I think i am slowly enjoying PoE again. Also reflections on PoE's Legacy and the future of ARPG's

Honestly i played the shit out of this game nonstop for maybe a year or a year and a half when it was released. But ever since then i just got burnt out.

I tend to have the attitude in games with serious potential like PoE that i want to play them all the time, and if it's not enjoyable to do that then the gametype becomes pointless and i just don't feel like it at all - instead i search for what i really want(the game i can endlessly play).

Well, i must admit i am certain this game is not ideal for nonstop plays all day long for years, i did that too much with other games so i have walked the road before and when i see frustrating systems that just gets worse and worse and development going in a direction that, while full of good improvements, overall isn't what i really hope for - then i just don't want to put myself in the situation of being frustrated. Games if it is all you do really limits your creativty by that content the devs create - you aren't free like for example fantasy in your head - you are bound by their limits so if i am ever going to go full on anything again it needs serious longevity and replayability - more random generation more roguelike less D3 static generation(PoE somewhere in the middle much more leading towards D3 simple generation that deep random generation). Anyways i just feel always i have tried all in PoE really no matter what comes it doesn't feel new to me i already know the road..

So anyway.. for like at least 2 years i have not really been able to play PoE very much. At best bursts of a few weeks nonstop play then lose interest or get confronted with frustrating systems i know that will not lead to enjoyment only addictual enslavement. I have played theorycrafting much more than the game for a long time, as i take much more enjoyment from that than facing the annoying systems of the game.

I think though, i have found some sort of salvation in just giving up on PoE as the main game, and simply not looking at and hoping for it to be THAT game for me. Then i find myself looking forward to new leagues. I never really played leagues in PoE because of how the game was made(fit for standard), even though i never ever played non-ladder in D2. So i am really am a ladder player big time, i always want the reset, but the reset doesn't function well with PoE in my opinion, because you aren't even close to experiencing the fullness of the game by the end if you honestly play and don't just trademonster it up. Especially not if you are like me(i can play really well and focused and get ahead of all but the most dedicated/skill, but i don't want to the quality of the experience and taking my time to enjoy things like theorycrafting is what matters to me).

ANYWAYS! My salvation is that i've given up on PoE. That allows me now to just look forward to new leagues - knowing that i'll give the new content a go, a new char and a fresh start - and when i feel like the game gets into the slug mode where it's not really worth the time in your life to play anymore, then i just stop without much disappointment and wait till it creeps into my mind again(which usually it does because there are no games out there that really get it).

Also i really enjoy hearing about the struggles of GGG. For me they are an inspiration both in terms of good(making it without becoming industry slave) and bad(things to avoid). I feel i gain some insight into the construction of games which is ultimate what i want to do. Particularly i feel like it is the ultimate ARPG complexity experiment whose legacy will last long, because PoE has paved new ways, tried entirely new systems and while some are good(flasks best in any ARPG for example), others like the skill tree have revealed themselves to me not to work in practice. Also it has shown me the importance of accessibility, polish, simplicity and so many other things that i have learned from Path of Exile due to it being amiss.

Skill tree does not work because it ruins class diversity and hugely disrupts melee vs ranged balance, that in conjunction with the skill socketing system. I also does not function(could be forced in a crooked way) with how drops must be done in an ARPG. I have come to understand that drops must consist of something similar to this:

25% completely random drops(can be any classes items)
40% Generic drops such as items that do not give any particular bonuses to your class but general bonuses like attributes, attack speed and so on (only drops that can be used by your class)
35% Class relevant items such as sets(oh PoE you failed on sets, done right they are some of the most cool drops you can imagine)

The reason this is strictly required is that it is the only way you can keep adding new classes and items while maintaining the relevance and quality density of your drops. You can add a thousand classes to the game and with such a system in place the drops will remain largely as relevant to your character as when you had just a few classes. If drops were just 100% random this would not be the case and you would pretty much never find anything to use. It is a baseline system of drops that must be in place. I also believe in a game where the best experience is self-found(more or less), at least in the sense that the very best items cannot be traded. That selffound is the best playing experience i believe to be true at the core (it is better to have a game whose drops are mostly focused around your class), but also because PoE has shown me that trying to combat bots in a cheat vs detect way is futile - and the end result is unacceptable - that drops are not balanced around an optimal gameplay experience but instead an optimal trading experience. To still have items desirable enough to trade and with a meaningful purpose in the game for a market culture to exist within the game is something i spend a lot of my time thinking about, but it should not be particularly hard, it has been done many times before, for example world of warcraft.

Classes can be the ultimate content in ARPG's. Keep adding new interesting classes is the way i see true content being made in an ultra randomly generated but connected living world. You don't need 100000 million areas or acts that go on for so long that it takes you weeks just to complete the base game. No simply enough areas to create the atmosphere/lore of the game/world, with proper time put into those areas and their random generation is the best. To support the mindless, endless and ultrarepetitive grind for years and years of various classes it really comes down to the depth of the randomization. The content of ARPG's really is classes, item's and so on, that is ultimately why you play them, not because a game has uber Atziri or diablo, labyrinth or whatever. It is the characterization and item hunt that drives the ARPG, supported by a randomly generated experience, and some things to fight for, to achieve.

Updated.. changed/added some sections.

I'm getting to that point in my life where I can't be bothered with games that are a massive, toxic time-suck. D1 and D2 were turning points in my young life; before them, I never had any interest in grinding a game. Mario, Zelda, Doom, Tetris, etc. Those were my staples... Games you could play for a bit, and walk away from once it was time for dinner.

Then D1 happened, and it's like a little bomb went off in the gaming center of my brain. It just so happened that I discovered it righhhhhtttt as I became a lazy piece of shit, so I had tons of time to waste. Inbetween D1 and D2, I had Final Fantasy games, as well as access to Gamefaqs.

D3 was a huge fucking disappointment for me. I almost got away from The Grind, but then I picked up POE by recommendation. Goddammit.

Without making this a feedback post, POE is quickly losing its appeal for me. GGG is making some really piss poor decisions lately, buying the Eternal pack was a gigantic fuckup on my part (I asked for a refund on the design-a-unique portion of my pack, because the communication from GGG is frankly fucking insulting, and they should absolutely be ashamed... "no refund, you just keep on waiting in line! :)" ), and there's now the possibility of cruel not being removed with act V?

No thanks.

But the nice part of this, for me, is that I'm starting to rediscover that ancient, ruined part of my gaming brain. The new Doom game is just fantastic, there are some really nice indy steam titles out there that deserve all the attention they get (Stardew Valley, Undertale, Axiom Verge)... I dunno, there's just more out there.

Maybe D1 was the start of a long winter, and POE was just that first 50 degree day. And I really love spring... so maybe I'll go outside for a bit?

I've never played PoE hard core, (hardcore as in with out a brake)

Tbh anything that requires grinding is better taken in small doses.

As such PoE has become my most played game since WoW...quite an achievement for a unknown indie developer