So coming off the heels of the D4 Beta and massive Twitch Marketing, GGG presents...Crucible?

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lupasvasile wrote:

Maybe I'm the weird one out of the bunch, but the core PoE experience (gamplay, past cumulative league content, feel, etc) is still top tier; with all of its obvious flaws.

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DarthSki44 wrote:

This league had the benefit of renewed interest in the arpg genre due to D4. This is great news for everyone. GGG shattered their concurrent player record, and the amount of paid sponsorships on Twitch was the highest I've seen yet. They drummed up a significant amount of interest, no doubt about it. It launched on a Holiday weekend for many.

And what does GGG do with this golden opportunity? Present us with one of the most undwhelming leagues in recent memory. Not only is the league mechanic an after thought, the mobs are wildly over-tuned. Many encounters were beyond the difficulty of bosses, which makes zero sense. I doubt many players even completed more than one or two nodes during the entire campaign. It was awful in both utility and experience.

After playing Crucible for a few days I'm left with a couple of strong feelings. One, I wish I was playing D4 instead, and two, GGG has really taken their hands off the wheel with PoE1. It's just so low effort in terms of scope, and mob scaling / interaction. Even the mystery box and battle pass is sub par. (Not to mention the battle pass changes that are a step in a shady direction)

GGG hasnt spoken about PoE2, like at all, and managing these expectations, while still monetizing and supporting PoE1, is becoming increasingly problematic. It's to the point that I dont believe PoE2 can do everything the players are expecting. I think GGG is setting up PoE2 to fall flat. Not that it won't be good, because I expect it will be well designed, but people will be disappointed with what is presented in terms of scope after 5 years in development. I expect the theme to be "great intentions, terrible execution".

Nothing has made me want to play D4 more than this current iteration of PoE. I cannot imagine retention performing well in this league (what is there to do??), and come June, it will be a post-nuclear wasteland. The amount of pressure and expectations for Exilecon in July is staggering. Whatever "beta" they showcase better be epic. They better have tons of info and, subsequently a forum based FAQ section or sticky post, with developer interaction. They better have a solid public beta ready to go shortly after. The amount of bugs and problems to hash out, given what we have seen in past leagues, will be of a magnitude we have never seen before.

GGG cannot afford to fuck this up, and what we have seen lately, isn't a good indicator... of anything really. Good luck GGG, you will need it.