freaking lab leaking into the game under the guise of boss rework!

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mark1030 wrote:
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Turtledove wrote:
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I've never complained about anything else.


I made a few posts complaining about the death penalty. I don't believe that I've complained about that since they cut it down from 15% to 7.5% and I don't remember complaining about anything else?
Small correction: The death penalty in Merciless is 10%.


Thank you
Over 430 threads discussing labyrinth problems with over 1040 posters in support (thread # 1702621) Thank you all! GGG will implement a different method for ascension in PoE2. Retired!
(Removed by Support)

Back on topic, the game seems to be getting more interesting, nice!
SSF is not and will never be a standard for balance, it is not for people entitled to getting more without trading.
Last edited by Rob_GGG on Aug 28, 2016, 12:57:43 AM
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ScrotieMcB wrote:
Okay, so I can isolate two different things going on here:
1. Traps don't die. DPS is irrelevant against them.
2. Traps deal damage in percentages. Life nodes, ES nodes, life on gear, ES on gear, etc, are irrelevant against them.

There is nothing new about circumstances which render elements of one's build irrelevant. The first two Diablo games not only had unkillable hazards, but also things like Elemental immunities which could make heavy investment into a skill irrelevant for a fight. PoE already has/had monster/map affixes like Hexproof, reflected damage, Corrupted Blood and Blood Magic which either invalidate certain forms of build investment or punish certain builds much more heavily than others.

I think the reason the Labirynth is such a godforsaken cancerous meme in Feedback is that it is an area devoted not just to one of these "immunity" concepts, but two of them, with excessive redundancy. Unkillable threats? Probably a good idea. Percentage-based, instead of flat, damage? Another cool idea. Applying both concepts simultaneously to the same threat? Um, okay, as a one-of to make That One Monster Some People Love to Hate, but the game probably doesn't need six different versions of it. Making all six versions anyway, then putting them all in the same area? Salt incoming.

That said, this thread, to me, represents precisely the wrong attitude. The component concepts behind traps, properly separated to prevent overdose, are good ones, or at least very much in line with traditional ARPG design. Using these concepts sparingly and spread over diverse content is the correct method, not the incorrect one; it's not like the Labirynth, it's what the Labirynth isn't.


Well put. But I don't think that's the only thing making the Labyrinth a "godforsaken cancerous meme in Feedback" (nice...).

In addition to the specific mechanics you described, putting the best rewards at the very end of the run and simultaneously penalizing death much more harshly than other areas of the game incentivizes two things:

1) Skip as much of the content as possible to minimize the chance of death and maximize efficient acquisition of desirable enchantments and currency.
2) Cheese content as much as possible by looking up the layout on Reddit, watching out for easy layout days, etc. In short, "meta" the content.

Many players are fine with both of these things, and for those players the Labyrinth will feel far more rewarding and fun.

But players who like to feel rewarded for exploring, taking their time, killing everything, and--particularly--ignoring the meta (and there is a sizeable chunk to be sure) typically resent being forced to do the above two things as a necessary condition to doing well at a part of a game which offers so much power (enchantments, primarily) and is therefore necessary to remain competitive in this multiplayer game.

The upshot of all this is that using traps sparingly around other areas of the game does not share this particular weakness of the Labyrinth either, and so I agree with you that implementation of traps is ultimately much more important than the question of whether traps should be used at all.
Wash your hands, Exile!
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ScrotieMcB wrote:
Okay, so I can isolate two different things going on here:
1. Traps don't die. DPS is irrelevant against them.
2. Traps deal damage in percentages. Life nodes, ES nodes, life on gear, ES on gear, etc, are irrelevant against them.


To which I would add:
3. Traps are unavoidable. You have to traverse them in order to complete the labyrinth.

There's a venerable tradition in arpgs of of parking monsters that are too dangerous or too hard to kill with your current character, but that's not an option with traps.
Proud member of the Vocal Minority
Last edited by ShaUrley on Aug 28, 2016, 2:53:22 AM
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gibbousmoon wrote:
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diablofdb wrote:
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I just think the premise of the thread is frankly quite stupid. Traps were definitely a roadblock to navigating the lab. This just has lab elements outlining a boss arena. I don't really see what is wrong with that.

I can understand the lab haters disliking the navigation of the lab (can be uncomfortable gameplay), Enchant system (quite shit RNG, really), rewards (solved with Uber Lab so no more complaints from me). Now seeing lab elements makes people cry? Get the hell outta here.



I'm going to add something very important on what you've said

"uncomfortable gameplay" that is something very important to every single video game. Being spanked, smacked, hurt, having to start over, being frustated. This is a very important part of every video game, as, it ask us to master certain skills to overcome certain challenges and difficulties.

If we remove some unpopular mechanics such as, the death xp penality, there would be no negative point into dying. People would just go on and on.. and die a thousand time and finish the game without actually mastering it.

So here's the thing with the trap, it's a different and new sort of challenge. It's fresh to POE and something that has a lustful amount of potential for future challeng. And those things are the reasons we still play POE. I know how much it can be frustating to die to traps, but if you remove progressively every frustation of the game, from the minor mechanics to the biggest issues, we will end facerolling it without any fear or stress.

And without any fear or stress, I can tell you people will get bored very quickly, no matter what they say now about traps.


I kind of get what you are trying to say here, and I partially agree, but I think it's important to make a distinction between

A) "challenging for the sake of being challenging" and
B) "challenging for the sake of being fun."

Want some examples of A? Create needless complexity in your game, and don't accompany it with depth. Allow monsters to one-shot you from off-screen. Make all unique items unidentifiable so that players have to work out what they do from trial and error. Hide damage values for certain skills, so that players have to guess. Hide the specific odds of rolling socketed/linked items, so that players have to guess. Lower the walk/run speed of all players by a global 75%. <-- Obviously, GGG does some of these, but not all of them.

Here are some more, from the player's end. Disable your loot filter. Turn your keyboard upside down and play like that. Play the game without using any rings. Use your cat as your mousepad. Turn the gamma on your screen down and/or open your curtains on a sunny day while playing.

Want some examples of B? Introduce new monster mechanics that a player must understand in order not to die. Make the passive tree deeper (not just more complex, mind you, but actually deeper). Create specific combinations of player/monster strengths and weaknesses that discourage single-skill spamming. <-- GGG has done all of these, and more. So they DO know about creating fun challenges.

Here are some more examples of B, from the player's end. Play on hardcore. Play self-found. Play a non-meta melee build. Play an offbeat build. Craft a character around a little-used build-enabling unique. <-- There are many more.

As for the Labyrinth, and Trials:
If you aren't cheating/cheesing traps, then the gameplay involves a lot of *waiting.* No one should be surprised that fans of action games are not fans of standing around and waiting. I'd say that fits pretty solidly in category A, not category B.


+1 This post and the next from gibbousmoon describes perfectly my feelings regarding the whole Labyrinth problem, and also ScrotieMcB's point of view should be highly appreciated by everyone that sees the sad implementation of the mechanics in the Labyrinth...
PSS: Our almighty TencentGGG overlords are very scrupulous regarding criticizing their abilities to take proper decisions and consider everything "needlessly harsh and condescending"...

Good to know "free speech" doesn't apply in any form or manner on the forums these days...
Last edited by sofocle10000 on Aug 28, 2016, 4:05:41 AM
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gibbousmoon wrote:

As for the Labyrinth, and Trials:
If you aren't cheating/cheesing traps, then the gameplay involves a lot of *waiting.* No one should be surprised that fans of action games are not fans of standing around and waiting. I'd say that fits pretty solidly in category A, not category B.

There is seldom waiting, there is a little bit of it, and more if you do the patterns for the first time.

But you know what ? Other things in the game imply waiting :
- Atziri's fight, many people judge it as one of the coolest fight of the game
- Malachai fight
- Dominus fight
- Daresso's fight

And we could find many others like this.

There is some of your A, and some of your B in Path of Exile.
There is part of the fact that you need to work some things out because you are an exile in Wraeclast, lore wise basically alone against the cruel world.

Unless you build a glass canon ( and the way the game ramps up, there are many elements that "yell" at you that you need some survivability elements with your gear / spec choices, nothing will one shot you from offscreen, and definitely nothing will one shot you from offscreen without you seeing it coming ( unless you are drunk, or your computer freeze for example, both are particular cases ).

Some things would use some more clarity in the game sure, but ( my opinion there, just in case ) most of it is fine.
SSF is not and will never be a standard for balance, it is not for people entitled to getting more without trading.
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sofocle10000 wrote:
+1 This post and the next from gibbousmoon describes perfectly my feelings regarding the whole Labyrinth problem, and also ScrotieMcB's point of view should be highly appreciated by everyone that sees the sad implementation of the mechanics in the Labyrinth...


Thanks.

ScrotieMcB has written some really high-quality posts the last day or two, I noticed as well. Check them out.

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Fruz wrote:

There is seldom waiting, there is a little bit of it, and more if you do the patterns for the first time.


There is enough. More than enough. Enough to make cheesing (e.g., lightning warp) or mad dashing more appealing, in many instances.

"
But you know what ? Other things in the game imply waiting :
- Atziri's fight, many people judge it as one of the coolest fight of the game
- Malachai fight
- Dominus fight
- Daresso's fight


I can't comment on the fight with Atziri, because I am a self-found scrub who isn't good enough to get to her, but as for the others, I don't agree that they are exercises in waiting. You generally need to stay mobile in all three to stay alive, which keeps the fights exciting.

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Unless you build a glass canon ( and the way the game ramps up, there are many elements that "yell" at you that you need some survivability elements with your gear / spec choices, nothing will one shot you from offscreen,


Again, not qualified to say. I play more deliberately (and a mix of SC and HC), so it's never happened to me yet, but I do read the complaint often enough. And I do think one-shot mechanics in general fall into category A. But sometimes one-shots are due to bad decisions ("Let's see what happens if I try to tank Tunneltrap, yay!") or bad decisions while leveling ("These life nodes look so boring, I don't really need them, do I?") so it is not always black and white in this case.

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and definitely nothing will one shot you from offscreen without you seeing it coming ( unless you are drunk, or your computer freeze for example, both are particular cases ).


This is a different problem entirely. Too much 焼酎 running through my blood at any given time. You understand.


EDIT: I think I wasn't clear on one thing, however. I consider ALL items in Category A to be bad. I don't agree with any game philosophy that suggests that we should make something explicitly unpleasant for the player in order to make him or her happier once that experience is over.

I think that is unnecessary to create a sense of satisfaction, and for that reason I think it is usually a product of lazy design choices.
Wash your hands, Exile!
Last edited by gibbousmoon on Aug 28, 2016, 4:45:38 AM
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gibbousmoon wrote:
[...]

Once Malachai starts activating the first heart and if you have already dodge the area ( I think there can be some already ), you need to wait that he finishes his stuff before damaging it usually.

There is a smal waiting time between the different forms also, it being Malachai, Dominus or Atziri.
It's not a lot, and I do not mind it, it's less obvious than with traps also, but I just wanted to point it out.

The offscreen one shots that I have read recently were ... porcupines.
( Technically it's intant kill in this case )
And, it's always possible to see it coming honestly.
Please leave 焼酎 out of game balance then ^^.


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gibbousmoon wrote:

EDIT: I think I wasn't clear on one thing, however. I consider ALL items in Category A to be bad. I don't agree with any game philosophy that suggests that we should make something explicitly unpleasant for the player in order to make him or her happier once that experience is over.

I think that is unnecessary to create a sense of satisfaction, and for that reason I think it is usually a product of lazy design choices.

I have a slightly different opinion.
I think that some dark areas do make the game less mathematic, more unprevisible, it gives a feeling that the player does not have full control over what is going on.

Some of it ( imho ) is a good thing.
Too much of it isn't.
I feel like some things in PoE do use too much of that feeling, but I would not like to have them all removed.
SSF is not and will never be a standard for balance, it is not for people entitled to getting more without trading.
Last edited by Fruz on Aug 28, 2016, 4:59:07 AM
If waiting was an issue for some people, they would have left the game when they got to the act 2 boss. He takes forever to come out of the ground and he takes forever to finish dying so you can leave the area. Those wait periods are worse than waiting for traps because when you're waiting for traps, you're figuring out your next move. At the top of the pyramid you're just waiting.
Guild Leader The Amazon Basin <BASIN>
Play Nice and Show Some Class www.theamazonbasin.com
Last edited by mark1030 on Aug 28, 2016, 9:33:59 AM
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diablofdb wrote:
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These threads are getting a little ridiculous.




Mark my words, all of this whining will kill POE one day. Devs won't be able to add new things or new challenges because people keep crying, we can't have nice things now :(.


I remember Act 4 implementation... at first "When will Act 4 finally come?" and after it was implemented "Hmm... Act 4 kinda sucks".

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EDIT: I think I wasn't clear on one thing, however. I consider ALL items in Category A to be bad. I don't agree with any game philosophy that suggests that we should make something explicitly unpleasant for the player in order to make him or her happier once that experience is over.


Well there is different things here. It is very important to give players an unpleasent feeling about areas or situations. That is a major part of games and something they copied from movies. Movies do that all the time. However reducing your movespeed by 75% is not one of those things. However making an area dark or just slimy and unpleasent is part of it. And often times even having to wait for something has a very great effect. When I first encountered the Oversoul after it was implemented having to wait created a lot of tension and that was great... of course after a few kills it is a bit odd and doesn't really have the same effect anymore, now its mostly annoying, far more than traps, when I wait on traps I have a good reason... they would hurt me, after the oversoul is dead I just wait.

Also waiting on Traps is not so much different than waiting on Flame Bearers or similar things or zombies leaving Tar on dead.

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