Another long-term player signing off.

Warning: long read, it's my story but TLDR is at the bottom.

So a while ago I started to feel differently about this game, but the SotV patch brought me back and invigorated me once again and now I feel worse about the game than before. I've played since OB release more on than off, had a CB invite but didn't invest so much since there was gonna be a reset. Since 1.0, I've played 536 hours according to Steam so I'd estimate something like 1.2k or 1.3k hours in total over 14 months ish.

Overall, my thoughts on the game are conflicted. The game was obviously fun for me to spend so much time with and even though I'm not a supporter, I have bought points on two occasions but couldn't bring myself to buy the full packs. At the same time, I feel disappointed in what I have to show for how much time I have invested in this game.

The main reason for me feeling this way is the drop rates and item system.

I've found some OK gear but my "good" unique drops can be counted on one hand. Most valuable, an Aegis before it was crazy FotM but I sold it and bought a BoR which I was pretty happy about since I love melee builds. Apart from that, 1 Maligaro's gloves and 2 Rat's Nests and that's pretty much it. Every other drop has just been chaos change that I had to try to sell and then trade up to exalts.

I don't mind trading but since I played solo or duo almost all the time, you can only hope for a lucky drop or spend a lot of time trading, rather than playing, to be able to get good items. My time item hunting feels pretty disappointing because that one 67 map I did with 40 rarity that happened to drop an Aegis contained more value than all the exalted orbs and other uniques I've ever found combined. I should probably add that I spent like a week rarity farming Piety on Standard before SotV came out with a summoner at around 80-100Q and 300R and no unique worth more than a couple of chaos dropped. For what it's worth on the topic of item worth, my played time has resulted in exactly 0 6 links as well.

Then there's the item system itself which caused all my friends and people I recommended this game to to quit. Even my girlfriend, a D2 veteran who still plays it from time to time, just kinda stopped playing in A3 cruel, not because it was particularly difficult, just all her yellow drops were crap and the prospect of going through the game yet again with the same gear and same terrible drop rates was not fun. Then by the time you get to the "real game" at 66+, as people like to put it, finding an upgrade solo is nothing short of a miracle. I can't recall a drop in maps which I equipped as an upgrade. Everything can still roll level 1 mods so there are just too many combinations of affix and affix levels so getting what you want involves winning a lottery inside another lottery.

The second reason I'm calling it quits is the map system, or more specifically, map drops in maps.

I was gonna log on this week and do 9 more maps to put my sample size at 100 but apart from looking nice, it wouldn't have been enjoyable. Anyway, after recording quantity and map drops from 91 of my maps, I can say that map drops are just too random for their own good. Map quantity vs map drops returns a correlation coefficient of r=0.09 over 91 maps which isn't even an arguable amount of positive correlation. It makes doing harder maps pretty pointless when the risk of death is so high and so everyone just does pack size and magic monsters.

Last time I mapped in standard, my 70 pool was taken from around 10 back down to 1 or 2 twice with little progress after using chisels and some chaos. This time around in Ambush I've mapped more than ever before, avoiding using chaos unless necessary, and in my last 12 71 maps, I have received 3 maps that are 71 or higher, after using alcs and chisels. When your pools are destroyed like that, it's incredibly discouraging and the only way to come back from it is just praying to RNGesus.

The final reason which makes me more inclined to stop now is your treatment of Standard, and permanent leagues in general. I don't really feel like rerolling from scratch every four months just to have a decent experience of the game. Months and months of garbage will continue to get dumped onto Standard, as well as the steady stream of dying hardcore characters. Then on top of all that, every "mistake" or "fix" you otherwise get rid of still lingers around at crazy inflated prices. All of that makes for the permanent leagues being way more diluted, which makes it harder to sell your stuff and less worthwhile to farm.

TL;DR:

Drop rates and the affix pool have made spending so long playing, rather than trading, feel very unrewarding. Map drops within maps are barely affected by quantity, if at all, so mapping and leveling past the low 80s is just RNG as a solo player. Standard being a continual dumping ground for every other league's stuff and balancing mistakes, which kinda screws people who want to play their characters longer than 4 months.

As a final note, thank you GGG for making the game and keeping me playing it for so long, I hope it continues to be successful but this will be all from me.
Last edited by soulpoetry on Apr 12, 2014, 2:34:45 PM
This thread has been automatically archived. Replies are disabled.
I just read your key points and have at one time or another raised concern over each of those same issues.

The entire design of the end-game just contradicts itself:

-RNG gated experience gain.
-No respecs so choice "means something"
-Don't expect to level 100 without a lot of currency
-Hundreds of unique items but the average player will never obtain most of them
-Massive skill tree and "build options" but stacking life is essentially required.
All I see:

"Dear GGG, I came to this game expecting a different game than what I got, now I feel my long stay here somehow means I'm important to you, unless you cave to my demands to change the game into something I'd like I will leave, and you will have to care about it."

Listen, I know I come off as abusive but fact of the matter is: this game is what the devs want it to be. If the drop rates were any higher than what they currently are then everyone would simply get all the items they want and then there would be no more motivation to keep playing.

This game works by only rarely giving the player what they want, that is how they keep you playing.
Now, I will agree that after a while the your stimulation might get saturated and the conditioning will start being less effective.
However, the solution to this problem isn't simply raising drop rates of endgame gear, that wont solve anything. What the game needs is more stuff to do, it really is that simple.
Closed beta member since: March 19, 2012
F3rret your strawman arguments have been argued to death mate.

The fact of the matter is OP's points are and have been valid AND I believe GGG want's to make the game better by addressing these and other concerns BUT in their own unique vision which also means the game is far from what they want it to be in terms of their ambitions for it.

I bet in time they will solve these problems for the majority of players in their own way and I bet they feel like they already have been through their content patches.
Last edited by GeorgAnatoly on Apr 12, 2014, 5:53:51 PM
"
f3rret wrote:

Listen, I know I come off as abusive but fact of the matter is: this game is what the devs want it to be. If the drop rates were any higher than what they currently are then everyone would simply get all the items they want and then there would be no more motivation to keep playing.


You seem to have trouble with meaning of the word "higher".

And people like you use the very same argument to undermine people's opinions, when in fact, that argument is just a horrible extremity.
But I guess the likes of you have to use a lot of extremities, just like GGG does, it's either white or black, a big shame.
"
f3rret wrote:
All I see:

*A buttload of smack*

Again? Really? Maybe you don't fully grasp the Feedback Section? (asking, not telling).
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1552460 - my drop solution
Specs: CPU - i5 9600k, geforce 2060, 32 gb ram, ssd, 2133/2333 mz.-----
EXILES EVERYWHERE, PLEASE?!?!?!
"
tinko92 wrote:
"
f3rret wrote:

Listen, I know I come off as abusive but fact of the matter is: this game is what the devs want it to be. If the drop rates were any higher than what they currently are then everyone would simply get all the items they want and then there would be no more motivation to keep playing.


You seem to have trouble with meaning of the word "higher".

And people like you use the very same argument to undermine people's opinions, when in fact, that argument is just a horrible extremity.
But I guess the likes of you have to use a lot of extremities, just like GGG does, it's either white or black, a big shame.


I like how you attack me instead of my arguments.

Anyway what I mean by "higher" is: any higher than what they currently are.
Seriously, this game is meant to work like it currently does, you are supposed to have to farm forever to get any way, that is just the way it is.

Now, it'd be fun if they could introduce mechanics that allowed you to farm in different ways than simply running bosses or rerunning the same areas again.
Like more interesting vendor recipes might be a good start. A working PvP arena might be a good idea, though with desync and skills/passives currently being designed for clearspeed and PvE this is trouble some.

Point being, raising drop rates would accomplish one thing, it'd make progression faster. GGG (and me) do not want this, you are supposed to farm forever to get anywhere. I would not mind farming forever in different way, after all this IS a game about farming, GGG might as well just own the shit out of farming and find different, more interesting ways of farming.

Still, these threads where people go "GGG fix this or else I leave 4eva" bug the shit out of me, GGG have no reason at all the give a single shit about a single person. Sure feedback is always welcome I bet, but for fuck sake phrase it differently.

"
Cergic wrote:
"
f3rret wrote:
All I see:

*A buttload of smack*

Again? Really? Maybe you don't fully grasp the Feedback Section? (asking, not telling).


I grasp it just fine. It's a forum for feedback, not a forum for trying to blackmail GGG into changing the game by posting a long thread about how you're leaving because of their design choices.
Closed beta member since: March 19, 2012
Last edited by f3rret on Apr 12, 2014, 6:10:08 PM
"
f3rret wrote:

I grasp it just fine. It's a forum for feedback, not a forum for trying to blackmail GGG into changing the game by posting a long thread about how you're leaving because of their design choices.

"
soulpoetry wrote:

As a final note, thank you GGG for making the game and keeping me playing it for so long, I hope it continues to be successful but this will be all from me.


Such blackmail. Wow.
ign: ecogen
"
ecogen wrote:
"
f3rret wrote:

I grasp it just fine. It's a forum for feedback, not a forum for trying to blackmail GGG into changing the game by posting a long thread about how you're leaving because of their design choices.

"
soulpoetry wrote:

As a final note, thank you GGG for making the game and keeping me playing it for so long, I hope it continues to be successful but this will be all from me.


Such blackmail. Wow.



"Dear GGG I am leaving here is why. Fix these issues and I might come back."
Closed beta member since: March 19, 2012
"
f3rret wrote:
"
ecogen wrote:
"
f3rret wrote:

I grasp it just fine. It's a forum for feedback, not a forum for trying to blackmail GGG into changing the game by posting a long thread about how you're leaving because of their design choices.

"
soulpoetry wrote:

As a final note, thank you GGG for making the game and keeping me playing it for so long, I hope it continues to be successful but this will be all from me.


Such blackmail. Wow.



"Dear GGG I am leaving here is why. Fix these issues and I might come back."


"Dear GGG I am leaving here is why."<- Feedback. Read the OP, there is not a single sentence that even remotely says "fix this". Everything in the OP are reasons that made him quit the game.
ign: ecogen

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info