Update 12 – let this be the one

I’m really looking forward to update 12 now. Not so much for the challenge system or some of the items that seems to solve some gear ‘needs’ that I have, but because it also arrives with some nice additions.
First and foremost the devs have realized that the triple punishment of more HP, more fortification and no additional reward is bad Karma for Elite and Epic runs. It’s like being slapped three times just because there are people out there geared and TR’d to the hilt that are running bored by the fact that everything seems easy.
So the devs in turn lowered the HP somewhat, kept the Fortification and increased the reward. This is excellent since I don’t mind the fort since they have also added ways to lower fort, but now the HP grind doesn’t seem so relentless. And shroud as an example will drop a extra chest on hard (in the end of part 5) and Elite 2. Both can drop mats. And that’s awesome. Plus the end reward will now offer a lot of other things instead of just random vendor trash.
I’m excited now to run shroud elite. I actually don’t care if we fail or if I end up running it on my FvS and have to drink pots.
Plus they added new items to Hound and VoD and I think increased the drop rates on Elite. To think that the most difficult settings should offer unique items and rewards?
This is just plain smart and a great way of making sure that there’s a carrot other than doing it for possible tomes (such as the reason is for a lot of people running Hound and VoD on hard). And now +1 and +2 tomes will drop a couple of levels down and +3 tomes is going to start dropping in higher end chests. These are all good news.
No more reason to hesitate TRing because you’re worried about losing those valuable +3 Tomes. Just grind out a set by running upper end quests and it’s all good.
And no more worrying about spending resources running shroud on Elite; now you will have 2 chances to pull large mats and other stuff. Here’s looking at you greensteel items, materials and or possible stone of cleansing.
We won’t know until enough people run shroud on Lam or when it goes live, but even if it’s only shards and large materials it’s still a terrific idea.