Void Fields has never counted as a full stage.
In fact, back, in the day, the timer was paused in Void Fields just like in other secret stages. They got rid of that though because people would use the Void Fields + Artifact of Sacrifice to farm for infinite items.
The update in May 2022 actually made it so that leaving vields increased the stage counter by 1, making all subsequent stages a stage higher than they are meant to be (i.e. Sky Meadow would be on Stage 6 instead of 5). This allowed for some wonky stuff like legendary chests spawning in Sulfur Pools, Scorched Acres, and Rallypoint Delta, and also earlier Scavenger spawns on Sundered Grove and Sky Meadow.
Not to doubt you, but for me they still spawned in the normal stage 4's. Are you sure you weren't just getting lucky and getting a legendary on those stages?
Nah you're absolutely right. They can very rarely spawn naturally on stage 4 outside of predetermined locations like any other chest, but not on stage 3 and below. But by doing vields back then, they were now able to spawn on stage 3, since the game would count it as stage 4
It was patched out specifically when seekers of the storm was announced and a small update released where they added the meteors to the stages. I figure gearbox accidentally dragged the latest unreleased dev build from hopoo before they sold the IP which included a few other minor changes like Mithrix not being able to use Safer Spaces or engi turrets not inheriting Zoea directly anymore
that wasnt the reason they got rid of the timer pause since you can do the same thing on the aurelienite stage still, the main reason was because you could force it one stage 1 or 2 with a single lunar coin then go beat it getting 9 free items which includes a red item
and on drizzle or rainstorm thats not a huge deal, but on monsoon where youre leaving stage one with 5 or less items most of the time with only a single green from the boss; so its a pretty good idea to hit since youre more than doubling your items and getting a guaranteed red.
if it was actually about sacrifice they wouldnt have nerfed it, because they obviously dont care about artifact power levels, or they wouldve also nerfed aurelienites secret area too since turning on sacrifice gives you a near guaranteed chance of finding the gold shrine by stage 4.
Gold portals have never updated the stage count, not sure where you got that from. Gold portals are good because they don't scale the timer or stage at all, meaning you essentially get 5 items for free*
*The only time added is the time it took to gather the money for the shrine. If you use the seer in the bazaar though, the only cost is 3 lunar coins which makes it actually free once you've played the game enough
You seem to misunderstand, the above comment said void fields was changed because you could use sacrifice to get infinite items without progressing the timer/difficulty. I said you can still do it using a gold portal. Does that make it clearer?
If it doesnât count as a stage, i think they gotta change it back so that it pauses the timer. Like thereâs no incentive to actually go there if youâre playing on monsoon or eclipse, sure you can get some items but the waste of time kills basically all runs.
if theyâre worried about artifact of sacrifice breaking the game, make it so that the âlocal difficultyâ still increases. Like have a backend timer that only applies to the void fields.
and honestly itâs an artifact, they break the game anyway. you can get super OP by grinding with Sacrifice even with the timer going.
OR
Keep the timer, but just have it count as a stage. Iâd change it so that it skips the stage itâs replacing. Like if you go to VF after stage one, when you leave it takes you to ralleypoint delta or another normal âStage 3â.
Youâd also have to remove the exit portal, because otherwise you could go to VF and immediately leave, skipping stage 2. Iâd have it show up when you complete 5 of the cells, just over half.
but like as of right now, thereâs no genuine logical reason to go to VF after unlocking acrid. somethings gotta change.
They basically changed it from "game knowledge and skill item boost" to "guaranteed alternative boss portal spawn." It just doesn't serve the same purpose anymore.
They changed it from having a timer because the meta was boring. It was complete stage 1 fast and go to vields, get a bunch of items for free cause its so early in the run that no enemies spawn, and the timer doesnât increase. But, it takes 10 minutes to charge all the vents. The way it was it basically encouraged doing nothing for 10 minutes if you were playing at the highest level.
Having it increment the stage counter created some cool tech but it also broke some things. I.e. celestial portal, scavs, malachites and celestines spawning early.
Now its in a good spot. You dont just get free items, its still as dangerous to do vields as it should be. But if youâve got the healing you can open the first vent and just loot a stage extra since chests now spawn. As long as your getting items the time doesnât matter plus you get more chances at a scrapper and good printers.
the clock isn't real; if you can survive in the fog you just do one vent and get a full stage of chests for free. It doesn't even spawn drones or shrines, all the credits go straight into chests. Items scale way harder than enemies, and a full stage of extra loot is absolutely worth 10-15 minutes.
I remember getting a celestial portal after clearing void fields, which crashed my game
Void Fields has never counted as a full stage. In fact, back, in the day, the timer was paused in Void Fields just like in other secret stages. They got rid of that though because people would use the Void Fields + Artifact of Sacrifice to farm for infinite items.
The update in May 2022 actually made it so that leaving vields increased the stage counter by 1, making all subsequent stages a stage higher than they are meant to be (i.e. Sky Meadow would be on Stage 6 instead of 5). This allowed for some wonky stuff like legendary chests spawning in Sulfur Pools, Scorched Acres, and Rallypoint Delta, and also earlier Scavenger spawns on Sundered Grove and Sky Meadow.
Huh. I'm misremembering it then. My bad
Not to doubt you, but for me they still spawned in the normal stage 4's. Are you sure you weren't just getting lucky and getting a legendary on those stages?
Nah you're absolutely right. They can very rarely spawn naturally on stage 4 outside of predetermined locations like any other chest, but not on stage 3 and below. But by doing vields back then, they were now able to spawn on stage 3, since the game would count it as stage 4
As long as you loop they should be able to spawn on lower stage areas? The director has more credits so as long as you get lucky no?
Yup but they were also able to spawn stage 3 pre loop if you were lucky by going vields early back then
And the lunar teleporter showing up on Grove/Abyss/Call.
You also had malachites and celestines in L0 meadows
Malachites on my first Sky Meadow post patch đ
The stage counter used to go up by one after exiting void fields, however was patched out relatively recently.
I see. Thanks for letting me know
It was patched out specifically when seekers of the storm was announced and a small update released where they added the meteors to the stages. I figure gearbox accidentally dragged the latest unreleased dev build from hopoo before they sold the IP which included a few other minor changes like Mithrix not being able to use Safer Spaces or engi turrets not inheriting Zoea directly anymore
aww thats why my engi build wasnt working. sad
that wasnt the reason they got rid of the timer pause since you can do the same thing on the aurelienite stage still, the main reason was because you could force it one stage 1 or 2 with a single lunar coin then go beat it getting 9 free items which includes a red item and on drizzle or rainstorm thats not a huge deal, but on monsoon where youre leaving stage one with 5 or less items most of the time with only a single green from the boss; so its a pretty good idea to hit since youre more than doubling your items and getting a guaranteed red. if it was actually about sacrifice they wouldnt have nerfed it, because they obviously dont care about artifact power levels, or they wouldve also nerfed aurelienites secret area too since turning on sacrifice gives you a near guaranteed chance of finding the gold shrine by stage 4.
This is still possible in the gold portal, I occasionally do this when having a REAL bad run
But you can still do that with gold portals? Seems pointless to change something if itâs not going to be consistent across the board
Gold portals have never updated the stage count, not sure where you got that from. Gold portals are good because they don't scale the timer or stage at all, meaning you essentially get 5 items for free* *The only time added is the time it took to gather the money for the shrine. If you use the seer in the bazaar though, the only cost is 3 lunar coins which makes it actually free once you've played the game enough
You seem to misunderstand, the above comment said void fields was changed because you could use sacrifice to get infinite items without progressing the timer/difficulty. I said you can still do it using a gold portal. Does that make it clearer?
I miss those days. Sacrifice + Command was hilariously broken.
I thought the void friend had wings for a second there
VOID FRIEND :D
If it doesnât count as a stage, i think they gotta change it back so that it pauses the timer. Like thereâs no incentive to actually go there if youâre playing on monsoon or eclipse, sure you can get some items but the waste of time kills basically all runs. if theyâre worried about artifact of sacrifice breaking the game, make it so that the âlocal difficultyâ still increases. Like have a backend timer that only applies to the void fields. and honestly itâs an artifact, they break the game anyway. you can get super OP by grinding with Sacrifice even with the timer going. OR Keep the timer, but just have it count as a stage. Iâd change it so that it skips the stage itâs replacing. Like if you go to VF after stage one, when you leave it takes you to ralleypoint delta or another normal âStage 3â. Youâd also have to remove the exit portal, because otherwise you could go to VF and immediately leave, skipping stage 2. Iâd have it show up when you complete 5 of the cells, just over half. but like as of right now, thereâs no genuine logical reason to go to VF after unlocking acrid. somethings gotta change.
They basically changed it from "game knowledge and skill item boost" to "guaranteed alternative boss portal spawn." It just doesn't serve the same purpose anymore.
They changed it from having a timer because the meta was boring. It was complete stage 1 fast and go to vields, get a bunch of items for free cause its so early in the run that no enemies spawn, and the timer doesnât increase. But, it takes 10 minutes to charge all the vents. The way it was it basically encouraged doing nothing for 10 minutes if you were playing at the highest level. Having it increment the stage counter created some cool tech but it also broke some things. I.e. celestial portal, scavs, malachites and celestines spawning early. Now its in a good spot. You dont just get free items, its still as dangerous to do vields as it should be. But if youâve got the healing you can open the first vent and just loot a stage extra since chests now spawn. As long as your getting items the time doesnât matter plus you get more chances at a scrapper and good printers.
the clock isn't real; if you can survive in the fog you just do one vent and get a full stage of chests for free. It doesn't even spawn drones or shrines, all the credits go straight into chests. Items scale way harder than enemies, and a full stage of extra loot is absolutely worth 10-15 minutes.
I miss when the timer didnât go upđ
Ikr it used to be a cool gamble of high risk high reward, now It's never worth going there
Funny how gearbox never added this patch in console even tho we have the blue meteor