The Exile's Path

Day 6 (04/30/2016)

Relentless Reflectors
Completed the first act on the highest difficulty level. The differences are approximately the same as on "Cruel," only everything is even bigger, faster, more durable, and stronger. Oh, and there are also doubled experience penalties upon death, which forces you to pay closer attention to the map.
The only significant difference: monsters have been added that reflect damage back to the hero. I heroically died against one of these creatures, casting Flame Blast with ten stacks and annihilating myself. In general, the ability is more than fully copied from Diablo, so you just have to be more careful when clearing locations, although for many who haven't encountered this feature before, it causes terrible lower back discomfort. I defeated all the bosses without dying; the battles with them have become slightly more spectacular and longer, but there's more excitement. Leveling up became much more difficult, but there's an abundance of reagents, as well as great level 60 and higher items; legendary items have also ceased to be rare, and, as it turns out, most of them are quite useless, as they give too specific bonuses. However, I tried on some fashionable boots made of crocodile leather:

Thanks to numerous passive movement bonuses + these boots are ideal for quickly clearing maps of minions of evil and, if necessary, for an emergency retreat from the battlefield. The mage rarely has his health between full and zero, so it's better to change shoes before battles with bosses that inflict various poisonous debuffs; otherwise, they have no drawbacks.


#1
Now is the time to complete the review of the first act, based on my own conclusions and playthrough on all difficulty levels.
In general, a very simple (as an introductory) area; the main bosses are the butcher and the mermaid, both of whom are quite mediocre in strength. The locations are mostly populated by undead, sometimes there are barbarians and forest creatures.


Best location: The ship graveyard

A very atmospheric and beautifully designed place, populated by various walking dead, ghost sailors, and giant crabs. The enemy density is high, but all of them have no resistance to fire or elemental magic, and they are also very slow, which makes them an ideal target for easy experience gain and enjoyable pastime. And you can also meet the ghost of Captain Davy Jones near the wrecked Flying Dutchman and give him a fiery hell on earth.


Worst location: The mud flats

Obviously, one of the first areas of the game, created from awkwardly glued-together textures of various types of terrain, populated by incomprehensible, fast-moving creatures that deal high damage, very inconvenient for clearing, and generally filled with an atmosphere of gloom and hopelessness. I died there for the second time, once again failing to jump away after activating the chest summoning monsters. The situation is further worsened by the fact that the location is key for visiting; it has passages to two quests, one secondary, and a task located in the area itself, which further increases the desire to go through it once and forget it forever like a terrible dream.


Summary: Day 6
Playtime: ~5 hours (48 hours total)
Character level: 64
Experience gained: ~230,000,000
Number of deaths: 2