{ Game development direction } (opinion)

Greetings :)

I hope everyone is well. This is my opinion on what upcoming content should include. I'll explain my reasons, and hopefully convince a person or two in the office, that this is worth listening to.

The main point: Play content needs to expand dynamically.

New acts are awesome. Everyone knows that, and everyone enjoys and gets excited about seeing things expand. In addition, the arrival of many new maps has made mapping more of an adventure.

((Aside: If you guys want to dig for ideas on how to improve/expand the Atlas, please investigate later installments of the series "Commander Keen."



The game is a sidescroller, but it has world maps, where you click on an object in order to access the sidescroller part of play. In order to get from one part of the world map to another, sometimes you need to get special items that let you traverse different types of terrain. This is more exciting than just keys (keys aren't as sweet). So these sorts of thing: flippers to cross water, a snorkel to reach underwater areas, a rope with a grappling hook to climb up to reach higher areas, lava boots that let you walk on lava, etc.

Suppose you have an expansive environment (similar to Zana's area) full of portals scattered throughout it. This expansive area would be the physical manifestation of the Atlas. And it would be sweet.))

But new acts and new maps are not the only way to expand content. I made a post recently, and I've seen similar ones in the past, asking for racing maps. The proposal boiled down to:

"

bwam wrote:

[For PVP map racing:] Two lanes, one boss. Once you kill the boss and enter the other lane, the other lane's mobs are not hostile to you (this is double-edged). If you clash in the boss zone, you will both be vulnerable to the boss and to each other.

This is just an example of a way to deepen play, and maybe it's not even a perfect example. But it's a move in the right direction.

Let me reiterate that I don't think expanding the acts and maps is a move in the wrong direction; quite the contrary. But I think growth shouldn't be limited, and that things like this could do a lot to sweeten the pot for players.

Having things in the game, where the primary play activity is altered, is stimulating and keeps our attention. We're wired to like diversity in our tasks. So including things like Rhoa Racing, while it might sound silly, has more merit than it might seem at first blush.

An example of where you've done this: To give credit where credit's due, hideouts were (and are) in line with this philosophy. Things like guild hideouts open opportunities for creative additions to the game. Just to throw out an example, you could have guild areas that operate similarly to the Sarn arena, where players in the same guild don't damage each other but can still mirk any intruders from rival guilds. I know I've seen many requests for guild hideouts in this forum alone.

Closing remark:My opinion is that these sorts of things should be looked into just as seriously as you guys take creating the new Acts.

Thanks for reading.

Best regards,
Bwam.

@Community: If you guys have any awesome ideas for dynamically expanding Path of Exile, please leave them here! And any +1s to the ideas mentioned are appreciated. :)

Commander Keen!

Bwuahahaha. That brings back memories. I played one of those games on a 286.

Ah, good times. I could hear the internet back then. It was a horrible sound. 28k modem. Sigh.

"

SudianX wrote:

Commander Keen!

Bwuahahaha. That brings back memories. I played one of those games on a 286.

Ah, good times. I could hear the internet back then. It was a horrible sound. 28k modem. Sigh.

the dial-up sound is indelibly inscribed in my memory ;)

Any thoughts, my dear, fellow Exiles?

Agree? "Yes, Bwam: we want dynamic expansion! Hopefully the community keeps coming up with ways to do this. For example, I had this idea..."

Disagree? "Bah. Bwam, GGG needs to concentrate all their efforts on new Acts. Even designing Leagues is a mere distraction. Masters? Pfah. Prophecies? Pfsh. Labyrinth? *Troll noises!* WANT SEE PIETY RETURN (and marry the Duelist). MAKE NEW ACT PLZ."

Something I'd love to have would be a bestiary.
It would be a tome, you can open it and search for different mob pages. Every mob page would have some flavour text, the different subspecies (Rhoa, Murk Runner, Bone Rhoa, ...) and where they are most likely to find.
But now comes the "twist":
Every mob gets more modifiers innate to its subspecies, but you can't see them and the only way of determining them would be by killing x of said mob.

Example: A normal Rhoa will have a little armor, a charging ability and a chance of getting a frenzy charge for every meter travelled while charging.

In the Bestiary, you'd see:
-Rhoa
???? (kill 1 to unlock)
Mods:
??? (kill 100 to unlock)
??? (kill 200 to unlock)
??? (kill 300 to unlock)

And then, to sweeten the deal, add this:

Rhoas to kill for 5% increased damage against Rhoas: 500 (something along these lines)

I think by fortifying what's already there and giving the whole setting of Wraeclast some more meat on the ribs GGG could make this game much more interesting. I'd love having more numbers increasing as you play and a "Pokedex" fill up. It would make the game less of a mindless grind.

Hey Obliviongamer91,

Thanks for leaving your comment! It's great seeing people brainstorming and putting out ideas for the game.


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Your Idea
(Let me know if I'm understanding your suggestion properly.)


1. You want an in-game codex listing every enemy + a little extra info.
- The codex would fill-in as you encounter various enemy types.

2. You want a new zone called the "Bestiary," wherein certain enemies have hidden mods (visible only after killing N number of them).
- After killing a certain number of an enemy in the Bestiary, you want to receive a buff against that enemy type.



Hopefully I interpreted your suggestion properly. Sorry if I got anything wrong.


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My response:

1] My initial thought is that this would be largely ignored by players, unless they needed to look up something specific.

2] Hidden mods for an enemy, visible after killing N of them, seems unnecessary. I mean, you can barely read monster-mod text as it is.

3] While this might be justifiable, I feel like familiarity with an enemy's attacks/etc is all the advantage you need after killing N of them.

I don't mean to shoot down your idea; I'm just trying to respond to it, as it is, courteously but also in a straightforward way.

I actually really like the bestiary idea.

Thoughts-
Could have a fan art competition for select bestiary entries.
500 kills +X% damage vs.
1000 kills +X% quantity of items dropped from
1500 kills +X% chance to drop *specific item type*
2500 kills Mob specific hideout decoration. (Rhoa head mounted on wall or similar)
Information such as pack size, variants, spawn locations, ele strengths/weaknesses, spells/abilities.
Really nice fancy book with animated turning pages.
Could be a great way of developing lore.
Bestiary as placeable hideout object maybe?
Tie it in with Tora somehow maybe?

Actually yeah! Tie the bestiary in with Tora and have a similar book tied in with Vorici for humanoid mobs. Cos they aren't beasts, so it wouldn't make sense to have them in there... But it would make sense for Vorici to keep a record of human kills. Notches on the belt, so to speak.

Oh snap! And have a book tied in with Elreon for undead kills! Cos ghosts and skellingtons aren't really beasts either, but Elreon is the sort of chap who would write a damn novel about undead abominations!

With a master specific grindy quest thingy along these lines for each master, you could have a whole league start with this. Forgotten Masters part 2 or some such.

As a matter of priorities - and specifically within that context - I disagree with this thread. PoE isn't lacking layers of complexity to peel off like an onion, it's lacking core gameplay polish such that once you peel back all those layers, you're left with a Cookie Clicker core. PoE is all garnish - and wow, is it ever fancy garnish! - and almost no entree. I don't think new expansion ideas should be encouraged, I think they should be discouraged in favor of a new engine and starting the fuck over with more engaging core gameplay. After that, well, maybe, but who even knows if your ideas would be compatible at that point.

When you're suggesting a sequel for an expansion, you should realize you're gone too far.