I never bothered much stating my opinion on here because I thought, for the most part, things were going in a decent direction for this game and so there was no need to state any opinions. However, as of recent when it came to patch 3.14, it literally seemed like the devs detected too much fun going on in the game and decided to remove the main sources from the game that allowed this. Imagine as a long-time player being accustomed to rewarding systems in the game FOR YEARS without change, that you have a chance to take advantage of by actually gaining knowledge about the game and then just having all of it essentially removed with these end-game nerfs because the devs somehow think it will "spice up the meta", when in reality, it just makes the rest of the game as bland & boring as the other content that no one bothered with before. Even with the "buffs" to previous league content it did not seem like it changed much in a meaningful way.
Instead of the devs coming up with systems/mechanics that are on par with the other OP content that others enjoyed, we get the culling of essentially anything that made the later stages of the game fun. For instance, deep delving being made much less incentivized as well as fracturing having its main mechanic turned into a 1-time thing. As if people had barely any incentive to delve other than bragging rights before. What is delving for now or how does it synergize with the rest of the game if it's mostly just used for some recipes and other fossils that people don't bother with anymore. Beast splitting/duping also being essentially removed because we can't have people having a unique way to print heist blueprints or make bases that other people have the chance to buy. Delirium maps being turned into another boring, uneventful activity like the rest of the other content, yet they expect you to invest the same rare delirium orbs into your maps for half of the expected reward that they nerfed it into. Them trying to paint this picture of headhunter being more easily obtainable, when in reality, they purposefully made it much more difficult to obtain since you can't ancient orb your way into it as easily anymore and have to essentially rely on luck from dropping it. What does it say about this game if the only chase item that people care about is hh and even that they decided to nerf. Instead of coming up with something just as unique as the hh, they decide to stealth nerf the item instead. The only instance I saw anything even close to them trying to replicate hh in terms of fun for an item was with Zerphi's Heart, and even that people don't bother with because it's too much of a niche item to have to sacrifice so much for.
And this is just scratching the surface of what they did to the end-game mechanics. I didn't even mention everything that was done to builds/skills, some of which were barely used in the first place, being made even worse, and barely any buffs to anything whatsoever apart from some small numeric adjustments. It almost feels like when they test whether something is OP, they test a build with absolute maxed-out gear that barely anyone will end up obtaining. Yet the majority of players have mediocre gear at best for the build and then they end up having that same gear rendered useless. But some might argue, "well you're just not playing the game right mate, try something else!", except the only other builds that are left are being nerfed into the ground too. So whose fault is it then? The player who wants to experience other builds without having to resort to the meta to stand a chance against the end game? Or the devs who decide deterministic crafting can't be allowed even though it actually promotes variety in gameplay or what build you can play.
For once, deterministic crafting made it possible for players to have a chance at the end game content without relying on the meta. Imagine this being removed when the game already has as bad of a trade system that it does. Where you are somehow expected by the devs to not partake in trade because it's somehow too much of an advantage to be able to trade items with players in a convenient way. It's like them stating "Oh, trading? I guess we'll allow it, but we'll make it inconvenient for you because we think it makes the game too easy since we don't know how to balance the item drop rate with trading in mind. Oh, and it also gives us a convenient excuse to not bother with making a more bearable trading experience." And speaking of "making the game too easy" what is with this constant push to remove anything that does make the game easy? Should players just have to suffer through everything instead and there's no in-between? I'm all for "the journey" aspect of the game making the experience enjoyable, but if it's made into something un-obtainable for most people, what's the point? What's even more absurd is making the argument that if a player has an actual reasonable way to progress their gear instead of relying on RNG, that they would "burn out" on the game too fast and that there would somehow "quickly be left with nothing to achieve", when in reality, the player is now exposed to more different builds they can try instead of being pigeon-holed into the meta every league just to stand a chance against the end game and not have to die constantly in order to have a decent experience.
No, instead, let's rely on rng EVEN MORE than we already were in the past. Let's go backwards in time, and make the game more redundant and time-consuming that you can eventually have the chance to have a decent enough character to actually attempt the end-game. Call these systems that were nerfed OP all you want, but maybe they were supposed to be OP. Considering they required extensive game knowledge and were something for you to actually look forward to when you actually reach the level necessary to actually take advantage of them. What is with this constant over-nerfing and who are these nerfs designed for? Some small minority of people at the top are abusing some systems and so that means EVERYONE has to be affected by it?
And just as a reminder, there are near 500 pages worth of feedback on the Harvest manifesto changes. Where the most amount of people in the community asked GGG to come up with a better solution than what they proposed and this is all that they could come up with, despite even the people who agree with all changes that GGG makes disagreeing with it. Instead of making the crafts account bound as many suggested, they remove essentially the whole mechanic instead as an easy way out. Then you have some of these same people on these forums and subreddit trying to convince you that all changes that the devs make are flawless and they just know what they are doing when this was the single greatest addition they've made to the game.
Which brings me to my last point of others on here who very visibly can't stand anyone who shows a dissenting opinion about all of these changes. Well, guess what? I don't agree with any of these changes and think it makes the game worse from my personal experience. Am I not allowed to say that? Or will someone claim that I'm not expressing myself positively enough and that it's coming off as "toxic" just to try to discredit anything I'm saying? Last time I checked, the forums were made for giving feedback or output on what you think about the game. Not all feedback is going to end up being what you deem as positive and if it comes off as "negative" to some on here, then it's likely because it's speaking the truth in one way or another. And the truth is not always positive. On top of this, when you email support about anything related to these concerns, they will encourage you to express your opinion in the forums (that they definitely bother reading), except there's a caveat. If your opinion doesn't align with their ideals, it's reprimanded via either having your posts/comments locked/removed, warnings, probations, or even bans even if there was no breaking of rules, and no one will bother siding with you either so why even bother expressing your own opinion if you can't tell others how you really feel about something?
That being said, I noticed a certain pattern from others on here over the years, not only on the forums but the subreddit as well when it comes to not allowing a dissenting opinion about any changes. It essentially consists of gaslighting people into thinking they feel a certain way about the game because of x reasons instead of what they actually claim. For instance, others will tell you that you are simply complaining about the game's changes due to burn-out even though this can't be further from the truth and you were playing the game nonstop before the changes but can't anymore due to the things that made the game fun for you being removed. Some other examples would be people telling you that you're just crying/whining about the situation or being told that you're "writing a book" if you actually write more than two sentences about how you feel about the situation. Even though sometimes things you feel passionate about can't be expressed in just a few sentences. Or if you have an opinion others disagree with, people resort to stalking your profile and attack you based on character if you don't have enough level 100's, which means you're not experienced enough to give your opinion, even if you played since 2013. Then they're surprised so many end up making their profiles private. Telling someone to go play a different game is always my favorite because you're essentially being told "if you don't like it, leave somewhere else and they will still make money from the game regardless of your opinion" yet if you have a large majority of loyal players expressing that they don't agree with the changes, is this supposed to be healthy? Or should it be embraced that this game and all of its faults will be accepted by some new unaware audience and those who were here since the beginning should be forgotten? It's the equivalent of someone telling others that people should just be content with everything thrown at them, don't ask questions about anything, and stay docile capitalistic sheep who just swallow up anything that's presented to them without any critical thought. These are all subtle things that I constantly see on here when it comes to others shunning those who don't agree with all changes. Yet all of it is somehow allowed despite it being nothing short of passive-aggressive.
Also, claiming you cannot judge or make any criticisms about the game because "it's free", which apparently means the devs can just do whatever they want to the game all while forgetting none of what they are doing currently would have been possible if it wasn't for the support and money that came from all of these people who supported the game over the years. They want you to FEEL as if you have some say in the game so they put up this facade with polls about mtx suggestions so you can have the fake notion of "choice" from the community for some mtx that they will ultimately end up profiting from. Meanwhile, where are the polls for the huge decisions which will affect everyone playing the game? Because from the looks of it, it seems they mainly rely on the elite-minded opinions of the streamers as well as the small group of people working on PoE in the GGG office to make the decisions that will affect everyone. If you ever needed more proof of this, look at the 500 pages of responses to the Harvest manifesto and the fact that they followed through with burning the mechanic to the ground anyway. But hey, what do those people know? They've only played the game since the beginning and the devs clearly know better and ALWAYS make the right choices when it comes to balance. Not only is it a display of stubborn ignorance, but also shows a lack of empathy and selfishness, when the small group of people making the game get to decide against what the majority of people playing their game are telling them is actually a good thing.
TLDR: There is no TLDR, read it or don't. To try to claim you can just condense everything being said here into something for you that you don't want to bother reading in the first place is disrespectful in its own right. These are my thoughts on the game currently. Despite deriving joy from it, I found it utterly disappointing to see this level of disregard from the devs towards a large portion of the player base and I don't foresee how they handle "balance" changing any time soon either. It's a shame considering the game actually has potential to be great, yet the devs will likely stay stuck in their old ways when it comes to the vision of the game. I still have some naive hope that it will improve one day in either PoE 2 or whenever there are actual significant QoL changes to trade, crafting, etc. Until then, there is no point in me continuing something I don't have fun with anymore.
