I like AoD a lot, but it's far from a perfect DLC. I don't think it has any flaws that make the game worse in any way, so there is no downside to getting it aside from the $5 it costs.


I'll start with the good:

• My favorite part of AoD is the new gamemode, Ancient Relics. You start out incredibly weak with all your skills capped at 10, and grow throughout the game as you clear more dungeons, before eventually becoming overpowered. It is a genuine challenge and is everything I wish adventure mode would have been. Unfortunately, while the gamemode is properly integrated with the other DLC, you'll generally be so powerful by the time you complete the base game that it doesn't really matter in the case of TotH. You can easily rush to the final dungeon with pre-TotH gear. I haven't played ItA yet with this gamemode, but it seems to have brand new ancient relics for abyssal skills as well. Due to many ancient relics being melvor realm-only buffs, you shouldn't be too overpowered unlike TotH. Whether that's a good thing, or just annoyingly taking away your hard earned buffs, is for you to decide and not really the fault of this DLC regardless.
  
• While a bit resource intensive, both of the new skills are very fun. Cartography gives you a nice semi-permanent buff of your choosing (sorta like an agility course, but the only cost is money to travel to it). The buffs are generally nice bonuses, but nothing crazy. Think -0.1 second mining intervals. Archaeology gives you access to some very solid items that you'll find use for all game (like a hat that gives +3% skill and mastery xp for all skills).
  
• Unlike the other two DLC which are strictly post-game content, AoD is designed to be played alongside the base game.
  
• Several of the combat drops are insanely good best-in-slot gear, even with the other DLC. Many that aren't necessarily BiS still have unique functions and stay relevant for a long time (merman pendant go brrrr).

The questionable:

• Many of the things archaeology adds are niche items that you probably wont find useful at all unless you're doing some incredibly specific challenge. Like the Aranite Shield, which is about on par with the (G) Adamantite Shield, but can be used with defense level 20 instead of 30. But, you need to make significant progress in archaeology to find the parts, and then you need to be level 99 in smithing to actually make it. I guess it's neat that things like this are there, but its so niche that most players would likely never end up using it, and it ends up feeling like useless bloat.
  
• Archaeology requires large progress in cartography in order to make progress, in the same way that smithing requires mining. But at least ores can be obtained through other methods, like enemies or crates, while cartography is a hard requirement with no alternative. Both are also skills that lean heavily into idling, being incredibly inefficient to play actively. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Finally, onto the bad:

• The overall grind in AoD is pretty badly overtuned, incentivizing you to wait until you're largely done with the base game to start barrier combat, which is a shame because its clearly designed around you doing barrier combat alongside regular combat. It's more fun to experience alongside the base game, so I would highly recommend getting into barrier combat early, even if it's far less efficient.
  
• The biggest disappointment with AoD for me is the complete lack of potions or summons (or minor relics if you're playing the new gamemode) for either of the new skills. The only potions that ARE added to the game are for combat, and all six of them are completely worthless and too expensive, and so will never get any use. The only useful one is for early-game barrier combat, and costs 5(!!!) barrier gems (an incredibly grindy early-game resource to get in bulk) for a single potion? Really??? At least astrology got a little content for the new skills.
  
• Some skills in the ancient relics mode are absurdly hard to get relics for. You have a rare chance to get a relic any time you get exp, meaning skills with slower rates like summoning take ages to find relics in. It's especially bad with passive skills. I 100%'d the entire base game and AoD and still only had 4/5 farming relics despite farming constantly the entire time. This gamemode made me consider installing an auto-farm mod, which I would generally consider cheaty. I got lucky with township, but I heard people complaining about it for similar reasons as well.
  
• Unholy prayers are disappointingly useless. Apparently they used to be OP, but then they were nerfed and now you're actively tanking your DPS by ever using them over a regular prayer (which is nuts considering how expensive they are). Gear that gives free stacks of unholy prayers are stupidly powerful though, so the function itself isn't completely useless I guess.
  
• Lemons.

I like AoD a lot, but it's far from a perfect DLC. I don't think it has any flaws that make the game worse in any way, so there is no downside to getting it aside from the $5 it costs. [b]I'll start with the good:[/b] [list] [*]My favorite part of AoD is the new gamemode, Ancient Relics. You start out incredibly weak with all your skills capped at 10, and grow throughout the game as you clear more dungeons, before eventually becoming overpowered. It is a genuine challenge and is everything I wish adventure mode would have been. Unfortunately, while the gamemode is properly integrated with the other DLC, you'll generally be so powerful by the time you complete the base game that it doesn't really matter in the case of TotH. You can easily rush to the final dungeon with pre-TotH gear. I haven't played ItA yet with this gamemode, but it seems to have brand new ancient relics for abyssal skills as well. Due to many ancient relics being melvor realm-only buffs, you shouldn't be too overpowered unlike TotH. Whether that's a good thing, or just annoyingly taking away your hard earned buffs, is for you to decide and not really the fault of this DLC regardless. [*]While a bit resource intensive, both of the new skills are very fun. Cartography gives you a nice semi-permanent buff of your choosing (sorta like an agility course, but the only cost is money to travel to it). The buffs are generally nice bonuses, but nothing crazy. Think -0.1 second mining intervals. Archaeology gives you access to some very solid items that you'll find use for all game (like a hat that gives +3% skill and mastery xp for all skills). [*]Unlike the other two DLC which are strictly post-game content, AoD is designed to be played alongside the base game. [*]Several of the combat drops are insanely good best-in-slot gear, even with the other DLC. Many that aren't necessarily BiS still have unique functions and stay relevant for a long time (merman pendant go brrrr). [/list] [b]The questionable:[/b] [list] [*]Many of the things archaeology adds are niche items that you probably wont find useful at all unless you're doing some incredibly specific challenge. Like the Aranite Shield, which is about on par with the (G) Adamantite Shield, but can be used with defense level 20 instead of 30. But, you need to make significant progress in archaeology to find the parts, and then you need to be level 99 in smithing to actually make it. I guess it's neat that things like this are there, but its so niche that most players would likely never end up using it, and it ends up feeling like useless bloat. [*]Archaeology requires large progress in cartography in order to make progress, in the same way that smithing requires mining. But at least ores can be obtained through other methods, like enemies or crates, while cartography is a hard requirement with no alternative. Both are also skills that lean heavily into idling, being incredibly inefficient to play actively. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. [/list] [b]Finally, onto the bad:[/b] [list] [*]The overall grind in AoD is pretty badly overtuned, incentivizing you to wait until you're largely done with the base game to start barrier combat, which is a shame because its clearly designed around you doing barrier combat alongside regular combat. It's more fun to experience alongside the base game, so I would highly recommend getting into barrier combat early, even if it's far less efficient. [*]The biggest disappointment with AoD for me is the complete lack of potions or summons (or minor relics if you're playing the new gamemode) for either of the new skills. The only potions that ARE added to the game are for combat, and all six of them are completely worthless and too expensive, and so will never get any use. The only useful one is for early-game barrier combat, and costs 5(!!!) barrier gems (an incredibly grindy early-game resource to get in bulk) for a single potion? Really??? At least astrology got a little content for the new skills. [*]Some skills in the ancient relics mode are absurdly hard to get relics for. You have a rare chance to get a relic any time you get exp, meaning skills with slower rates like summoning take ages to find relics in. It's especially bad with passive skills. I 100%'d the entire base game and AoD and still only had 4/5 farming relics despite farming constantly the entire time. This gamemode made me consider installing an auto-farm mod, which I would generally consider cheaty. I got lucky with township, but I heard people complaining about it for similar reasons as well. [*]Unholy prayers are disappointingly useless. Apparently they used to be OP, but then they were nerfed and now you're actively tanking your DPS by ever using them over a regular prayer (which is nuts considering how expensive they are). Gear that gives free stacks of unholy prayers are stupidly powerful though, so the function itself isn't completely useless I guess. [*]Lemons. [/list]