0.9.12w Patch Notes
"I don't know if Chris and the others have specific plans - I just read through that thread myself and felt like sharing my findings because they seemed relevant. Some people will always prefer to play solo, and that's fine - the game is intended to be playable that way. If someone just doesn't like playing multiplayer then there's not much I think we can do about that, other than make multiplayer fun in case they decide to try it out. The most common reason given was that people want to be free to play at their own pace and not feel rushed / feel like they're frustrating others if they take a quick break - I don't have time to devote lots of thought to the subject, but that doesn't seem like something that's easily changeable by altering how multiplayer works without changing it to the point it's almost not recognisable. It's worth noting that while this keeps people from playing in public parties (and many people did explicitly say it's a reason they play solo), for some this might not stop them plying with friends, who'd be more understanding of taking short breaks or pausing to read all the NPC story text. One of the other big reasons given was that they prefer multiplayer with friends to public parties (this is where I fall), which of course doesn't indicate that they don't play multiplayer, but that they don't play open parties - several people quoted that they had a big friends list, so to some people public parties seem to be unnecessary as they've got enough friends to always play with some of them. I don't really have any big conclusions to draw from all this, but I'm not convinced that a low number of parties being open to the public is necessarily indicative of a problem with the number of people playing multiplayer in general (including private parties). I do agree we need to make sure multiplayer is an enjoyable experience and that public parties are at least an option. | |
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Yeah, I guess going at my own pace is the reason I don't party up that much. It's honestly a kind of laziness for me (I could try and set up a party, or I could just go out and not worry about it). If at the moment complaints about FFA aren't the dominant reason, nothing should be done yet. For the most part the loot hasn't been a problem, though there is at least one case when people have gone greed over need on a drop of mine against me (it did drop offscreen though, so I may never have found it at any rate)
My feeling is that the state of parties and party loot in the game should be reviewed after some time in open beta, perhaps a month or two (and perhaps a lot of things should be reviewed at that period of time, just for completeness sake). A large portion of the population is always going to be playing solo or with friends I feel. For things like "I want to go at my own pace", there isn't a way that GGG can really change or "fix" that, and if that's the dominant reason, then changing loot around won't really increase the number of public parties. |
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" I don't see this as being the case. By that I mean PoE is not a game that's designed solely around the concept of multiplayer. A game like WoW or CoD simply isn't intended as a sigleplayer experience. While you could play those games in such a way, it's made apparent to the player that singleplayer is not the intended mode of play. PoE on the other hand simply offers an easy and convenient multiplayer option for playing through the game content. In the same way, PoE will offer PvP but it isn't a PvP game. Forum Sheriff
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" I am pleased that my thread was of some use to you guys. Saying that, it is what it is & only reflects a very small number of players, I'm not sure its got to the stage where any hard evidence could be gathered from it. Referring to the quote, the more reasoned of the pro instanced loot folks out there aren't asking for FFA loot to be removed. They (we) are asking for loot options for the host of the party. Letting the host decide the loot options means everyone is a winner & if the party is public then a simple indication in the title would make it easy for people looking to party to choose which game suits them best. Unless this somehow jades the dev's vision of the game I don't see how it could be viewed as a negative addition. |
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"Oh, I agree - I wasn't trying to say we could draw any solid conclusions from it, I was merely pointing out that what little evidence we do have doesn't support the idea that removing FFA, or providing other options, would actually significantly increase the number of public parties - despite the fact I've seen the lack of public parties used time and time again as "evidence" that FFA is bad for the game, without any attempt to back that up. Basically, I just found the feedback from that thread to be interesting (if not surprising) and worth bringing up here as it was directly relevant to Buzi's post. | |
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If it's worth mentioning Mark, PoE has some pretty innovative design choices - at least in regard to flasks and maps, if not more.
I've yet to see a loot distirbution system in an online RPG like this that actually distributes loot "fairly" (most suggestions made by players regarding this only make this issue worse). Or a system which actually makes public, random "pug" play inviting. I didn't play WOW around the time this started, but PUGs started using this silly "loot score" mechanic in order to form PUGs for dungeons. If your gear was below a certain threshold, you'd be refused. Which is ridiculous, given how to get a good loot score, you'd need to farm these instances. It's just one indicative thing regarding group play. Players will exclude others merely based on some perceived performance dip. There needs to be some kind of incentive, perhaps beyond loot/xp increases, for players to group up. A lot of "pros" don't like public groups, because they know some pug would just slow down their grind, rather than speed it up. Although it may not be worth your energy now, you should devote some time to brainstorming systems regarding some of these issues, as you've done a wonderful job coming with the current's game systems. No reason why you can't further raise the bar for other games to follow suit. Having social mechanisms in the game is important! Too many games latch onto facebook/twitter hook-ups, instead of designing game systems to facilitate friendship and cooperation amongst players. You may want to consider ideas like: mentorship-partnerships (a "pro" player helping out noobs) for rewards or adding ways for weaker players to contribute to groups. My Keystone Ideas: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/744282 Last edited by anubite on Oct 22, 2012, 10:13:49 PM
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After just re reading the thread it has to be said that FFA is certainly a significant reason though.
As mentioned you can't do anything about folks who don't party as they either just like to solo or like to go at their own pace. They are also a significant reason as to why there aren't that any public parties but loot options are something you can so something about. The forums feel like they are going round in circles lately and I for one would rather GGG just come out and say either way whats the score here. I can live with only FFA loot if that's the decision GGG go with but what's more frustrating than having my loot pinched is reading the endless loot threads that go nowhere cos we never get a word either way from the upper decks. Give us a yay or a nay, make it a sticky & put it to bed. |
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I think they have said the score, though not in an announcement. Their message is pretty clear to me, though I think they'd rather not invite the 1000 page response that would come from an official statement.
My understanding is: They like FFA loot. It fits the theme of POE. It is a simple system which does not need maintenance. It is easy to understand and deal with as a player. It is predictable and doesn't break up the flow of the game in a significant manner. It didn't require much additional planning or programming to create. They may not see it as an ideal system, but in an ideal system, I think GGG would still like there to be conflict and animosity between players cooperating. Perhaps they'd like to see a balance between friends being friends, and friends being enemies. My Keystone Ideas: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/744282 Last edited by anubite on Oct 22, 2012, 10:17:07 PM
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" Your league system seems the perfect place to implement options like instanced loot (or alternative loot systems). | |
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Certainly for private pay-leagues, alternate party loot distribution systems seem reasonable enough.
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