Originally posted by Jogo:

Extra points from me for mountains and plains for "You are being hunted" (biome-specific random event). It remains a challenge even when you're strolling around in endgame gear (unless you choose to cheese it) and it can easily catch you off guard if it occurs when it's not a good time.

That's what the Bonemass forsaken power is for. Its included in the game so its not cheesing. I had trouble with that too until I had that "well duh" moment. Now its not an issue.

Swamp and Mountains are where the game gets addictive.

Best to worst for me is Plains, Mountains, Meadows, Mistlands and Black forest. I think everyone can agree mistlands just isnt fun, the fog made it very ugly and the terrain is what really makes it a bad experience, when coupled with the games poor hitbox problem (for the player, obviously this doesn't apply to seekers with their generous attack hitboxes). I really do feel like Mistlands is a sore spot and hopefully not going to be repeated again with the next two biomes.

Black forest is a biome that is in severe need of an overhaul, it's boring, and there's little reason to come back later once you're done with it unless you need core wood. Copper mining is also awful and a very bad first impression of the game, taking significantly longer to get the amount you need compared to all biome metals after it, just so you can make the worst metal equipment in the game. Also terrible for sailing since there's always rediculous amounts of rocks on the shores.

Originally posted by Reften:

...
Plus, being wet, going through water, just isn't fun. It's very cool, but I think there needs to be more added to the game to help get through water. And that boss fight is brutal....mainly due to running around in water without a way to improve speed in water. I enjoy the dungeon, but after digging through muck for the 100th time and searching for dungeons, it does get a little old. One add of an ability or something to help get through water quicker would make a HUGE difference

It already exists. It's called a hoe. Level ground works any place that is shallow enough to have cattails. Otherwise, drop a bench and raise ground. Works great on the boss arena too.

calling every zone too hard .... makes this hard to agree with.
I find that the swamp, for example, is probably the best biome... its a challenge, which the black forest only barely accomplished, and it has a resource worth getting loads of, which the mountains badly fail at and to a lesser degree the mistlands as well. That leaves the plains and the swamp as the best for me, with honorable mention to all biomes except mistlands for beauty and variation. I think its OK to have the mountains be a bit of 'go there get silver and done' sparseness because they were never the final biome available. Making the mistlands that way feels like 6 months of derp coming our way, though. I mean I will hit it for some rabbit & marble and things here and there, but not often. Ive got what I needed, and the mist & mountains annoy me.

Extra points from me for mountains and plains for "You are being hunted" (biome-specific random event). It remains a challenge even when you're strolling around in endgame gear (unless you choose to cheese it) and it can easily catch you off guard if it occurs when it's not a good time.

Originally posted by Jogo:

Extra points from me for mountains and plains for "You are being hunted" (biome-specific random event). It remains a challenge even when you're strolling around in endgame gear (unless you choose to cheese it) and it can easily catch you off guard if it occurs when it's not a good time.

waaa? Never ran into this!

Originally posted by Jogo:

Extra points from me for mountains and plains for "You are being hunted" (biome-specific random event). It remains a challenge even when you're strolling around in endgame gear (unless you choose to cheese it) and it can easily catch you off guard if it occurs when it's not a good time.

yuup,got me in a bad situation, lucky that they also attracted a golem and so the mayem starts

plains is easily #1, beautiful biome to build in and the music is nice too. Plus blackmetal is by far the easiest metal to farm, really doesn’t feel like you’re grinding for anything in the plains

1. Swamp. Enemies are varied in their ways of approaching you in combat. You have your humanoid melee and archer enemies. You have your bouncy, brainlessly stalking oozes. You have your sneaky wraiths. You have your large and speedy abominations.
The terrain is tricky in that you actually have to put some thought in how you navigate through it. The rain is a fair check to make sure you that you aren't taking half-measures when preparing your character. The only thing that sucks is when you need to go back to it to upgrade your blackmetal stuff and everything is weak as hell. But that is an overarching problem the game has with its absurd power-curve.

2. Plains. The most beautiful in my opinion. It has one of the only threatening bosses in the game. It doesn't outstay its welcome as blackmetal is easy to come by. It doles out rewards at a more satisfying rate than other biomes in my opinion. Needles are fun to collect and look cool when you fire them back at your enemies.

3. Mountains. It has enemies like wolves and fenrings who can counter your ability to step slightly backwards. Drakes are fun archery targets. Snowfall looks awesome. Something about running down their huge outer slopes after a successful expedition really gives the endorphins a kick.

4. Meadows. A neat introduction to the game. Teaches most of what you need to know very quickly. Perfect place to build a main home of course. The boss is too cool to be an underpowered tutorial boss but oh well. It is a neat touch that further out meadows can contain hazards like draugr villages. It loses points because one of the unfortunate consequences of doing what it is supposed to do, is that it is easy and brief. Deer hunting is kind of relaxing and I wish all of the biomes had this cat&mouse element in some form.

5. Mistlands. One nice thing is that it feels like more production value went into it than the majority of content that was there at the start of early access. But it exacerbates most of what I already didn't like about the game. It doesn't have enough content to justify how long it takes to grind out its expected progression path. And more severely than ever, enemies grossly outmatch you statistically, while also being to stupid to do anything. Its soft-barrier against sequence-breaking is also not what I would call a playful kind of frustrating. It doesn't up the ante with skill demands, just gear demands.

6. Black Forest. A very easy last place for me. It is a ridiculously long tutorial biome in a game that already has a perfectly serviceable tutorial biome. There is nothing I find fun about picking away at a dark hole in the ground while nothing can possibly throw a spanner into the works. Greydwarves and skeletons are ankle-biting pests.
Trolls are a cool spectacle and using them to bypass the need for an antler pickaxe is a feature that sounds fun on paper, but as a threat they are nearly as disappointing as everything else. They are ultimately just bigger pests.
It isn't just three times as much digging that needs to be done in this biome in order to get relevant metals for gear; you also need three times as much coal. You learn in this biome that in order to get said coal, you need to spend a load of time chopping wood and waiting for it to process in the furnace. This process that the game wastes so much time drilling into your gameplay loop becomes totally worthless for the entire remainder of the game once you get to the next biome and find a surtling geyser or two.

Seriously black forest nearly made me miss out on what came after. It has definitely deterred replays. It only kind of makes sense from a standpoint that this is the sort of game that you only play through once then never again. It has never been explained to me why survival games need to be stretched to MMO length. I thought retaining players in that way was all about raking up money from subscriptions and micro-sales.

Edit: Okay that last sentence makes it sound like I forgot that the game can be played in more ways than just solo, which for a second I did. Not going to remove it. Just owning up to a mistake. Still hate black forest.

Originally posted by Cooperal:

6. Black Forest. A very easy last place for me. It is a ridiculously long tutorial biome in a game that already has a perfectly serviceable tutorial biome. There is nothing I find fun about picking away at a dark hole in the ground while nothing can possibly throw a spanner into the works. Greydwarves and skeletons are ankle-biting pests.
Trolls are a cool spectacle and using them to bypass the need for an antler pickaxe is a feature that sounds fun on paper, but as a threat they are nearly as disappointing as everything else. They are ultimately just bigger pests.
It isn't just three times as much digging that needs to be done in this biome in order to get relevant metals for gear; you also need three times as much coal. You learn in this biome that in order to get said coal, you need to spend a load of time chopping wood and waiting for it to process in the furnace. This process that the game wastes so much time drilling into your gameplay loop becomes totally worthless for the entire remainder of the game once you get to the next biome and find a surtling geyser or two.

Seriously black forest nearly made me miss out on what came after. It has definitely deterred replays. It only kind of makes sense from a standpoint that this is the sort of game that you only play through once then never again. It has never been explained to me why survival games need to be stretched to MMO length. I thought retaining players in that way was all about raking up money from subscriptions and micro-sales.

Edit: Okay that last sentence makes it sound like I forgot that the game can be played in more ways than just solo, which for a second I did. Not going to remove it. Just owning up to a mistake. Still hate black forest.

Ooof, i dunno, Black Forest, at Night, with the illuminated weeds (forget their name), skeleton eyes...a brute around the corner that can off ya. Troll caves are a little weak, could have done more here. I think if you hit the meadows hard and get all your gear n food really up and then are cautious at the beginning...yeah Black Forest and be crazy easy. But overall, the look and feel and gameplay in Black Forest is my favorite. Going from that to swamp is when sh!t gets real.....

I like the Black Forest, but I agree that the digging isn't fun. ..although there's no real need to dig that much. Troll armour, Flint spear and a bow serves you well enough in the Swamp, plus a bronze axe. Some digging is necessary, but I suppose they could reduce the bronze armour cost to make it more viable.

I think the difficulty level is pretty good in all biomes, but it's tough to know since we all go into them with different weapons, armours and skills. If it's too hard - I know I need to upgrade my gear, which I'm often lagging behind with. Right now I think the abominations are a bit too weak (using a bronze axe very viable) while I have to cheese the stone golems with my Iron Sledge.

i wouldn't call any of them to hard but i would say a few of them have wicked learning curves except for the whole to not freeze in the mountains you need ore and pelt exclusive to the freezing mountains but the mead's can alleviate most issues generally.

Originally posted by Dulgrim Grudgebearer:

i wouldn't call any of them to hard but i would say a few of them have wicked learning curves except for the whole to not freeze in the mountains you need ore and pelt exclusive to the freezing mountains but the mead's can alleviate most issues generally.

^This. People with good twitch reflexes will find most of the game too easy. Everyone else can improve through practice, observation, and leveling up of some of the skills.

My very first playthrough I got killed in the meadows because I didn't know what I was doing. Now in biome appropriate gear I don't die at all unless I make a foolish mistake except in Mistlands and that's because I'm still learning how to play there.

I don't have good reflexes any more because of a stroke I suffered 9 years ago but with enough time and practice I can learn how to play and survive in just about any game including all the biomes in Valheim. Each biome is different from all the others that's what keeps the game interesting.

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Originally posted by Dulgrim Grudgebearer:

i wouldn't call any of them to hard but i would say a few of them have wicked learning curves except for the whole to not freeze in the mountains you need ore and pelt exclusive to the freezing mountains but the mead's can alleviate most issues generally.

^This. People with good twitch reflexes will find most of the game too easy. Everyone else can improve through practice, observation, and leveling up of some of the skills.

My very first playthrough I got killed in the meadows because I didn't know what I was doing. Now in biome appropriate gear I don't die at all unless I make a foolish mistake except in Mistlands and that's because I'm still learning how to play there.

I don't have good reflexes any more because of a stroke I suffered 9 years ago but with enough time and practice I can learn how to play and survive in just about any game including all the biomes in Valheim. Each biome is different from all the others that's what keeps the game interesting.

when it comes to combat i have a marginal advantage as i have played a lot of soulsborne stuff so combat rolling and spacing is a specialty.