Sandbox Mode!

This game is amazing with the way the skill tree and itemization works. However one thing that bothers me is that in the event you wanted to make your own build and see if it actually worked you would have to go start a new character and level it up to say, 50-70 and then if your build doesn't work you either die repeatedly or scrap your character and try it again OR sit down with pen, paper and calculator in hand for several hours and set out on a mathematical adventure to build making.

To combat this mundane amount of repetition for build creating I suggest a Sandbox mode be instated. Utilizing sandbox mode one could spawn a character at whatever level they wanted, with the corresponding amount of skill points, and set their passive skill points the way they wanted. They could then take said character out and try clearing a few maps or whatever the case may be to see how the build works.

Said mode would incorporate the following features:

1. Spawning of characters of user inputted level and class
2. Spawning of all available Items
3. Spawning of currency
4. Control of the passive skill tree
5. Access to all waypoints and area's
6. The ability to transfer a copy of a pre-existing character from the actual game into sandbox mode for build altering etc...
7. Advanced item Editor! The ability to add/remove/change the suffixes/prefixes (or values of said suffixes/prefixes) of ANY armor/weapon to anything within restrictions of the item's type and level.

There could be more features but that's all you would need for a fully functional sandbox realm, in my opinion.

I believe having something like this would open up the path to many many more exciting builds considering it seems most players are constrained to what is made popular on the forums and by streamers.

Consider this scenario:

I want to try out a build I thought of while on the crapper. "Dual wield spell totem witch OP!", I say to myself. Now, instead of making a new character and slaving away for hours to find out that, despite all the fun I had with the build, it's pure crap and I'll never amount to anything end-game other than accumulating the highest death record possible, I open the sandbox client! (Or move to the sandbox realm/gateway?) I instantly have complete access to everything I need to test my build and make sure I won't waste hours of my life before I go back to the drawing board.

This sounds like an amazing feature that would surely set this game apart from ANY other aRPG's and really make PoE stand out more than it does already. For everyone that involves themself in theorycraft this would save immense amounts of time and effort and possibly make the entire theorycraft experience much more enjoyable.

TL;DR Sandbox Mode. Seperate client. No interaction with normal game. Free control over everything. Massive influx of new builds to try! This could even make it easier to find and fix bugs on a larger scale before they happen!

Edit: Excuse me if this has been suggested before. I do not mean to repost.

This would indeed making character theorycrafting alot smoother, also allowing for quick testing exactly what route or point distribution gives the highest damage output or health.

Another thing that would make it even better is if you could copy your current character with the current gear to map out the next points or rethinking some of the choices you made, to maximize the effect of the skilltree to perfection. Which ofc can be done with pure math but that requires alot of more effort.

I actual think this would be a pretty neat idea. Having the skill tree online is nice but something like this helping to see how a build could be used in action would be great imo.

I know some people might be like, "Hmm... how would you transfer character data from one client/server to another with as little effort as possible and without allowing anyone to interact maliciously with said character data?"

Easily. Export said character data into a sort of a "Preset" file, consisting of ItemID's, Passive Skill values and Stat Values, onto the host computer. Said "Preset" file could then be imported into the sandbox client to be worked on and also support saving, reloading and editing consistently without ever need to interact with server data or client data in reference to the real game once. (Obviously the game would not allow importing of ANY sort of data so the file would be harmless and one could even transfer build/character data to other people for the sake of theorycrafting and build testing.)

Also there is a portable version of the skill tree builder available on the forums somewhere for download, this can be integrated as an extension usable outside of the actual sandbox to view and edit passive skill builds from aforementioned "Preset" files on the fly and without the need for using excess computer resources from having your browser or sandbox open and all it would take is an Alt+Tab to access whenever you want.

Bump for visibility. Would love the opinion of someone from staff.

I like the idea but I have the feeling that me and probably many others would end using more the sandbox than the game itself since I love to create new builds and check new ideas all the time is my favourite part of the game :D

i don't think they want people to easily be able to min/max in such a way. i'm all for it, but it goes against their design philosophy big time.

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rogueyoshi wrote:

i don't think they want people to easily be able to min/max in such a way. i'm all for it, but it goes against their design philosophy big time.

I could understand that if this had any effect on playability of the game itself, but it doesn't. People can already calculate everything by hand. All this would do is give players an environment where they can cut straight to the point and get even more in-depth. When things come down to it players still need to start from level 1 and work up to where they want to be. No matter how much you get done in a sandbox, you still need to farm, find gear, make adjustments etc...

I believe that GGG has declared this will never happen, because it removes the value of discovery from the game. IIRC, the last request I saw for this was locked, with a mod saying, "and that's the final answer."

I actually agree with that conclusion.

Working as designed