@ChuckKatse
Those are all great points, and I certainly agree!! I'm just wondering where the devs came up with the mastery challenge idea. Did we, the community, ask for this? Unless I'm missing something, I don't think we did. I personally would have loved some new side missions or daily missions to fill in the gap between the Paris DLC. Gosh, I would have preferred almost anything but these ridiculous challenges.

I'm on Xbox Series X, and I am also missing the Yule Festival. I'm one of those players as well that participated in the Yule Festival last year. I love AC Valhalla, and Ubisoft continues to be my favorite game developer. However, I do have to say that even I'm getting irritated with some things at this point. Chewy the resident pet wolf and Dandelion Puff the resident pet fox have been missing from Ravensthorpe for months now. The devs have supposedly been looking into this for quite a long time, but it never gets fixed. And now I can't even enjoy the Yule Festival. Ubisoft announced the upcoming DLC for a jaw-dropping $40. I definitely do not feel inspired to spend that kind of money on a product that I'm not entirely sure is gonna work correctly.

@theexpcoffee

I really appreciated what you said here, as I feel the same. These challenges seem so perpendicular to how the game has been so far. If I used an analogy, I would describe AC Valhalla as cruising down the highway at a good clip with these mastery challenges running it off the road into the ditch!! Lol

I have been enjoying reading everyone's responses in this thread, and there are many good points in here. I have decided not to purchase Dawn of Ragnarok for two reasons.

1. I undoubtedly feel that $39.99 is way too much to ask for a DLC of this size. If this was the price for a Year 2 pass with some other confirmed content (not speculated content) I might think about it further. The best thing I can do as a gamer is to not spend my money on a game that I don't think is a good value.
2. The second reason is more my personal preference, but I don't really love the theme of this DLC. I have greatly enjoyed all of the Valhalla content related to Eivor and the Raven Clan as just good ol' hard working Vikings, but I haven't enjoyed nearly as much the content related to Eivor as the reincarnation of Odin and the whole Asgardian storyline. In addition to that, I haven't loved the fantastical/mythical elements as much either (like the Ireland DLC, for example). The theme of Siege of Paris is more my jam, I do believe. I certainly understand that the Odin/Asgardian theme is part of the whole story. but...but...I just wish there was more related to Eivor and the Raven Clan.

Anyway, that's just my two cents worth.

@animuslover
Thank you very much for posting these!! These are very helpful, and they do a good job of listing the pros and cons of Dawn of Ragnarok. I continue to feel good about my decision to wait in purchasing this until it goes on sale. I'm still baffled as to why Ubisoft is asking $39.99 for this.

@spider6418
I am having the same problem. He isn't showing up at my settlement either, and I was really hoping he would be there. He's a cool little fox!! Lol.

Yeah, I can definitely identify with what many of you are saying here, as I am pretty much despising the mastery challenges as well. So far, I'm finding the combat ones to be the most painful and the stealth ones to be the least painful with the archer ones somewhere in between. I actually went back to Ravensthorpe to see if the rewards were worth all the misery, and I'm kinda thinking not so much. Lol.

@azullfr

Thank you soooooo much for that information!! I kept thinking that mine took so much longer to load up than before the update, and your test certainly confirms that. I also run a Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD (I love that thing so much!!), and I kept looking at it to make sure the red light was flashing. I just kept thinking to myself, "Man, this game is taking forever to load up!" Lol

@max18400
I'm having the same issue. I'm on Xbox One and a season pass owner. I was thinking that the SIege of Paris DLC would be accessible at 8:01 AM EDT, but it's still not showing up in the store to download.

Does anyone know if it will be available today?

@garbo3

I can definitely give you a yes to your question!! The rebel missions keep refreshing, so you can do as many of them as you like.

@oatiecrumble

Oh wow, that's awesome!! Congratulations to you!! I'm almost at level 12, so my grind continues.

@oatiecrumble

That's crazy!! I can't believe a simple thing like that would cause someone to kick your from Countdown. Also, at the end is where it really counts to have as many people as possible.

@imagine_brata

You are very kind, but it's nothing that bad, thank goodness. It just seems that the explosion effect is super exaggerated in that event. I'm thinking about deactivating it.

During the current Guardians Global Event, I find myself noticing the screen shake effect that takes place during explosions to be so much more pronounced. It's on the verge of giving me a headache!! Lol. I checked the Settings, but I don't see an option to turn this off. Does anyone know if it's possible to tone down this effect?

@gabriel-knight

Yeah, I noticed this too yesterday, as I was a bit too close when killing a guardian. I had to remind myself to step away from the red circle. Lol

@dutchlmb4ever

This made me laugh!! So many of the videos are indeed like that.

@dutchlmb4ever

I noticed this as well, and I also hope it will stay like this. It's so nice to have those higher capacities for the resources!!

@extbr3akz

Last week, I had three Chillout masks drop in Countdown, and they weren't even my targeted loot!! Lol

@xcel30
I hear that. I know that the only reason I latched on to Heartbreaker was specifically for Countdown. There's just no time for being in cover and for patience in that since it's timed.

So, would you all say that the Heartbreaker set is STILL the best for Countdown?