Analysis/Feedback/Suggestions

Its not a secret that since the release of ascendancies Pathfinder was deemed one of the strongest classes. In the start it just didnt have the analogous popularity compared to its power level. Its also a class that keeps getting stronger and stronger with each new unique (or even normal) flask added into the game. Basically as it is now, even a non-crit Pathfinder can have literally no downtime on the flask usage/buffs. Not only this defeats the purpose of initial flask design of beeing powerful but short lived but on top of that she makes them EVEN STRONGER and basically a permanent buff. Sound familiar maybe? A similar concept was Champions fortify nodes, that made fortify permanent AND granted increased effect making the fortify even stronger.

So what needs to be done? COMPLETELY remove every single "increased effect of flask" from Pathfinder similar to how every "increased fortify effect was removed from Champion" and replace it with "increased life and mana recovery". Also reduced the "increased flask effect duration" nodes from 8% to 4%. Simple fixes to the most OP class atm

Part of previous suggestions were indeed implemented but there is something more that can be done. Also mentioning the other parts that werent implemented but could easily make her a very fun AND useful master.

1)After freeing Navali, we should be awarded with a completely random prophecy, maybe even put 2-3 rares to protect her before being able to free her or make the unique archer her guardian and have him drop a guaranteed coin the first time you kill him.
2)Allow us to add sealed prophecies into the map device. Doing so procs up to 3 prophecies for said map or you can simply limit this to 1
3)Her daily mission could be an area that 3 random prophecies proc in the same time, and your goal is to fullfil them rewarding you in the end with coins + reputation.
4)Her inventory could have sealed prophecies and/or random divination cards for sale. Starting at low levels the sealed prophecies are the very common ones. As she gains level to the max 8 she can have a chance to sell very rare sealed prophecies. Cost of those sealed prophecies should thoroughly thought and can be in alchemies and chaos and exalts
5)She or her bench allow us to complete divination card sets (instead of giving them to Tasuni in act4, and allow us to use specific prophecies directly on maps.

Thats something that just pains me every time i go through it. Kaom's path and The Mines are too long for no apparent reason. Especially Kaom's area feels like Lunaris before it was merged to two levels.
They should have one less area.

Pressing alt currently shows the item level of the item on the cursor. This "press alt for more info" mechanic is a great way to finally help your players understand what the fuck is going on with many aspects of the game.(no offense). The game is wonderful and requires a lot of thinking and planning but sometimes its just too complicated for literally no apparent reason. Its just like part of the difficulty is the lack of information which imo is a very bad design.

So what am i suggesting. Pressing alt while hovering over any item, gives some additional info when this is required. For example.
1)Pressing alt when cursor is on a unique item, show more info about the affixes. For example if a conditional affix is local or global, if that "increased physical damage" is local or global. If the unique has Onslaught for example pressing alt will show what onslaught is etc.
2)Pressing alt when the cursors is on a gem, could show the next lvl value or gem specific mechanics, like actual aoe of aoe tagged skills, their individual aoes (firestorm, earthquake etc), projectile speed (spark), chance to freeze (freezing pulse), base attack/life values for summons etc.
3)Pressing alt on rare items could show the rolls. Like if that %armour and the %stun recovery is one hybrid or two different affixes. Or on the weapon if that %increased physical and the +accuracy is a hybrid affix or two different affixes. Or how many and what kind of affixes it has open etc.

Basically if GGG could implent PoEItem Info script on the core game (with way more info since it would be by the company that knows better the game) when you press alt would be the optimal solution.

A niche skill with limited usage. Dont get me wrong the rework was justified and totally expected and well deserved, but the skill STILL DOESNT work as it should.

Make it work like an actual obstacle. Projectiles cant pass trough it. Multiple frost walls have no extra effect unless they are put next to each other in which case they increase the size of the wall (no pierce shenannigans). Shieldcharge, whirling blades cant pass through it, other movement skills can.

Another example why GGG is bad at balance. The changes were meant as a nerf but guess what "this is a buff". Not only the damage values were insanely buffed but because the max stacks were reduced, people could focus more on damage not at all at cast speed meaning the total new values of dps would reach even higher levels.

Change the 63% MORE damage buff at lvl 20 to 10% more at that level. Raise the max stacks to 25-30.

The following part is quite long and tickles a few different "issues". Thats why its divided in sections.

Like most unique jewels currently in the game this too is way below average in terms of power and usability. Remove either of the two damage effects and replaace it with something that syenergizes with the one that remained. Example : If the 1% unarmed melee physical damage was to remain then remove the 1% claw physical and put 1-2flat physical damage per 9 dexterity inside the radius or something appropriate.

Ive been pretty adamant on that issue since i see no real downside and on the contrast it will be really helpfull for both new players but veterans too. Look for examble Starkonja's Head mod "50% increased Global Evasion Rating when on Low Life". See that "Global" it sure is nice to now that the mod works like this. Now look Scaeva's mod "(60-80)% increased Critical Strike Chance when in Main Hand", do you know that this is considered global too and when it originally came out it was working as local and thus being a bug that was later fixed? But even when you look at it now, someone who doesnt know the history or is new to the game will still think that this mod raises the base critical chance of the weapon, which ISNT the case.

So my suggestion for the nth time : Please add a local or global word to anything affecting an item being it unique or rare (especially since essence crafting). This can be easily implemented with the ALT function while hovering over items. So in the case of scaeva for example pressing alt while hovering over the item will show a (global modifier) next to the aforementioned mod.

Another suggestion i might have mentioned on the past. Fortify is a completely mandatory gem especially for Hardcore environment. What that means is that melee players are forced to lose damage clear speed in order to get the mandatory defence that was the indented FIX by GGG for melee players. It clearly doesnt feel that way and more of a bonus to people using whirling blades and nothing more. You must understand that fortify as a gem doesnt solve anything melee related and only makes melee players lose other gem benefits to get what is supposed to be an basic advantage melee should have YEARS ago.

So what i want to say : Remove fortify as a gem, but leave the fortify buff as a mechanic. Give it to all melee skills -cyclone included but every other movement skill exluded- OR rework existing melee weapon/damage or life/armour nodes in the tree to give %chance to gain Fortify on kill/hit/getting hit/getting an endurance charge etc that can be easily be stacked with not additional investment.

Since either of the aforementioned suggestions will render Champions node Fortitude (almost) obsolete, bring back the fortify effectiveness bonus he had or add new interaction with fortify. (if you arent touching pathifinder's flask effect and duration nodes -see Sept 13 post above- i see no reason why champion cant have what he used too

On top of that give more fortify clusters (effectiveness/duration/other boni when fortified etc) as well physical mitigation nodes -like soul of steel - in the tree near marauder/templar/duelist

Change fortify's : % increased Melee Physical Damage mod to % increased Melee Damage

Make life nodes on the "melee" side of the tree more EFFECTIVE.

Give evasion, the ability to work VS physical spells/abilities that stacks multiplicatively with spell dodge for those spells only. That alone would be a huge buff to evasion based melee characters.

Want to talk about blessed orbs. They must be the least used currency currently in the game since their use range is so narrow. There is a specific market that could use some extra utility and blessed orb could offer that little extra.

Blessed orbs beside their current use also gain a new one : Remove enchants and restore the previous implicit (if there was one) on the item. Using it again will have the same effect it has now (modify implicit values).

On top of that i would like to suggest a new form of currency that adresses some of the enchanting system problem : Transition Orb. Rarity same as divines. Left click to use and copy this item's enchant. Doing so removes the enchant from the item and its absorbed by the transition orb as an imprimt. Using transition orb on an item WITHOUT enchant will bestow the enchant that was taken from the previous one and destroy the transition orb in the process.(wording ofcourse should probably change to depict better its use). Transition orb imprints state what enchant is on them. Players can freely trade transition orbs and their imprints.

A suggestion that adds another layer of interaction and mechanics, something i know we all love! If both suggestions were to be implemented we could have a nice solution or workaround the current system were enchants are immovable and highly un-interactable (if this is even a word).

Simple as that : Make essences have an effect on jewels too. Numbers and effects up to you, it can be toned down current effects affecting other jewellery or completely new ones.

Yes this again, ive been trying to figure out an item with such a harsh downside since the original -10max affix. When i heard it was changing i was so glad only to be disapointed again that the -10% max resists afix was simply reduced to -5% max. That still doenst make the item usable ESPECIALLY in HC environment. And thus the following suggestion that so many times ive done in the past too.

Remove the -5% max elemental resistance affix from Immortal Flesh. Instead put -30% to all elemental resists. Its still a harsh downside (almost as hard as moving from cruel to merciless). Everything else remains the same. At least that way players can find a way to use it effectively. Now even with +max res gear you are losing WAY TOO MUCH for what you get.

Remember the warcraft 3 skill ? Yes thats what i want to see in PoE.

Forked lightning : Spell, Lightning

Release lightning from your fingers to nearby targets. If you shock them the lighting chains to nearby targets while dealing 20% less damage. It can chain a second time (if it shocks like before) dealing 20%less damage from the previous chain.


It hits 3 targets at lvl 1 up to 8 at lvl 20 (9 at lvl 21)
Cannot CRIT (critical chance 0%, Assassin's node or adding critical strike chance gem has no effect)
Has innate 5% chance to shock enemies that hits
1% quality gives 0.5% chance to shock
Targeting is automatic, it targets the nearest enemies (prioritizing them instead of destructibles/barrells etc)
Using chain support works as with the innate chains it has. In order for the lighting to chain the target it has to chain from must be shocked and the chain does 20% less, the next 20% less etc.

You can see a better analysis for what im suggesting here

1) Make every single area have at least one breach. Like 1 is guaranteed. If you are afraid that people will cheese small areas, make it so that this rule applies to MAPS ONLY. There is literally no reason for such a frustrating experience.

2) Find a way to make it so that breach mobs dont cause such huge amounts of fps drops. Maybe preload them when loading an area could help? Or make the same thing you did with the strongboxes.

3) When a breachlord appears add those two things :

-Each boss says a line fitting his element/personality.
-A red circle appears on the map targeting the breachlord, similar to how some Zana's quests have a red marker for bosses or exiles etc.

4) Allow clasped hands to remain and be interactable even after a breach closes. Having to click on chests while fighting with a bunch of demons not only is a bad design but counter-intuitive to what breaches are. Not only this but this will allow players to focus on the fighting and even fix somewhat the scenarios were a huge obstacle blocks any kind of breach interaction/proper clear

You can see a better analysis for what im suggesting here

1)Improve the perforamnce issues perandus mobs still cause.

2)Add 2 more perandus boxes for a total of 5 per map.

3)And/Or reduce the cost to 3c.

4)Raise the chance for every other kind of perandus box except perandus chest to appear

Area is inhabited by Abominations.... Area is inhabited by Humanoids... Area is inhabited by Demons... Area is inhabited by Animals.... Still when we see the monsters there is no tag or description on the monsters' names. Its frustrating and not at all friendly for new users but veterans too. After all these years and i personally dont remember exactly which are the demons and which are the abominations, because when encountering said monsters before maps there is no tag to help us know. So what i want to suggest is categorize all the monsters in the game and then add the relevant tag under their name. Take for example Goatmen, they are a monster type but they also appear on the map mod :area is inhabited by animals. So that makes them Both Goatmen AND Animals, two tags under their name. The skeletons, appear both in area inhabited by skeletons AND undead, so two tags under every skeletal monster's name Undead + Skeleton. This can serve many goals. First (and most important for me) will help players (especially newer ones) categorize the monsters and remember which is what. Second, can help you the devs to create certain abilities/skills/passives/traits that apply to certain groups, for example : Skeleton - 10% less damage taken by physical projectile attacks, Animal - spots players at 20% larger distance (due to scent, vision etc), Undead - 10% less cold damage taken/5% incraesed fire damage taken etc. Its certainly fun and adds depth to the game. And third and last, it opens up design space for new uniques and passive nodes etc, for example : Deal 20% more damage vs Abominations, or 5% less damage taken by animals etc

Online game, friends, communication, competitive racing and pvp, twitch, streaming. Plain and simple we can use a ingame voice chat

Zana is the cartographer, but she doesnt sell sextants, and even her chisel ration is horrendous. Make it so that she sells 20chisels for 8c, and add sextants to her inventory, level 2 Apprentice Cartographer's Sextant, level 5 Journeyman Cartographer's Sextant, level 8 Master Cartographer's Sextant (levels could be 3/5/7 or whatever)

Innervate, Ice bite, Hypothermia, Inc Burning Damage, Chance to Ignite, all are supports and fight tooth and nail to find some spot in the current game. Some of them are better and more commonly used than the others but can still see some improvements while on the other hand the rest im pretty sure are rarely (if ever at all) used

1) Merge Chance to Ignite + Increased burning damage to one gem, level 20 reads : 19% more burning damage, 39% chance to ignite - per 1% quality bonus 0,5% increased Burning Damage

or

2) Leave inc burning damage as is, and just add another line to Chance to Ignite that reads : 10% chance to gain an endurance charge upon igniting an enemy (max 1 EC every 2sec)

3) Add another line to Innervate : 10% chance to gain a power charge upon shocking an enemy (max 1 PC every 2sec)

or

4) Create a new gem that reads at level 20 : 69% increased shock duration, 10% chance to shock, 10% chance to gain a power charge upon shocking an enemy (max 1 PC every 2sec)

5) Ice bite changes to : gain a frenzy charge upon killing a frozen enemy (can only get 1 frenzy per skill cast), 15% chance to freeze, 5% more cold damage if you deal only cold damage.

6) Hypothermia level 20 : 39% more damage vs frozen enemies, 20% chance to freeze chilled enemies, 10% chance to gain a frennzy charge upon freezing an enemy (max 1 FC every 2sec)

7) A new support gem that reads : If you deal only cold damage, your hits ALWAYS chill, and then modifies the chill. Levels grant fixed chill time (your chills always last the time listed) level 1 for 1sec, level 20 for 2sec

or

8) Merge some of the suggestion for the cold based supports into one

The skill tree was and still is major reason why i like the game so much, so its only natural that many ideas come regarding it. For starters i will suggest some tweaks in existing Keystones and then Suggest completely new ones.

Iron Reflexes - Keep it as is, add a new line - either i)Strength requirements for items can be met with dexterity or ii) Dexterity requirments for items can be met with strength, whichever makes more sense (or both, why not)

Acrobatic Awareness (new keystone) - Half your Evasion percentage also applies to spells inside your light radious. 15% Increased Light radious - position near Arrow dancing (old ondar's guile) a bit to the left towards duelist.

Steelborn (new keystone) - Deal no elemental damage. 30% more physical damage - position in the general marauder area or even between marauder and duelist, like near iron grip.

Jack of all Trades (new keystone) - Every 10 Strength grants 2% increased critical strike multiplier instead of 2% increased melee physical damage. Every 10 Dexterity grants 2% critical strike chance instead of 2% evasion. Every 10 Intelligence grants 2% spell damage instead of energy shield. (or they can be changed to affect the life/accuracy rating/mana respectively) - position near scion

Ohhh trade improvements, must be the most asked thing in the forum since desync was fixed. The following suggestion is an elaborate idea to help alleviate some pressure. Its quite sophisticated and could also prove tiresom or might not be at all worth the time needed to be implemented but it has its purpose nevertheless. What it will try to solve is the problem we players often encounter when for example we are playing the challenge leagues and someone asks for an item on permanent leagues, or we are in a map but dont want to use portal/dont have other, or when people running the lab want to trade. So here it is:

Upon reaching the medium hideout tier in a league, we are able to create a character that acts as the host to our hideout. Its player controlled, but cant leave the hideout neither move freely, in that regard he is like another forsaken master, but he/she does not take a spot (like leo and navali) does not have an inventory and does not have daily missions.

When a player sents you a message for a trade you as the player have the option to switch to the Host character you made, without leaving your current position with the regular character. Upon switching you can access the stash and only trade with others players. While you switched mode from normal to Host the other character is where he was left. Now there are three ways your normal character's state could be : either a grace period for as long as you choose to switch again back, a freeze mechanic similar to how the shaper appears some times in maps and everything freezes, or simply your nomral character is just standing there.

The switch could be achieved with either a command /switch_host and /switch_normal, or an option near the other options of the game.

On top of that the host's space/inventory is that of 1 PREMIUM TAB with all the properties premium tabs currently have, but this tab has an extra feature and its unique to the host character ONLY. Buyers can buyout the items in that tab without you the player being there, or making a party or anything else. A buyer can visit your hideout at any moment without partty invites or trade requests, cannot join any portal you made, and cannot interact with any other master you might have. These items can be limited to maps, frags, essence, currency only or no limits at all.

When a buyer interacts with the host, a message could be sent to the player you or not, thigs like that could be part of a large pool of options.

(i might update/refine this idea from time to time)

Its not a secret that people love those items. Modifying your experience as you see fit gives a new kind of power to the player and makes the game more interesting and fitting to anyone's personal playstyle. So here im am suggesting some things so the experience is even more enjoyable

1)Leaguestones should make it into the main game but with their drop rate nerfed to 50-70%
Not because they are gamebreaking, and definitely not because they are boring, but because they steal so much from whatever the new leagues are gonna be and in a greater degree from the base game. What i mean is the situation that is already obvious where beyond and breaches are the most common leaguestones used something that is too impactfull on the game itself, it feels like im playing breach most of the time, or perandus and beyond. In other words the game becomes too much cluttered.

2)If number 1 is to be implemented as is, make Leaguestones drop only as magic, and ofcourse create more mods for each of them.

3)Zana or Navali can sell leagustones (only magic ones). If you combine this with some of my previous suggestions for Navali she may become a full fledged forsaken master ( see suggestions : 06/07/2016, 28/07/2016, 13/09/2016)

4)If making them drop only as magic is deemed to powerful or easily exploitable, implement recipes for leaguestones: vendoring 3 white ones has a chance to produce a magic one, vendoring 5 whites guarantees a magic one. The uses remaining for the new leaguestone if in the recipe we put already semi-used ones, should be the average of the uses (toned down).

Its mainly aesthetic at this point of time, but it also has one practical use too (Doon Cuebiyari stats depending on which hand the item is equiped), and that's the use that inspired the following suggestion that may as well come in handy with future unique items and mechanics. Allow shields and weapons to be equipped in whatever hand slot we want without being automatically pre-equipped.

I know i have been making a lot of suggestions regarding this gem/mechanic, but its a melee helper that helps everyone else except melee players. So here is the ultimate fix for fortify:
During fortify buff effect you deal 20% less spell damage. Does not affect Champion's Fortitude.

Ive already made a suggestion about it on 23/05/2016 spoiler. Here is another one.Either reduce the damage across the board or do not allow map modifiers to affect the final damage output (similar to a player corpse exploding a body when in party doesnt use the buffed life value due to partying)

I enjoyed prophecy league, i enjoyed farming the council when the items were worth farming back then. What i didnt enjoy was getting the keys which i always only bought. It might was ok back then when the possible items were OP to have so much troublesome experience to get each key but nowadays its definitely not worth it. Reduce the length and steps for each prophecy chain leading to the keys. As a side suggestion and for totally personal reasons, please remove completely any step that requires us to enter the labyrinth.

From my suggestions from this post, and the spoiler 28/07/2016 in the opening posts and because of the recent news about some reworks in hybrid items and keystones i take the opportunity to suggest some things.

1) Zealots oath : Make it so the regeneration applies to both Life AND ES instead of es only, but at 75% value for both. Or make it that half your regen applies to es and half to life. Or allow 25-50% or the regen to apply to life too, while 100% works for ES. All of the above so that hybrid builds can make full use of the node too, cause as it is atm, its useful only for CI and low life builds

2) Similar to the above suggestion about ZO and taking into account Ghost Reaver, i suggest a new Keystone that allows leech to work for both ES and Life, or integrate that to Ghost Reaver with some penalty (like leech at 70% of your leech values etc)

3) Make a new Keystone that rewards players for using 2 or even three "defences" like : 1% physical damage mitigation for every 2k armour, and 1% dodge for every 2k evasion, if your Armour and Evasion values dont differ for more than 10% etc. (this could be a unique as well)

4) Create new affixes for pots or new unique pots that have mods specifically for es/life recovery for hybrid life/es builds. Like a unique health pot that reads : if you recovered at least 30% of your life with the usage of this pot, your energy shield recharge starts immediately.

5) Add some utility effects on hybrid nodes in the tree (ar/ev, ar/es, ev/es) like 5% chance to resist stun, 3% movement speed, 5% to resist status ailments, 2% attack speed, 1% physical damage mitigation, 2% dodge, 1% spell dodge, %all res, life recovery rate for flasks, 30% stun recovery, 15 to two stats (str for armour, dex for evasion, int for es), life regen, mana regen, or even unique utility stats like 30% reduced effect of blind on you, 10% reduced effect of chill on you etc. Those can apply to all defensive nodes on the tree (see cloth and chain notable its extremely efficient especially if you are on the path for example)

It was a time this node must have been the most picked one when it used to give max resists. Nowadays its not even useful in an SSF environment. If you compare it with other clusters and nodes its even worse (2 points at least for a total of 15% all res + 12% armour? Cloth and Chain in duelist area gives 15%all res + 36% armour + 36% evasion for 2 points, in Templar's case Faith and Steel for two points gives 28% armour + 15% ES + 8% all res and Elementalist in the same templar area for 3 points gives 26% elemental dmg, 5% to cause elemental ailments and 12% all res, Shadow's Nullification for 2 points gives 25% evasion, 15% ES, 5% life and 8% all res -seriously why the fuck the right side and especially shadow's area is so OP for so many years is beyond me- Shadow's -again- Void Barrier 3 nodes 35%evasion,20% ES, 10% increased es recharge rate, and 8% all res, even the mediorce Sentinel is better that it. So here are the suggestions :

1)Buff the Diamond Skin cluster. You can even put the old max resistances back (not the 5%) but 1-2 to all res but also put a downside like can only deal melee damage.

2)Buff Weathered Hunter cluster (between duelist and ranger). Give some flat accuracy, movement speed or even small amounts of life to it.

3)Buff Survivalist cluster near Ranger. From all the +1 to max resists of one element clusters this one is by far the worst, BY FAR. Give some 2 dodge on the small nodes and 2dodge+2spell dodge on the notable and remove the evasion rating or keep the evasion and remove the all res.

Scion Ascendancy is and has been criticized a lot for being underwhelming and underpowered compared to other Ascendancy classes. GGG recently made some changes but it still doesnt feel right. So, what i'm suggesting here is something that might actually make Ascendant's power level on par with other classes or even in some cases a better option. Scion can pick two nodes from the same Ascendancy and two from another one for a total of 4 nodes between 2 classes is she chooses too

Simple, yet interesting and effective. A support gem that is for those that like slow and big hits, adding a boss-like feeling to their character. An excellent support gem for a different kind of playstyle that we currently have (also OP with EQ). Level 20 Slower Attacks support gem - 35% less Attack speed 69% more attack damage

As i mentioned before PoE for an online game feels pretty single player and i like that aspect. There are times that you don't want to interact even with your guildies or friends ingame. So here it is : Add more option besides afk and dnd like online/offline/invisible/busy/away option on the social screen tab

Since my early years of playing poe, i could never understand how Acrobatics (then unnerfed) could be an option for the right side of the tree an instant 30% damage avoidance for 1 point and the left while considered the tanky side of the tree had nothing but inefficient hp nodes. This bothers me still today and that what I'm going and try to solve with the following suggestion

Endurance : Take 12% reduced physical damage from hits. Deal 50% less spell and projectile damage, you can only deal damage yourself.

Behind it there are three nodes reading : 2% reduced physical damage taken from hits and after those another Keystone

Willpower : take 10% reduced elemental damage from hits

This should be between marauder and duelist area or it can even replace Iron Reflexes and repositioned.

We like it or not trade is still problematic. We like it or not poe.trade is the "official" unofficial trading tool we have. So since even GGG has made changes in the past improving this 3rd party program, the following suggestion is something related to poe.trade.Implement some form of WTB(want to buy) forum that works with poe.trade, instead of searching for items to buy, you can search for items to sell. Example : So i can put up a trade request that i want a jewel with life,freeze chance and reduced mana cost of skills. X player finds said jewel and decides to check poe.trade first before vendoring it. Now he can pm that he has it and we can trade

A simple quality of life suggestion but also utility one. When you get a master to level 8 doing a quest when you find them in an area or a map provides only reputation points which at some point become irrelevant. What if completing a forsaken master's quest in a map would allow you to sell or even buy items from them, in other words make their inventory available inside a map.
If not considered OP they could even refresh their inventory, but even only having the option to sell loot inside the map without getting back to your HO would be of great assistance

Shaper's orb and atlas micro-management is one of the greatest things since it allows you to modify the game as you see fit. What i want to propose is in this territory. Add a new currency name can be whatever you see fit, but as an example ill use the name "Locking Orb". What it does is that you use it on a map on atlas and when running this map it can not drop maps connected to it. So for example if i use it on Underground River, underground sea and port can not drop while i run the river.
They can still drop if i run other maps connected to them. The change would be permanent and so there should be an "unlocking orb" too. They can either be rare world drops (master sextant rarity) or be available in the same way shaper's orb are by completing certain maps. This would allow for greater map diversity too and not only shaped strategies.

Not a secret that VP is still broken even if it doesn't work with ES. Life characters can still abuse it. Vaal Pact is simply broken as it is. My suggestion is somewhat controversial as it doesn't actually addresses it but rather makes it less usable for all.Re-allocate VP to the old position. Life leech is Instant. Your %life leech from gems, items, passives is halved. You can only deal melee dmg.

The density of this whole act seems kind low. Increase the density
Also Temple of Decay is simply too long. Remove one level

Many people say its rather underwhelming. I don't actually fully agree since many of those power provide some niche bonuses that give some extra flavor to the characters. They are also defensive abilities and honestly its been too long since more defensive options were added. So i find the pantheon system while tedious and extremely time and wealth consuming if you are playing more than one character per league at least fascinating. But i still have two suggestions for improving it.
I) Make powers unlocked league-wide Having to do them each time with each different character is both very time consuming and big currency sink

II) Allow players to be able to have two minor and one major god powers active at the same time instead of 1 and 1. This would address the issues with some of the minor power being close to irrelevant