My idea to Make the above level 92 Grind, Absolutely Awesome !!! (Please Bump)

We all want a Awesome end game! Many of us build characters to level 92ish-96ish (some even higher). But...... shortly after they fall off the boat, and get put on the shelf rarely to be played again.

Usually we can run the first 8-10 acts without getting bored forever, because there is so much to do and gear to think about and buy. But when we hit that 92-96 plus mark and have all our gear, the end game maps can get repetitive, and worst of all boring. Then we start a new character, or spend about 10 exalts breaking down characters ascendancy class to make new builds.

So here is my idea to improve the 92 plus grind....... And I think it would be a Hit!

At level 90 - introduce three to four new side quests like uber lab.
One where you get a offensive buff for 3 days
one where you get a defensive buff for 3 days
One where you get around a level three golem or aura buff for 3 days (random).
Perhaps even a 4th sidequest where every other lab run you get a random uber lab buff for 2 days. For those of us who like to run 20 labs in 2 days, That's 10 more random buffs. Maybe around 4 of them become a twice enchanted.
You can also be assured what buff you will get by putting the right combination of maps together or take a chance at a rarer buff running a random set.


* My idea for the mechanics, and the part that will make this Really, Really FUN !
To help end the repetitive nature, where every map can get boring- make it where you need to combine 4 maps with a item that only drops upper level 92ish. That is the perfect level. Insentive to level to 92 is important as 90 is to low and easy. After that, the game will also draw a random 3 maps to these 4 maps to surprise you like zana. Then the side quest would also include 3-5 additional new rooms different than all the maps in the game with traps or something. Very important to have these. Need to have something to dodge instead of kill all the time to keep us on our toes, and above all make the game MORE FUN. Maybe with less exp penalty in this (Act/labyrynth) if you die, but you wont get the buff for 2 days. Not something really hard (around the level of uber lab) pretty easy. Perhaps something like shaper realm looking, or something new. Also the possibility of a new sextant for these labs. To add one or two modifiers.

I also envision it running somewhere along the lines of maps that look similar. Like if you add 4 of the 5 maps needed you know what offensive buff you will get. For example If you run volcano, lava chamber, lava lake and maybe say another fire map, you know you will get 15-30 fire damage for two days And maybe if you run the same side quest Twice in those two days the buff increases by another 60 percent and get 25-45 fire damage instead. However, if you just combine a random 4 maps you wont know what offensive buff you are going to get, and maybe have a shot at getting a ultra rare one like 5% increased exp, or 25% chance of level 1 acceleration shrine.

Even better! Perhaps make it a town where players can hang out. So you don't have to hide in your hideout alone and depressed all the time. A great way to run with people. Only 3 people can join group though for these maps. And if one rips, your down to 2.

The whole central purpose of this though is to make level 92 and above mapping more fun and to not get bored with the mapping. Of course No, you can not sell the buffs And that is Very VERY important!!!

This would be so much fun!
Please Bump,
Inquisitor,
Searchingforcocacola.

I always forget details no matter how much I post.

I think this design would have to aim around a 3 1/2- 4 hour mark every 2-3 days for the very fastest build perhaps 4-7 hours for the medium and 7-10 for the slower.

So perhaps to clear the offensive twice, the defensive twice, the aura or golem buff once, and the extra mod for the lords labyrinth once (6 in total) that would take around 80-100 maps imo.
So that would be about 13-20 rooms per act as opposed to 10 maybe. And we need to have something like kill boss and less then 50 remaining to make it viable and worth repeating over and over.


Also I like the idea if you had completed the defensive buff twice already, the offensive buff once, and your currently going for the offensive buff a second time and die; then you only lose the offensive buffs (thus you have to run it twice again to get both, and you lose no buffs outside of these areas.

:)

See this race league that just started? see how long it takes people to start hitting 100 (in about a week)...it dose not need boosts.

Perhaps at level 94 instead of 92 you get to double dip the offensive and defensive labyrynths. Maybe at level 96 you get to triple dip and level 98 quadruple.

Also, when you consider the little buffs you get from level 94ish and above its just not that much for the amount of time leveling. This would make a BIG difference. Like 2 passive nodes instead of one.

Could make a lot of hardcore players happy to :P

OK I will try to hold back for a bit :P

Cheers,
Searchingforcocacola.

Says the guy without a charecter above level 93 :P
Its a opinion, no right or wrong answer.

Took me arc trapper with best gear and 6 powercharges(corrupt devoto) to almost hit level 97 and that was running tier 15's alone. Takes like the best 3-4 builds of league for experienced poe gamers who arent video game enigmas, to make it solo play. I will never forget ripping act 10 kitava hardcore with 30% chance to evade and 4800 life while being carried after a weeks worth of work. All gone. :(

You might be interested in what GGG thinks about getting level 100.
Your suggestion to make it more fun makes sense, but is not what GGG wants to make it be.

"

Experience changes for high-level characters
Each league, the race to 100 is over more quickly than the previous one, as players become more efficient and the experience available gets larger. We receive overwhelming feedback (including from top racers) that this process should be made longer. We're going to be careful though, and just adjust it a bit at a time. In 3.1.0, this takes the form of small additional experience penalties at levels 95-99 that have the following effect:

• 95 to 96: 6.5% more experience needed
• 96 to 97: 11.5% more experience needed
• 97 to 98: 18.7% more experience needed
• 98 to 99: 28.25% more experience needed
• 99 to 100: 40% more experience needed

Source: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2035872

I don't care much about leveling beyond level 90+. As soon as my build works, leveling is just a pain due to death penalty (forcing you either to skip dangerous content or play super scarry). 10 additional points are usually not worth the pain. But we not necessarily have to agree on this.

No, it is not worth the pain, but that is why many people like to play rpgs with a leveling system: to feel accomplishment on developing their characters.

Yet I do agree leveling 90+ isn't supposed to be fun in this game. It's purposefully supposed to feel like a punishment and it works just as intended.

A bit hard to fully imagine the idea, but maybe i think it is very time heavy even too time heavy.

I like the idea though if i extract the principle - gate or in more friendly words, save some of the ways of playing the game for higher level so you have things to look forward to since at that time all the normal things that keep you busy are gone and it's just a monotone grind.

Rather than being full time events i like more the idea of opening up new ways of playing the game for example using this mix 2-4 maps and get those and random layouts zana style mixed in or something, and if mixed with your principle of giving lesser but still meaningful buffs it would make you feel like something to do. Gotta say, smell scarily much like a daily quest to me which i never liked but i see where you are going.

Definitely i like the idea of making new things to do available later on. What in D2 for example you can gamble and craft much better when you get to the early nineties etc. Meaningful things to chase is needed, it turns monotone and paired with death penalty it is mostly for nolifers in the most literal meaning. People who don't have too many things they want to do with their time, keep repeating the same thing for almost no gain because it's all they they know.

The older i get, the more healthy my principles get. Basically once i get to the point where i have to grind for many days and get no meaningful progress i start doing other things i want to do. Life is simply too short for this type of hamster wheel design. The aim of the design is actually to keep the player stuck inside that hamster wheel because as soon as you reach the end of it you realize - there is no endgame there is only the hamster wheel. So i play as long as the experience gives meaningful returns but once it turns stale i rotate elements in my life to fulfill me more. I wish games didn't cater to keeping people locked down but were more respectful players.

PoE Thrives on the hamster wheel, they think it's a good idea. They made it worse than classic ARPG's and empowered several elements like death penalty.

As far as time to 100 goes, those numbers are tiny. It used to take like 4x as long to 100 and when it was closer to that they still made adjustments to try to bring it back to that original time. Need i say more.

You hit my feelings exactly.

It's interesting that the changes proposed are all based on the view from the top players. You should all watch the video from For those who keep harping on about how expert in PoE GGG devs should be post: Don't Just Hire Your Fans - Creating a Good Design Team - Extra Credits.

There are many that post that even level 90 is too much of an endgame grind. As a casual player I can always reach level 90 in a 3 month challenge league if I choose to do so. The problem as I see it is 2 fold:

1) It's the same repetitive maps from end of act 10 until we run out of interest (the grind literally grinds us to a halt... like in tractor pulling contests where you move until you can't anymore). Throw in the Zana dailies (the rest of the masters are a stupid joke and GGG needs to overhaul them for the endgame), Atziri runs, plus lab/uber lab runs, and that's all there is to the endgame. GGG will have to add something to the endgame that is completely different to revive it from its current coma state.

Edit: If GGG can code a menagerie in 3 months then they can sure code additional new and fresh things to generate xp from in the endgame. Something new that all (casuals and no-lifers) can experience. I shouldn't have to wait until the end of 2019 (PoE 4.0) for that to happen. By then it'll be too late (and we have no idea if GGG has anything on the drawing board for 4.0 anyway).

2) Item progression runs out due to the lower quality of gear if your build is more than 3 levels above the zone level or map tier. This rule is ok for the 10 acts but come the endgame the only real incentive to keep going on and running a build is the item chase. Since chasing unique items in and of itself is too much rng based (so what else is new... just read the sob posts on running Burial Chambers map 100s of times and not getting the Headhunter cards to drop) it always leaves me with a feeling of the "once in a blue moon" possibility that an item might drop in the endgame. Sure, if we do get lucky it'a a great feeling (like you just won the lottery) but since that brass ring (we're all riding the PoE endgame merry-go-round) is placed such that we usually need a 49 1/2 foot pole to reach it (just look at the maps run verses Headhunter cards found as one example) and thus the incentive to continue grinding is gone. The carrot out on the stick isn't worth chasing anymore because the time grind is off-putting so only the no-lifers benefit from continuous play. Most will always come back with the standard bs of GGG has this "working as intended" as a way to incentivize trading for better gear. Ok, I can accept that. If that's the GGG master plan then give us a better/easier (non-auction house) way to trade that's in-game. Crickets chirping on GGG's side with only their statement of "we don't want trading to be too easy" that in 2018 (but much earlier than this) has become a serious problem. GGG's 2 faced position of gear progression ending due to being way over the map tier being run and no easy way to trade is killing my/our desire to continue a build past 90 (and even that is getting old after 5.5 years).

Some of what the OP talks about to add variety to our "rinse and repeat" map running ad infinitum may inject some interest for awhile but that too will become old quickly. GGG has got to either make trading more accessible (my idea of a smart phone sellers trade app so sellers can sell from anywhere and buyers don't get frustrated the hell out with no seller response because either the seller is not in-game or is busy in-game (can't stop my lab run now... sorry) would be the perfect tool to make sales away from the computer (I'm free at last) but TencentGGG won't ever consider it imho. Removal of the over-level penalty on quality of gear drops to make us want to continue chasing after items (works for me in D3 running rifts) is also what is needed to keep us grinding maps longer.

I just don't know why GGG doesn't see that "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar" is the best approach to selling more mtx. If I'm unhappy in the endgame I'm sure as hell not buying any mtx or a supporter pack.