Originally posted by Mike:

So here is my first experience since the new patch. First of all i have to mention, that i did one entire solo and 2 co-op runs with my girlfriend before this new patch. Today after the update, we decided to do a fresh co-op run incl. fresh characters. This time actually with 2 more people, so we were 4.

First we were positive on the new food variety during the early game. Most of us ended up using the boar, deer and the neck meat. we quickly noticed, that something is off in terms of stamina. No matter what you used, it felt awful and even with a knife you ran out way too fast. Yes, by now i know that we should have used at least one kind of stamina based food, so we gonna imrove on that next session. But i believe there could be something fundamentally off.

But here comes the kicker for me: I ususally like playing the tanky route, means as much HP as possible and a round shield to parry the shi* out of everything and their grandma. During all the previous playthroughs, solo and co-op, i had literally 0 deaths on my counter and felt comfortable with that way to play the game.

During our first session today, we engaged our frist 0 star troll. Brave and secure as i usually am in my playstyle and after almost 300 hours playing this game, i engaged this troll for my team so they can shoot him from afar. This time i actually decided to take a tower shield instead, since i heard that a lot of HP and some other tower shield specific changes, will make them more viable. So to come to the point, i was walking into the trolls face with a fully upgraded wooden tower shield, leather armor, a filled stamina bar of 60 and a HP bar that was around 120, expecting in my wildest dreams that maybe 15-30 damage come through. No, i received over 70 damage THROUGH my shield, as if i would not even have one in front of me. I also did not even receive any stagger on my character and immediately ran away from him. The newly implemented AI pathing did the rest and he followed me straight into a formation of trees, that would have saved me before, because the troll had to walk around them. Realising that, i started to panic and additionally got stuck on a single bush that was in my way.

Needless to say i was a little disgruntled to receive my first death in Valheim like this. Yes, it is early access and im going to hope for changes and also test a lot more to re-find my playstyle. But god, this felt awful. And now i kinda fear for the higher tiers in terms of enjoyment, heck, even for the enjoyment of the whole game.

Did you raise your blocking skill before hand? I bet it effects how much you block just like others effect how much damage you do.