Can this game do better for long time players somehow?

Ive though about this a lot. I love that first character of the league feel, even if i loathe some content, other content i enjoy...but for the most part id love to skip the campaign considering how many times ive done it.

This isnt an option though, our only hope is for GGG to rework the campaign, which why bother they just expanded it not too long ago.

While i loved D3 adventure mode and though it was brilliant, its a totally different game and a game well fleshed out in endgame. POE's endgame is lacking. Maps are great, i love them, i love them for being short little nuggets of content, but thats all they are, short little nuggets of content as the foundation of endgame. The atlas and atlas bosses is awesome, but again, tied to little snippets of content that i barely get warmed up on before its time for another.

Delve is awesome, but too restricted in use, and i can feel myself getting tired of the claustrophobic narrow paths in 5 different flavors, a phenomenal addition to endgame but not a foundation.

POE doesnt have a solid, meaty, foundational endgame mechanic, it has side distractions which are awesome...almost as if they still think people are going to be farming campaign maps between...like we use to.

They could make the campaign go from levels 1-90, so the endgame would be more like the older POE where we just farmed campaign maps, and allow map use around 55.

None of this addresses early game though or the dull mid game. I guess its not so bad due to getting spammed with skill points and watching your build unfold. Most vets race past it all but i like to take it a bit slow personally, even if im so sick of a few areas.

For establishing a stronger endgame, I think GGG should try out the Synergies mod for Torchlight 2. While the balance for that was centered more around sets (like D3), there are some other fun/interesting concepts that make it a great experience. It's balanced around certain assumptions about player defenses, so finding ways to fit in enough damage is part of the challenge. The bosses were also fairly unique and fun without always just being cheesy one-shot machines like so many of the "challenging" things in PoE.

Removing sulphite so that Delve can be a truly "endless" mode would be helpful.

Finding some way to implement proper sets and or runes (similar to D2) would be nice too, but I don't see those working quite the same way in PoE just because of how different the core principles of the games are. I would prefer if sets were like uniques, though: build-enabling and fun to use, but not always the BiS choice for a given build--rather than the entire endgame as in D3. As for runes, it would be cool to get various effects for individual ones and assemble rune words by sacrificing those gem slots in your build. For example, your shield could have a CWDT setup with its 3 links, or you can use a 3 rune word like "Git-Gud-Kid" (lol) instead. I suppose it's possible to run this through the jewel slots instead, adding another layer of consideration to builds with regard to what words you want to use and how you'll get enough slots to accommodate it. Wouldn't be bad, I think.

At the end of the day, though, I too like the fresh league start and don't mind doing the campaign in that context. It's just that when I get to my 2nd+ character that I REALLY don't want to slog through it yet again just to play another build.

My favourite part of the game is between levels 20 and 50. It's a steady rise in power as you define skill links and sinergies, while picking the most important ascendancies. Between 60 and 80 it often feels too static, since it's basically more of the same build you set on the previous levels, and from 80 onwards it feels too grindy and just more of the same.

I really like most of the levelling experience - from the point of view of a SSF player, it's a combination of using very different builds through each playthrough, enjoying a league's unique new dynamics and seeing the impact of the items I find.

The only part that bothers me is the very beginning, from levels 1 to 10 - when we don't have enough mana even to use skills and so need to use auto-attacks. Granted, it's a very small fraction of the total gameplay, but I would be happy enough if we had increased mana regeneration at that part of the game.

I don't think anyone should gain an advantage (other than skill) just because they've been playing longer.

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CapitalPunishment wrote:

This isnt an option though, our only hope is for GGG to rework the campaign, which why bother they just expanded it not too long ago.

That's not the problem or the solution though. The campaign its self is fine and probably better than its ever been. They rework the campaign again and same issue will arise.

The problem is people who play through it 100+ times and don't want to do it anymore, which could reasonably happen to anyone. The solution is for the player to figure it out. IE play something else or do something else to make it more interesting like someone else saying to stream while they play.

TLDR its not a GGG problem its a player base problem

I made BV tri herald and enjoyed the OPness of the build. Reached maps, did them to TIER 3 which took me couple minutes and found myself bored af. Rolled other build but I find myself bored quicker and quicker with each character. Stuff from low lvls are not worth anything, crafting isnt either, gotta do those T16 and get those high ilvl items to craft. Flipping currency or just farming maps isnt that great. Imo the game lacks good gameplay for me. I came back from a long break and played maybe for a week and got absolutely bored.

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kubasniaczek wrote:

I made BV tri herald and enjoyed the OPness of the build. Reached maps, did them to TIER 3 which took me couple minutes and found myself bored af. Rolled other build but I find myself bored quicker and quicker with each character. Stuff from low lvls are not worth anything, crafting isnt either, gotta do those T16 and get those high ilvl items to craft. Flipping currency or just farming maps isnt that great. Imo the game lacks good gameplay for me. I came back from a long break and played maybe for a week and got absolutely bored.

same came from 1 year absence for Betrayal and was fun first 3 days. Then I noticed they even made the game more of a pointless tiresome and tedious grindfest then it was ever before.

Poe is done for. Their design philosophy undermines the whole game, because they don't optimize and fix existing issues instead they just pump content until there is so much there is simply no incentive to even play it.

Also the Shaper and Elder mods made the game retarded... out of 884 uniques 880 are pure shit.

Also whats the point of calling an item unique when it does nothing unique when most rare items have mods that actually made items unique in the first place?

only mod still not on rare items is "chaos dmg does not bypass energy shield" but that will come sooner or later too.

they pretty much destroyed the whole game with this 3 month hamsterwheel loophole tempo of content pumps and dumps. Not to mention everything feels so fucking rushed.


The game literally renders itself useless.

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Albinosaurus wrote:

...Anyone else feel similar? Maybe have other ideas about it?

I am currently not playing PoE because of this... I'm just tired of having to grind through the "story" portion of the game for every darn character, every darn season.

There isn't a way, as far as I can see, for PoE to introduce any mechanic that enables a player to skip that content. Why? Because, in most seasons the player first experiences the expansion content in those zones/maps and skipping that would end up with the player not getting the necessary starting position in the new content, all the starting stuff, and the options/opportunities available. Some leagues are different, of course, but a league with mechanics like Betrayal really needs the character to begin fussing with it as they are leveling through the story.

There is also no advantage for GGG to allow players to skip content... Their interests are served by keeping players playing over time so they are exposed to the MTX/Stash Tab market. And, filling up one's Stash Tabs with "leveling gear" is a habit that serves GGG very well, since it encourages the player to buy more tabs.

So... meh. I don't particularly like the Betrayal mechanics and don't even pay much attention to them. I also see some of the new crafting mechanics as being purposefully introduced to slow down character builds/progression. That's sort of a crappy thing to do, IMO. I can see why they'd do that, but I don't have to be happy about it. Some new crafts are pretty neat, though. I just wish that certain handy recipes were a bit easier to get. But, of course, they're not and that's because GGG wants the player playing longer, IMO.

IOW - It's against GGG's interests to provide a means for content-skipping. Unless, of course, they can find a way to heavily monetize it to make up for possible lost stash/mtx sales because of it.

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Morkonan wrote:

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Albinosaurus wrote:

...Anyone else feel similar? Maybe have other ideas about it?

I am currently not playing PoE because of this... I'm just tired of having to grind through the "story" portion of the game for every darn character, every darn season.

...

IOW - It's against GGG's interests to provide a means for content-skipping. Unless, of course, they can find a way to heavily monetize it to make up for possible lost stash/mtx sales because of it.

This is why I wouldn't mind a one time fee for this feature. Maybe $20 and you have to level one character through the story each season before you can use it. I'd be okay with that.

@element274

This is NOT what I have in mind and don't want that in the game.