4Game

I have 700 hours in Valheim and on day 430 in my main playthrough when I decided I was ready to enter the Mistlands, 2 days later I quit. Before I say why, let me clarify I have no problem with games being challenging, but some, including Mistlands, mistake deliberately frustrating for challenging.

I went into mistlands with maxed out padded and black metal gear, the best food and potions. I can handle a couple of seekers OK, can whittle a soldier down, but will take damage from all of them because of the knockback mechanic. I can handle a 1 star if I have room to maneuver, but if I pull too many or encounter a 2 star then I have to run cos there is no chance. This seems fine and fairly balanced.

So the solution to this is I need better gear to increase survivability, and here is the main problem with Mistlands and where it is badly balanced.

To craft the next tier you need to go into Infested Mines. In here the knockback combined with zero room to maneuver means that if open up a section with too many mobs you have to run, if you can't you will definitely die despite how well you can block and fight. If you encounter a 2 star, then that's it, you can progress no further that way. If you die the liklihood you can recover your gear is low.

Despite my growing frustration I ground my way through 6 or 7 mines and had enough cores to craft a refinery and forge, only to find out the next tier of weapon and shield is much lower quality than my maxed out black metal gear and armor only shows a significant improvement at level 3 or 4. By the time you get the gear to a standard you need, there is no reason to go back into the mines.

The most jarring thing here is that throughout the game as I progressed to a new biome, it was very challenging but fair and importantly, fun. Mistlands doesn't feel like this. The combination of enemy ability and environment that was so well done in previous biomes strays from difficult to frustrating. When my forge was built and it came time to gather resources I found that I couldn't face it, I wasn't having fun in Mistlands, I didn't want to spend time in a place where I couldn't see anything or feel like the difficulty was based on my own ability and progression, so I quit, and it feels like a huge shame.

As for the actual mist in the Mistlands I'm still unsure as to how well its implemented, I can't shake the feeling that it's there for frustrations sake.

EDIT: Most people were right, although some were more constructive about it. I didnt like the environment of the Mistland so was pretty down on it and wanted to just power through using the same tactics and weapons I'd used in all the other biomes. I tried to just hit it head on which didn't work and only made my frustration worse. Simple things like switching to an atgier made it much easier and not trying to tank the whole thing, which up till now, had worked ok. Never game when fed up people.