The Atlas system is still hot garbage and a way to fix it

I waited patiently for the patch notes to see if you finally did something about this problem. Nope. Same awful problem we've had since you introduced the Atlas, only magnified further due to extra maps and extra connections on the tree. Do you remember when you did that emergency update to Zana because unlocking maps was absurdly difficult and unfun? It's time to do it again.

I don't care what you do exactly, but do something to fix this problem. I'm really not looking forward to still trying to unlock tier five maps at level 88.

This sucks. Do better.

Edit: I'll add that, apart from this terrible issue, I'm super excited about the new league. I just know that my experience when I start mapping is going to be awful due the excessive forced grind of outleveled content necessary to progress through the Atlas. Unlocking the Atlas via RNG stacked on RNG is a terrible, fun-killing mechanic that stomps all over what would otherwise be one of my favorite parts of the game.

I have a feeling you didn't actually read the thread. I've written at length about how I unlock maps, which is mathematically the most efficient way to unlock them. I include a lot of detail that your very simplified suggestion ignores. My problem with the Atlas has nothing to do with me not being "smart" in how I unlock maps.

I also eventually unlocked almost the entire Atlas in Harbinger. I think there were three maps left at the end of the league (Grandmasters, Perandus Manor, Vaal Temple). Unlocking the Atlas, as some number of expletive-filled rants in this thread will attest (Edit: Every time I bump this thread, mods go back and delete more of my posts. I think most of those rants are gone now. Never change, mods!), was not as fun for me as it was for you. I explicitly state why it was unfun repeatedly in this thread.

I'm glad that you enjoy grinding content you outlevel a ridiculous number of times until you build up a massive supply of maps. I don't, though. Being forced to do that is one of the problems I've explicitly mentioned repeatedly in this thread. That problem will only be worse when the new expansion hits.

As expected, this is fucking me hard AGAIN and I'm annoyed as fuck AGAIN. You've made the shittiest part of mapping EVEN SHITTIER.

Here are the drop-only T3 maps and the maps where they drop (from Karv's SSF Atlas guide):

Cells (Flooded Mine)
Leyline (Flooded Mine)
Port (Alleways)
Burial Chambers (Marshes)

I've had ZERO of those maps drop. I've had Zana sell ZERO of those maps out of five inventory refreshes, plus she's high enough level now that I won't see many low tier maps. I'm still farming goddamn T2 maps at level 78 simply because this shitty system locks my progress EVEN FUCKING HARDER if I don't unlock them before progressing to tier three. Since I still need four fucking maps, and have one of the T2s leading to those and 11 of the ones that don't, I don't expect my shit-farm of shit-tier maps to end any time soon.

FIX YOUR BULLSHIT, GGG.

Edit: I forgot to add that I've been chiseling, alching, and throwing Anarchy for more quantity on Flooded Mines and still not getting any drops. I'm putting in the fucking effort here. The RNG bullshit Atlas-unlocking system just sucks.

I love this guy. Always bitching because he doesn't have everything unlocked on the second day of the league.

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Telzen wrote:

I love this guy. Always bitching because he doesn't have everything unlocked on the second day of the league.

Well, he's right, this map drop system sucks from the day Atlas was added. This system often drops maps that you've already explored (and you dont need them for exploration), but maps you hadnt explored (connected to current) drop very infrequently, because they cant compete with massive number of explored maps.
This system is great for brain-dead farming the same map over and over again, but it sucks when you want to explore atlas quickly and get bonus to ma drop rate.

What players do to explore atlas? They BUY maps, either from other players, or from Zana (if playing SSF). Bypassing that atlas mechanics completely!

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Miská wrote:

Orb of Horizon makes it dead simple to unlock same tier maps. If you are stuck on t5-t6 I don't know what you are doing wrong? Are you actually running alched maps? Do you chisel your maps at some point? I already had a few t16's drop, map sustain is as trivial as ever. Maybe not as easy as Legacy, but still more then enough.

Did you unlock your atlas SSF or through trading?

Horizon orbs do not exist any longer as far as I am aware.

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Jennik wrote:

I've run three or four Arachnid Tomb without having Tropical Island or Shore drop.

The mechanics of the Atlas are stopping me from running the only good maps I have, which is so unfathomably idiotic I can't believe that garbage ever made it into the game.


I cleared every single map in Prophecy league and got 40/40 challenges. After Atlas hit, I've done something like three T12s total as my highest maps and don't even bother with challenges. This is purely because of how goddamn frustrating it is to unlock maps now.

cry cry ive dont 3-4 maps without the drop i want cry cry.. like are you actually serious.

Just play the game and it will happen, eventual maps you did not find is possible to buy.

About the 3 12 maps done only, eather means that you cant spend enough time wich this game require, or that you should play on softcore instead of hc.

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Viljan wrote:

Just play the game and it will happen, eventual maps you did not find is possible to buy.

Not if you are in SSF.

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Char1983 wrote:

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Viljan wrote:

Just play the game and it will happen, eventual maps you did not find is possible to buy.

Not if you are in SSF.

Well play the game anyway because lower maps drops more often than same/higher tier

Horizon orbs helped a bit with that. Pity they were removed (I would have made them work up to mid tier maps or something).

I guess Zana, vendor recipes and some times even the labyrinth can help with that, but those are fairly indirect methods.