My mapping experience so far in 1.2

Since there are some negative posts of mapping and I'm usually very critical with the game, I will share my experience so far in this league. I already have enough knowledge of how mapping works, I was level 89 in Anarchy, 90 in Dom and 90 in last 1 month league. At this previous league i ran several 77 & 78 maps (without much cartoboxes help), so I know how to build a good pool of maps and how to sustain them. And I also acknowledge that luck and RNG is a huge factor here, and I dislike that sometimes.

I was very close on a rage quit at level 82 this league. At that point I had just 66, 67 and 68 maps! That was really unfun. Really, I alched all the 70's I found in that process (just 3 or 4), 0 equal or higher level drops... I even alched some 69 seeing that I wasnt able to jump higher. I thought about leaving or buying some 73 maps as a last resort. Finally I endured myself and tried again from that 68 base. This game reward the persistence, sooner or later. The problem is, sometimes is so late that people just leave, and the gap that RNG bring between the lucky and the unlucky ones is very wide.

Now I am at level 87, I have a decent backup pool of 15-20 lvl70 and the same number of 71 maps. I wish I dont have to go that down again. Currently running all the 72, 73 and 74 maps I loot (5x72 and 3x73, but the number is fluctuating constantly) and building some 75 pool, I have 4 or 5 waiting for me, will probably jump soon.

I have to say that Zana is a great addition too. Now she give me a free 73 map every day, and that means a posibility to drop some more good maps. Also I find her quite a lot, more than other masters I think. But there is something really wrong with her prices. 69 maps for 3 alch? Hell no!

At last I would like to talk about cartoboxes. GGG overnerfed them. Ok, +5 level was ridiculous. Getting 20 maps was ridiculous. But hell, making them so rare, allowing them to drop 0 maps, and, when you roll one with +3 items and +1 magic (at level 72 map), it drops 3x68 and 1x69 maps, its fucking lame. GGG is very prone to make this kind of yoyo-balances. Yes, they overnerfed to the point that those boxes are as bad as those old large chests, at least in my experience for now. Maybe I run one higher level map, find another carto, and voila, free 77 maps, who knows, but is this kind of RNG that makes the game awful sometimes.

Overall, I think the mapping system is on a good spot. Not as bad as some people say,but yes, bad (and long) streaks are an issue. It can be better, but is one of the best endgame experiences I ever had on an ARPG game. Improvements? Just 2 vague ideas: make more map variance at higher levels (Zana fixed this somehow)! and make the % in quantity (and harder mods) really matter on map drops.

As a side note, cart boxes could always drop 0 maps. That's not new change

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SL4Y3R wrote:

As a side note, cart boxes could always drop 0 maps. That's not new change

Ah yeah, my bad I wrote it like its a new nerf. But with the spam nerf, if you add that those cartoboxes can drop 0 items... I had one of these, at a level 68 or 69 map, just because it had mirrored + %rarity. Knew that it could drop 0, but come on, they are already rarer than before, make them drop at least 1.

Maybe is just me that I had 3 cartoboxes this league and all of them were a bad experience so I'm a bit negative here though.

I've ran lots of maps and have only seen Zana Palin twice. Bad luck I guess. I need to bribe my way into some peoples dailies.

GGG took the carto boxes away.

RiP solo mappers :')

Peace,

-Boem-

edit : will say this, about my experience with maps so far this league.

Played 9 maps today all lvl 72/73, chisseled to 20% and then alched until 100%+ rolls.
(this included -max gmp cells etc, no regen -max cells and what have you...)

My result after those 9 maps was 1 temple(71) and 2 springs(68)

so yeah...fix carto boxes because this is gonna be bullshit in the long run for solo mappers.

I really thought maps where in a nice place last league in ambush personally.

I did maps up to 70 and it rains maps. As soon as I do 71 it slows. And at 72 they just stop Dropping. Back to 70s and it rains maps. Back to 72s...nothing.

This has got to be intentional. Too many times and too consistent to be rng.

The mapping experience will always be problematic to some extent because it gates off your ability to keep playing behind RNG. It's fundamentally flawed design.

That said, it's super easy to sustain your map pool now with Zana, IF you have the currency to sink +6 chaos into every map you roll to get the 40% quantity bonus from Onslaught.

I've been maintaining (and building) my 76+ map pool consistently while doing that, it's just a crazy currency sink.