Game could be much better in a million ways without additional cost...

Title might as well be, "it's ok, the competitors will do it" or "do something about the grinding monotony".

I've been saying that for 3 damn years every once in a while, not that I expect an answer or anything, but maybe now that two new H&S games are on the horizon, maybe, just maybe, a diminished playerbase will be reason enough for something to be done.

I don't have the energy anymore for tactful or elaborate posts so I'll be brief.
For example:

-Utilize PvP: Do whatever you have to, adjust pvp skill damage, ailments etc so that it's relatively balanced, without ofc affecting pve one bit. Add exp/currency rewards other than rating for each match, and rewards according to rating. PvP must NOT remain something useless and cosmetic to this game. The upcoming competitors will have this and you won't, simple as that.

-Arena/Events: Would cost you absolutely nothing. What's the harm in implementing such a thing in the game rewarding build efficiency and survivability? Why does the game not have for example, a survival arena with infinite waves (reduced or no exp for balance, is COC or smth imbalanced-counter it, etc) rewarding survivability, or a timed event rewarding efficiency etc? "Mu online" did it wonderfully a decade+ ago. Check its varied and interesting events/arenas. Again, the upcoming competitors have done such a thing.


-There are countless ways to improve the game which would cost you less than, for example, that addition called divination cards which, as a feature, is less exciting than watching grass grow and its most prominent characteristic is taking up a lot of room in your stash.
Besides, you could have added a mini-game to break the grinding monotory instead of adding this, mostly unrewarding, way to grind, because, that's what it only is in the end.

Also some people may be fond of races (I always found them too boring and never bothered with them), but will they keep the game going if something is not added in the game itself? Highly doubt it. In addition, "balancing" classes and throwing builds out of the window every once in a while does not keep interest - it just mostly repels players away from the game.

Finally Poe is a unique game for reasons we all know. However, keep increasing drop rates, listening to complaints about "RNG gated" content and it will suddenly stop being that unique. The people who are bothered by this will "hop on" to a mmo-ish competitor anyway, so be clever enough to not cater for them.
Well, enough time wasted here again.

I agree with some of the things you mentioned, speaking of PVP can you imagine how exciting it would be to have some sort of hostility function in this game, similiar to D2?

This game had so much potential to be one of the GOAT when it was at its peak after 1.2, ever since then it's been a steady downhill and avalanche of disappointments. It's still a decent game that fits a niche, has its loyal players that like this type in spite of all the recent failures.

The way I see it is GGG has changed and decided to run things their way completely after the game peaked during 1.2. Before, the mentality of creating amazing and long lasting fun was super cool new items, skills, crafting and sustainable content, mostly because the game was still fresh somewhat. But now, the creative well seems to be drying out, or they can't keep up with demand and so their mentality when it comes to content is to make the game longer lasting and 'fun' by nerfing builds, diversity and items, jacking up difficulties two/three-fold, nerf map drops, destroy mid-high level crafting. No new super cool and strong T1 uniques anymore. No sustainable, ungated end game for the thousands of hours that long time perm players have put in. Besides jewels on trees, there's been nothing of impact and significance when it comes to innovation since 1.2 The list goes on and on.

Not saying it's wrong of having this view now, it will eventually show on their bottom line and rate of activity, only a sucker would continue to pay GGG for the type of content has been delivered. This game is GGG's so they can do whatever they want, slowly drive it to the ground if they choose to unknowingly. Except what most players thought when they started playing was a unique company that actually cared, listened and ACTED on player base feedback, they've done a 180 basically. The 2.0 pay for beta felt like a heist, as the feedback on the same issues over and over was pretty much ignored. The map problems we are STILL dealing with, after first being hammered on in BETA, and it looks like the 2 map 'updates' didn't do squat. All because of a handful of no lifers getting too much XP and too 'easy' to get 100, so screw the majority and make them GRIND like it's their day job. This is what POE has become for the majority, before it was to thirst and strive for gold and perfection in an achievable amount of time, today it is to thirst and strive for just water and bread crumbs day by day. Nice mentality in this game.

I hope they will turn the ship around soon and show a little more of what they once were, but I truly have my doubts.

Some sort of non-instanced pvp would be amazing but still even the pvp we have is not utilized at all.
You should be able to queue everywhere and earn a certain amount of income from pvp. Since the game is pve centered this couldn't be done from the start, but it's been years and since they can balance pvp and not affect pve, I don't understand why it's not being utilized.

Also like you said, the only real changes to the gameplay were brought by 1.2. Even if it was small I did like the act 4 in the awakening quite a lot. The jewel system did not really make the customization more complicated, you just add the best stats you can find in 95% of the cases. And the worst part, balancing decision that throw builds out of the window. If they are made on purpose to keep interest in the game as many say, they are making a huge mistake. Divination cards are... I don't even know why they bothered tbh.

Would much more prefer a way to break the grinding monotony instead of another rather unrewarding way to grind.

It bothers me because after taking a break from PoE I don't find myself wanting to play again like I used to. But if the creators don't seem to care nor should I.

So keep making races and leagues in a thousand different combinations, superficial cards that essentially add nothing to the game, throwing builds out of the window in every patch and good luck - I'll go check some promising closed betas that caught my eye in the meantime.

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RestInPieces wrote:

superficial cards that essentially add nothing to the game

cards are small time rewards that keep a players motivation up and running, obviously not yours. and they mean income for ggg which is also nothing you probably care about.

Can someone responsible please explain these comments about paid beta for Awakening? I know, I know, people could buy supporter packs but I got access to the beta 2nd week and did NOT buy a supporter pack. Voluntary, wasn't it? Heists aren't voluntary. Ask anyone who has been ripped off.

I like the cards. They aren't game changers but it is something new to mix it up a bit.

Maps. Few have been as obnoxious about the lowered map drops as me. It appears that they have been boosted quite a bit in the last patch.

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vio wrote:

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RestInPieces wrote:

superficial cards that essentially add nothing to the game

cards are small time rewards that keep a players motivation up and running, obviously not yours. and they mean income for ggg which is also nothing you probably care about.

In what world are "fragments" of items which essentially make the items less rare (which, for me, is bad), a decent feature? Their only decent characteristic is their "lore".

Besides if you need "bait" to keep your motivation running and don't actually play the game because you enjoy it then you already are getting bored of it.

If divination cards is their way to keep income coming then good luck.

I don't care about their income? I did care because I liked the game to keep running for many years to come but I think they don't, judging from the superficial ways they use to keep the game fresh, like races (they are liked by many but for how long?), instead of adding features (which could be cost free), to the SANDBOX part of the game, like I mention in the OP.

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kolyaboo wrote:

I like the cards. They aren't game changers but it is something new to mix it up a bit.

Maps. Few have been as obnoxious about the lowered map drops as me. It appears that they have been boosted quite a bit in the last patch.

Maybe, just maybe, if we had alternative end game venues people wouldn't quit over or be so obnoxious with maps. But yeah, cards, fragments of items, new stuff, nice.

There was a closed beta period, and then later they allowed more people to join via buying their way in.

Not sure if you understand time = money and it costs money to use those people you pay to do something.

You are correct though they should update the game much more often as oppose to at the end of every ladder or something.

- I agree with you PVP is broken and bad in POE and GGG should work on skill balance but I don t agree POE will lose a lot of players because of it.

Not a lot of people like to pvp in an ARPG.


spoiler, rant about poe pvp


-The infinite wave/dungeons is liked by some and hated by others. I like it personally but i have feelings GGG don t really like it. The problem would be too much loot/XP/orbs.
Hard to balance so i understand why GGG would not want this.


-When the divination cards came i thought maybe they could be a way to play cards ingame for bets like you can see in some RPG. They are in fact made to farm items so it s cool too but the drop rate is so low for the good ones that it make the card useless.


If only we could get full screen art in the achievement once we have a full set.
I really love ingame art bonuses you can farm in games.

I would love to see once you kill a boss the first time an achievement where you unlock his bio and some art for it Or after a certain amount of the same monster killed you get access to his concept art.