Idea to help with retaining casual players
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why not
Necropolis master craft service Necropolis My IGN TreeOfDead
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2037371 Vouch Necropolis veiled crafting all service all crafts mods Necropolis SC master craft service Necropolis SC craft mod! Veiled crafting Service Necropolis craft PM: TreeOfDead |
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Really interesting responses this has kicked off. I definitely get the point about rags to riches being the draw of the new leagues as well as standard being an option for casuals that are truly on a time crunch. But I also think there is an elitist trap in saying "if you don't want to do this annoying thing, then find a new game". At the end of the day it is better for all of us if more people play the game and we should welcome changes that make such an intense game more approachable. Leveling multiple characters is how to best enjoy the game in my opinion and it is a real pain point for people that aren't as fast.
The goal of this thread is to explore ways that act as a middle ground between: -The classic ARPG approach--> Start every character at the beginning of Act 1 -Ultra casual--> D3 adventure mode, you don't even have to touch the campaign Call me crazy, but I think we have a lot of room there to work with. By proposing this as an Act 6 start we really aren't skipping that much content plus this is being proposed as a 1x per league use. For an enthusiast who plays 10 builds this is a minor QoL change. For a casual that struggles through the campaign this gives them a big carrot at the end of Act 10 to give them more playthrough options. Let's not paint this out to be some instant Maven boss kill proposal and avoid using the "slippery slope" line of thought that could be applied to literally any change to the game. Reduced item drops is a slippery slope to D3 smart loot, stash tab affinities are a slippery slope to stash auto sort macros, etc. I'd love to hear where other people fall on the spectrum above. Perhaps I'm off base here by proposing something like this and most people are more PoE purists that view the campaign as a rite of passage. |
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I really like this idea.
Personally I am one of those people that enjoy making a lot of characters myself. When I started I played HC and refused to touch the builds threads. So you can imagine how that went. Since I made couple builds that gone in to mapping, that novelty is lost to me, and as a player who dont have a lot of time in general, the whole leveling through Acts is no longer any fun. I don't see how this would degrade anything. All it does is lift the low end a little for everyone. All it does is save a little time. Once you done the campaign for couple years, there is nothing more to get out of it. Not even slowing the top end down. Another condition to add, is character only. No gear, as that would open a whole new can. You will have to farm the gear with your existing char. "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die. " ~ Hunter S Thompson ~
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" Guys we need our marathon to cater to and retain couch potatoes, I've got some great ideas! |
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" I mean it would help get those people off the couch and into a more healthy lifestyle and getting some exercise. Retention of new and even casual players is good as it would help grow the player base and bring more players who become more focused on the game and game mechanics. It would be like saying well writing assembly code is better and we should not have C or C++ because they are easier and those that use them are not true programmers Sorry for the crappy quote but I didn't see a quote button but at least it is standard bb code. | |
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One of the lines I most agree with is "This is completely a trap for a casual player since the reality is they likely won't reach true endgame on their own."
I returned to this game shortly before Ultimatum was released. I am now enjoying all the endgame content, running maps as well as Heists and Delving. I am enjoying this content due to the fact that I created a character closely following Wallach's Freezing Pulse Totem guide. Of the three characters I made on my own before that, the best one is a hybrid minion/totem build that is alot of fun to play, except for it's low defenses causing it to get one shot killed constantly. It really can't do endgame content. My point is the endgame content is completely unbalanced to the point you can only participate if you are a super serious uber expert player or you have the help of a super serious uber expert player to help you build your character. This game has no room for the casual player. I think it might help if the game dropped more gear that was actually useable instead of piles and piles of non useable crap and made it possible to to modify items without having to use 150 Chromatic orbs just to get the right socket colors or 100 hard to get Orbs of Fusing just to fail to try to link your sockets. (for a couple examples out of many) So I guess the only thing I am suggesting is make the game more PLAYABLE. Some of the visuals and sound work in this game are incredible, but I have always thought that all means nothing if a game isn't playable. | |
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1 league, 1 toon here. It is a grind and a half to progress this current leagues atlas if you aren't full of stamina, time on your hands to play long sessions, or the health that you might've had even a year or so ago. Not really about losing interest when I am as stubborn as they come to do everything I possibly can to min-max to the best of my ability in order to tackle all the endgame eventually in a 3-month cycle. Then I will cringe at the next Nerf Manifesto.
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" I've heard something along these lines articulated by a bunch of different people. It's a little off topic from the original thread idea (getting more people to engage with endgame content at all), but I think it highlights another interesting point in regards to endgame. I would argue the endgame grind stops becoming fun when there isn't a clear path for making your character incrementally better. Harvest used to serve this purpose, but the top end of that system originally was busted because there were 0 consequences for "messing up" a craft. Just target remove and try again. However, I believe the reason Harvest was introduced in the first place was to solve this pain point. PoE currently doesn't have a good answer for when I have a piece of gear that is 67% of the way to being perfect (in that 4 of the 6 mods are very desirable and I craft a 5th). How do I find an upgrade for this? For the sake of argument let's assume there isn't a best in slot unique for the gear slot. That leaves 3 possibilities: 1) You find an upgrade on the ground I think we can all agree this is obviously not in a good spot right now 2) You craft something better with mats This is PoE's bread and butter, but is really expensive 3) You make your existing piece of gear better Again, Harvest used to fill this void. It technically still does but now is extremely rare I usually stop playing a league when I fall into the trap above for too many pieces of gear for a character. Does the character have remaining upgrade paths? Of course. But is there a clear way to incrementally improve? Unfortunately no. I'm left hoping for an extremely rare event to happen, which is kind of the nature of ARPGs but really feels bad after awhile. I'd love to see a crafting material with the sole goal of making a piece of gear incrementally better. Something like "increase a random affix by 1 tier". Small upgrades are still upgrades, and make you feel like your character progressed after a play session. Not just your Atlas progressing. Anyone else have any interesting suggestions for transitioning casuals into maps more effectively or smoothing out the endgame progression to make it more engaging? |
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" It would be helpful, if you defined what exactly progress, casual gameplay and endgame means. As per usual in threads like this, I shall link BalorMages casual experiment called "Working Class Exiles" where he limited himself to play 90 mins a day and fully completed the Atlas as well as defeating all bosses in less than 30 days for reference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeWhxIBHLE7LnYokskYyyVuGH0J0xKRlX He did proof its absolutely possible to achieve all of the above mentioned goals IF knowledge, efficient playstyle and a good build are being put to use. Time isnt the limiting factor. Knowledge and efficiency are. On that note: If your question was (Im exaggerating here big time) "how can a player with little to zero knowledge, slow and inefficient playstyle plus a bad build progress in a single short session towards the topend endgame?" my answer is: That player shouldnt advance at all and rather stall out in white/yellow maps. Reason being, if that "bottom of the barrel" player I described in an exaggerated way above CAN progress towards the topend than everyone else is done with the entire game in a few days, if that. | |
" Correct me if I'm shopping but you would rather see the servers shut down due to aging and ding player base then have systems in game to assist with fixing knowledge, play style and build quality? |
