The changes coming with the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, will make player builds more redundant than ever. The mix of excitement and consternation this has caused within the community is palpable, literally changing everything regarding in-game dynamics to which players have grown accustomed.
Shadow of the Erdtree Overview
Shadow of the Erdtree is the highly anticipated expansion developed for Elden Ring, FromSoftware. The base game received high praise earlier for its expansive open world, deep lore, and challenging gameplay.
Though scant in plot details, the DLC is said to showcase new aspects of the game world, new enemies, and further lore that fleshes out the story laid out thus far.
Adjusting Player Builds
Maybe most obvious to me, the change in Shadow of the Erdtree is that player builds seem to work differently. If you’re new here, builds are a combination—often highly planned and finessed—of stats, gear, and skills that form the central basis of the Elden Ring experience.
Players have invested much time into honing their characters for specific playstyles, be it melee, magic, or hybrid approaches, in the base game.
Impact on the Gameplay
This may really tip into shifting strategy and replayability approaches taken by players toward the game.
One of the strategic shifts that might be required in this context is that players need to embrace variances and adaptive strategies more than relying on predetermined builds. This could make the game substantially more challenging, for the players would need to keep changing strategies against new threats and mechanics brought out by the DLC.
Community Reactions
This has polarized community reception to “Elden Ring” right around this news, with some decrying the loss of build diversity and others embracing the challenge.
Players are concerned that their finely build characters all of a sudden will become inefficient, defeating the purpose of the huge time investment in character customization. Others are very excited about the potentials to new game mechanics, taking it as a way to experience other areas of the game and challenge oneself anew.
The “Shadow of Erdtree” DLC in “Elden Ring” is supposedly going to bring serious changes, very likely sealing the fate of relevance for traditional builds and polarizing opinions in the player base majorly. While some players are afraid that this can have a negative effect on their tailored characters, others look forward to new challenges and gameplay dynamics this downloadable content is about to bring.
FromSoftware is not afraid of experiments that will disrupt gameplay mechanics established earlier; this evidences their willingness to keep “Elden Ring” fresh and exciting. As players will learn to live with these changes, this changing landscape of the gaming world shall go on opening up newer vistas for exploration and mastery.