my thoughts on maps, league challenges, and end game

I'm a casual player who can put in about 200 hours per league.

First off, keep in mind that I really hate trading. Second, I do not make near as much currency as others. I perhaps make up to 10ex per league. Most of which relies on getting lucky and having a exalt drop or getting that one great drop per league that can get me 2-3 exalt. I also rely heavily on the unid chaos recipe.

Secondly, I know about global 820. However I find it a flawed design that people have to resort to begging in 820 for help completing challenges. It also pretty much removes the "challenge" part from the challenge.

Third, I can't even begin to imagine getting to 36 in SSF, which I believe I will play next league. I did SSF in the flashback race and found it liberating not having to worry about currency for trades. It also allowed me to actually use the 2 exalts I dropped which was really fun. I managed to create a gg jewel for my build that way and it was immensely gratifying.

I've only managed to reach 36/40 a couple of times. I will NEVER get 40/40. I simply can't put in that amount of time. But that is ok. I don't really need to. And there should be a unique reward for those players that manage it.

In my mind, the casual player, with a couple hundred hours of goal oriented game play, should be able to get to 36/40 and earn the reward. They should be able to do this without resorting to global 820. 36/40 should be achievable by a casual player doing SSF. It should be challenging, but not impossible.

The last two leagues that I played have simply been unobtainable for me. There are challenges that are simply way too grindy and rely on ridiculous luck. Some examples.

The Complete Encounters 1. Release an essence of hysteria....
- this just relies way too much on good RNG. First you have to get lucky to come across an essence of corruption. Then you have to get lucky and come across the right essence mob. Then you have to get lucky in corrupting that essence mob. It remains incomplete on my challenge list despite 200+ hours of play due to bad luck. I was able to attempt an unlock 3 times. All 3 times gave me the wrong corruption result.

Defeat Bestiary bosses.
Portal for Farrul is way too hard to get. 150+ hours in maps, never came across the mob to capture. I thought if I just bought one of the mobs, but no, buying it doesn't give you the recipe.

Complete augmented maps
I sit at 184/1500. I knew straight from the beginning that I was never going to reach 1500 and this was a challenge I immediately wrote off.

Fully Complete the Bestiary
This one I feel is actually doable. Except for the fact that you need to get super lucky and get an untainted paradise. I have yet to see one. Again, bad rng. I hate doing zana in groups. People move way too fast for it to be enjoyable to me. And even if I got an untainted paradise in a group, they would kill the map too fast. I'd have to resort to bringing a bunch of necro nets which are expensive for players like me.

Unlock sextants
Tier 13+ maps drop rates are way too low for casual players. The game has been over balanced towards players like Zizaran who put in enough hours to overcome money issues and low drop rates. These players can easily afford to buy maps. In balancing the game toward these players, you make the game infinitely more inaccessible for casual players. What's more, is that you really only slightly inconvenience these players. They are so good at the game to easily overcome low drop rates.

This brings up my final issue. Low map drop rates kill my ability to ever complete end game content. I have never killed shaper. I've only been able to even attempt the shaper map 3 times since he was introduced. And those attempts were so far spaced apart, there was no real chance to learn the fight and improve. Watching a youtube video and actually doing the fight are really different things. Honestly, in my eyes, killing a map boss should have a guaranteed map drop of the same tier or higher. You might shake your head and say that makes it too easy. To that I say you are a player that is either an elite player, an elite trader, or can afford to put a monstrous amount of time into each league. There should be other goals for players like you. Uber elder, Uber Atziri, Halls of Grandmasters, etc. GGG should be coming up with more end game options for you. Maps and Shaper should be accessible to all players once they reach lvl 90.

I don't complain that the shaper fight is hard. I love that. My problem is that to even attempt him either requires a ton of map grinding to get t14-t15 maps to drop, in order to have a slim chance at getting a guardian map to drop, or requires a large amount of currency to buy the map fragments.

I would prefer to be able to meet these challenges on my own. I would prefer to PLAY THE GAME in order to do end game content. Trading is not only not fun, but due to low income, unfeasible.

Breach, Prophecy, Perandus. Those are the only leagues I managed to get to 36/40. And I had to use global 820 to do it. It was expensive and really not all that fun. I would rather play the game.

League challenges are really fun to me. I would like to see GGG make sure they balance the 36 challenge goal towards casual players. I would like to see them add a reward to those players that can manage 40/40. (besides the complete totem reward)

No, the casual player should NOT be able to get to 36/40 with next to no effort, it's a challenge....one you are apparently not willing to engage in because "reasons"

I didn't say no effort. 200hrs as a casual is really quite a lot of time. Putting in 200hrs is NOT no effort.

They have been putting in challenges that are gated behind insane RNG. And that is a serious design flaw.

The three times I've gotten to 36/40 is due to them having the right balance of achievable goals. It was hard, but not impossible for me. The last 2 leagues have simply been impossible.