Help me get more people playing PoE!?

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Secondly, the majority of the problems listed by the OP were borderline cliche issues: no pants, character looks crap, slow start. These are NOT things GGG are going to change because they shouldn't. The last one, as explained by other posters, is easily overcome, and the former two are deliberate design choices.

They shouldn't ? Oh I'm sorry, it's definitely not a problem, right ? This thread is the proof they're not a problem. And yes, just because it's cliché doesn't mean it isn't present, cf. this thread.

But that's right, they don't care about the new player base. Heh, what are the odds.

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That was never my intention and the fact that you extrapolate that from what I said is somewhere between disappointing and outright insulting.

Coming from a message just who points a middle finger at the OP and the new player database, it's just funny.

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incugus wrote:

How can we improve the following "cons" that my friends feel the game has?

Just in case some missed the point, i don't really feel the same way my friends do.
I wanted to discuss how i ("we" as a community to people having the same issue with their friends, that i know is a lot from other posts/reddit) can make it better for our friends ,and discuss if anything should actually change.

The only thing i really share with them is the "sluggishness", but for me its the animations and such, they've been getting better since i started playing (2011) but even with the improvements , in those 3 years NOONE has stick around more than 1 week , and my friends are not "casual", "gimme everyting now" kinda crowd, they are pretty dedicated players.

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

Secondly, the majority of the problems listed by the OP were borderline cliche issues: no pants, character looks crap, slow start. These are NOT things GGG are going to change because they shouldn't. The last one, as explained by other posters, is easily overcome, and the former two are deliberate design choices.

I agree with that Charan , i respect your opinion , i know you are a legitimate fan. One with its own passion and opinions (which is wayyyy more valuable than fanboys or haters).

But i feel some of these issues (maybe i would call them "Quality of Life") consistenly show up when people talk about their friends leaving the game after 1 week, or 2.

We play HC in these kind of games, love roguelikes, arpgs, complex mechanics etc. So PoE should be THE game for us, but they can't stomach it. And i can't really pinpoint their problems, it's more about how they feel playing ,than the actual systems themselves.

I hate my life...

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Majmun wrote:

I hate my life...

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C1111 wrote:

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Majmun wrote:

I hate my life...

Not sure if depressive, troll or joking. If it's the first, it's not the place to post that.
If it's the second, it's definitely the place for that. If it's the latter, I think most wont get it.

A problem of target audience i guess. Older dudes dont really care about MTX or "look" stuff. Maybe poe looks a little too "old" for younger ones.

Honestly, I feel anyone that complains of a "slow start" to the game doesn't quite even know what the game they're getting into is.

The beginning of PoE (act I) is really set out for a very explicit purpose: to teach you how the game works. It's got a LOT of very alien mechanics... The whole skillgems, sockets, multiple consumable currencies rather than an infinite "gold" everyone craps out. If Act I Normal was laid out to stop easing you in once you killed Hillock we'd have plenty of people give up much quicker because they'd feel hopelessly lost even faster; this game ALREADY has a pretty high learning curve, and Normal difficulty is what keeps it from being a sheer cliff.

If you're trying to get someone more interested in it without making it slow... Have them try their hand at a race. Chances are they'll bomb out quick, and that just might make them be willing to stop and try to figure out how things work.

When it becomes readily possible to blow through Act I in an hour or less, one can no longer really feel the game is slow at all! Especially if you simply start characters for races, and then play them further afterwards. I honestly feel that simply imparting some more of that feel into normal play might be good... Perhaps simply make an achievement for beating Act I that quickly in any league?

The latter issue has to do with all the game's technical issues... Which, yes, are sadly part of the game itself, and not the fault of any player. The game WILL need to address some of those issues, because they ARE making it less attractive to other potential adoptees.

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incugus wrote:

My friends don't really like PoE, they like the mechanics, the item system, the skill system... BUT they hate the slow early gameplay, the small amount of skill used at early levels, and the overall slugish feel at the beginning.

I'm pretty sure it's not a unique feeling to them. We are a group of 5-7 people online everyday, talking in mumble and playing all kinds of games, and PoE should be a no-brainer for us, but its not.

How can we improve the following "cons" that my friends feel the game has?

1) Game feels like yo uhave to play for a month before you have fun because the main system to improve your gear is useless unless you are rich, orbs are worth way more for buying items than using them.
Problem:
Using orbs for buying yields better results than using orbs for crafting.
You can go on levels without an upgrade and using blue items and have nothing to change them for a long time.

2) It's hard to get a "theme" going for your character. This is a consequence of the skill system, but i feel its valid, in other games a Character has its own unique set of skills and has a cohesive look and feel. Here in PoE , it's hard getting a good look and feel, unless you buy the armor MTX and weapon MTX and even then the skills might not fit your theme.
Problem:
"Everyone is a hobo that can rain fire from the sky",
"Get some pants for christ sake.",
"How tha fuck can i get this stupid hobo to put some armor on so it looks like a knight".


I'm pretty sure that's their main problem with the game.

With number one it's a matter of player expectations. Different people have different thresholds for 'fun'. I had fun right near the start of the game, browsing the skill tree, dropping firetraps on groups of enemies or getting a critical hit with Freezing Pulse or Frost Nova and blasting a whole bunch of enemies into shards of ice.

I don't look at other people and say, "I wish I could do what they do." Instead I look at my own character, or at the passive tree and say "What would I like to do?"

The early game passes by quickly enough, and the thing is that the more you play the quicker the early game passes by due to accumulated items, flasks and scrolls.

As far as part 2, well if your friends only experienced the early game then it's understandable that the characters look rather similar due to the range of items available.

Your character has just been exiled from their homeland with rags and whatever they've managed to pick up off of the beach or a dead body. Of course they're going to look like a hobo.

And as regarding the 'everyone' is a hobo that can rain fire from the sky... maybe try a skill other than Rain of Fire?

I'm also guessing from those three points that your friends created templars as their first character.
The templar is not the character to start with if you don't want to look like a deranged, pantless hobo.

Maybe recommend they try a duelist as their first character? Cleaving with a two-handed sword feels pretty damn knightly to me.

I find the slow start argument very strange.

I actually loved the start of PoE.

No tutorial, very minimal guidance - just wash up on a beach and try to piece together what the hell is going on.
I knew by the time I killed hillock that I was going to spend an amount of time on PoE that most people would probably find disturbing.

Are you guys suggesting that your characters power is low at the start? There is a lack of action?

Slow just really doesnt describe by initial experience in any way.