Chris Wilson's 2019 gdc presentation - merge if already posted.

"

NeroNoah wrote:

No mention about maps either (although we have read something already about this).

What have you read? Something like "map drop nerf is good for retention" maybe? :)

"

srogi_kotek wrote:

"

NeroNoah wrote:

No mention about maps either (although we have read something already about this).

What have you read? Something like "map drop nerf is good for retention" maybe? :)

Something about "once players get to the endgame we have their soul".

I correct what I said before: there is a mention of maps but it's not really detailed (there is a lot of stuff in that presentation anyway).

"

NeroNoah wrote:

Something about "once players get to the endgame we have their soul".

Well, he's basically right here. Endgame is cool. The problem is that nowadays it is almost impossible to "sustain" it. I can see it in my example. If I had a guarantee that after clearing each map T15 or T16 I get at least one new T15 or T16, I would play until now.

But if I think about how much work I would have to invest in this continuous acquisition of currency, then to get maps that will lead me to this Uber Elder, who in the end will leave me some trash for 2c, it shakes me from horror. Never again!

And I say this as a player who in Delve killed Uber Elder at least 100 times, at Betrayal at least 300, using two characters equipped with gear worth 120 ex on each char.

If the map drop nerf can permanently discourage such a player, then what do people who reach at most red maps have to say?

It was good to watch this video. After that you can realise that:
- In the eyes of GGG it is not important to create good content which will keep players interested for longer time, because they will always return for the new league and pay for supporter packs.
- Only leagues release are important, players which likes to enjoy what they already achieved and collected, players that maybe have no too much time for grinding and having fresh starts every 3 months, etc. - Standard League players - GGG can ignore them because they do not matter.
- Next league will be probably even worst than Synthesis, because GGG has to put lots of efforts to improve current league and this may impact the following one OR current bugs and annoying mechanics will never be removed, because it is high time to focus on the next league (and anyway - the current one has already lost more than 80% players but supporter packs were sold before that happened - so who cares!).
- Players which have no time to play all the day are not important - it is essential to keep all-the-day streamers happy.
- Funny thing - people which stops to play are still buying supporters packs... well.. they likely still believe that GGG is still poor team of 20 enthusiasts working in the backyard garage, so they need some support to do not starve.
- It probably still will not be easy to play preferred content like Delve without investment of massive resources (time) - GGG afraid of people choosing they way to play (so everybody will be forced to do mapping because it sounds safe).

In all those years I play I left PoE two times and both times were because the "players cant have easy access to end game". Whenever I need to pray to RNGeus to play higher maps (or go buy maps) I lose part of "fun" I have in this game, and the longer such situation stays, the more I lose interest in playing.
I dont care about bugs(in two leagues I skipped first week because game literally broke and I had to wait for fix), bad league mechanic and other shit people complain about daily. Literally the only thing that made me leave this game was not being able to sustain maps.

It's fun to see people go all havoc just because Chris and GGG have to think about marketing, money, monetization and "keeping players". It's kind of cute.

"

NeroNoah wrote:

I wonder how much lockstep and removing difficulties did to the game in term of retention. No mention about maps either (although we have read something already about this).

Difficulty made no difference to me, but lockstep was the single biggest improvement in PoE's life IMO

"

Draegnarrr wrote:

"

NeroNoah wrote:

I wonder how much lockstep and removing difficulties did to the game in term of retention. No mention about maps either (although we have read something already about this).

Difficulty made no difference to me, but lockstep was the single biggest improvement in PoE's life IMO

For me was the other way around actually.


...

I saw this about Subnautica too:
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025691/-Subnautica
It's funny that despite being a premium game, the early access stuff more or less made it behave like PoE (need for a constant content schedule despite some stuff being possibly broken).

Thanks, OP! I was curious to see this for some time. Will check it out later.

Two things I take away from this speech are:

1. Everything we decide is done with the economy in mind.
2. Progression isn't meant to be linear in any way.