How to get used to playing Softcore?
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I played HC for almost 3 years took a break for almost 2 just came back. I knew I had no business going on HC so I did what I thought I would hate and a made a betrayal SC char. Turns out I enjoy the game a million times more for these reasons in no particular order:
1. You can actually play the content instead of skipping the vast majority when trying new builds or getting carried by high levels. 2. You can actually try fights not completely over leveled and over geared and it isn't a stupid decision. Playing the game like intended at proper level is nice. 3. Build diversity is increased substantially. 4. I experiment on making my own builds constantly now and actually enjoy it instead of getting pissed off because I have to restart every few days or weeks. 5. This is not a HC viable game for leagues imo. Leagues are pretty much really fun beta tests. There wasn't a single league in all of my playing that didn't start out just awful for HC and constant one shots. Beta testing on a HC game with a ridiculous death penalty is not fun regardless of the adrenaline rush you get before death. One shot mechanics just killed my enjoyment of the game when on HC. Now it just really stings past level 90. This really allows you to actually enjoy the game instead of just skipping the league content until balanced or guides come out...Taking risks is more fun. 6. Way better trade base in an already hard to trade game. 7. This game goes through so many changes every friggin month whether it's balance or whatever....really makes Hardcore just stupid. All in all after few years in HC and knowing how every league is almost always over tuned I will never return to HC unless death penalty is changed a bit and when internet connections, servers, and computers don't get you killed eventually. I have really good internet and all but once or twice a month there is some hiccup on my end or POE's...makes HC stupid and not enjoyable. Last edited by johnce6 on Feb 7, 2019, 9:59:36 PM
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" This is pretty much how I feel. I've only dabbled with HC because every time I play it I feel like I'm being forced into a very conservative, much-too-timid play style. SC allows me to experiment and push the envelope in ways that would be punished in HC. SC gives the freedom to really find out where the limits of a build really are. Can't figure out how to enjoy SC? Don't play like you're in HC. Free yourself to expand the possibilities. - here's my sig
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If you die over and over OP you will never finish maps and also never go above 90. Each death after 90 takes a part of your soul (well % of exp, but close enough).
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" I mean, maps are limited to 6 portals and the experience penalty gets exponentially more painful as you get higher and higher in levels. Bricking a shaper set, uber atziri or uber elder set costs a chunk of currency. Delve bosses and encounters burn their sulphite costs if you fail. I get it that some HC players consider these penalties meaningless, but as a SC player I find them quite enough that it pisses me off when I die. | |
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I guess the sense of accomplishment in SC is similar to what you’d get from any of the vast majority of games that don’t even have a HC mode.
Personally, I get joy from seeing how far I can take my original characters and maintaining/improving a variety of them. I don’t consider the game “beaten” after completing any particular content, and I’ve only rarely chosen to play the minority of builds that make the game easy. Losing 10% of exp starts to matter a lot past 90, and with non-meta builds you will die. If this game has become a total breeze to the point where not losing characters to internet problems bores you, it might be time to move on. Once you’ve mastered the initial looooong learning curve of PoE, the challenges left are simply having the patience to grind and playing less meta builds. No game can keep an individual’s interest forever. While there’s certainly validity to the complaints some top players have about lack of difficulty (given various kinds of powercreep over the last few years), I think a lot of those players are just burnt out and aren’t recognizing how inhumanly good they’ve gotten, to the point where games can’t realistically be designed around their level of skill/knowledge/efficiency. Consider that a compliment. We're all in this leaky boat together, people.
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" Death is a 10% tax on xp. It has meaning. If you're like me and don't give a shit getting past lvl 90 then y it has no meaning; but if you're 98 and die losing 10% is meaningful. |
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" Your post is a really good argument for bringing back race seasons, as they are a happy medium. I'm sure you'll make some SC game goals that are about living large :) | |
" To be fair when it comes to HC, the only opinion that matters from the ''top players'' is if they do not use an insta-logout macro. If they are, they are basically cheesing the hard mode and calling it easy. | |
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HEY Im HC player everybody! HEY LOOK AT ME! Im a HC player and I try SC. It seems a bit boring but HEY LOOK AT ME I play HC or at least played HC now I dunno what to do. I could simply not play the game but I TRI HARD SC.
ANYWAY! LOOK AT ME IM GOD HC player !!! HC PLAYER MASTERRACE!1!!111!!!11 |
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" No need to be insecure, no one is attacking you. SC and HC have a very different feeling to the game, and it is a significant difference / adjustment. Neither is better or worse, but your response lets me know you've only tried one or you would understand that already. Someone earlier in the thread described it best, in SC your characters can die a slow death due to disinterest. The thing I found helps the most so far is to try unique/different builds on SSF and see how far you can take them. |
