Side areas are somewhat pointless

There is basically no point to entering side areas without quests in them anymore, I don't think I have went into the dread thicket or catacombs more than once in the past two leagues, and that was just so I can complete the full clear challenge. They used to be a slightly more beneficial place to level because they had a higher spawn rate of large chests, but with those out of the game now, there really is no reason to ever enter them.

So my idea on how to increase their appeal along a similar line of thinking as the increased large chest is, increase the amount of old things that spawn in them, even some old things that don't normally spawn at all. Meaning that you could get more exiles, some mobs that have onslaught just because, more shrines, more nemesis mods, more strong boxes, maybe a random invasion boss stalking around, and most importantly a much higher rate of corrupted areas(which is important because farming CZs sucks, but there are already enough threads to this effect around so i won't make another).

"

j33bus wrote:

There is basically no point to entering side areas without quests in them anymore, I don't think I have went into the dread thicket or catacombs more than once in the past two leagues, and that was just so I can complete the full clear challenge. They used to be a slightly more beneficial place to level because they had a higher spawn rate of large chests, but with those out of the game now, there really is no reason to ever enter them.

So my idea on how to increase their appeal along a similar line of thinking as the increased large chest is, increase the amount of old things that spawn in them, even some old things that don't normally spawn at all. Meaning that you could get more exiles, some mobs that have onslaught just because, more shrines, more nemesis mods, more strong boxes, maybe a random invasion boss stalking around, and most importantly a much higher rate of corrupted areas(which is important because farming CZs sucks, but there are already enough threads to this effect around so i won't make another).

when designing a quest.

setp one , does it award stat bonus or skill points
if yes skip to end
if no
step two does it have some mechanic about it that allows for the viable farming of riches ( maybe chest loot masters , corruption?)
if yes skip to end
if no
step three it is worthless and nothing you do aside from step one and two will make it not worthless
final step it is viable.

simple logic.

most side areas seem worthless because they ARE worthless.

And that's why I suggested putting in 2, riches, with and added amount of dangers in onslaught, invasion bosses, and exiles.

My thoughts: side zones are where players should go when they wish to grind out a few extra levels before resuming normal progress, but they should offer a greater risk (even to well built characters for their respective levels) and greater rewards for a successful run. The zone level of side zones should scale with player level +2, with a minimum zone level of [current zone level], and a maximum of 110% [current zone level] rounded down.

They should also be the place that characters go when they want to farm one of the three primary things players might want to farm for--strongboxes, masters, or corrupt zones.

The three of these already balance reward around risk; unlike the large chest of olde, there is no reason why zide zones cannot guarantee the spawn of one of these three things (still somewhat random, but always rewarding in some way). The only hitch might be making it easier to speed clear a low level side zone to farm low level CZ for fragments; to which, I say the chance to drop any fragment in a guaranteed spawn CZ (i.e., not one randomly encountered) should be adjusted according to the difference between the CZ zone level and mapping level.

This would, I think, solve so many issues players have with "the grind." Did you drop out of maps? Just don't want to farm maps? Do you want to farm for your own fragments without mindlessly repeating irrelevantly leveled content? Want to farm your master progress? No worries, Merciless Crematorium can scale up to level 67, Docks up to 68, Market Sewers up to 70, and Catacombs, Library/Archives, and Hedge up to 73. Each zone level above 68 should become exceptionally more difficult (similar to map modifiers without the IIQ) to compensate as to relieve potential competition from mapping engaging 66-72ish maps.

Insert fine tuning as needed, and viola; exiles really can have their cake and eat it too!

Side zones were for times when there was less content in the game. With A3 and A3X there's no longer a need for them. They had a purpose, but its been used up. Now that they have been superceded by actual content there is no reason to leave them in the game. However, there's also no reason to remove them.

Optional areas should have optional, hard bosses/challenges with appropriate rewards.

No such thing in POE. Except maybe Atziri, but you can buy the flask she'll drop for less than the fragments to access her cost...

"

j33bus wrote:

There is basically no point to entering side areas without quests in them anymore, I don't think I have went into the dread thicket or catacombs more than once in the past two leagues, and that was just so I can complete the full clear challenge. They used to be a slightly more beneficial place to level because they had a higher spawn rate of large chests, but with those out of the game now, there really is no reason to ever enter them.

So my idea on how to increase their appeal along a similar line of thinking as the increased large chest is, increase the amount of old things that spawn in them, even some old things that don't normally spawn at all. Meaning that you could get more exiles, some mobs that have onslaught just because, more shrines, more nemesis mods, more strong boxes, maybe a random invasion boss stalking around, and most importantly a much higher rate of corrupted areas(which is important because farming CZs sucks, but there are already enough threads to this effect around so i won't make another).

+1

I like CanHas' scaling idea. As an additional refinement to my original post, I would like to suggest that things considered "side areas" (all of them? or maybe just the two that don't have quests), have an old league mod, and an old expansion mod (which would be hidden to prevent people from just making new zones all the time).

So right now every one would be SoTV and have corrupted areas but later once a third expansions comes down it could be FM and have masters, or SoTV, and in addition it would have the base league mod from any of the leagues, sort of like the zana mods, but without guaranteeing anything, or having iiq bonuses.

Side areas are useful for finding higher item levels for affixes or base items. For instance: the catacombs is the first area you can find a harbinger bow in.

I play HC/Solo/Self-found. I spend far more time in your 'side areas' than I do in the rest of the game combined.