Sandbox Mode!

That's just it, I strongly believe that there is more place for discovery in a place where there are no limitations. I fail to see how this would put a damper on one's ability to "discover".

Know what the best part is? Not feeling compelled to "discover" in a completely user controlled environment? Don't use the Sandbox client. Discover on your own, by all means. It's an option, not an obligation.

I wanted to resurrect this suggestion thread because I feel it would really make PoE stand out from the rest. The thing that really excited me and my friends is the large amount of customization possible both through the skill points and items. But realizing that we would have to grind for 20+ hours EACH TIME we wanted to experiment with a different build turned us off. We don't have the time to do that. Realizing we would only have the time and attention span to do one build at most turned us off to this game which is really about choice and variety.

Then we thought of the idea of a sandbox mode where you put in a class and a level and you can design a character with any items of that level. You would be put in a separate map with enough variety of equal level monsters to allow you to get a feel for the build. Those characters could not be used for multiplayer or achievements or used in the campaign. But it would allow for a lot of fun experimentation and encourage people happy with their experiments to try building characters in the normal mode, knowing their endgame build will work.

As for the concerns for discoverability. I think it would be fine to limit the sandbox mode to levels that have already been reached by a normal mode character; perhaps +1 for testing immediate next steps. This way if I have a level 25 character, I can create any character in Sandbox mode up to level 26. That would force players to go through the experience of leveling via the campaign once before being able to jump to level 60 with new characters for experimentation.

I think this would really help distinguish PoE from the other similar games and allow players to take real advantage of the huge variety of builds possible in the game, which is its real appeal as far as I am concerned. It would be great to get feedback from the developers as to their concerns with offering such a mode?

No.

Would take all the fun away from achieving a character you wanted to try out.

"

No.

Would take all the fun away from achieving a character you wanted to try out.

I think you mean 'satisfaction' or 'fulfillment' instead of 'fun'. If I had played through the game 3 times to fully level up 3 characters and I wanted to know how a 4th build of my design would compare to the other 3 at endgame, playing through the same game a fourth time just to answer that question does not sound like fun. Sounds like painful grinding to me. I'd rather spend 30 hours trying out 30 different endgame builds than 30 hours to create a single one. When you only have 1 hour to play games a day, across all games out there, that translates into 'I'm not going to bother.' And since the whole point of PoE for people like me is to dream up and compare endgame character builds it means not bothering with the game past perhaps one playthrough.

Perhaps the question to answer is, if there was a sandbox mode what could be done to make the other modes more appealing for replay? Obvious things are achievements, multiplayer, unique items not available in sandbox.

I'm just working on my second character. It is mind-numbingly boring grind.
While playing I was thinking it would be awesome to have a sandbox mode for testing different skill tree builds. To see if it is worth grinding the game another bloody time.

My game time is limited so when I play I want it to be fun not grind in a manner that a bot can do. I assume a bot is not allowed?

To grind the game and have a build fall in its proverbial face is not fun and valuable and limited time wasted.

If unlimited sandbox is not a good thing. A progressive sandbox might be something.
For example: You can use any of your current characters. Reset, change and reorder the skill points in the skill tree however you want up to your current characters level.
If you skill tree have 50 points then that is what you can use to build in the sandbox.
Full access to all gems and weapons.

The thread-starter have the issue and features pretty pinned down.

Start playing HC or SC ladder.

Get Tabula Rasa on Standard.

Waste all currency getting random uniques/gems.

Almost sandbox mode.

But seriously, rerolling characters is a big part of the game.

Terrible idea, if you don't enjoy rolling and experimenting new characters then you shouldn't be playing this game

"

Terrible idea, if you don't enjoy rolling and experimenting new characters then you shouldn't be playing this game

How is wanting a sandbox mode to easily roll new characters and experiment with a variety of skills and abilities mean we do not like rolling and experimenting with new characters? I see it as just the opposite.

Spending 40+ hours on each character is not going to allow one to experiment with 10 ore more characters. Keeping sandbox mode separate from the main campaign encourages people to build permanence with their campaign character, and then at end game allow them to experiment with new characters at the same level as their campaign character. Of course they won't be able to use the sandbox characters in any multiplayer scenario and the sandbox maps would be limited to 3 or 4 to capture difference situations.

I would pay gladly pay for such a sandbox mode and it would not impact other players in any way.

Not in this form because it would kill the replayability. Although I grant you that the replayability in question is sorely artificial, but it is inherent to the genre.

"

Not in this form because it would kill the replayability. Although I grant you that the replayability in question is sorely artificial, but it is inherent to the genre.

I think it would increase replayability for a large number of players. Perhaps more casual players. After beating the campaign, I would be interested in spending hours trying out a variety of crazy builds in sandbox. If I find one I particularly like and would want to 'show it off', then I might play through the campaign one more time and build it organically so it could participate in online events. However, I am not willing to replay the entire campaign each time I just want to try a different build.

For me the appeal of Path of Exile is not the campaign, but exploring all the different potential synergies from the huge variety of active and passive skill combinations. However, realistically I will probably only have 50 to 60 hours to devote to the game over its lifetime (real life stuff + other games). Given that amount of time I'd only be able to really create two builds and am likely to play it safe and copy a known good build so I don't sink in 20 hours and then find the character is stuck because of bad design. Many reviews of PoE have mentioned the potential to have the game be too difficult if skill progression was not carefully planned from the start. So if my whole experience with PoE will be playing through the campaign with only one or two cookie-cutter builds, I am better off playing a competitor Who Shall Not Be Named with perhaps better campaign and visuals.

I'd like to understand why people think having an isolated single player sandbox mode that unlocks after beating the campaign (or leveling a character normally once) detracts from replayability and fun. It seems like the only reason is because it acknowledges that all most PoE players want is to experiment with a large variety of builds. And that forcing them to replay the entire campaign artificially lengthens their exposure to the game. However, I see pure grinding as negative exposure that will turn players off from the game completely.

I think those players will spend at least half as much time experimenting in sandbox mode with a variety of builds as they would have replaying the campaign to create just a few. And when they find a unique build they like, they will want to try it out in campaign mode anyways to build it organically and use it in online events.

What if the single player sandbox mode was a paid for add-on? Makes it part of the business model. Encourages experimentation which will help draw in more players. And isn't pay-to-win.