A suggestion
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While I recently gave up on Path of Exile as a player, I do still occasionally think about it. One thought had an undertow of deeper meaning that slowly dragged me out to a sea of ideas where I think I drowned. I could be wrong, but I'll never admit it.
There it is. Break the game up into not only acts, but levels of difficulty. Understand? I thought not. What is the most tiresome part of the game? Having to play through Normal, then Cruel to get to Merciless. Each act three times and really most just want to get to Act3 Merciless to start mapping. (Note: the breakdown would change with new acts being added. It will work better then too, but this what I got to work with so bear with me.) So with ten acts is planned, that really makes the game too long and dull. Break up the Normal, Cruel and Merciless barriers by making Acts 1, 2 normal with Vaal being the tough son of a bitch fight it was back in CB. Beat it to get to Cruel. This allows for the game to ramp up the monsters quicker and make Normal less of a snoozefest than it is already. I for one miss worrying about the early unique bosses that use to deal hard damage that now you walk up to a whack without touching a flask. Cruel would be all of Act 3 and down to the Mines level 2. Again, harder hitting monsters requiring better gear and tactics. Act 1 could have shitting broken gear with prefixes like Rusted, Dull, Dented, Torn... In Act 3 you start finding better base equipment, but still limited. Fewer mods available, less pluses type of thing. Make beating Piety a worthy challenge. Merciless would begin the typical gear we get now complete with stronger monsters. (And here's a biggie GGG. Better monsters does not mean more monsters. Sometimes less is more.) Then move mapping to beating all the content where it belongs. Section Two: How to help this work Number one: Make all attacks available once getting past Hillock. Nothing pissed me off more than having to wait until a certain level to use the skill I planned my build around. Worse was not finding that attack skill because I was using the "wrong" character and it would not be offered as a reward. Number 2: Make support gems start in at a much higher level. All too soon, some attacks become way more powerful than the levels you have to get through because of it. Keep the game epic by making it harder to progress through what are now meaningless levels. Number threvee: Make sockets important by limiting them by difficulty. Number Fo4r: THERE IS NO NUMBER FO4R! -Rant over-
Spoiler
I expect none of this to occur. Just throwing it out there as a suggestion.
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It seems like with this suggestion the difficulties, normal/cruel/merc, lose their meaning and have no real distinction. Starting maps after beating act 4 for the first time seems like it would reduce content in terms of having to grind the same act over and over again to prepare for the next act, which imo didn't really work in vanilla D3.
With your suggestion it seems like the difficulties should be made into difficulty sliders so the player can chose when he is ready to go to the higher monster levels of cruel and merc so they aren't stuck on a particular act. |
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MoonYu have i told you about my altar concept before?
While it doesn't directly involve reducing the overall content, tackling the issue of repeating core content, it does create a scenario where a player can "fiddle" with the content pre-maps. So in a sense this might reduce the "drag" some people now feel when having to run the core content threvee times.
Tl;dr of altar concept
rares and unique monsters can sometimes drop a skull of their respective "family" of monsters
Everybody has an altar in town with 5 spots in it, similar to the mapping device Every skull placed into the altar manipulates the next content area's you visit -this concept offers a lot of expanding potential combination of certain skulls unlocking hidden bonuses (think recipe hunting etc) new additions with new core expansions to the game lots of potential fun/whacky modifiers to place on instances player driven difficulty and manipulation of the core game In a sense the skulls would act like lego bricks from which a player can combine his favorite bricks into something fun for him to experience, with potential to alternate if so desired or increase/reduce difficulty (a reduction would be playing without any skulls in the altar in this case) What it boils down to for me, while it can be a drag in it's current iteration, nothing prevents GGG from turning this around and making the repetition of acts with difficulty's a bonus to the game. Peace, -Boem- edit : and for the love of god increase monster AI and skills in cruel and merciless :D? Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes Last edited by Boem#2861 on Sep 23, 2015, 10:42:32 AM
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Screw maps and endless randomly generated dungeons and gated by wealth content and pretty much anything like that.
I'm tired of random,tired of being held to ransom by RnG and artificially induced longevity,tired of jumping through hoops for basic character progression ...tired of defeating monsters that have no place being in areas that they don't belong,even in ARPGs. I want to play with certainty,lovable game worlds that remain the same place in time after I log out that retain the same paths,the same layout,the same directions ... and I want this to be satisfying enough to not to rely on "optional" content once the path has been traveled.I want to revisit the places I've already been yet still be challenged in the world I know. If there's one thing Sacred 2 did right ... it was making the world worth traveling and keeping it a satisfying experience regarding challenge and rewards by focusing on main content heavily to project that feeling of satisfaction. Even Titan Quest only had one "special area" and that's all it ever needed.Wasn't overly hard to access and neither was it overly more rewarding or satisfying to finish than any other part of legendary difficulty. Eeer ,the rum's gone again Edit: And fuck it ... I've just downloaded Way of the Samurai 4 for the PC because it can deliver these things in abundance even when stripped of some very cool features.... plus it has "sexy time" Edit 2: And it has fishing .... Last edited by Temper#7820 on Sep 23, 2015, 11:08:43 AM
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Dearest Boem;
My suggestion (and its nothing more) is about making the early parts of the game relevant again. Remember when Kuduku, the False God was a challenge? Its been a long time since I ever had to worry facing it. Nor was it because it one shot you. (Have GGG! Notice that an epic fight doesn't require dodging one shot mechanics?) Its attack was deadly if you stayed to close too long. Now I walk up, no matter the build and beat it down, usually without needing a flask. And yes improved monsters. But fewer of them. Enough with the wave after wave of easy to kill, but hit from off screen mobs already. Fights should mean something, but most are blasted without notice duw to the overpowered AoE you must use. Some of my favorite fights were against a random rare monster that countered my main attack well right out in the open and not pinned into a tiny closet filled with shit that ain't needed. "But we must refill our flasks!" Then teleport out and jump back in. Make the fight about you and the boss. To Charan the Eloquent; Getting to maps should be a reward for finishing the game in my opinion. (<----My opinion guys, not official policy!) But I want the journey to that reward to be fulfilling. Currently its not. To the rest that may have missed the point of the suggestion; Path of Exile has ten planned acts according to Chris the Elder among Elders. Want to have to play through all ten acts three times? Slow the progression down and make the early game mean something. Slow the rate of leveling, but make it mean something. Increase the fights, but make them mean something. My current view of the game is dull, duller, dullest. You can only grind so long before you start to look elsewhere to play. I'll check in occasionally, but I am very busy this week. Tah. |
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" The problem with this is, and this is admittedly just an assumption, is that GGG probably wants the majority of the player base to experience all their non map content. I mean why bother with the trouble of making an entire act just to make it difficult for the majority of the players to access it? I'm not saying there isn't an issue with three runs of the same thing but the solution is more complex than what you propose. (and honestly I haven't seen anything that adequately tackles the issue without a difficulty slider, put those brains to work GGG!) |
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" Yeah that's why i utilized the word "drag". I to remember the time when hailrake was your worst nemesis at lvl 3, permafreezing you and instantly instilling dispair and a sense of WTF in new players visiting wreaclast, upon promptly being knocked down and defeated. If i could upvote your "less is more" i would, multiple times. Though i am left wondering, was the original concept more of a rogue-like game instead of an ARPG? And does it current iteration come closer to being an ARPG? I absolutely love epic fights, battling a rare mob that takes 10 minutes to take down? Yes please. though i reckon i am an odd-ball, i don't think a lot of people in the (current?) community would enjoy such a change. I still fondly remember the day they increased hp on mobs per party member, suddenly increasing fights by an additional minute. They should have gone further :D -increase monster hp -increase AI -reduce pack sizes -increase experience gain -increase loot drops per unit slain This keeps the xp and loot at the same level it is know, while increasing "battle relevance" to a player. I know exactly what you mean, though it does not bother me to such a degree that i will stop playing. but when a rare blows up from an AOE i blasted at a pack of white monkeys it does make me wonder. A rare has lost its impact, it's only relevance now is "more loot and xp/per time unit" Peace, -Boem- Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes
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Fun thing, I have the same problem with the levelling phase. I love maps but the path is truly repetitive, a drag.
There is an inherent toxicity to the notion of endgame. Here is a detailed explanation: Why endgame sucks. Here too: More explanations. D2, having no maps, avoided this problem completely and felt more coherent. --- Trying to shoehorn the three difficulties to the current four acts is a short term solution, so I have to be opposed. The skills are at different levels for balance reasons; balance should be perfected so they can be available early. " So that would be like Torchlight? (playing right now, fun game, the maps that Vaslan gives to you are extremely original, PoE could learn from them). " I'd really love if PoE becomes more sandboxy. I'd rather have a world than the fragmented mess that is the difficulty system. " +1 --- How would I do it? Once you end normal, the world opens up and you do random missions, bounty style (master missions is one way to go, of course); the world scales in level almost flatly (max level for bosses, a little less for the rest). Higher levels unlock something akin to Uberquests in Median XL. The normal world scales until level 70-74 so you can still farm chaos, with some of those "Uberquests" scaling to mid level maps, but being available once they are not that good for levelling, or being so hard no one would try to level up there (but you still would want the items, Atziri style). High level maps should go from 75 to...who knows. Diablo 2 had level 85 as the max area level. Higher levels should be reserved for unique maps and uberbosses, something that you wouldn't use for levelling and dangerous as fuck. So you have the world for chaos and item farming (and some optional bosses), and the maps for levelling and challenge. There should be world specific and map specific uniques so every area has a reason to be farmed. The scaled bosses in the world should drop their equivalent high level maps (why Merciless Malachai doesn't drop a Core map? The bastard is tough like Atziri, it should be like the fragment chase for Uber Atziri; the same for other bosses like Dominus, Vaal Oversoul, Piety and Merveil, so you have a catch up mechanic if you decide to farm the world). Also, the experience reduction per level difference should be such that doing high level maps wouldn't make you go to level 100 quickly. TL;DR: PoE should be more like a Sandbox MMO and less like a Themepark MMO. Seriously, this deserves a longer write up (Charan? Sounds like the kind of things you find fun to do). Add a Forsaken Masters questline https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2297942 Last edited by NeroNoah#1010 on Sep 23, 2015, 1:51:03 PM
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I hope these feedback gets repeatedly enough that GGG would take notice of it.
Not a seasoned PoE player, but flame blasting/toteming for whole N straight hours definitely is a drag. N being the number of hours it takes to finish normal to cruel. My suggestion to this is making the early content as difficult as the BLAMT race. BLAMT is so much fun to me because it's feels like mapping, because: 1) Definitely no more sleeping while leveling 2) White loot drops, armorer scraps actually is very important. Any additional armour you get will literately save you from dying. I didn't get too far with BLAMT races because I lost to an epic battle against a rare in fetid pool. But it was a glorious battle. I'm not suggesting that we should all be on Blood Magic; but other ways to make it as difficult as that. ~~ In addition to making it more difficult. I think balancing the loot is also important. If rare drops are very common like how it is now, then you might just get too OP that you can face-roll your way to merciless. Rare should made rare. The more common way to get a rare should be is via crafting. Because crafting is extremely fun because of the gambling/rng involved (but we don't do this until maps huh?). With rare being rare, magic items less common. Then, and only then, the Gavel/Stone Hammer/Rock Beaker will be used for the first time (is it?) in PoE's history. It doesn't make sense that we have weapons like Spiked Club, Primitive Staff, Sharktooth Claw, Awl, Cleaver but not even use them, ever! (I bet there's a lot more on lower mid level weapons like Stone Hammer) Making Wraeclast actually feel more like a wasteland; because of less loot piñatas. Cool right? Rewarding game knowledge like making use of more support gems, crafting to get every bit of resistances as opposed to just getting a sapphire ring in your face is now more rewarding. Using armorer scraps (because it now matters) to improve your shiny armor is fun right? My suggestion here is probably too much of a change, I don't know. Maybe just the changes to loot would be great as well. But more importantly is that this can be tested in a 1-week temp league. I'd buy a 250USD supporter pack just to be able to create this league and test it out. (that's best I can shell out right now, i'm a poor man from SEA) I hope I got my idea across. What do you guys think?
Spoiler
I've written something like this a while back as well.
PoE-TradeMacro - https://github.com/PoE-TradeMacro/POE-TradeMacro/ ExileTrade - http://exiletrade.github.io/ Last edited by ManicCompression#1304 on Sep 29, 2015, 11:06:25 PM
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Shameless plug: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1431523/
(I'll expand, it's a thread about changing the early game, on part, so you can contribute there) Add a Forsaken Masters questline https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2297942 Last edited by NeroNoah#1010 on Sep 30, 2015, 2:00:51 AM
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