ENDLESS™ Legend - Shifters DLC

The third DLCs to Endless Legends introduces a new playable faction containing the elusive Allayi of legend who have survived the dustwars, a new system for the seasons to interact with as well as a new resource, pearls, that are closely tied to winter and contribute a new Altar of Auriga mechanic that can bestow blessings upon your cities, armies and beyond. The Allayi are a fun faction that are focused around pearls (the new resource) and can predict the winter precisely giving them an edge over the other factions. They also have the ability to shift between a light and a dark form that give them changes to playstyle as well as stats, usually they stick to the light form in the summer and the dark during the winter, but with tech they can shift it manually making them very versatile. They are also highly mobile as well as fearsome warriors making them perfect for a hit and run playstyle. Shifters is a really strong DLC and one well worth getting if you like the base game. It might complicate things a bit with the added layers of resources and seasonal cycles but if you have mastered the base game it adds more of a dynamic system on top of an already great game. Personally I have put a lot of hours into the Allayi and even I can easily say they are among my top 5 picks for favorite faction to throw into the fray. Highly recommended for all Endless Legend enjoyers out there.

One of the best expansions, in my opinion. The race is fine, it's kinda cool that it is very mobile. This comes up especially if you also have some of the additional quests DLC's that make you travel to far flung corners of the map to complete them. I suppose maybe they added those quests specifically to make this faction more competitive since I've seen people say they are under powered in multiplayer. (I couldn't say because I only play multiplayer cooperatively) But the best part of this expansions is the Altar of Auriga and Pearls. Pearls are a new resource that shows up in winter and can be sacrificed at the Altar of Auriga for a variety of bonuses. Some of the bonuses are nice little boosts but some feel so necessary you almost look forward to winter. Winter and Dust Eclipses (from a later expansion) add such a nice change of pace to the game, and whereas winter originally mostly put on the breaks, with this expansion it's much more interesting and dynamic.

This is probably the best expansion for EL so far (which in no way relects on the other expansions as they all have been of great quality and added to the game) The new winter mechanics really add to the depths of the game. The winter always felt to me like it had more potential but always was a bit underwhelming in terms of design. Whereas before winter generally was dull and marred with hurdles to both economy and combat, with this expansion the winters start becoming fun and something to look forward to. The new faction is very unique and fun to play. I am continually impressed by the thoughts and designs that go into this game and the Allayi are definitely one of those unforgettable races. I don't think I ever encountered a similar mechanic in another 4X game. The units are great and well balanced, the new Skyfin is a unique and fun explorer/collector unit that is unlike anything else. The developers have done a great job with this expansion. Everyone who owns EL should get this, and hopefully this will mean more great quality expansions in the future.

If you enjoy EL, do yourself a favor and get this. New faction, with a new set of rules (When it comes to the winter season, and finding 'Pearls') The Skyfin is awesome as it buffs your armies, and travels long distances to easily search ruins. I have all the DLC and this one stands out as the best one.

This DLC is for the fans who want a new playstyle which the Allayi deliver. They are a slow race to grow and are reliant on a new resource of "pearls" which you collect all over the world map. Basically you will need to have one of their flying scout units roaming the map at all the times. As the game drags on you will have more pearls to spend on their winter upgrades and unique items&buildings. Soon the Allayi will really shine in the winter by ignoring the debuff and the Allayi players in the game can spend pearls to vote on an extra debuff for winter. If I had to classify the Allayi, I would say they win with their economy - they don't have big bonuses, but they do penalise all the non-Allayi players. Also, I've noticed the AI has become more passive-aggressive: the AI will start fights with your units when you come near their border in the cold-war state. I would say it makes the game more interesting except as an Allayi player you need roaming armies. So it's incredibly frustrating having your single unit flying scouts picked off and sometimes even your 4/5/6 unit armies ambushed by multiple AI units.

Of the 3 expansions (Guardians, Shadows, and now Shifters), this is by far my favorite. Guardians added a few interesting ideas, but was ultimately not very impactful, and while I enjoyed the spying system of Shadows, The Forgotten are currently in need of an economic buff. The Shifters DLC has finally added a well balanced faction to the game, along with the added bonus of a unique mechanic. The pearls of Auriga and the freezing of lakes has changed winter from a time of turtling and reduction of losses, to a time where you can harvest a valuable rescource and utilize a new lane of attack. While I personally believe that the Allayi, the new faction, could use a small reduction to their penalties to growth and expansion disapproval, as well as changing their hero from ranged to support, they are an overall well balanced faction with a truly unique play style. They have few cities, low population, and their summer-time abilities leave a little to be desired. But, they are masters at pearl gathering/usage, have the best scout/search unit in the game, and are extremely efficient at blitzkrieg winter stikes. All in all, this is the best expansion yet, and brings some great changes to the game.

Have been playing all night now and i think it is time to give a well deserved thumbs up. Here is why: I really felt the AI changed in battle and on the map. Some examples: I was stealing pearls within the borders of the AI and they really dont like that. First they complain, later they close borders to protect their pearls. It´s really cool. While i was fighting an enemy army consisting of melee and ranged units, they placed the ranged units behind a choke point on a hill. The melee unit was in front and kinda tried to keep us away. It was a bit too far from the choke point but that tactic has potential to make Archers/AI/Battles great again ;) The New content feels really refreshing. It gives the Game a nice boost and winter actually serves a purpose now. It really hurts now to be slow and not able to gather pearls as fast as others. It can be quite the advantage to have many pearls. But it doesnt feel unbalanced it is just another way of playing. But what it does to the player is: you have to get out, scout, send fast troops (hello all of a sudden usefull winter cavalryunit) to get pearls and ruins and evade marauding troops. There is stuff to do now and it is actually really fun to race for the pearls. The AI seems however sometimes a bit suicidal :) Not sure why, but in my current game an equal looking army attacked mine, and failed miserably because my troops had basically really expensive weaponry and equipment and theirs obviously not. I did 3-5 times the dmg. Not sure why, but i guess they still can´t handle upgrading troops properly. Or there is a little glitch in evaluating battle chances. However on other occassions i saw them stacking up troops like crazy to hunt down my pearl hunters :) The AI really seems to be bothered by them...it is rather merciless and tries to get you asap. Also you can pray now for some stuff that affects winter. So basically you can spend pearls to effect how bad winter is gonna get or what negative/positive thing will happen. All AI/Players can and the more you pray the more likely it is you get what you prayed for. Cool idea, i think in MP this can be quite fun. Apart from the gazillion bugfixes they also implemented with this release i have to say...big thumbs up. I can only recommend and it is introducing so many refreshing new things it does not feel like a "Rip Off money maker DLC" it is actually a real expansion. WELL DONE AMPLITUDE, WELL DONE!!

When an expansion for Endless Legends comes out, I'm like a sugar-starved child in front of a jar of cookies : I pick it up and munch on its content, no questions asked. So please, do not consider this evil red thumb as a definite "avoid this content" sign, and I shall explain why. The DLC can be broken down to two major additions : the new game mechanic (the Pearls) and the faction taking the most advantage of it, the Allayi. Firstly, the pearls. New nodes of pearls appear after the beginning of each winter, awaiting to be gathered (if you steal pearls in another civilization's territory, as expected, they will really not like it- and in diplomatic exchanges, they value the pearls quite a bit too much. 1000 dust for ONE pearl ? No deal, man !). Pearls have three functions : 1) Once you have constructed the Altar of Auriga, you can "pray" by spending pearls to choose one of three effects to be applied during the next winter. The choice with the most "prayers" will be active. A nice little tweak, possibly favouring yourselve and hampering the others ! 2) You can unlock "blessings" by spending pearls- in other words, extra techs and buildings. On paper, more possibilities is neat. Ingame, what you can unlock probably won't make much of a difference. Accessories and armors made of pearls ? Quite weak, except maybe early game, and then only the Allayi shall gather enough pearls at this point in time. No vision penalty for buildings during winter ? Marginal bonus. The new towers providing "retalation effects" when ennemy armies attack on your territory ? Doesn't slow down a serious invasion. While they are on or two great innovations (like the building giving +10 industry on river tiles during winter), generally speaking, it doesn't motivate to pick pearls. 3) Linked to the blessings, some buildings and equipement need pearls to be made. Now, for the Allayi. Quite a curious race, they are. For the bad part, they have 150% expansion disapproval and need 100% more food to go up a level in population. The catch ? Their units move normally during winter (when they shift form and are more combat-able) and possess high movement capability, they know exactly when winter begin and how long it will last, they know where pearls are on the map even without vision of them. Plus, the very first part of their quest grant them the God of scouts : the skyfin. The skyfin has 8 moves, flies (no movement penalty due to land) and robs ruins of their content like it's nobody's business. Plus Allayi can find pearls in ruins ! Skyfins are fantastic, no doubt, allowing you to quickly map your surroundings and gather many goodies from ruins across Auriga. Lastly, they have a special form of borough granting more bonuses, but needing pearls to be built, so, of course, they need loads of them. Are they bad ? Nope. Even with said penalties, you can make them powerful, and in opposition to all other races, winter is the best time for them to go to war. I would even favor them over the Forgotten. Now then, why the red thumb ? Well, as Redvolver said in his own review : " I feel it's absolutely optional ", a statement I agree with, but not to the same conclusion. Being optional is really not a problem. Being absolutely so is a bit sad. Now, it's just my point of view (obviously) but I find that an expansion should bring something more substantial. The problem is that the Pearl mechanic can be totally disregarded if you do not play as the Allayi. Its impact is just not significant enough. " Well, sir, if you perceive it that way, just don't bother with it ! " you could say. Yes, but, well, no. It's really bizarre for me to see that Amplitude made a brillant DLC (Guardians) adding several layers of depth to the game, and then see Shifters (with a higher price !) being so non consequential. In fine, it is not a bad DLC per se, but I'm taken aback to see so many people writing that it's fairly priced. But I might be biased- I consider many DLC to be overpriced, and thankfully, Amplitude is not in that habit. Yes, I'm glaring at you, Paradox, Stardock...

In short, I feel like the Shifters DLC is definitely worth getting. First, because the DLC adds a unique new faction. Honestly one the best things Amplitude does for Endless Legend is it's unique factions. They all feel so different and diverse, catering to different playstyles, and the Allayi are a great example of this. Yes, are much more closely tied to Pearls and seasons than other races, but they are balanced well, so it doesn't feel like an annoying dependency at all, in fact they seem to own at both these things. They are also a beautifully designed faction, so they definitely tick the aesthetic box. Second, a large portion of this DLC focuses around the Winter season, which has always irritated me before in EL. I would cringe and roll my eyes everytime my beautiful empire would be covered in annoying arctic winds and blanketed in production-halting snow. Now Winter feels like it has more strategic options (and it generates valuable pearls), so where before I wanted to shut off winter altogether I've actually found myself looking forward to it. Which is actually odd and will take some getting used to. There are are actually advantages to winter now, and decent ways to get through it easier. Thank you Amplitude for finally addressing it. All we need now is a DLC that adds new water features / mechanics and a corresponding aqautic / amphibious faction and I can die a happy EL player :D

Is Shifters worth it? Short answer is yes; it's worth the money. Now for the longer answer: Whilst Shifters doesn't any new aspect that feels so encompassing as Espionage, in itself (which I've never really used, by the way), it's when you look at the wide array of stuff in the update together, that it becomes worth it. The Allayi is a fantastic faction, with well balanced traits. At first they might seem like they'll be getting a slow start, with severely reduced growth. And they do. So I recommend going for Seed Storage before anything else, maybe Public Library or Mill Foundry if your starting area is less than average in these aspects (but only less than average!). The thing is, whilst they might not grow as fast (and I'm playing right now, with a single city with 7 pop, whilst my neighbours, the Roving Clans and the Forgotten, both have 4), they got other tricks up their sleeve. And no, this faction is not for everyone. They get a Skyfin almost instantly (which is amazing, as it can just fly around, discover the map, whilst collecting Ruins, unharmed) and in the meanwhile you'll be walking around with your hero and your starter army (WITH your hero), because he basically has nothing for cities, whilst giving your units both Movement, Vision, and Pathfinder. Early game, spam Ruins. Take everything. Explore everything. They also start with Shipyards, FYI. What you'll be getting from this more than makes up for your slow growth. I might have far less cities than my neighbours, that's partly a conscient choice because of preference, but also because I can still keep up overall, and even beat the others (militarily, wonder-wise, technologically, and so on). Basically you always want your Skyfin and your armies running around, gathering ruins and pearls. So, why am I writing a guide here? Well, that's basically to make sure that people understand that the Allayi is not unbalanced, even if they suffer from lower growth. They're a great addition. Moreover the game gets some mechanical tweaks and buffs, especially extended winter (NOT timewise, don't worry), with more options and whatnot. Considering AMPLITUDEs overall Content Policy, their quality, and the fair price for this expansion (and obviously the quality of the expansion itself), I can heartily recommend it.