An open letter to casuals asking to dumb down the game or make rare items more common

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Tin_Foil_Hat wrote:

Already said this would happen when they originally announced it, it already did happen somewhat before, now i see threads about it regularly. Real obnoxious.

Aye, saw that one coming a mile away, doesn't really take Navali.

Have only played this game casually for over a year now, I agree with the OP.
This game is far too easy to level through now, the majority of the game is really easy and that isn't fun IMO. I don't like being bored for 90% of my gameplay for the final 10% to be hard and exciting - I'm bored for so long and I'm not prepared for the final difficulty.

I hope 3.0 makes leveling up difficulty again, face rolling until final part of act3 merc/act4 mrec gets boring fast.

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zoneslash wrote:

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Perq wrote:

Please stop.

If you have less time to play, expect to get fewer items or be lower level.

Ps. Yes, that is my letter. Because quite frankly this is how simple this issue is. .-.

It's not the casuals that are going to be the ruination of the difficulty inherent in PoE - it's the hardcore, the entitled, the streamers, the big guide writers and forum trolls like u ;)

Why?

MOST Casuals.. don't.. go.. forums.. ever..

Look at the threads; the whine is about spending 3k+ fuses on a missing 6link, casuals don't usually GET 3k fuses in the first place.

Casuals also don't popularize modifying the game so you can get the benefit of seeing what should be offscreen to you, nor do casuals overhype certain uniques to be supervalued beyond any reasonable merit.

In fact, the casual players are the substrate for these actions. They are the masses of people whose money pay for GGG rent.

Adress your whine thread to the other whine-thread-producing forum trolls, and it may yet become an effective communication. For this, however, 'targeting' casuals won't work, because obviously very few pageturner-churners consider themselves casual as you may suspect given that you have some insight into the human psyche.

So far though, it seems you're mostly attracting attention to the fact that you are talking to yourself, as you are evidently every bit as casual as most of us, unless you're redefining casualness to mean casual-but-addicted-and-nonstop-playing-and-forumtrolling.

I frankly don't care if GGG makes the game harder or easier, it's not like PoE is the only game i play, nor is my happiness in life tied to getting exalts or getting laid; both happen adequately, and so why complain?

I mean i'm so casual i'm not even likely to read whatever snarky replies are posted to this post, but i'm not so dumb as to think none will be made, by forum trolls, like yourself, chasing the high of 'winning an argument', lol.

That is a lot of letters for zero substance. V: And calling people trolls for no reason (?).
I'm not even sure how you are trying to argue that I'm the problem. How am I a forum troll? I mean, if you really want to call people that, point out these troll actions, like me trying to stir up people to rage, when I don't really mean things that I write.
Because if you don't, you look like a fool who can't come up with a better comeback and instead instantly go to namecalling to dismiss ones rhetoric entirely, without having to answer it.

Read my replies, read what I'm saying, then come back when you're not offended by the title.
I'm glad it made you think a bit about the topic, but unsure if you got what I was trying to say.

I'm a casual gamer. I've first tried POE over 5 years ago, based on recommendation from a friend with whom i've played countless hours of Diablo 1 and 2. The game mechanics, passive skill tree, it was overwhelming. My friend wasn't a casual, so i can't blame him. i gave up after a bit.

i came back last year in february. with the help of the wiki, youtube, and build guides, i made a Spectre Summoner witch and had a lot of fun until levels 80+. The build was relatively cheap, but the recommended 6L armour was in the ~50chaos, which I, despite having played until lvl 80, wasnt anywhere near getting. I could do with a 5L which was all i could afford as a casual. still, the game was fun.

now i've went through a lot of build guides. and most of the time, the items required to build even those "relatively cheap" characters cost HUNDREDS of c's. i don't remember how many hours i played till lvl80, but i probably didn't get even 50c total dropped in the game from the start.

essentially, the vast majority of end game content is off limits to casuals. it's not 'fewer items', it's "you can't afford builds A to S unless you play all day every day, but hey you can still do builds T,X,Y,W and Z that MAYBE won't suck TOTAL ass"

and this situation is brought on mostly by the state of the trade system. which is rigged by top level players in their favor.

now, i personally don't complain. yes, it sucks that i can't just play 1-2 hrs 4-5 days a week to get a slim chance at end game content. yes, it sucks that people find and exploit all possible loopholes and bugs to amass wealth and put up much-sought after items for sale at ridiculous prices without ever actually selling them. but it doesn't truly impact me, because my total available game time is not enough to get to the level where this stuff becomes a real b#tch.

however, you cannot (unless you are incredibly obtuse) not comprehend the frustration of some players who understand that due to the machinations of some elite players, the most crucial part of the game - the trade system - is rigged against them. and if you understand, then you also understand that they will not stop complaining. as new players join the community, rise through the levels and also learn the truth and history of the game from the forums, they will continue to arrive to the same conclusion: the game has diminishing returns at the end, exactly when things get most interesting, and it would be nice to be able to just FIND the items needed to make it viable.

someone said earlier that most casuals don't visit the forums. so far as i can tell from in-game chat, it's true. the people who complain the most are the 'casuals' who are at the edge of the 'casual gamer' cutoff point, because they are people who (not always) have began investing time OUTSIDE of the game into acquiring knowledge about the more complex aspects of game play, and try to understand why things are the way they are. this is also, i believe, the cut off point from which people are likely to invest money in the game. a casual player who hits the wall repeatedly every league because he can't find the items/currency needed to advance further will definitely never pay. the people who manage to overcome the item/currency hump before the very end game content might invest.

i think GGG is recognising this pattern and trying to address it with SSF. if SSF would be a truly viable way for someone to go from 1 to 100 at an acceptable time/exp ratio, it would allow a LOT more 'casual' gamers to enjoy the end game content, without the need to trade or socialize on the forums.

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VDL_ALLCAPS wrote:

now i've went through a lot of build guides. and most of the time, the items required to build even those "relatively cheap" characters cost HUNDREDS of c's. i don't remember how many hours i played till lvl80, but i probably didn't get even 50c total dropped in the game from the start.

essentially, the vast majority of end game content is off limits to casuals. it's not 'fewer items', it's "you can't afford builds A to S unless you play all day every day, but hey you can still do builds T,X,Y,W and Z that MAYBE won't suck TOTAL ass"

this just isnt true
if you are a new or inexperienced player, you dont need a hyper minmaxed 100% clearspeed optimized build that requires you to have shavs, mjolnir, headhunter, skyforth, or whatever hyper expensive unique is the current flavor of the month.

for example, in breach league i played a flameblast elementalist. the only uniques i used were doryanis catalyst, doryanis invitation (fire variant) and eye of chayula. you can get all three of those for very cheap on poe.trade right now (10c for catalyst, around 1c to 2c for invitation and eye)
the build was comfortable to level, and i had no problem in endgame either. i ran maps up to tier 13 without any problems (mostly shaped strand and shaped arachnid tomb), i killed normal atziri a few times, i cleared uber lab a few times. could probably have pushed on to kill guardians and even shaper, didn't have the motivation to do so. but i was at a point where i could comfortably chain run shaped arachnid tombs, and made pretty decent currency from that. played the character for around one and a half months, by the end i had a bunch of exalts and a few hundred chaos lying around, mostly from selling my map drops and uniques on poe.trade.


my point is, you don't need to play an expensive meta build to do well. in breach, the meta was all blade flurry and blade vortex builds, but that doesn't mean you can't play and successfully reach endgame with other builds.

I honestly don't understand where this "Increased drop rate of rare items" thing even comes from.

I mean, I came from D3, that was the last ARPG that I really sunk some time into. I eventually got burnt out because EVERY BUILD (Not every perfectly itemized speed clear on highest difficulty... But every single build that played on something higher than Expert for the most part) required like 2 different sets made possible by having a single legendary ring (Only attainable from the single most boring farm of any ARPG I've ever played... Like, people complain about Lab? Try running actual story mode maps constantly. With their lack of variety and -10000% difficulty...)

In PoE, looking at various build guides, only a few of them really need specific items. Mostly they're the ones that are actually created AROUND said specific items.

Everything else, you can just make do with Rares and whatever Uniques you pick up along the way.

So yeah, I don't really understand at all. Talking as someone who plays SSF only, so doesn't utilize the trading system or anything other than the Siosa gem store and what I pick up on my characters (My stache is so full of uniques right now ;_; )

i love ppl like this that make posts and have no clue wtf they are talking about.

This game is RNG period. I play more then most i have 4 toons between lvl 86-90. I have yet to see a single key drop and only 1 exalt. By this time last league i had a perfect es chest i was mirror servicing and all the gear exalts could buy.

The thing that makes me think this is even a dumber post is when the guy posting it doesnt even earn his gear but spends all day buying and selling to make currency. It may come as a surprise that some ppl actually play this game and only buy and sell shit they plan on using.

So take your smack talking and go back to being a badass

People are sour dick heads. Fuck those guys who are too lazy to get lucky... thats part of the fun. They just dont fully get the idea behind a game like such.. which is random till random goes in your favor.. and then its like.. man.. i dont even know.. a good feeling. its the wait till the payoff that makes it rewarding. but people dont understand that n try to ruin games you love. Not saying i wouldnt mind rng going my way more often than not. but i understand the mechanic.. so am not disappoint when it doesnt go my way, cause.. random is random...

random is random... okay...

OP... I love you :)