Feedback Request: Tempest League

I have bad experience from starting in Invasion since day 1. I remember the massive QQ storm in the forums, which I was part of, and actually leaving the game for over an year - I was so mad at GGG for releasing grossly imbalanced and unfair content which essentially turned my first week in the new leagues from eagerly anticipated fun time to a period of regret and frustration.

I played some in the beta. I paid attention to the beta feedback forum. I remembered pre-nerf invasion and I thought "aha, so game balance will be completely raped at the beginning, there will be a massive QQ storm in the forum and they will probably try to balance A4 in two weeks or so". Time to start in SC league!

I can see the QQ storm has started. I am glad I started in the SC league. Might try the HC league too once it becomes anything less than a soul-crushing chore to play.

p.s. by the way, I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to destroy flicker, prolif, low-life blood rage and so forth - I don't care since I started in the temp leagues but I completely understand how a lot of permanent league players would feel betrayed and frustrated - looks like you are actually trying to lose players.

Just beat normal so haven't experienced them in full but here it is:

Are the Tempests impactful?
Some make fights annoying but haven't seen one that makes a big impact yet
Are they scary?
As above really, nothing really scary yet
Do the ones that affect items feel rewarding?
Haven't seen one yet
Are they better at higher or lower levels?
At lower levels they seem to be a slight annoyance only, no high level yet (42 so far)
Do people share information about what Tempests are running right now?
I haven't seen a single thing on notice board, and no I don't open to General Discussion chat and avoid Trade chat. Perhaps some very sought after Tempests will be shared between guildies/friends
Did you play Tempest because you thought it was more interesting than Warbands?
No. I just tend to sway towards HC these days, SC getting me bored quickly. I must say from what I hear from guildies that Warbands seem much more interesting though.
Did you play Warbands when you normally would have played Tempest?
I wish Warbands was HC, will try SC after I die 5-6 times.

"

Chris wrote:

I worked closely on the Tempest League (with our designer Dan) and have been looking for feedback!

Are the Tempests impactful?
Are they scary?
Do the ones that affect items feel rewarding?
Are they better at higher or lower levels?
Do people share information about what Tempests are running right now?
Did you play Tempest because you thought it was more interesting than Warbands?
Did you play Warbands when you normally would have played Tempest?

Are the Tempests impactful?
Are they scary?
Only at cruel act 2 because my lightning resistance is utter crap and a tempest giving mobs lightning damage spawned where I had to go so I got stuck. Impactful and scary? Yes, but pointless. If there was a reward for going in the areas I might risk it, but right now I'd rather just grind areas with easy tempests or none at all while I wait for the hard ones to pass.

Do the ones that affect items feel rewarding?
So far, I've only encountered transmogrifying, and it's something I will NEVER want to face again. I will NEVER EVER want to risk seeing a divine orb on the ground. Even seeing alteration charges is depressing.

Do people share information about what Tempests are running right now?
nope

Did you play Tempest because you thought it was more interesting than Warbands?
I thought warbands was more interesting, but I wanted to play hardcore

Did you play Warbands when you normally would have played Tempest?
I might switch to warbands if I RIP. Very underwhelming right now.

My biggest problem with the tempest league:

Sometimes progression in normal game content will be completely stopped by certain types of tempests.

Example: I had to wait out 3 different tempest zone types to kill Kaom, because all of which would have resulted in immediate death had Kaom gotten the buff. (freezing on hit, shocking on hit, and replenishing)

Act III cruel now.

Are the Tempests impactful?

I would say they are fun when you got the buff yourself. I'm not sure they are that strong on enemies.

Are they scary?

So far no. I just did Vaal with fire Tempest spawning fire golems in the boss rooms with 45% FR and i wasn't scarred. Ok it wasn't the smartest thing to do but compared to Beyond Tempest for me looks easier.

Do the ones that affect items feel rewarding?

I'm not sure about this one, I didn't know there are some that affect items. I will loot to that.
Are they better at higher or lower levels?

At higher levels they are ofc more challanging but so far not by much.

Do people share information about what Tempests are running right now?

No

Did you play Tempest because you thought it was more interesting than Warbands?

I don't even know the rules of Warbands. It's HC I am gonna live or die in the danger zone :P

Did you play Warbands when you normally would have played Tempest?

Why would I ?

(I'm in A4 Cruel on my first character.)

"

Chris wrote:

Are the Tempests impactful?

Yeah, i'd say so.

"

Chris wrote:

Are they scary?

Not really, the ones i've encountered. The chaos on the ground one is.

"

Chris wrote:

Do the ones that affect items feel rewarding?

Only one i've encountered so far is Transmogrifying. Hell no, not rewarding. Exalts dropping as Scroll Fragments? No thanks. :P

"

Chris wrote:

Are they better at higher or lower levels?

Better at higher. I was extremely unimpressed with them in Normal (as intended i suppose). Much more impressed in Cruel. Merciless is promising at this rate!

"

Chris wrote:

Do people share information about what Tempests are running right now?

Barely, but this is day 2 after all. You can't really draw any conclusions yet.

"

Chris wrote:

Did you play Tempest because you thought it was more interesting than Warbands?

No, Warbands sounded and sounds waaaay more interesting. Unfortunately i don't play Standard leagues, no matter how much you want to shoehorn us into it with Challenges etc.

"

Chris wrote:

Did you play Warbands when you normally would have played Tempest?

No.

Are the Tempests impactful?
Not really, maybe impactful in a wrong way that makes you stop progression. I don't think tempests should be in a boss room, since with restoration tempest bosses in small areas are impossible. It was a pain in the ass to kill cruel merveil with it but I didn't want to wait another 30+ mins to keep progressing.

Are they scary?
They can be, but so far nope. Later on I could see the extra damage being lethal. So far they have been pretty annoying.

Do the ones that affect items feel rewarding?
Wouldn't know since haven't gotten any through late cruel. The rewarding one's definately need a buff in spawn rates. Also add IIQ/IIR with tempest suffixes. Right now it just adds map mods without any reward.

Are they better at higher or lower levels?
Haven't gotten to high level yet, but later on you can ignore them more easily with higher movespeed/clearspeed.

Do people share information about what Tempests are running right now?
Haven't seen single one sharing info about tempest's.

Did you play Tempest because you thought it was more interesting than Warbands?
I usually tend to play HC. Some of the tempests did sound interesting when I was reading the datamined text, but either they are extremely rare or they come in play later.

I'm not a HC player, I usually just have a look what it's like in new leagues.

As a quick very-first-glance feedback (lvl 3):
"oh, some kind of thunderstorm, let's see..." *bzzzz* ouch, 1/3 life gone...

It adds difficulty and fun to watch out for those tempests. But using to my advantage, as advertised? Well, maybe I'm not skilled enough (and I only tried until tidal) but it's difficult and/or annoying to lure enemies to these tempests.
Random location, short duration, I could just go on fighting as usual. It can help killing a rare but the time needed to get it into a hostile area can also be used to attack.

(only party relevant because of short play, just a first impression)