplished within a few days with "normal" playing. These are relatively tried-and-true baselines.
  
  
• 7 (Relatively) Easy Mandatory Gimmick Challenge - Open Abyssal Trove, Socket Abyssal Jewel, Complete Abyssal Depths, Identify Abyssal Jewels, Complete Abysses, Defeat Abyssal Lich, Defeat (the) following Abyssal Monsters. These seven challenges are roughly as simple as the ones above (assuming I, admittedly, understand them) and appear to be parallels to the challenges from Harbinger league in terms of "experience the gimmick encounters." Anyone TRYING to do abysses will readily get them all; this means anyone even remotely trying to play the game will get these 22 challenges relatively easily when solo.
  
  
• 8 Straightforward Checklists - Complete Influenced Map Tiers, Complete Zana Missions, Complete Rare UnID'd, Shape these Maps, Defeat Elder Guardians, Complete Maps with 8 Mods, Complete these Sextant Mods, Complete Unique Maps. While not easy, these are pretty straightforward. I'm glad to see the list actually EXPAND a bit; it's pretty fun to try and complete these, so it's nice to see GGG expand on the idea more. I'm glad to see GGG building upon their good ideas. Three of them are old and familiar, but 5 are pretty new, so I'll give each some extra mention:
  
  
  • Complete Zana Missions - Nice idea for an EASY checklist; technically I'd consider this part of the "easy" lists, just that it's new and not related to either the expansion OR Abyss league. Definitely a good target for at least 24 challenges.
    
  • Complete Influenced Map Tiers - Looks like it'll be pretty easy while completing the Atlas, and since it's only white/yellow tier, should be in everyone's reach. Probably a good pick.
    
  • Shape These Maps - Curious new addition; pushing players to actually earn those Shaper's orbs. I like it.
    
  • Defeat Elder Guardians - Probably the hardest of the list; I won't be able to say for certain until I face some. Naturally a good idea, since they seem easier to get than Shaper Guardians.
    
  • Complete these Sextant Mods - Brilliant idea; Sextants either never get used, or get used to block to ensure triple-breach maps for farming. Since it's not that expensive (These can all be done with white sextants, IIRC) not unreasonably taxing beyond requiring players actually try the content the way it's "intended."
    
  
  
• 2 Exciting New Additions - Complete following Encounters I & II. I was really excited to read about the original map boss challenges... Though granted, it didn't work out as well in the end, since for a lot of it, it wound up being "nuke the boss down before it can do anything," with the rest often being RNG. (Residence Dominus was an excercise in bashing your head against the wall) I'll treat these as one challenge, and break it down by each item. Note that this is all based on the current Atlas, and might be inaccurate if they move bosses/maps around.
  
  
  • Belcer, the Pirate Lord (T8 Shore) - Main challenge is not destroying the ghosts. I could've sworn there was a "Tormented Bossun," but did they get rid of that one? Hadn't seen it the past few Shores I ran. I like this one.
    
  • The Reaver (T2 Ghetto) - This will be a "nuke it down before he does anything" challenge. What part of him isn't forgettable isn't likeable.
    
  • Drought-Maddened Rhoa (T3 Arid Lake) - I'm surprised few know how to handle this one. I always do this; nice to see it targetted.
    
  • Witch of the Cauldron (T5 Burial Chambers) - This one proves a challenge for a lot of players. I like making them push the envelope here.
    
  • Hybrid Widow (T7 Arachnid Tomb) - I'm kinda iffy, since the spiders MASSIVELY cut your DPS. Feels kinda build-wall-y; e.g, trivial for totem and minion builds, annoying for everyone else. What if it was "While covered in spiders or standing in the fire" instead?
    
  • Gnar, Eater of Carrion (T6 Canyon) - A good challenge... Though he HAS been uncharacteristically nasty for a T6. Maybe he was moved up higher?
    
  • Stonebeak, Battle Fowl (T6 Canyon) - Stonebeak's a she?! But... Roosters are male. Besides that... OUCH. Gnar's managable enraged... Stonebeak... Not so much. I've a few RIPs to (her/him) so this could be painful.
    
  • Erythrophagia (T4 Phantasmagoria) - The most tolerable of the Godless Three repeats. Making people stand in the center of the Venn Diagram sounds like fun. I like this.
    
  • Guardian of the Minotaur (T16 MotM) - Pretty easy, but I like it. Caveat: I wasn't sure what it meant at first, before figuring it meant the lightning trap beams. maybe rewording to clarify is in order?
    
  • Guardian of the Hydra (T16 LotH) - Ugh... I've never been good at Hydra; she's by far the hardest for me. But if the "turrets" refer to the frostbolts, please clarify it specifies the frostbolts.
    
  • Konley, the Unrepentant (new; Avarius/Innocence) - Nice idea. I liked finishing a boss when they were in the middle of a super-attack. Why couldn't this also be one for Malformation Piety, too?
    
  • Amalgam of Nightmares (new; A8 Doedre) Nice idea; let people repeat the challenge of fighting her.
    
  • Nassar, Lion of the Seas (new; Tsoagoth/Brine King) - Mostly interesting. I'm slightly concerned over visibility on the storm calls, though; it's improved a lot since the beta, admittedly. (I died twice during the 3.0 beta because I couldn't see them)
    
  • Armala, the Widow (new? Arikaali?) - This one has be scratching my head. Does Arakaali have a web at any point, or is this a different spider?
    
  • The Hallowed Huskl (T14 Palace) - Seems... Kinda cheap? Basically, stack mass life regen/non-staunching flasks, and run out into the rain right before landing the killing blow? Sorta interesting, but doesn't seem that good.
    
  • A'alai (T16 Vaal Temple/Apex/Alurring) - DAMMIT. Well, at least Sacrifice sets are cheap and Apex is relatively low-level, so I guess this is doable. Every single RIP I've had to the trio in any of the above has been to A'alai, because she wasn't killed first or second. As long as it can be done through Apex of Sacrifice,
    
    
• 3 Questionable Challenges - I can't precisely say how bad these 3 will be... Sorta. Part of it depends on unknowns that won't be seen until the league begins:
  
  
  • Complete these Encounters III - Glad to see that GGG took my (and others', I think) suggestion on the breaches, though I wonder if this is any better; 200 clapsed hands is a LOT, and still may mandate having access to Zana breach modding. If Breach isn't Zana 8, this is reasonable, though. Also, carto boxes are rarer than Diviner's boxes, so...
    
    
  • Defeat the Elder - Not sure where this fits in, with how hard he is (to reach and finish) compared to other endgame encounters. Could be a good #24, or could be hard. I'd have to find out myself to know.
    
    
  • Identify Unique - This stinks a bit of the old "identify chase uniques" challenges. Granted, if these items are pretty acquirable, then it's no biggie. But I wonder if this one could be a pain.
    
    
  
  
• 5 Painful Ones - For almost all 36/40s, I envision the four skipped being amongst these 5. These will be a time-consuming headache.
  
  
  • Complete these Encounters IV - At least GGG learned from their prior mistakes... Maybe. The essence challenge was the single-dumbest part of Harbinger league. (confession: I actually got it well before 36, but only because I focused the "hard" ones first; I hated it) The key part I notice is that it says RELEASE. If it means that shares can only be given to ONE person at once? (akin to how Perandus Trove was) then this is going to be approximately as dumb. The breachlord will be hard, too. Pale Council is mostly a monetary hit, since a Pale Court set is like 2 ex.
    
    
  • Complete Twinned Maps - I ALMOST had this one in "straightforward checklists," but the difficulty got amped up. Seriously, twinned Malformation and CORE?! I guess I can't complain, but... It's now a very difficult challenge.
    
    
  • Complete Influenced Maps - This one's partly an unknown. 1,337 boss kills could be cheesed, but this one will require MORE maps (since twinned maps, 2/3/5-boss maps like Port, etc. no longer count extra) and moreover, will likely remove a degree of player control that they had over Harbinger and Legacy's numbers. This could prove to be even more mind-numbing due to being forced to run bad maps.
    
    
  • Complete Deathly Encounters - I do appreciate this being condensed to one challenge. But... Vaal Temple? I still admit I'm missing that one on Harbinger. Shaper's an easy one, Uber Atziri... Not so much. Same with Vaal Temple.
    
    
  • Complete Endgame Grinds - You learned nothing on this one, GGG! Provided Elder Guardians AND Abyssal Liches are relatively trivial, it's merely failing to be MUCH worse than Harbinger's. But the two main problems remain: no one in their right mind will run 50 pale court sets (worth 100 ex) so that shouldn't be there. Similarly, tying the Eternal Labyrinth challenge to killing Izaro contradicts the fact that you reworked the labyrinth to reward treasure-hunting. It should've been based on number of treasury chests opened! (or maybe even silver doors!) The labyrinth one is a bit lot of squandered potential...

Wings Size is too small.

Needs rework on the Size!

"

thesomberlain wrote:

LETS GO BOIS

LET'S DO THIS!




(nice 39)

Ohh, nice freebies! Bye Sun.

Not too crazy about having bones all about, but I really like the variety this next league in the challenges. Great job team! LOUIE!!!!!!!

My harbringer stats show just 14 challenges done, but I like the wings. Many drops of sweat shall be shed for that alone

Abyssal Portal is wonderful!

"

Bex_GGG wrote:

The other pieces are Abyss uniques with 3D art.

Many of us wait full armor pack for challenge. Last one being in Talisman. I personally was start play at the Perandus league so I don't seen any of full set as a reward. Look at my supporter titles: all my armor sets only from them and from points in this packs.

Also, can you tell your design team that Abyss portal need to some vertical effects, like dark rays, and Abyss wings must have a bigger size?

Encounter II is scaring me D: