GGG completely giving me mixed signals. This is bad news.

 Just got home 5:15 pm EST to try out The Awakening. Already get messages that players are in the Belly of The Beast zones. In under 3 hours? WTF! GGG gives us the impression that they are making PoE v2.0 harder than 1.x and are trying to lengthen our time to get to end of Merciless act 4 and into maps (which I see as a good move) yet then tells us that there are 2 Alienware laptops being awarded to the first 2 players (1 each in Warbands and Tempest) to kill which means speed running as fast as possible and that the beta testers have a clear advantage over everyone else. That feels like Pay-To-Win shenanigans. If any player can get through in such a short time GGG should have just RNG auctioned off the laptops. I'd have a very slim chance as apposed to no chance this way a speed running no-lifer who played the beta will be the only winner. There was a commercial awhile back that deliberately stated that "millions will play, few will win" just as a shocker to get our attention. That phrase is applicable to GGG and PoE.

What's the issue here? It's just a couple of dumb Alienware computers being awarded to people who, IMO, ruin their first real run of the new content by speedrunning it. So GGG decides to give speedrunners an incentive that doesn't affect anybody else. At all. How is being given a laptop reward helping these players in the game, anyway? That isn't pay to win, that's just a generic prize for a generic accomplishment. They aren't being given godly gear or any sort of advantage in-game, which is what pay to win IS.

Starting almost any kind of race 3 HOURS late is probably going to put you at a disadvantage...

>starts 3 hours late
>thinks he should still be able to win the laptop
>makes me use le may may arrows

newsflash: racers know how to race.

HC Tempest leaders are just finishing Cruel, 5 hours into it.

Neat thing about HC... they might not win. One death puts them back at the start.

But, I agree the pace these people put up is really unbelievable. I mean, they have to have people who pick up stuff for them and ID it... right? You just can't keep that pace up and actually do everything that needs to be done yourself.

I've always felt GGG's method's of giving away prizes could use some work.

If you want people to race for a prize, make it a race, not a league.

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Shagsbeard wrote:

But, I agree the pace these people put up is really unbelievable. I mean, they have to have people who pick up stuff for them and ID it... right? You just can't keep that pace up and actually do everything that needs to be done yourself.

not really unbelievable. picking up stuff and iding it in lower difficulties, is extremely easy (no loot pinatas in normal), and now there are filters

there are two things that makes them go so fast

1)grouping and divide and conquer-ie especially useful for act 2 and act 4. some do some zones and others do other zones and sharing TPs

2)just general knowledge about the game and how to optimize progression and maximize xp. such as, rushing ledge in all difficulties without killing many monsters; knowing general layouts, flask progression, etc etc. this is mundane racer knowledge.

3 hours to get to belly of the beast on normal is quite normal. act 1 can be done extremely fast, as its by far the shortest and most skippable. act 2 can be divided up efficiently. act 3 is prolly the longest and act 4 isnt far behind because prep is required for new bosses. that and damage starts rising up

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grepman wrote:

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Shagsbeard wrote:

But, I agree the pace these people put up is really unbelievable. I mean, they have to have people who pick up stuff for them and ID it... right? You just can't keep that pace up and actually do everything that needs to be done yourself.

not really unbelievable. picking up stuff and iding it in lower difficulties, is extremely easy (no loot pinatas in normal), and now there are filters

there are two things that makes them go so fast

1)grouping and divide and conquer-ie especially useful for act 2 and act 4. some do some zones and others do other zones and sharing TPs

2)just general knowledge about the game and how to optimize progression and maximize xp. such as, rushing ledge in all difficulties without killing many monsters; knowing general layouts, flask progression, etc etc. this is mundane racer knowledge.

3 hours to get to belly of the beast on normal is quite normal. act 1 can be done extremely fast, as its by far the shortest and most skippable. act 2 can be divided up efficiently. act 3 is prolly the longest and act 4 isnt far behind because prep is required for new bosses. that and damage starts rising up

Yep... not for me. I just finished act I normal in 6 hours (with a nap in there) and feel pretty good about it. The racers probably finished act I normal in about 10 minutes.

I figure they see-saw back and forth between leveling up and advancing. One player works at getting the waypoints while the other is grinding monsters and then they swap.

OP you weren't going beat a fucking racer sorry that's not going to happen.