The wall of real problems that prevent PoE from being a god-tier game

If a lot of issues are attributed to 'You're playing the game wrong', don't you think the fact that such a large number of players are apparently playing the game 'incorrectly' would indicate that there is some sort of problem?

Also, Theorycrafter is pretty far beyond Hardcore gamer, and PoE is turning into a full on Theorycraft game as opposed to Hardcore. A decent number of people are starting to mash Hardcore and Theorycraft together.

Participating in theorycraft should give you an edge, and that extra knowledge used to push the limits (or take on challenges that are not advertised as an infinitely repeatable endgame), however it should not be borderline mandatory to play your character in an enjoyable way in the endgame.

Want to make some sort of uberboss that requires extremely deep knowledge of game mechanics to handle? Cool.

Maps? No. Currently maps are akin to a noobtrap, however it is instead a trap for every single player that does not participate in theorycraft (or trading for wealth to just buy maps).

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Xendran wrote:

If a lot of issues are attributed to 'You're playing the game wrong', don't you think the fact that such a large number of players are apparently playing the game 'incorrectly' would indicate that there is some sort of problem?

Nothing a wiki can't solve. However, as I was saying earlier, citations are still needed.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

I actually agree with you that maps fail many users in terms of fun and challenging endgame content. However, I do not view this failure as intrinsic to the map system itself; instead, I view it as the result of user error.

[...]

You're trying to make everything average out. Stop. It's a waste. Allow some low maps to be wicked hard, and some to give you a chance to catch your breath. Permit variety. If you go with the flow you'll be a lot happier.

Also, I'm not suggesting that a truly high-level character run 68 maps. I'm suggesting that a high-level character run high maps, and have them available due to not having ran them earlier. I'm suggesting pacing yourself and running lots and lots (probably 30 to 40) of 68s between 67 and 69.

[...]
I'm going a little further than that. More like: if you're running 77 maps before level 92 you're wasting currency.

My main character is ranged (evasion/acro/phase acro/ondar's), and there are very few map mods that actually make a map considerably more difficult for me, only slower or more tedious (+life, +phys resist, temp chains). I used to run a lot of maps alch-and-go, except for those my PC can't handle well enough (fracture) or those I just can't bear to run (temp chains). The only real difficulty I have found was when I progressed to higher level maps. Anything below 76 is currently not a challenge at all, regardless of suffixes and affixes, though at least some of the boss fights are still fun. 76-78 maps can still be a challenge, but I don't have enough of em to have a fun time.

And that's where our opinions differ. You seem to still have fun just running maps, regardless of whether they present you with a challenge or not, because you still have the occasional difficult map roll even on lower level maps. I don't. Lower level maps are a waste of my time. They give less experience, they aren't engaging, they aren't a challenge; my only reason to run them is to get higher level maps, because those still are challenging and fun.

Basically, I have finished the game, even though I've only done a handful of level 78 maps. This makes me sad. I like this game, and I want more from its end-game, I want more 77-78 maps, heck 78+ maps, more difficult challenges and more content in general. But the game doesn't offer me any of these unless I go through the RNG-gate, which has become increasingly boring. The Atziri encounter is probably the epitome of this, requiring to run countless low level areas to farm some map fragments.

You seem to put being bored almost as a requirement and don't seem to mind it. Run 100-200 lower level maps so I can then, perhaps, run a string of, say 50 level 77-78 maps? By the time I've finished enough lower level maps to build up a large stash of high level maps, I'll have gained levels to increase my passive damage and survivability, items to trade for better items, currency to improve my gear, and then 78 maps will have become equally boring as those lower level maps. With that plan, perhaps I'll be able to run 78 maps continuously, but I'm also highly likely to always run content below my level, below my gear, in short, content which has become boring by the time I can continuously run it. If I wait till level 90+ to run maps level 77 and higher, I'll have effectively made the last snippet of interesting and challenging content this game has for me boring as well. I feel that would be a waste of content I could otherwise have fun with.

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raics wrote:

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RagnarokChu wrote:

There is no "middle ground" that doesn't have the >exact< same few complaints.

'Golden middle' isn't just a phrase, it's an ideal to strive for.

Only a small percentage of people are adamant about extremes, most are willing to accept some shade of gray. If you hit the right shade you will lose only those that are unwilling to compromise even a bit.

Not to mention there probably aren't any people that actually like dropping trash so the 'other extreme' doesn't even exist, so you will find the perfect ratio and then move it a bit left. You don't want to starve your kids, just keep them from eating only candies until their teeth fall out.

Balance is the key.

You, I like you ^^

+1

I agree with every single one of OP's points. This could've been the perfect ARPG if only developers didn't have this ridiculous vision of making the ultimate hardcore game.