Legion is Lackluster (the league mechanic, not 3.7)

I am usually not interested in making any forum posts unless there is a serious issue with the game I enjoy. If I don't comment, it's probably because I enjoy the game and don't have many relevant complaints to make it worth the while.

I'll turn this topic into a Q&A interview by myself to make it easier and better to comprehend rather than spam a wall of text that noone cares about.

Start of monologue interview.

Q: Why do I believe that Legion is lackluster?
A: With all the recent leagues we have received, there has always been some kind of layer of complexity with it, regardless if the league was appreciated by the mass (delve) or shunned before it could redeem itself properly (synthesis). However, the previous 5-6 leagues all had an event that required you to do something different for your rewards.

The way Legion works is: Kill mobs to kill mobs. Yes, you kill mobs twice. It's nothing special either. The mobs you kill just have some different attacks. So basically the league provided a new enemy type that we have to kill twice. It continues with looting to loot more (incubators). You actually LOOT an item to LOOT an item that comes out of the loot. That's like giving us mystery boxes to open. Sure, opening boxes might appeal to many people based on the experience we gained from the gaming industry these past few years, but that doesn't change the fact that it's very unintuitive.

Q: How good are the rewards of Legion?
A: It differs from player to player and it has a similar loot table to Beastiary, except you don't go to a menagerie to get the items, you just go into the map and get the rewards directly. No extra effort required. Pokemon breeding is now a thing in PoE, except you don't know what shite you are hatching. Compared to Synthesis and Delve, the loot table is rather sobering.

Q: How challenging is the endgame of Legion?
A: Pardon? What endgame? Oh you mean 5 emblems?

To be totally honest, the bosses in this league are a complete joke. Even some of the rare mobs of the Legion map event are more challenging than the bosses of the timeless conflict.

I'd like to compare the timeless conflict generals to syndicate members. Where is the Mastermind of the timeless conflict? Where is the Cortex? How about some Aul? Or where do we find the Lich? All of these boss fights have a certain charm to them in how they challenge the player to learn certain mechanics before being able to complete the encounter.

The timeless conflict "arena" is just some trashmob area, atleast that's how it feels.

Q: What else is there to say about Legion?
A: Nothing. The content of the league is so poor/lackluster, that there really is no more to say about it. Little to no complexity.

Q: Why are you still playing then?
A: Every day I am considering about ending the league early and waiting for 3.8, but then I find myself addicted to PoE and instead change my objective: Delve. I hardly discovered deep delving yet, so atleast that is something to look forward to for the time being.

End of monologue interview.

I tried to not rant, but it's hard when trying to put the effortless work of GGG into words with this league.

If it hadn't been for the other leagues supporting Legion (Betrayal, Beastiary, Delve & Incursion), it would be a very boring league. The fact that we have so much content is what makes Legion kind of successful, because the Legion event doesn't require much brainpower (if any at all) or time to invest (since it's integrated in mapping).

The problem with Synthesis was that it had too much complexity for more casual players and required a lot of time investment, which faltered the time you could spend on the other league mechanics (again betrayal, delve, etc...).

The problem with Legion is that it has close to no depth at all and forces us to replay the content that we had already seen from past leagues to get our fill of challenge. New players won't mind and I can't speak for everyone, but I do believe that many older players feel bored after clearing the first 5 emblem timeless conflict and finding out that that's all there is to the league mechanic. Again, no Mastermind, no Cortex, no Aul, etc...

It's important to cater to casuals and simplifying the game for new player experience, but it's also important to cater to experienced players who seek challenges. League mechanics are the perfect opportunity to add multiple layers of difficulty. The Nexus really shined in this one and Delve did too. Betrayal to some extent aswell.

TL;DR: Legion as a standalone league mechanic has little to no depth. Combined with the other league mechanics since 3.5 makes it somewhat okay though, but lacks new challenges for experienced players.

Remember that I am only talking about the League mechanic here and not about what 3.7 brought with it (melee rework and other QoL changes).

Q: What do you think about the above post?
A: Not sure

If you dont like it, leave. There are thousands if not milions of other games than PoE. Leave PoE, play other things (or dont play anything and focus on life, w/e), come back with another league.

Every once in awhile we need a breather. This is Breach, one of the most successful leagues but with a bit of added complexity. Nothing wrong with that.

"Oh no, someone whining again." Is what you think probably. Only here to voice my opinion about the current league and all I'm asking is another layer of depth to the existing mechanic. So if they like added maybe another very challenging bossfight that is the Godfather of the timeless conflict generals, then I might've just closed an eye. Both having a super simple unintuitive league (breach recycle as it seems) with no way to really push my limits at all, is very disappointing if compared to recent league standards.

I AM looking forward to 3.8 and hope they can focus on something really good again after their caster/melee reworks out of the way now.

"

Aynix wrote:

If you dont like it, leave. There are thousands if not milions of other games than PoE. Leave PoE, play other things (or dont play anything and focus on life, w/e), come back with another league.

Glad you read the post.

I already said I am addicted to PoE and will focus on Delve probably. I am just saddened by how Synthesis got shoved aside because people whined and now get the simplest league I could imagine.

I WILL come back with another league, but that doesn't mean I will quit right now.

"

Johny_Snow wrote:

Every once in awhile we need a breather. This is Breach, one of the most successful leagues but with a bit of added complexity. Nothing wrong with that.

I can't really say much about Breach, since I wasn't around to play back then. Breach bosses aren't really challenging either and the past few leagues spoiled me (and probably everyone else too) regarding a steep endgame difficulty in terms of bossfights.

"we need a breather." Sorry, but that is a poor excuse for not delivering something that requires effort. If I want a breather from the current league event, I have plenty of other things to do in PoE, like focusing on Shaper/Uberelder and pushing Delve for instance.


I'm not saying PoE is garbage because of Legion, I'm trying to stick around and finding other stuff to do that I havn't fully completed yet, but I do wish that the League event we get is something challenging and not a "double goblin event" (slightly exaggerated).

Sum it up in max. three lines.

I think the feedback on the league is very intresting!! (focus on league only not bugs and what not)


As far as I can tell GGG delivered exactly what the community "wanted", a simple breach 2.0 kill stuff league. And it's exactly that! Nothing more nothing less.

For me this league is the same mechanic as alot of similar ones, for example breach, strongboxes, essence, abyss... You click on something, mobs pop out and you kill them... Only real difference is the frequency you run into them.


So now to the intresting part..

There are more and more feedback on that it's too simple and we want the more complex leagues back. Even requests for leaguestones (remeber the fuzz about that league regarding complexity?)


Okie...

I can interpret that in two ways, 1) we don't know what we want... 2) the comunity and the game have evolved and moved away from simple leagues.

For 1) yeah of course we don't "know" what we want... too many players to have a single opinion. Thats business as usuall, nothing to worry about in my book.

The intresting bit comes with 2). And it's going to be very intresting too see what GGG does with that.
Go with the more gamechanging leagues, aka revamping existing mechanics and content, or try to find some middle ground. Or interlacing complex with simple leagues...