Acts: A Problem that GGG Needs to Address Now

TLDR/abstract: I argue that acts are the most toxic problem to POE right now because they reduce player enjoyment and gatekeep the game’s main appeal: new interesting characters/builds. This is especially true with recent nerfs to progression speed. The problem can be resolved by microtransactions, a farmable way to level characters, or by improving the acts themselves.


When creating a new character, players are forced to play through the 10 acts to gain levels and skill points. I believe that this is the most toxic problem to POE right now in terms of player enjoyment and retention, as it directly reduces the player’s ability to interact with the fun parts of the game: the creative character building. I will begin by deconstructing what the acts accomplish, then describe why this is such a serious problem, and end on some possible solutions to overcome the problem.


What do the acts accomplish?
Acts provides direction to the player. This is a quite important positive aspect, especially for new players. ‘Kill this’, ‘fetch that’ quests provide a clear goal that the player can immediately follow without thinking about what they’re doing. However, there is no reason for any player, new or returning, to need to experience this more than once a league.

Acts are a unique environment that requires a specific skillset to move through quickly. This is the most positive aspect, in my opinion. Learning how to play through the acts is not the same skillset as learning how to play the rest of the game. Those who learn it benefit from it on league start.

Acts provide a place for characters to level from 0 to ~ 60. This is achievable by other means.

Acts increase playtime of each character by about 5-10 hours. One might think that this is a positive for GGG. However, it doesn’t incentivize the player to invest in micro-transactions, as there is not enough loot to warrant buying stash tabs and not enough investment into the game to warrant accessory bundles.

Acts are a selling point for new players/marketing. Having a ‘story’ in a game is its own facet that will attract new players and provide marketing points for GGG. However, again, there is no reason a returning player should need to experience the story multiple times.


Why is levelling through acts a problem?
Levelling through acts is not enjoyable. Playing the same story multiple times, even if it was good the first time, is not pleasant. Moreover, many mechanics that make levelling difficult come across as forced inconveniences (item/gem level requirements, lots of walking through zones vs killing, less loot).

Levelling through acts requires time that some players don’t have. Many players can only play 1-2 hours a day. Asking them to spend a week to go through 5-10 hours of the acts is for many, too much. They would rather not make a new character, or even stop playing POE, then level a new character.

All of the positive aspects of levelling through the acts (accomplishments above) only apply to the first play-through of the league. Doing acts quickly at league start is an incredible skill for getting ahead of the economy, but it doesn’t have any impact after day 1. Helping give a player direction is only positive for a new player that needs direction, not for a returning player that knows where they want to take the character. Etc…

This unenjoyable time investment that is mandatory for new characters in POE makes the player not want to interact with POE’s most defining feature: the sheer about of interesting builds that can be created with its extensive skill tree and cool game mechanics. The acts prevent players from experimenting, because experimenting means slogging through hours of content they’ve already done and don’t enjoy.

But the gameplay is the same in the acts as in maps? Yes, there are still monsters, and skills you can use to kill them. But there is a psychological difference between replaying content you know will give you nothing valuable vs exploring infinite, procedurally generated content that may give valuable loot.

What if the acts are important for extending playtime? People spend many dozens of hours on their POE characters. 5-10 hours lost by skipping acts will not make a big dent in 50-60 hour characters. On the contrary, being able to skip acts might convince a player to create a new character to invest 50-60 hours in.


Possible solutions to the problem:
The solution that is probably best for GGG: introduce an optional micro-transaction that will allow a character to skip acts if they have completed all the quests of acts on a different character. Make this a very small amount (0.5-1$). Many players might be opposed to this, but hear me out.
Firstly, it is optional. Secondly, POE income relies on new players buying stash tabs, or current players buying cosmetics. By creating this micro-transaction, GGG have a way of monetizing POE in a much more durable and certain way. Thirdly, it is healthy because it is proportional to how much a player plays. Someone who plays one character a league will pay nothing, but someone playing hundreds of hours on multiple characters could pay ~3$ for 3 months of enjoying the game.

The solution that is probably best for the player: make a farmable currency (craftable from fragments, or rare from boss drop) that can be consumed to raise a new character to level 60 with all the additional skill points from the acts. This will introduce a new interesting currency for either new or old content needing player interest.
What is interesting about this solution is that GGG can tailor how quickly players can farm such a currency, and make up the 5-10 hours of lost from playing through the acts. But spending 10 hours farming a currency will feel so much better than 10 hours in acts.

The solution that is probably best if GGG really want to keep acts: make the acts shorter and better. For example, instead of having a long convoluted story that most players will not put effort into appreciating, make the acts more educational.
Have each act deal with certain game mechanics, and have their drops tailor to those game mechanics so players can directly see the impact of certain stats. I believe this would be best for new players as well.
An example set of acts:
Act 1: life, mana, es, ward, gems, sockets, basic crafting
Act 2: attacks and hits: armor, evasion, block, dodge
Act 3: resistances: elements, chaos, ailments
Act 4: Buffs and debuffs (blind, onslaught, phasing, etc…)
Act 5: advanced crafting, mapping, atlas

There are definitely plenty of mechanics that I’m forgetting. There are too many to teach in just acts alone. But I think that already, it would be much better for all players if the acts were shorter and more educational.


In conclusion, I believe that levelling through acts will be the most important factor determining whether players want to continue playing POE/experiment with new characters. This is especially important as the game slows down, but act length stays the same.
For the good of the game that I love, I implore GGG to consider solutions to levelling through acts. Let us embrace different builds and use our time trying to make them work, instead of being so discouraged by the idea of acts that we decide to quit playing.


Personal note: I will never create my own build as long as this is a problem. I do not want to invest 5-10 hours into levelling a character because I fear that if the character doesn’t work out, the time will be wasted.

Wait a second !
WAIT A SECOND !

Are You telling me that the mapping on lvl 97+ is perfectly OK as the game is now ?!
Are You even serious ?!

I don't believe that the leveling is any of the issue. The issue is after, because the acts consists less than 1% of the game.

With all due respect, levelling is something that all players need to do, vs mapping 97+ is something that relatively few players will get to.
My main desire through changed levelling is that we get the ability to experiment more flexibly. As it is, most players can't enjoy the sheer variety of builds that POE has to offer because it's kept behind this wall of levelling. If we could level faster/more enjoyably, I believe player enjoyment and retention would go way up

edit: im not saying that there aren't other problem. I'm saying that wanting players to have so many cool different builds is the main appeal and design philosophy of POE. Gatekeeping builds behind levelling is strange because it so strongly goes against the sentiment

"

GulpShitto wrote:

With all due respect, levelling is something that all players need to do, vs mapping 97+ is something that relatively few players will get to.
My main desire through changed levelling is that we get the ability to experiment more flexibly. As it is, most players can't enjoy the sheer variety of builds that POE has to offer because it's kept behind this wall of levelling. If we could level faster/more enjoyably, I believe player enjoyment and retention would go way up

edit: im not saying that there aren't other problem. I'm saying that wanting players to have so many cool different builds is the main appeal and design philosophy of POE. Gatekeeping builds behind levelling is strange because it so strongly goes against the sentiment

When someday You found the answer to the question "but why ?!" You are welcome to come back and stand by my side.
Take as much as time You need. Don't rush it.

Just explain to me one thing: how can GGG expect us to want to try new builds or create our own when there's such an unenjoyable time investment to start a new character?

hey Gulp, I agree with you but skipping acts or anything involving regular gameplay should NEVER be gated behind a microtransaction. It should be an option available to all players of the game, or not at all.

After 8 years of playing the acts, from back when there was Cruel/Merciless 3 acts that you had to play THREE times, to the introduction of the 4th act and then the overall rework...I am BURNED OUT from that campaign. I do not enjoy racing, my goals in the game are never to finish the acts 30 seconds faster. I just don't want to play the campaign anymore. 300 times is plenty!

I experience much of what you said, I really really want to enjoy the game, play the new leagues, experiment with new characters, but I find myself quitting earlier and earlier each league because I just can't make it through the campaign anymore. It's tedious, boring, and unnecessary.

I did not like Diablo 3...like AT ALL. BUT one thing they did that was AMAZING was getting rid of having to play the story again and again and again. They found a creative way to allow people who have already played the story to SKIP IT, while still leveling / playing the game before endgame rifts.

So why do people still say GGG can't come up with something similar? It's already been done in other rpgs! I have a few of my own thoughts as to what I would enjoy, and I've written some posts/comments about them previously. But honestly to say that GGG is locked into the campaign because "leveling" is simply incorrect.

Hey, thanks for the reply! I appreciate your experience but I guess I don't understand what you're trying to say. If they're not locked into the campaign for levelling, why do you believe they are locked into the campaign?

no man, i wasn't disagreeing with your comments! I was supporting what you said against other arguments.

I'm saying that GGG is NOT locked into the campaign and SHOULD change it. Just that many other players in threads like this one bring up "leveling" as a reason to keep the campaign, which I vehemently disagree with.