Man, oh man, the hype train for Shadow of the Erdtree hit me like a runaway chariot pulled by frenzied trolls! 🤯 Here I was, chilling in the Lands Between in 2025, finally feeling like a proper Elden Lord after wrestling Malenia into submission (after, like, a bazillion attempts, no joke!), and BAM – FromSoftware dangles this glorious DLC carrot. My first instinct? Fire up New Game Plus (NG+) and stomp through Limgrave like a god among lowly soldiers! But hold your Spectral Steed, Torrent, because diving into NG+ now might be the equivalent of trying to fist-fight Radahn naked at level 1 – pure, unadulterated madness! That initial rush of excitement quickly curdled into dread, lemme tell ya.

The Dreaded NG+ Lockout: Stuck Outside the Party

Imagine this nightmare scenario: Shadow of the Erdtree finally drops! The trailers look insane, the lore whispers are driving me nuts. I boot up my NG+ character, ready to dive headfirst into the new chaos... only to realize the DLC entrance is tucked away somewhere deep in the Mountaintops of the Giants or maybe even after the final boss! 😱 FromSoft DLCs, bless their sadistic little hearts, usually slot into the mid-to-late game. If I'm only just past Godrick in NG+, I'm gonna be stuck grinding for hours, maybe days, while everyone else is already feasting on the new content. That’s like showing up to a concert after the headliner finished their set – pure agony! My precious Tarnished is just stuck awkwardly shuffling his feet outside the Erdtree's cool new expansion pack party. Talk about FOMO hitting harder than a Crucible Knight's tail swipe!

That feeling when you burn the world but might miss the DLC launch window...

NG+ Difficulty: Turning Fun into Pure, Unfiltered Pain

Okay, let's say I do manage to power through NG+ and reach the DLC access point. Whew! But oh, sweet mercy, what fresh hell awaits? Enemies in NG+ are juiced up – more health, hitting harder than a mallet-wielding Omen. FromSoft DLCs are notorious for dialing the difficulty up to eleven anyway. Remember Artorias of the Abyss? The Old Hunters? Yeah, they made base game bosses look like cuddly puppies. Now, picture Shadow of the Erdtree, likely designed with the brutal precision of a master torturer for a first-playthrough character, but cranked up even further by NG+ scaling. That cool new boss teased in the art? It’ll probably feel like fighting Malenia... but she's chugged ten flasks of liquid aggression before the fight even starts!

NG+ DLC Pain Scale	Feeling	Likely Outcome
Base Game DLC 😅	Tough but Fair	Victory after learning patterns!
NG+ DLC 🤯	Utterly Brutal	Controller nearly thrown, existential crisis

Taking my maxed-out NG+ build into what's already rumored to be the hardest content FromSoft has ever cooked up? That ain't challenging, that's just self-flagellation with extra steps! I want to experience Miyazaki's twisted vision as intended, not get pancaked repeatedly because the game thinks I'm some sort of demigod juggernaut. My poor reflexes can't handle that kinda stress!

Even Ranni looks concerned about my NG+ DLC plans...

The Smart Play: Hoarding Characters Like Sacred Tears

So, what's a Tarnished to do? Simple! I'm parking my precious main character right at the perfect DLC jumping-off point in their first journey. No NG+ shenanigans for them! They're my golden ticket, ready to waltz into Shadow of the Erdtree the moment it unlocks, experiencing every terrifying, beautiful moment at the natural, spine-tingling difficulty FromSoft meticulously crafted. That feeling of discovery, that raw edge-of-your-seat tension facing unknown horrors? I don't want NG+'s inflated stats dulling that blade.

Now, if I get super bored waiting (release dates are still a mystery wrapped in an enigma, amirite?), maybe I'll start a brand new character. A fresh face in the Lands Between, exploring alternate paths, trying new builds – that sounds fun! Or maybe, just maybe, if I'm feeling particularly cocky and have another endgame character gathering virtual dust, I’ll plunge them into NG+ after I've conquered the DLC on my main. That way, I get the best of both worlds: the pure DLC experience and the power fantasy stomp later. But my main? They're staying put, frozen in time, waiting for the Erdtree's shadow to fall...

Malenia whispers: "I was merely a warm-up for the DLC. You are not prepared... unless you stay in NG."

Honestly, the temptation to unleash my NG+ beast on early bosses is like the call of the Three Fingers – seductive but ultimately catastrophic. 🙅‍♂️ That initial rush of power would be sweet, sure, but the potential regret? The locked doors? The soul-crushing difficulty spike? Nah, fam. I’ll keep my frenzied flame ambitions in check. My main Tarnished is bunkered down, preserving that precious first-playthrough status like the last Sacred Tear, ready and waiting for the shadow to deepen. The Lands Between can wait a little longer for my godly return. That DLC experience? It's gotta be pure, unadulterated, terrifyingly fresh. Anything less would be... well, kinda hollow, wouldn't it? Bring on the shadow, but only when I'm properly positioned to scream in the right difficulty bracket! The anticipation is its own kind of exquisite torture...