Put Ascendency points as a reward for defeating Malachai.

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Uber trials, man! Thats what I wrote.
Last league (Perandus) I had leveled a build to lvl 89. It ripped at lvl 89, but did all trials ok). There were NO UBER TRIALS LAST LEAGUE.

Going blind into ubers on HC would be scary and stupid. If I'd play HC this time, I'd first go learn Uber trials in Std. And in HC I play builds with strong regen and lots of armor which can speed through trap gauntlets, instead of glass cannons that get twoshot by spikes.

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Going blind into ubers on HC would be scary and stupid. If I'd play HC this time, I'd first go learn Uber trials in Std. And in HC I play builds with strong regen and lots of armor which can speed through trap gauntlets, instead of glass cannons that get twoshot by spikes.

Somehow that just seems one more nail in HC coffin...
Either way, my word is yes, put ascendancy points in some place without traps. It can very well be Malachai.

Still, putting Asc points onto Malachai makes no sense. And if you remove traps (= that one or two gauntelts you need to pass) from the Lab, it would just make it another faceroll zone.

Asc points should be gated behind something difficult. Not RNG or time-sink "difficult", but gamepaly difficult.

I'd personally remove the traps, but... make the Lab a Descent champions type of race, several dungeon levels, with a boss you need to defeat each level to continue:

* solo only (no 5c carry service)
* start bare-naked (no GG twink / mirrored gear to use)
* timed
* no TP
* restart on death

People would complain, probably even more, showing it's no the traps that are the issue.

Anyone who remembers the PoE from Open Beta, with many deadly bosses and zones you were scared to go into, will agree that currently the game is piss easy. There's only a few things, among them the Lab, which aren't a cakewalk. Most of the difficult content is super-gated behind high level maps that dont drop, or boring sac. frag farming... except the Lab which is always available.

PoE needs more Lab-like design, not traps neccessarily, but accessible + difficult to play design. And less RNG gated content that is mostly facerol, but can't be accessed, because maps / Hopes dont drop.

E:
First time I loot a Core map, since 2.0, which was a year ago. Despite hundreds of hours playing endgame. Just sayin...


so 'challenging'

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morbo wrote:

I'd personally remove the traps, but... make the Lab a Descent champions type of race, several dungeon levels, with a boss you need to defeat each level to continue:

* solo only (no 5c carry service)
* start bare-naked (no GG twink / mirrored gear to use)
* timed
* no TP
* restart on death



PoE needs more Lab-like design, not traps neccessarily, but accessible + difficult to play design. And less RNG gated content that is mostly facerol, but can't be accessed, because maps / Hopes dont drop.

Thats actually a good idea. Like it!
It's challenging, skill demanding, and stays within the spirit of the game!

"

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morbo wrote:

I'd personally remove the traps, but... make the Lab a Descent champions type of race, several dungeon levels, with a boss you need to defeat each level to continue:

* solo only (no 5c carry service)
* start bare-naked (no GG twink / mirrored gear to use)
* timed
* no TP
* restart on death



PoE needs more Lab-like design, not traps neccessarily, but accessible + difficult to play design. And less RNG gated content that is mostly facerol, but can't be accessed, because maps / Hopes dont drop.

Thats actually a good idea. Like it!
It's challenging, skill demanding, and stays within the spirit of the game!

I must say I like it. The only problem I have is the timed thing. Not a huge fan of that, and it will punish any more tank oriented build, but other than that, like it

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Joyrock101 wrote:

There is no reason to have them in the Labyrinth. It hurts the casual base(who hates the laby overall) while not helping the people dedicated to running the Laby.

Currently, there is no reward for killing Malachai - after you get into the Belly of the Beast, there's nothing. Ascendancy, both logically and thematically, would fit as the final reward, and would also give players a reason to finish Act 4 Merciless, something they're currently lacking.

Good idea. I agree. I never do merciless malacai. Some reward from that quest would be nice.

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Things are fine as they are right now, plus Malachai is way harder. Killing Malachai should give you something though.

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Entropic_Fire wrote:

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morbo wrote:

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Uber trials, man! Thats what I wrote.
Last league (Perandus) I had leveled a build to lvl 89. It ripped at lvl 89, but did all trials ok). There were NO UBER TRIALS LAST LEAGUE.

Going blind into ubers on HC would be scary and stupid. If I'd play HC this time, I'd first go learn Uber trials in Std. And in HC I play builds with strong regen and lots of armor which can speed through trap gauntlets, instead of glass cannons that get twoshot by spikes.

I see people talking about armor and phys reduction a lot in regard to passing traps easier, but my understanding is that nothing in the game will mitigate trap damage - they take a set percentage of your health per unit time in contact with the trap no matter what.

Am I misinformed about that mechanic?

Easy builds for doing labyrinth are high regen builds and very high movement builds. People seem to generally think that Juggernauts are the builds that breeze through the traps the easiest. Traps are really unbalanced for different builds. Some builds it's very hard and others very easy.

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Turtledove wrote:

Easy builds for doing labyrinth are high regen builds and very high movement builds. People seem to generally think that Juggernauts are the builds that breeze through the traps the easiest. Traps are really unbalanced for different builds. Some builds it's very hard and others very easy.

Thats because the lab is a specific set of encounters, similar to atziri or bosses of various unique maps, you know there is little deviation between the encounters or you know the deviations and can plan for them.

GGG adjusted the ES builds taking too much damage from traps and can do similar balance changes, but it won't ever be balanced because much like the other previous encounters listed, people can and will build specifically to counteract as much of the negatives as possible.

That being said many people with many different builds can simply do various smaller things to prep for the challenge as well. The character this league I run the lab on the most is a VP character that relies on flask charges for offense and defense.

So I gots no armor, no real evasion, no real defenses normally but if I plan for the encounter I can adjust accordingly.