3.17 = one month retention

Three weeks top on league start, and one week later on in the Gauntlet. I'm truly thankful for GGG being the company to deliver the best filler "AA" F2P game for what's been a decade of drought for AAA products.

Sadly, where there's no glory, no rewarding competition, or a "fun" multiplayer game, PoE (if not already) will end up like the hundreds of other games that ship annually. The 3.16 buffs remained, and now more builds than ever will be able to do it all, which is why more players than ever will overwhelm the content, especially in the "easy mode", which is still the only option available that most care to compete.

After 3.16 has never been more difficult to separate from the masses, which is why this promotional event they're organizing now I expect it to last as long as the Gauntlet before it's competed, which I'm sure many remember it was within less than three days by somebody who'll again stay awake for 60+ hours with 4-5 hours sleep.

Path of Exile has never been more of a "single player game" than right now, which is why after the Siege of the Atlas despite how mediocre Lost Ark is it still comes as the clear winner due to at least offering a superior multiplayer experience both in PvE and PvP. 2022 will be another grim year for the industry, which is why Lost Ark will do well, and PoE will do OK.

GGG hasn't even updated their own website ladder after they released PoE in 2013, but this thread is not to provide feedback toward GGG on what they need to do and why. As I mentioned months ago purchasing my first supporter pack will be delayed until they release "normal mode", and apparently I'll have to wait two more months after I stop playing PoE. The way they organized the December events, as well as the prizes also revealed a lot, and I am not going to discuss about that here, just I can say I am still thankful they happened.

Years from now when PoE 2 launches all of these things will be remembered, because people do remember, and for a long time I know exactly what market GGG has been targeting, and using most of the resources primarily. When I came in PoE in 2013 it was a far more complex and challenging experience due to most being completely new to the whole "theme park" core game design, and there were a lot more who could be creative to separate solely through their build creativity, and the lack of POB or logout macros being available.

RIP Aila and Tie23he

Tie23he at least knew better how there's far more rewarding opportunities out there that he can use his potential, and rightfully so. I've been in this position where for a very long time I've had more money than I've needed or wanted to spend, and a lot had to do with humanity failing to deliver me products that captured my interest, due to my vast experience, but in the same time I didn't have enough money so I can deliver my own product first for myself and by my own, while I was also still managing to enjoy gaming, and it's how I did save over $20,000 through the past 11 years, both on gaming as well as on PC hardware.

I still use a rig built in September 2012, except replacing a GPU that burned thanks to this game, and a HDD with SSD. Perhaps, I should seek others like me who have money, but not enough needing to invest together to start our own company, and deliver when others aren't.


I stopped playing single player games at the end of 2001 when I got my PC, and never bought another console since. The experience from playing multiplayer games was far more enjoyable and satisfying, as I was interacting with PC's and not witnessing mainstream NPC stories, which is why I also came to PoE expecting or hoping for an "online" ARPG. Glory, conflicts, drama, rewarding competition, and overall a real role playing EXP is something that only AAA products can deliver and rightfully so.

3.18 and the "normal mode" will define this company, because GGG will be solely responsible how many are still interested to participate, and compete in their product. If the attention is low the competition will be underwhelming, and I am not hired (paid) to assist GGG how to be using its resources to open the wallets from the hundreds of millions that their product is available to.


GGG is this company that has few who are developing these static bosses all year long, and then the rest are stuff like Ultimatum, Scourge, things that won't improve the experience of the core game. The 3.16 skill tree, and moving the region trees to a whole atlas tree in 3.17, are just further examples of using resources that won't help with retention, because that's not why I and most of the others quit playing around the same time I do.

The new endgame and loot progression introduced in 3.17 with some deterministic crafting won't help with retention either, because the game right now is more of a single player game designed first in mind and for a long time for the softcore player base, those who still find "fun" in chasing challenges, that aren't an actual challenges for some MTX, or to keep "farming" the "theme park", except each week a little faster than the previous.

Finally, If they did some small updates like the in-game and website ladder toward both Delving and bossing, as well as focused their "promotions" (events) to be more challenging, and thus lasting for more than few days every three months then they would understand more about retention. 66k who participated in the Gauntlet it's not a small number, and if the game had a far better event format with a far more rewarding model to compete in that number would've been double at least, and at the end that is how you keep many satisfied, to enjoy playing and buying your "supporter" packs.

way too long cba reading

Ohhh boy. Here we go

I, for one, would be interested to see the proof that you actually play this game.

Why?

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

Why?

"

due to my vast experience

tl;dr
But I'm happy for you.
Or sorry it happened.

Here we go again

So how's everyone's day?

Super. Glad to have a weekend. Privileged. Hope the best for everyone.