2.3.0 Changes to the High-level Experience Equation

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Zed_ wrote:

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vio wrote:

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Zed_ wrote:

Also every single yellow map that is not a Canyon/Arid/Gorge/Plateau goes into the trash bin immediately.

choices ... applicable for 50 people? 100?

This is a trading game, so applies to everyone.
Lvl 76 Gorge map 4c. Lvl 78 Crematorium map 2.5c.

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Jentry wrote:

I mapped as support this league with a few of the top 5 PSC players to hit 100. While I understand and agree with the stimulus which Chris & GGG have for these exp changes, I advocate that the chosen methodology of implementation has exacerbated disincentives to running endgame challenging content, and has reinforced the pervasively growing speed mapping meta which detracts from the fun, challenge, and loot of the highest tier map content in Path of Exile.

In PSC, and progressively for a number of development cycles since the overhaul of map modifiers, the players I see successfully pushing the ladder are speed running mid tier maps (Tier 9-12) in lieu of playing content appropriate for their ability.

I think it is critical to expound upon what I mean by "Speed Running" because it is a playstyle that I only observe in this tiny niche of the POE community. Builds, groups, and Map Rolling revolve around the ability to one shot every monster in the chosen tier of maps, the vast majority of loot is disabled and ignored, and there is significant priority given to sustaining obscenely high Movement Speed.

The gravitation towards this Movespeed=Clearspeed, nodowntimeinstapopmapaftermapinonehideout, playstyle is Phrenetic. For me it has detracted a good deal from the depth and enrichment of what Path of Exile once was because this "Efficiency Mapping" incentives players to actively ignore many aspects of the Game Design and map in Cliques or small groups of like minded players, or Solo in this style to achieve ladder position.

While there has always been a no-life element to the POE ladder, these changes further skew towards the extreme.

I do not fault the players for adapting, responding, to the GGG changes in this fashion. As Chris and GGG has pointed out many times, the playerbase, even in the absence of "Access to Information" on many of the mathematical fine points of the game, the players are becoming ever more efficient at MinMaxing their builds and their playstyle.

The tier 9-12 maps are sustainable indefinitely with minimal currency investment and can be run at max speed with negligible risk to grind exp. Higher tier maps are not sustainable and require currency investment that doesn't return maps or appropriate reward to the risk and differential time it takes to run them (except maybe for the first week of the league). The risks in the highest end maps often appear in Spiky forms, and are not a elegant counterbalance to play skill but rather a direct developer response to expected meta and playstyle.

As more and more players and groups gravitate to this playstyle, they also withdraw, in my experience, from the broader community, trading, crafting, social aspect of POE. The SpeedMapping meta being sustainable as a solo playstyle or clique playstyle supports a narrow band focus on the "Game". It is so much more efficient at accomplishing the niche goal of pushing the ladder that traditional mapping feels slow and wasteful. It is more difficult to make new friends to play with as the lightspeed jump from normal mapping to "SpeedMapping" is very jarring for new players, or longtime players who have never pushed ladder in this fashion. This, by design, has created a, barrier to entry, a monumental disincentive to players who consider jumping into the ladder race.

Basically, what I am arguing here, is to push the ladder these days, you either have to go it alone, or conform to the very narrow and xenophobic speed meta, and it just instantly trashes so much of the richness and depth of an awesome game and encourages elitism as a zeitgeist. I don't think it is healthy or sustainable for the long term of the community.

VOC

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UnleashedPoE wrote:

Leveling to 100 only felt "fast" for people playing such incredible numbers of hours in rotations. It felt positively glacial for the rest. Now it feels even more glacial. Frankly, this and the lab are the two worst aspects of the game.

I suppose we should be grateful for how they fixed it, given they've made lower level maps far more efficient for xp gains than higher level, and lower level are easier to come by. If they truly wanted to be antagonistic towards their player base they could have made it on a character basis ensuring you still had not only the pain of slower leveling but the pain of finding higher tier maps as well.

There are times where I see their game design philosophy and smile, near genius level implementation. Then there are times, like the lab and this, where I wonder if they secretly hate us to our core.

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Voroseeg wrote:

The race to 100 was never fast, you just nerfed it based on the streamers that played the game 24/7 with top gear, OP meta builds and +30% packsize Gorge rotations.