Development Manifesto: Harvest Crafting

I am an average player and im affected, GGG what did you do!!1111

I can't invest as much time into this game as the top .1%, but I'm not a complete noob. I work a full time job and can play 2-3 hours a night, max. Even I know this manifesto is stupid.

No one, and I mean no one, uses exalted orbs or chaos orbs to craft gear.
Considering that people like me have such limited time to play, which I assume are most of the player base, it is far easier to accrue that currency, and then use it to buy gear upgrades via trade. Crafting in this game is so stupidly complex and expensive that there's ZERO reason for the vast majority of players to get involved in it. The bare minimum for currency to start crafting even moderately good gear is so stupidly high that most players can't and wouldn't even attempt it. Harvest made crafting accessible. It didn't fix everything with crafting, and it didn't even allow people like me to craft the best gear, but it at least made it accessible, and now the idiots at GGG want to take it away. Why? Because the top .1% are making really good gear. The same top .1% of players that trivialize any game they get involved in, because they have so much time to play. What moron game developer designs their game around the top .1% of their player base?

The totality of this problem is due to low drop rates for required crafting materials, low drop rates for good gear in general, the extremely high number of item mods and mod ranges, the extreme complexity of crafting, crafted rares being the best end game gear, the hugely expensive minimum to start crafting decent gear (which most players never get close to), the increasing difficulty of the game to push the top .1% of players, and trade (even though it sucks) still being easier than crafting. That last part should say a lot, that as bad as trading is, it's still better, easier, and less expensive than crafting. That is how bad crafting is in this game.

With harvest being nerfed, it will make better gear even more rare, making it more expensive and harder to find, thus making it harder for the majority of the players to trade for and get upgrades, stifling their character advancement, making it harder to progress in the game, reducing fun, reducing player retention, reducing MTX sales, reducing game popularity and word of mouth spread, thus reducing GGG's income. This is, in every conceivable way, fucking stupid.

If this Harvest nerf was paired with improvements to rare drops (where moderately good items could drop, like, at all), or improvements to crafting, or improvements to drop rates for crafting currencies, or improvements to item mods, etc., then this would be fine. If done well enough, harvest could be completely removed.

However, with the ideas behind this manifesto, and the idiotic and tone deaf stuff that was said within, it shows definitively (especially to average Joes like me) that the people who have the most control over this game have no fucking clue how to design it, how it's played by most of their players, why they play the way they do, or how to improve the game or the player experience. The shitty thing is how much potential this game has, and how good the core of it is, but it's being bogged down and held back by idiots at the top.

This sucks.

There must be another way... Nerfing it to the ground and go back to the 100% slotmachine gambling? Please no. This cant be it - there must be another or new league mechanic, fossil, essence or other system rework/change to compensate for the harvest nerfs am I right? Please tell me yes GGG :(

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Rakushi wrote:

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HowToGusta wrote:

Yeah man, you're addressing your concerns about the way people have approached GGG with their 'threats' to the wrong person. I literally just defended the idea that support can be withdrawn if you don't enjoy what you're spending your money on. I even mentioned in a previous post that any nerf/removal of harvest won't stop me from playing. But, I have expectations, yes. Do I feel entitled because I spend money on the game? Hell no. I just feel passionate enough to try to make a difference where it matters to so many. Read some of my previous posts, maybe you'll change your tune. Stop twisting my words.

Ah, I didn't try to make it like I've twisted your words! I was just trying to understand you toroughly, and am glad that I was wrong :D My apologies!

Edit: Incoherent Sentences. (Whew I am tired)

No need to apologise. My engagement in this thread I feel isn't as constructive as I'd like it to have been, but, I've contributed my opinion on the general direction of POE and its shortcomings whilst taking Chris' recent post into consideration. Overall I have a negative opinion of the changes because there are far too many variables in the game to find the original crafting system enjoyable. The idea that exalt slamming is exciting in some way is laughable. Harvest helped players move forward, reach their goals, try new builds and provided a means to enjoy blasting endgame maps. This, clearly isn't what GGG wants the majority of players to have access to. The game is supposed to be 'hardcore' by nature, many people have said this already. But, the main issue raised, I believe, was not actually deterministic crafting, it was the fact that once the community came together, they were able to target craft top-end gear at a faster rate than let's say a SSF player would. Changing harvest just because of that with the proposed changes doesn't seem logical. GGG can take that to hardcore mode if they like (IMO). Again, if GGG thinks that is for the best in the long-term, I'm fine with that.

Strongly disagree with this change.

Well it's a good thing im not used to this Harvest* shit. All these crybaby. xD

I have to say that I'm in conjunction with all the other complaints. I won't go insulting developers, as I'm sure many work hard on creating new ideas, as well as maintaining a functional and enjoyable game for us all. That said, it's sad seeing how detached they are from their player-base; at least the lower 95% of it.

People use Harvest as a way to play PoE- A way they can actually enjoy. Just as it can be abused for it's power, it can be used to make the difference in skill, knowledge, time, and even build choices. There's no denying how powerful Harvest is, but with that power, comes potential. Taking away that power so ham-fistedly comes with drawbacks; Namely in the form of the aforementioned enjoyment.

What if I want to play with a sub-optimal skill because I enjoy it more? Or if I choose a character that is far inferior to other choices purely for cosmetic reasons? Nevermind being able to afford insane gear. Simple choices like these really do limit what content a character can do; but the difference can be made with Harvest. In these instances, taking away the ability to craft suitable, and sometimes necessary items is greater than or equal to taking away the ability to craft unique and interesting builds.

People just don't have the currency to buy perfect items for every single new build they want to try.

379 pages....


....lmao.....




im voting with my wallet, just bought a supporter pack that costs more than a new AAA game here in the uk. harvest nerfs are a little strong but on the whole i think correct and needed.


thumbs up.

Average player here

Later Harvest KEKW