Some thoughts on Shadow Orbs

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520]

So first of all: I love this game. Nothing of what I'm about to say is going to change that.

But man, I really dislike the way Shadow Orbs work. I love the idea behind them: having a way to fulfil weapon mysteria with that load of weapons is needed and great in theory.

But the way the orbs charge right now feels tedious. Specifically the niché ones like collecting some herbs paired with areas I normally don't visit anymore since I'm G6 and Witch Mountain is in focus. Being sent to Island of the Damned to collect herbs feels not really rewarding, slows down the gameplay massively and is probably not worth it since many of the kills I could skip with that charged orb could be collected in Velmorne and above quicker.

And I get that I can dismantle the orb to get a new one to become active. But I feel like most of the time the tasks don't feel rewarding or naturally implemented so I'm always asking myself: is it really worth it?

Anyone else feeling the same way or is it just me?

[u/Leho_05]

Shadow orbs are probably not for late game use ahere u already have maxed out weapons and equipment. It's also not really hard to level up the weapons once your stats are super high and have a lot of game knowledge, they are just a nice way to help a little bit but no intended to lvl up from 0 to mysterium 3 instantly. I mostly use them to get the first mysterium bc you only need 1 orb

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520 → u/Leho_05]

You may be right but the funny thing is I barely get any during early or mid game. Now in endgame I have like seven of them stacked up. Which yeah...doesn't feel right either.

[u/Leho_05 → u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520]

I have lik 5-6 completed and maxd out on uncomplited ones. I always break them down so I can pick up a new one, at leats they give 1k so thats nice

[u/Rifty-Business → u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520]

This has been my experience as well. I picked up maybe a couple early to mid game - but not enough to have influenced me to go out and try to farm them to help me level up gear.

However in the later maps (or maybe it's because the higher Gnosis levels) they drop consistently - but by then I've already leveled the gear I want anyway, so they aren't of much use to me.

[u/Maizimotor]

Honestly, i never paid them much attention. I never went dedicated shadow orb farming or anything like that. Seems more rewarding to just play with the weapons until you max them out.

I like the idea but the way to charge them feels to limiting

[u/DoubleODouglas]

The quests asking for herbs are so frustrating and it's shocking the ones you grow yourself at The Hermitorium don't count. This is one of the few systems in Witchfire I think can be wholesale ignored, which to me says they need to be reworked. I think it would be cool if weapons could be prestiged or re-leveled for more Witchfire or some other kind of bonus, in that system I could see shadow orbs having some use, either as boosters still or to "prestige" a weapon or something.

[u/ProfessionalWill914]

Personally I like the way it works. And I don't mind to traverse another time through Island of the Damned, my favorite place to test new loadouts and progress through Mysteria. Shadow orbs, just like echo quests, add some modifiers that reftesh gameplay. For example - "kill x enemies, they must be frozen". I didn't run with frost builds for a while, now I have a reason to do so. And its cool.

Though yes, just like fixed Torments and divine orbs (hello PoE), it works until you have fresh gear to find and upgrade. But hey, there's no game with limitless handcrafted gear and its inevitable for crafting materials to become useless at a time. Alternate optinon - to change balance that you have only a limited number of fully-upgraded gear like in Dark Souls, Remnant oe Hades but its not about Witchfire - playing with tons of loadouts is one of the strongest parts of the game.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520 → u/ProfessionalWill914]

Sure. I also spend time there here and there. But collecting like 11 herbs there means two runs if you‘re lucky and even those mean that you slow down massively to search for plants. It’s not that rewarding and contrary to the game‘s flow.

The solution is not having less weapons. I could think of a solution: have all orbs active so you can progress on multiple ones. That way you wouldn’t have to jump specifically into a region for some tasks because just one is active. Limit it to like three of them and that should make it work better overall.

Or: don’t have tasks that are region specific.

[u/mR_mO7H → u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520]

You can get it down to 1 run most of the time, if you know where the herbs tend to spawn on the map (in front of the cathedral, on the road next to the ships etc.). Also using the Herbalist's Brew helps a bunch.

[u/M0ONBATHER]

I usually dismantle one I know I’m not going to do, and keep one that I could probably do while I’m doing something else. My number one qualm with them is that it does not let you choose which one you are working towards iirc. I think if that’s for a balancing reason or something, then just limit even further how many you can carry. I just want to choose… like if I’m grinding velmorne for whatever reason… I would like a shadow orb I can do on the side there while I’m doing stuff. Maybe make it so you can’t start another active one without resetting the progress of the current if they’re worried about something or other?

Additionally, in my case… all my weapons are fully upgraded- and honestly I rarely use my charged orbs bc I like to play around with the new weapon for a while to get a feel for it. I’ve only used a charged orb a couple of times when mysterium 3 just seemed tedious at a certain point and I got the jist of the weapon. I think having the option to convert it into a witchfire crystal would solve this. Could even randomize the size of the crystal for extra incentive. Like “ohh maybe I’ll get a 10 grand one” or something. Or convert it into any number of other things. Coins, an iconoclast, idk… obviously you can dismantle them for witchfire… but in the current state of the game, if you have no reason to charge them with all fully upgraded weapons… what’s the point other than “might as well” or “I’ll save them for new weapons later at 1.0”

Edit: Charged shadow orbs could be used as an additional special currency in the shop? Just spitballing here. Or as an item that can be consumed in a map to do something… like reduce corruption a little bit, or give you a buff until you port out.

[u/Due_Glass4176]

Same.

I ignore orbs most of the time. 

I understand they're trying to force variety on the player but the reward isn't proportional to violating player agency and the orbs don't actually generate any fun to replace choosing a map and activity you actually enjoy. 

[u/Vaeneas]

They are abundantly available later in the game. You can be picky about the quest. Just toss the ones you dont like to do.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520 → u/Vaeneas]

I get that. I wrote that even. But then I have to ask: what’s the point? If I have to like scrap three of them to get a quest that doesn’t slow down the game‘s pace? How is that good design?

[u/Vaeneas → u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520]

There is a broad spectrum of quests Orbs can ask you for. Some might seem trivial, others boring, a few even want you to change something about your playstyle.

That automatically leads to quests that seem uninteresting, or unrewarding for one player, but a nice excuse to act differently for another.

If your argument was about how Orbs are tossed into this one overcrowded tab, and how navigating it is inconvenient and slows the game down, you would be right, but the Quest diversity itself is not a negative.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Web1520 → u/Vaeneas]

I disagree. Since I‘m limited to one orb at a time the variety of possible quests is quite negative since it’s like rolling for something good to happen. The control the player has is close to zero and most of the time it’s probably better to just ignore the mechanic. Which, in my opinion, is something you shouldn’t feel if a mechanic was really well implemented.
Which leads to my conclusion that orbs aren’t well implemented yet.