Something is wrong with Map Drop rates...

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Gentso wrote:

I'm at around ~90 atlas complete now and I think I had to buy at least half of them. I think the flow of the game severely diminishes when you start filling out the atlas. Up until then it's easy to know where and what to do and it's nonstop. Then you start mapping and it's awesome. And then for the first time you can't do what you're supposed to be doing and you have go to trade. And then to run one map you have to PM something like 5-10 people until someone responds. It doesn't ruin the game but it does ruin the flow, imo.

Yep. That's pretty much where I stop and roll up another project. I've gotten over 100 once, but found it more frustrating that fun to go much further.

To drop my 2cents on the issue.

This has been a constant problem since day 1, this patch was exactly the moment to fix map drop rates but GGG blew it on this chapter. The only reason for not fixing it is the ladder, which 99% of players dont give a flying f about.

Instead of separating the XP/ladder system from the map drop mechanic we have to endure for the sake of a small minority of players this idiotic situation where game content is locked away based on pure chance. I think we can all agree that accessing content should not be based on `getting lucky`.

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Miská wrote:

They are also exceedingly expensive. And the part about having to trade for a regular currency? You find all your own chisels? Alchs? scour?. Seems to me sextants are exactly like other heavily used map currencies. You need to trade to sustain all of them. And guess what, that seems to be intended.

This is what Shags is getting on about. You are the one that wants the game to change to your gamestyle. I mean you are fine with chisels/alchs etc it seems. Someone else might want to just throw on 1 transmute, and find everything else a chore. There is no end to what people prefer, and everyone prefers it a different way. This is not a game problem, but a you problem.

I'm not sure if it is worth responding with this, but I will anyway.
I actually do sustain chisels and alchs, without issue. Granted, the only things I use them on are maps and only T14+ maps get chiseled.

The reason I'm fine, and everybody I know is fine with alch/chisel is because it doesnt encourage you to stop playing the game. If you want to sextant block, you immediately lose around 30 maps you can run. They become dead weight. If you run them you will fuck your sextant blocking, and sextant blocking is NOT cheap. In addition, sextant blocking is generally focused around a single shaped map. Now I also disagree with shaped maps on a whole but I can get behind them as a neat mechanic to bring your favoured maps 'forward' with you.

It is unfortunate that the most efficient way to play the game is to uncomplete several maps of a specific tier (or just buy the later tier maps), restrict yourself from running around 30 maps entirely, pigeonhole yourself into running a single layout of map, that is shaped, and would generally feature an uninteresting and easy boss (courtesy of low tier maps). That is my problem with sextants.

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Doomstryver wrote:

The reason I'm fine, and everybody I know is fine with alch/chisel is because it doesnt encourage you to stop playing the game. If you want to sextant block, you immediately lose around 30 maps you can run. They become dead weight. If you run them you will fuck your sextant blocking, and sextant blocking is NOT cheap. In addition, sextant blocking is generally focused around a single shaped map. Now I also disagree with shaped maps on a whole but I can get behind them as a neat mechanic to bring your favoured maps 'forward' with you.

It is unfortunate that the most efficient way to play the game is to uncomplete several maps of a specific tier (or just buy the later tier maps), restrict yourself from running around 30 maps entirely, pigeonhole yourself into running a single layout of map, that is shaped, and would generally feature an uninteresting and easy boss (courtesy of low tier maps). That is my problem with sextants.

Exactly this.

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Doomstryver wrote:

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Miská wrote:

They are also exceedingly expensive. And the part about having to trade for a regular currency? You find all your own chisels? Alchs? scour?. Seems to me sextants are exactly like other heavily used map currencies. You need to trade to sustain all of them. And guess what, that seems to be intended.

This is what Shags is getting on about. You are the one that wants the game to change to your gamestyle. I mean you are fine with chisels/alchs etc it seems. Someone else might want to just throw on 1 transmute, and find everything else a chore. There is no end to what people prefer, and everyone prefers it a different way. This is not a game problem, but a you problem.

I'm not sure if it is worth responding with this, but I will anyway.
I actually do sustain chisels and alchs, without issue. Granted, the only things I use them on are maps and only T14+ maps get chiseled.

The reason I'm fine, and everybody I know is fine with alch/chisel is because it doesnt encourage you to stop playing the game. If you want to sextant block, you immediately lose around 30 maps you can run. They become dead weight. If you run them you will fuck your sextant blocking, and sextant blocking is NOT cheap. In addition, sextant blocking is generally focused around a single shaped map. Now I also disagree with shaped maps on a whole but I can get behind them as a neat mechanic to bring your favoured maps 'forward' with you.

It is unfortunate that the most efficient way to play the game is to uncomplete several maps of a specific tier (or just buy the later tier maps), restrict yourself from running around 30 maps entirely, pigeonhole yourself into running a single layout of map, that is shaped, and would generally feature an uninteresting and easy boss (courtesy of low tier maps). That is my problem with sextants.

The revelations are real. Map without using chisels, and you can sustain chisels. Come on man, this kind of argument is pointless with silly remarks like this. You can also never sextant a map and only do it if you have some, and voila sustain.
Obviously I ment if you actually USE the items. Because you can't sustain chisels.

And why would you ever even think about sextant blocking if you don't want to do a map over and over atleast for a while? You obviously don't want to play like that, so then don't do it? Nobody is pidgeonholing you into anything but yourself.

Sextant blocking is to avoid rolls from sextants that you don't want. What actually stops you from just using sextants and not care about that small bit of efficiency? Because that's what it is. You could just sextant random maps that you are running and have close to the same result. Or is 3 maps in a row also to much for you?

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Shagsbeard wrote:

Confirmation bias is strong with this one.

It's almost everyone who's made it to deep red maps that's noticing it this league, though.

Once I had a shaped atlas at t15 with 120/126 last league, I was farming shaped courtyard and sustaining it with absolutely no issue. And that was *just* shaped courtyard--no horizon orbs or harbinger orbs could possibly serve to get me more of those.

Shaped maps with 130+ are still unsustainable to many people this league. They nerfed drops in a way that would've only made sense if they had left horizon and harbinger orbs in the game.

Harbinger league was an aberration... don't use it as a standard.

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codetaku wrote:

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Shagsbeard wrote:

Confirmation bias is strong with this one.

It's almost everyone who's made it to deep red maps that's noticing it this league, though.

Once I had a shaped atlas at t15 with 120/126 last league, I was farming shaped courtyard and sustaining it with absolutely no issue. And that was *just* shaped courtyard--no horizon orbs or harbinger orbs could possibly serve to get me more of those.

Shaped maps with 130+ are still unsustainable to many people this league. They nerfed drops in a way that would've only made sense if they had left horizon and harbinger orbs in the game.

I have 156/157 at level 96 and don't notice any difference with map drop rates.

If anything, the added atlas bonus and the shaper/elder mechanic have made map drops easier.

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Nephalim wrote:

I have 156/157 at level 96 and don't notice any difference with map drop rates.

If anything, the added atlas bonus and the shaper/elder mechanic have made map drops easier.

same here, 138/157 at lvl 94, bought no more than 6-7 maps and sustaining T11+ and guardians maps has not been harder than previous patch (except harbinger ofc, with horizons orb and guardians maps dropping like alterations on breachhead).

Maps are fine , some of us also love the design of maps. So many casuals here that want everything handed to them . I play all parts of PoE . I make multiple chars each league i play , i map ( buy many maps myself ) , i participate in the trade based economy to buy and to sell.

Maps are one of the best things in PoE , the idea of everything being craftable ( or really the idea everything can be rolled like loot not really crafting but semantics) along with the actual choices you get to make in characters and skill gems makes PoE the great game it is. All you casuals that want to water it down into some kind of D3 bullshit should move on and stop trying to kill a great game that has almost always had maps ( few of you played when there was no map just the semi endless dungeon) Mapping is a major part of PoE , trading for maps is a major part of PoE , having to use currency to roll maps is a major part of PoE .

Stop trying to turn this into some sort of casual game that all content is just open to everyone regardless of the effort they put in . Those games exist all over now in fact almost every fucking game has gone that way . Leave PoE alone with your casual wants and go find one of the other thousands of games that cater to people who dont want to earn anything in game.