Trendspotting: POE Playerbase almost halved on Steam alone since the release of Awakening

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

The new skills are amazing, are you kidding? Compared to any other patch or update, The Awakening added a ridiculous number of new build possibilities.

Questing isn't really meant to be rewarding. It's more just a scaffold for progression through unraveling the secrets of Wraeclast (and, if you're a typical 'hardcore' gamer, to get to Maps). The fact that quests now unlock a bunch of vendor gems just lends strength to that belief -- there's no real reason for it, other than 'it makes the players happy'. The condensing of the act progression is MOSTLY good, but there are a few zones missing that I can't quite accept, notably something between Riverways and the Western Forest (since Western Forest is now way too cramped with quest events) and the old Aqueducts under Sarn, which represented the journey from one side of the river to the other -- if you look at the map, it seems like quite the distance.

I've found more uniques just goofing around Normal and Cruel in the past week of fairly casual play than I have in weeks of any other league's first third. Sure, they're not all amazing tier 1, but they're good for what they are. Two Crests of Perandus, a Wurm's Molt, Reverberation Rod, Springleaf, Rustbeak...simple leveling uniques good for passing down to make that first handful of levels easier. And I see my guildies, much higher level, finding cool stuff all the time. I suspect that chasing t1s is as futile as ever, but eh, not the point here. Uniques overall are in a good place drop-wise.

The Skilldrasil is also in a VERY good place right now. I'm playing characters from all areas and have no problems seeing where I want to go and how to get there. The number of new, potent notables is too numerous to list, but with stuff like Snowforged, Blast Cascade, Rampart and Explosive Impact, all the classes got some fun new toys to try out.

The addition of jewels and Divination cards are not intrinsically linked to the idea of trade alone. They are perfectly adequate if not amazingly necessary for a self-found player. They added more things you CAN trade for, but not more things you HAVE to trade for. Please understand the difference and know that any feeling of necessity is on you and your standards, not the game's. Chasing the challenges? You would have had to trade aggressively anyway. Want to Map towards 90+? Same deal.

The Trade System is just as bad as ever.

Map changes are not good. I've read enough and talked to enough people to get that. This seems to be your only truly legitimate complaint in this list, and I feel it might be colouring your perception of the rest of the expansion.

General monster balance is actually a lot better than it was in 1.3. The difficulty spike from Act 4 normal to Act 1 cruel is to me much less jarring than it was when it was Sceptre of God/Dominus to Act 1 cruel. It's far from smooth, but it's been improved. I feel most mobs in act 4 are a lot fairer than the croaking chimerals of the Sceptre, which had/have both fast attacks and slowing abilities.

What I DO find tragic is the implementation of Warbands. They're just roadblocks on legs for normal self-found play, and damage soak brick shithouse encounters if you're twinked or partied. I can't adequately describe what a letdown they are compared to Tempest, which is a very cool idea 'wasted' by being a gimmick a lot of players won't touch by virtue of the league it punctuates.

But hey, ymmv and all that. Enjoy the break.

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Xavderion wrote:

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Not really surprising.

"most" people play games to have fun and don't want a game that's too involved. (See D3's model).

People grind for money every day...most don't want to play a game where you have to do the same thing.

POE, first and foremost, has always been about preserving it's economy.

Lot of people just want shit to drop so they can use it for a while and try different builds. This is more of a niche game.

POE = Economy > Fun.

Always has been always will be.

I'd love to see a D3 player concurrency chart from the beginning of a season and then one month later. I'd bet my left kidney it looks pretty much exactly like PoE's.

Spoiler

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TheWretch wrote:

So will that kidney be shipped in a cooler or a lunchbox?

Old by this point but this was pre RoS

Spoiler

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TheWretch wrote:

E: The population isn't a peak and valley type deal like PoE's. The way they have it set-up most people go back to their non-seasonals after they've acquired all the seasonal perks/goodies.

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Xavderion wrote:

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TheWretch wrote:

So will that kidney be shipped in a cooler or a lunchbox?

Old by this point but this was pre RoS

Spoiler

That infograph doesn't show player concurrency at all. We can only extrapolate from highest number to average number (and indeed, there is a decline if we look at these two numbers). And as you said the numbers are old.

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TheWretch wrote:

E: The population isn't a peak and valley type deal like PoE's. The way they have it set-up most people go back to their non-seasonals after they've acquired all the seasonal perks/goodies.

Proofs?

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TheWretch wrote:

I admit there is no proof. Blizzard don't release their numbers, just like GGG don't. My hypothesis is as baseless as yours. Its just a gut feeling.

E: All we can do is guestimate based on the few numbers they do release once in awhile. I may seem like i'm team D3 but that just isn't the case. To be clear I prefer PoE but I do love Diablo.

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Xavderion wrote:

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TheWretch wrote:

I admit there is no proof. Blizzard don't release their numbers, just like GGG don't. My hypothesis is as baseless as yours. Its just a gut feeling.

E: All we can do is guestimate based on the few numbers they do release once in awhile. I may seem like i'm team D3 but that just isn't the case. To be clear I prefer PoE but I do love Diablo.

I love Diablo too (and two..). Just not its red-headed stepchild called Diablo 3 :D