Is there a way to make game harder?

What i was trying to say, that because game felt so easy for so long (and yeah, i am in act-3 now, and still never had any death-threatening situations, rest alone actually dying), it start felt that whole game would be like this.
I was care to come to forums and ask if that really so. But some other players i reckon will just quit it after a while, having no fun with such easy content, and thinking that's how game will be as a whole.

That's a fairly valid comment, and it makes me want to relay this perspective to the Feedback & Suggestions forum.

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Redwyrm wrote:

But some other players i reckon will just quit it after a while, having no fun with such easy content, and thinking that's how game will be as a whole.

This is a concern.

However, it's my understanding that the game USED to be much harder all the time, but GGG wanted to make it a bit more relaxing so people can come home after work and just casually play a stress free game.

Which, after so long, has pushed the truly difficult content to a minimum. To the point where it's possible that even if there was significant outcry about wanting the game to be harder, that it would not get any action because of all the players that actually like the ease of playing (Either to make themselves feel good about themselves, or to just casually play while watching a movie or something)

In the end... I feel a harder game would be more enjoyable. I personally feel that going through Cruel difficulty is the most enjoyable part of the game until mapping (With mapping being the best because you can adjust difficulties to suit you).

Since in Cruel, it's early enough that your build isn't really complete yet. You might be missing a bit of defence or offense. You won't have a 6L, or likely even a 5L. You won't be crafting a bunch of OP gear with resists out the wazoo (Which trivialize pre level 60 content).

BUT the game has started to put up resistance making it possible for you to actually get killed if you're not paying attention, or if there's an aspect of your build that isn't quite up to snuff. Of course, there exists some builds that can transcend issues (Totems, Traps and well... Spells in general. Can all explode everyone before they can do anything to you...)

It also feels that which-summoner is just too easy to play.
Its obviously that as a summoner she would rely on her minion. But right now minions literally doing whole job for me. They tank for me, drawing 90% of an aggro, and easily tanking any damage thrown at them. And they kill pretty much everything instantly.
I still would expect them of course drawing some aggro and tank a bit (funny situation btw, i took exploding minions pretty early in the game, but right now it pretty much waste of skill points, as they almost never die :P ), even forming some sort of living wall, giving me more maneuvering opportunity. And also damage a bit. Yet i would normally expect them to do way less damage, and actually requiring for me to supplement their DPS with my own (whenever i will chose spell DPS, or something else). Or at least provide them a support so they can do more damage and stay alive longer to actually kill things. And yeah, they just have way too much health right now. Skeletons just always expire before get killed, and zombies almost never die, same for specters.

I do agree the game became a bit too easy early on, but in this case you're just overleveled. That's very significant for minions, when you're going at the usual pace they're about as solid as wet paper bags until mid cruel. In high endgame you virtually can't keep them alive without pushing their gem level beyond 20 and actively supporting them.

You can mix it up with spells or attacks of your own and that even works very well during levelling, however it will bite you in the ass in endgame. Straight casters and straight summoners are significantly stronger than their hybrids, the only reason to do it is if you enjoy the playstyle.

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raics wrote:

I do agree the game became a bit too easy early on, but in this case you're just overleveled.

Well that still the issue, and IMO need to be adjusted. Like penalize more for killing lower level mobs with higher level character, ensuring that you never outlevel your normal playthrough zone by more than 3 levels. To the point where eventually it will completely stop giving you kill-xp for killing, f you are of 3 levels higher than current zone.

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You can mix it up with spells or attacks of your own and that even works very well during levelling, however it will bite you in the ass in endgame. Straight casters and straight summoners are significantly stronger than their hybrids, the only reason to do it is if you enjoy the playstyle.

That's fine to me, in fact i am still mostly providing support to my minions through auras and 'offering' skills. But its still feels like its just even more overkill. I normaly can disable all auras and just stay still doing nothing, not even trying avoid mobs that aggroed at me, and 90% of the time my minions will still save the situation, with maybe just bit longer time needed to kill everything in vicinity.

Maybe its worth just introducing more difficulties?
Something in between normal and cruel, with overall difficulty be much closer to cruel.

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Redwyrm wrote:

Maybe its worth just introducing more difficulties?

On the contrary, the upcoming 3.0.0 release will erase difficulties altogether.

You may want to contribute to the thread I made to relay your ideas: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1892722

Levelling in early game is somewhat tricky to tamper with because those parts of the game are used for racing, not terribly popular but it still has a cult following. The primary goal of playing a game like this is to finish your character and the best way to do it is to fast forward to endgame and do your xp/loot farming there, the amount of exp you earn in two hours can be earned in two minutes later on so if you want to waste your time by curbstomping early game that's your choice and the game has the good manners not to burst your bubble.

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Redwyrm wrote:

Maybe its worth just introducing more difficulties?
Something in between normal and cruel, with overall difficulty be much closer to cruel.

We had it back when there were only two acts, it was called Ruthless, the game was always around ten acts total, 8, 9 and now 12 which is deemed a bit long by many.

We will actually lose even those that we currently have in 3.0, there will be ten straight acts to endgame, no reruns. I expect levelling will also be somewhat harder again if the crab king fight is something to go by, keep an eye out for the beta news.

hehe used to be Vaal Oversoul was the first major gear/skill check with several one shot kill attacks that if you werent paying attention would send you back to town if you hadn't dropped a town portal to run all the way back through to get to him. Kinda wish it was still that way

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Redwyrm wrote:

My main currently is witch summoner, and in second act everything is even easier than it was in first act. So far i haven't a single encounter that really was troubling, and where i could possibly die.

I'v tried playing with my friend, using another witch-summoner, and i seems even worse. Nor only i'v notice any difficulty increase with party grow, but my friend hardly can do anything in game at all. All my minions kill everything faster that he can deliver even a single blow.

At first i though, maybe its just witch-summoner so badly balanced and thus extremely easy to play, so i'v started another Shadow character. And its still super easy. Well yeah, without minions protection mobs actually sometimes hitting me, and bosses even force me to use health potions (although still no risk of dying in fight), but yet single usage of Frost Blade skill usually oneshot entire group of mobs, with rare exception where it requires 2 to 3 shots to finish whole group.

Maybe i am missing something? Like game by default set on extremely-super-mega-easy mode? If so how do switch it to something more properly challenging?

just wait for tier 13 plus where your lvl 26 zombies get rekted bro. Also, complaining about a game being too easy when your in the first of 3 difficulties seems borderline halfwit or troll. So ya, give it some time or fuck off depending on which one of those you are,