A new use for Vaal Orb (Vaal side areas in maps being added)

With new "encounters" (masters, season content etc.) in normal game areas, vaal side zones are very hard (due to entropy), very grindy and boring to find: hunting for vaal side area basically means open the same LOW LEVEL area (where you dont get any exp) again and again, run, unveil all the layout, repeat(256) :)

Im not fan of atziri, but like very much those creepy side areas so...

¿How vaal orbs can fix this and allow players to find vaal side areas in late game?

Here the suggestion: if you use a vaal orb in a map, it grants creepy random mods as usual AND a vaal side area adequated to the tileset (to grant a smooth placement of the entry) WITH the creepy mods of the main map plus the vaal ones (potential non.trivial solving, but full optional trial) :)

The vaal map side areas grant an extra boss fight, and should be able to grant same ilv items than the main map itself, including maps (or maybe, +1 following the vaal side area behaviour on "wild" zones)

Occurence of vaal side areas in corrupted maps, some options to choose

Thinking about, three options emerge.

EASY "corrupted" means the area has a vaal side area: Corruption that results only in the addition of "corrupted" tag can grant vaal side area as well, despite no extra mods being added to the map (adding some interest to those "broken" maps). Any vaal orb spent will grant, ALLWAYS, the zone has a side area. Areas are easy to generate, and you can get potentially flat maps "corrupted" with side areas making them easier in adition with tuned ones ;). Better difficulty spectrum to all publics, but access is "easier" or at least you can have some profit with those "broken" flat corrupt maps.

MID vaal side area as mod: the occurence of the side area is managed as "vaal orb" only mod (you can only generate this atribute by corrupting a map). This way side area spawning ISNT allways granted. Medium chance to get this modifier, and medium average dificulty of the side areas (you can roll them with not too much mods). Mid aviability and mid difficulty spectrum, but this way you can get "less mods" by adding the side area mod, which is fully optional unless its treated separately (doesnt count for the mod limit).

HARD As bonus atribute when you roll 8-mod map: the third option is to add it as granted extra mod (ninth) when you get eight "core" mods. This way you ansure vaal side area has the propper challenge and not easy doable by automated "players" (any map generated vaal side areas will have 8-mods plus vaal side mods lolo). Vaal side areas allways max. moded. The difficulty spectrum of the bonus content is narrow (not all people will be interesed in completing vaal side areas with 8+N mods)


What happens with some tilesets which doesnt have vaal side areas (flesh, arena and volcano)?

GGG must draw this, but considering that vaal areas are small zones it doesnt look and awful pain for the devs ;). For the bosses, (a blood thing using any weird skill, a meteor one summoning companions from sky and a BIG bull can work, only providing some examples)

¿It can be used to mass-farm vaal side areas?

I dont think so. Vaal orb is a rare item, so this feature cant be abused. Its only an extra feature which makes using vaal orbs more interesing and more versatile, and really fits the game lore.

For industrial brainless farming of sacrifice fragments (the market dumpers) still is way more easy to run ledges or any linear underleveled area. People running map level vaal side areas will do for extra lot, squeeze more exp from maps or only fun/achievements, atlas related unlocks etc... this is not bot-mind friendly.

¿Any interaction with "red map" completion requirement of Atlas (current, kill the boss of red map in corrupted version as I read)?

The requirement could be instead: kill the boss of the red map corrupted AND the boss of the vaal side area as well. ;)

Material and Spiritual Rewards

Vaal side areas are a good place to get more vaal orbs.

A sensible chance to get a randomly corrupted map from the vaal boss or from the vessel is a very interesing option (could be added to the actual loot pool of gems/sacrifice fragments).

This adjusts the access to Apex which is a hard endgame zone to "maps level", dont force any more people wanting to do that to keep grinding mid-level zones.

Dont need to go low level areas any more to fit certain profecies.

Corrupted items, as example rigwald's amulets (talisman league items) could drop from the vessels. The corrupted boss can be possesed eventually by a rigwald talisman effect maybe? Only thinking on the source-output relationship of this possibility. :)

If it works, you can get rid of vaal side areas in the "wild" world and use those "spawnslots" for future content without generating extra "eventspawn()" entropy (I mean, zones crowded with side content breaking the player's inmersion).

Advantages summarizing

+ Full optional "bonus track" (dont cry if you die :) )
+ Already developed content usage, optimized.
+ Fits the lore nicely.
+ Content debugged 99%. ;)
+ Tech/Dev friendly. Tiny extra work compared to current expansions/acts/bugfixing/high budget seasons etc.
+ Adapting it to the dominant players behaviour (doing maps as soon as possible).
+ You still can keep vaal areas spawning in wild zones, its only about what balancing tests say as better (but with less interesing loot chances in the vessel that uber-map-corrupted-vaals XD, just the items that drop now gem and sacrifice fragment)...
+ ...Or you can completely remove vaal side areas from "wild" to give more room to other RNG events (dev choice).
+ Those vaal bosses could be "interesing" (to not say annoying XD) in some "star-aligned" mods.
+ Can be a legit source of some interesing items seen in past seasons (talisman amulets, corrupted uniques etc.)

You can just stick a sacrifice frag in the map device and spawn a Vaal area from your hideout, and its easy to get sacrifice frags from mapping by picking up Her Mask div cards.

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ampdecay wrote:

You can just stick a sacrifice frag in the map device and spawn a Vaal area from your hideout, and its easy to get sacrifice frags from mapping by picking up Her Mask div cards.

While this is true, the idea of adding Vaal areas to maps has come up before. If I am not mistaken, it was previously not possible due to technical limitations (areas within areas within areas), but now is.

I think it's a more interesting idea than just getting fragments from Her Mask cards, in part because higher-level Vaal bosses could add an interesting new challenge without requiring a whole lot of work on GGG's part creating new assets and the like.

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gibbousmoon wrote:

I think it's a more interesting idea than just getting fragments from Her Mask cards, in part because higher-level Vaal bosses could add an interesting new challenge without requiring a whole lot of work on GGG's part creating new assets and the like.

I agree here that it would be a bit more interesting doing some higher level ones.

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gibbousmoon wrote:

I think it's a more interesting idea than just getting fragments from Her Mask cards, in part because higher-level Vaal bosses could add an interesting new challenge without requiring a whole lot of work on GGG's part creating new assets and the like.

Indeed, the core of this suggestion is to adapt an "obsolete" content (obsolete only because you can find this "content" only playing wild zones, which you stop playing when starting maps which happens very quick, specially in experienced players who know how to level fast)=> you stop finding this hard work content unless you go to really underleveled zones... and rely on RNG (sometimes 20-30 "ledges" until you find one, to exemplify). ¬¬

Also as I said in the top, binding "vaal side areas" to corupted maps, reduces de problem about having lots of "random map events" in the same zone (too high amount of map events, means a really tiny chance to get every one or maps crowded by meaningless content).=> less RNG (you know when a vaal side of the level you play confortable spawns) and increased challenge (area of your desired level and mods you think you can play with, not under neither higher).

And, as you said, if now its possible to set "trials", "masters" and "zana portals" in maps, everything that its gated behind a portal that opens a new instance could be afordable without any extra investment (other than tunning the monsters to the new level, and I think this happens most of times automatically using some kind of function lol) :)

And dont forget that corruption should mean anything else other than +2 annoying afixes, adding an optional dungeon is pretty and nicy=again with allmost zero work (only need to work 3 more vaal side areas for the nonexisting tilesets) :)

Link the "map vaal side areas" to a chance to get corrupted jelly from the vessel (maps, a corrupted rare, those corrupted rigwald amulets etc.) and I think lots of players will do it ;)

Ah, so you mean the "This map includes a corrupted side area" would be an affix?

That would make it considerably harder to get, since corrupted items cannot be rerolled, but it might be a good idea as well, so the market doesn't suddenly get flooded with sacrifice fragments and/or Atziri items.

Or just make the following: putting sac frag alongside with a map into a map device gives you not only +5% quantity but also a 50%... what the hell, why not even 100% chance for this map to have a vaal area with the same arealevel as map itself. Vaal areas from "pure" frags are quickly becoming bland, you have zero incentive to clear them because they are lv68.

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gibbousmoon wrote:

Ah, so you mean the "This map includes a corrupted side area" would be an affix?

Good question, let me think about (I must add this consideration in the top, its very important).

This is an option (vaal side area as mod), the other is that "corrupted" means intrinsically the area has a vaal side area, the third is to add it as granted extra mod (ninth) when you get eight "core" mods this way you ansure vaal side area has the propper challenge and not easy doable by automated "players".

About chances of sac fragments, those could be rearanged by adding new rewards to +70ilv vaal side areas. Example.

Zone Normal and cruel: vaal gems.
Zone Merciless: sac fragments.
Zone Map "corrupted": small chance of vaal gem, slighlty less sac fragments, interesing vessel only corrupted items, corrupted maps.

Anyway, I dont think "sacrifice" stocks will break because:
+ you still have to run the map (with many mods oftenly, plus the vaal side one in the bonus area).
+ sac farmers get pieces easier doing endless ledges or another linear wild area where you dont have to check the corners but this is not so much "mind" rewarding :c.
+ You have to spent at least 1 vaal orb by sac fragment (and loot not ensured). Using the vaal orb is good to "find fast" a vaal side area and get some extra loots, but a bit expensive if you plan only to farm fragments.