End game lore: Shaper lost in Elder tale

Before the War For The Atlas, we had a great build-up to who Shaper is, who his Guardians are, and to an extent - why we fight him.
even back then I could not fully understand why we fight him. But I did understand his "good guy gone insane + powerful, and needs to be stopped" character.

Now the Elder is the arch-villain. the lore portrays that extremely well but... the Shaper lost his identity in the process.
him and his guardians are nothing but "generic map bosses" now, silently awaiting the player to 1-million DPS them for the lootz.
and the major plot event of 3.2 where the Elder finally catches its "prey"? most players won't even see it. RNG will make sure of that.

I don't think most of the players who reach guardians and shaper are lore oriented players in the least.

yup, the whole shaper/elder lore is super lazy. i liked the little plot twist with the shaper at the end. now you get from zana: "ohai, here is a map device. lots of maps out there. there is the shaper who controls these maps. and btw, he's my father. and there is the elder. he looks like the shaper, but with tentacles. noone knows who he is, but he's messing things up outta nowhere."

i dont really feel involved at all in the war for the atlas lore. i didnt care at all who the elder was because he seemed like such a lazy copy of the shaper idea. his cutscenes were annoying and he was so easy that it wasn't believable that he was a threat to the shaper.

At some point the lore is important... but in the actual execution of the game no one really "discovers" lore. You don't find out about the elder/shaper stuff by playing the game, you read about online. Or you don't, and don't care about it.

This myth that there are players who play the game in a vacuum is heartwarming, but unrealistic.

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Shagsbeard wrote:

At some point the lore is important... but in the actual execution of the game no one really "discovers" lore. You don't find out about the elder/shaper stuff by playing the game, you read about online. Or you don't, and don't care about it.

This myth that there are players who play the game in a vacuum is heartwarming, but unrealistic.

The philosophy by GGG is that they don't force you to explore lore because a lot of the players don't care. You get your fix for lore through those pretty scroll icons on the map and through NPC interaction which is a good decision. I got all that I wanted to know on my first run and wouldn't like to have it shoved in my face again every league.

the real joke about the lore is that they change it without any mention. its too hard for them to build something up so they change it, if needed, for every league or expansion.

ohh, and how i loved the lore in the early days :'(

There are still question marks who was the original inventor of the map devices and what purpose they mave have, except creating convenient dream worlds like in Maligaros case.
I'm a bit dissapointed that the side lore of the elder & the accompining abyss mobs is not explained a bit more so that his appearance makes more sense in the greater scheme.
And what about the Vaal and their sudden demise on a great scale?
Similar like the Dwemer from the Elder Scrolls series.

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kobrakhan wrote:

the real joke about the lore is that they change it without any mention. its too hard for them to build something up so they change it, if needed, for every league or expansion.

ohh, and how i loved the lore in the early days :'(

As someone who has compiled all of the game lore, I agree. I definitely think the lore quality has gone down starting in 3.0. I also don't really care for the fact that the lore is constantly changing rather than just being added to.

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gandhar0 wrote:

There are still question marks who was the original inventor of the map devices and what purpose they mave have, except creating convenient dream worlds like in Maligaros case.
I'm a bit dissapointed that the side lore of the elder & the accompining abyss mobs is not explained a bit more so that his appearance makes more sense in the greater scheme.
And what about the Vaal and their sudden demise on a great scale?
Similar like the Dwemer from the Elder Scrolls series.

These things are pretty well explained. If you want the full lore, see here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/7snmam/lore_compilation_update_for_31/

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kobrakhan wrote:

the real joke about the lore is that they change it without any mention. its too hard for them to build something up so they change it, if needed, for every league or expansion.

ohh, and how i loved the lore in the early days :'(

As someone who has compiled all of the game lore, I agree. I definitely think the lore quality has gone down starting in 3.0. I also don't really care for the fact that the lore is constantly changing rather than just being added to.

"

gandhar0 wrote:

There are still question marks who was the original inventor of the map devices and what purpose they mave have, except creating convenient dream worlds like in Maligaros case.
I'm a bit dissapointed that the side lore of the elder & the accompining abyss mobs is not explained a bit more so that his appearance makes more sense in the greater scheme.
And what about the Vaal and their sudden demise on a great scale?
Similar like the Dwemer from the Elder Scrolls series.

These things are pretty well explained. If you want the full lore, see here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/7snmam/lore_compilation_update_for_31/

Old news.

@POELoreMaster, thanks for commenting.
I admire what you did.

@Shags and Nephalim, do people really ignore Lore even when Zana serves it with every Shaper Orb?
I enjoy reading that and feel Shaper got lore-nerfed as soon as Elder showed up.
Shaper is no longer a powerful and complex figure. He's a sheep hiding from a wolf.
A wolf who - as Dachoppa said here - isn't more powerful than him.
That doesn't make sense as an end game top boss. Maybe as an escort-mission NPC.
Oh wait... That's exactly what he is in the Elder fight....