Why everyone misses Niko and not Alva or Einhar.

As you may be aware, there are a number of threads on the front page and have been for the last few days complaining that Niko doesn't show up enough and doesn't give enough Sulphite when he does.

And no equivalent threads for the other masters.

The reason for that is that Delve is structured differently from the other league content.

Incursion and Bestiary are both transitory. When you complete a set of incursions the whole temple resets and you start again. Progressing in the actual bestiary doesn't do anything other than unlocking new crafting recipes. The content for those masters are also levelled to the area they're found in.

But Delve has a context of ongoing progression like the Atlas and has its own level curve. That means that progress in Delve is more meaningful than the other content, and so when you don't get to do it for a long time because Niko isn't showing up not only are you missing out on doing a thing that feels like ongoing progression, but also when you do get to go back to it it's unrewarding because you've outlevelled the point where you left off.

Outlevelling it also doesn't really make you progress any better in it because it's gated by sulphite not your ability to clear faster or better.


In light of this, Niko really needs to be upgraded to even more permanent content. Delving should be similar in status to the Atlas, because it has a similar sense of satisfying progression. (And yeah, put in some big bads down there so we can delve too deep, what's the point of digging if there's no Fun at the bottom.)

TL;DR every map should have one Sulphite vein. Amount given and held should be balanced so that if you're roughly at the monster level in Delving that you're in in maps you do one delve for every two or three maps.

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feuerwelle wrote:

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Same. +1

Best post I've seen today.

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Read this GGG!

I would say that Delve has an even more lasting progress and it's a better end game mechanic than atlas, because once you kill Uber Elder, you've done it all.

Ya man, buff sulphite gain :p

People don't miss Einhar and Alva because the temple is a free map every X maps and Einhar is about 7 good recipes hidden amongst 100 bad/irrelevant ones.

Delve actually functions as extra content :p

that aside I do actually just agree with the OP's summary I just felt like a dig at einhar and alva being compared, especially einhar i've had 1 beast portal so far everything else has been largely useless. Luckily his voice actings so entertaining I love him turning up anyway even if he gave me nothing!

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Love all the azurite/sulphite updates GGG has done recently to optimize delving experience in a league where you don't get sulphite every map.

However, Niko's spawn should be a lot more frequent.

The added content is what kept player retention so high in Delve. Honestly, after hitting level 92 and doing all the endgame content, I'm feeling pretty burnt out on this league.

Probably wouldn't be the same if I had more sulphite to work with and keep pushing my delve level.

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This is a very well thought out argument and definitly one of my issues with the delve content. It wasn't so much i couldn't delve it was that for the longest time delves trailed my atlas progress by 5 or more levels (still 2 levels below my current farm tier...) and thus felt very much off. And thats from someone who rarely* buys maps (the odd daily only) i imagine it must be even worse for those who rocket straight to reds.

Of course i also welcome more delve in general.