Nucleus Runs need more attention to fixes than what's being done now. While the change to make the Precursor Apparatus be enough to finish the Sapphire Crystal Quest, King Yolkar only needing one egg, and the Mole Pet speeding up the Jade Crystal are helping tremendously, there are still many problems with modern nucleus runs.
Because of the King's Stench being removed, you have to talk to King Yolkar every time. Now this change is fine, it really is a decent change that I can get behind. However, King Yolkar still feels like he talks for too long. On the first nucleus run it makes sense for him to explain his stomach troubles in full, but the text could be shortened on subsequent nucleus runs. Something along the lines of "*rumble rumble* Oh you again? Could you bring me another Goblin Egg of any type to satiate me?" would make doing the Amber Crystal Quest far more tolerable in bulk Nucleus Run sessions. Another core issue of Nucleus Runs and something that affects those just trying to explore the Crystal Hollows has to do with the Jungle Temple. Not being able to at least teleport to the Jungle Temple's actual entrance where the key guardians are before receiving the Jungle Temple's effect of limiting your mobility is miserable for anyone doing Nucleus Runs or just trying to get from one place to another in the Crystal Hollows; It's clearly shown that the developers behind the Jungle Temple's design know how to make something like this because we use grappling hooks to move through the Jungle Temple quickly and when you get near the Key Guardians the grappling hook stops working alongside being unable to break blocks in the same area.
As for more troubling issues, why after almost three and a half years since the Crystal Hollows update are major structures that contain crystals such as the Mines of Divan and Jungle Temple not spawning in every lobby? This has been an issue for players since day one and if this was supposed to be a feature it is not a good one. It makes finding lobbies to properly do Nucleus Runs far more irritating and for Ironman Players it makes trying to forge a Perfect Gemstone feel less like a grind for the gemstones and more of a question of "Is the crystal even in this lobby". Not to mention that the Mines of Divan still has an issue where one of its keepers will be missing in certain lobbies. This most likely is just an issue with the way that the preset paths are formed in the Crystal Hollows and could be fixed simply by making a limitation on where the Mines of Divan could spawn. These issues have been major problems that have received little to no attention at all. From the King Yolkar talking too long to swapping lobbies constantly only to find that none of the open lobbies have all of the structures for Nucleus Runs, there is one core issue that has never been addressed and I think a lot of players feel the same way as I do.
Bal has always been very mediocre in its design and absolutely needs to get a rework. Seeing the developers watch time and time again as the players find methods to kill Bal faster only to have it patched out irks me. It shows that they see a pattern in players and what they want and yet it is ignored. Imagine this scenario: You meet Bal for the first time and maybe you have a bad bow and no armor for shooting Bal with said bow, so you go get a bow upgrade like a Dragon or even a Juju Shortbow and some Terror Armor to take on Bal. And despite all the abilities that you gain, it still does nothing to speed up the fight whatsoever. Even after getting a Terminator with duplex paired with terror still does nothing to speed up the fight. This is why players use other methods to speed it up such as using Soul Esoward or other similar methods. While these were unintended mechanics, this is what players resort to when they feel like something is wrong with the design. Bal being as slow as it is without any way of increasing its speed is why players find unintended methods to kill it faster. If you want players to stop finding unintended methods to break a boss, find a way to make it so players have a way to progressively kill Bal faster. This could be through an Essence Shop upgrade, a pet, or even something when you level up the Bestiary for Bal it makes your hits deal an increase amount of "hit damage".
I hope that these issues get addressed soon as they have been an issue with Nucleus Runs for years. I've watched as time and time again new methods for Nucleus Runs come and go and yet despite all the changes and reworks I've seen, these few issues have never been addressed properly. It hurts to see how as time goes by, updates of the past are neglected more and more without any publicity as to the issues at hand. To whoever reads this, whether it be a player who was interested in some nerd's yap post or a developer looking for insight on the perspective of player's, I hope this gets you to think about how the game's current state is in. As for everything else in the patch notes, very good fixes and hope to see more in the future.
