I defeated Fader for the first time last night. I definitely found Ashland's taxing because I was always being mobbed. In the end I was able to explore long distances by carrying a portal with me and making a makeshift FOB in the entry way of putrid holes. I'm glad I beat it before the nerf, but I'll enjoy exploring Ashland's much more now.

Spawn rate in Ashlands is ridiculous

I might actually mine a spire now...

Nah, the gems in are in the forts, and I get plenty of flamemetal while looking for them.

Put a gem or two in a spire and maybe I'll reconsider.

Flametal spires will no longer submerge when mined

That was most of my deaths, and some of the most challenging corpse runs!

Whelp guess I'll need to do the last bit and acquire Dyrnwyn before the nerf. Not sure how I feel about this. I'm glad that they just reduced the spawn rates and didn't weaken the enemies. I initially had a very difficult time with Ashlands but after persevering I was able to set up a fortress base and defeat Fader on normal difficulty.

The thing about Ashlands is, it's insanely difficult at the start but once you get over the learning curve and have proper gear it becomes really easy imo. It's never difficult to acquire materials needed. Even Flametal. I'm surprised they changed the submerge mechanic because I was already getting loads of Flametal with the mechanic in place.

As it stands I've been loving the high spawn rates of Vultures because it makes acquiring stacks of eggs and vulture meat super quick.