PoE will not die. here's why

Nobody has time to game because of inflation too busy trying to find scraps. Inflation could kill the gaming industry if it gets bad enough imo.

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CalamityAOE wrote:

Nobody has time to game because of inflation too busy trying to find scraps. Inflation could kill the gaming industry if it gets bad enough imo.

At the risk of this being ruled a political post, the soon upcoming worldwide recession will likely get us out of the worldwide inflation. :-)

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Turtledove wrote:

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CalamityAOE wrote:

Nobody has time to game because of inflation too busy trying to find scraps. Inflation could kill the gaming industry if it gets bad enough imo.

At the risk of this being ruled a political post, the soon upcoming worldwide recession will likely get us out of the worldwide inflation. :-)

Now there is an interesting angle to an otherwise crusty topic: the effects of economic vicissitudes on the popularity of free to play games vs games as purchased product.

Fwiw I don't think this really applies to PoE because exile is just another word for nothing left to lose (that worked far better than I expected -- sometimes we forget the original meaning of the word) but the overall industry almost certainly does suck in folks looking for a cheap alternative...but oh you know how it goes. Free lunches and all that.

I have a weird belief regarding wealth, one afforded to me by undeniable fortune: true wealth isn't having money; it's not having to worry about money. YMMV and I am far from the most seasoned person here, but if that is true, if you will allow me that, then I can make a connection to the topic at hand. Substitute "money" for "hidden costs", "stress over being out of control" or even "fear of server outage", and the same sentiment can be applied to Live Game Services. No one who subjects themselves to a Free Game Service can play that game without those three hanging over their heads. I know you all know what I mean.

But someone who denies the Game Service industry and only plays discrete game products generally doesnt have to worry about any of that. Especially, and this is a huge irony, if the game is considered "dead" by the talking gamers and their tragic little cloutchasers. A dead game won't be subject to nerfs (or buffs), it will never ask for more money for extra features, and it doesnt rely on ongoing support just to be playable.

Naturally there are other threats. Game-killing bugs are ever the domain of the 'deadgame' but I have found for every buggy deadgame there is almost certainly a cherished community patch addressing it. And that is why I use "deadgame" somewhat facetiously: as long as someone is playing, the game is not dead. As long as there is some little group talking about it, using a collective fixit patch or modding it, it is kept alive. Not by greed or some illusion of popularity borne of twitch views or subreddit salt, but by like minded gamers who get their nerd on and dont give a shit who knows or who doesnt. You ever want to restore your faith in gamers as something other than open wallets and opinionated blowhards? Pick a long "dead" game on steam that somehow has several hundred players consistently and look for its devotees. There you will likely find truly wealthy gamers.

I have lost count of how often I have done just that these past few years.

And yknow what? In that way of thinking, PoE WILL die. Because once mtxes stop selling, once the servers are no longer sustainable, thats it folks. No modding. No community patches. No fervent fanbase keeping the fires burning long after the lords of the manor have moved on. And sure...that might be a long time from now. But unless Chris reverses one of if not the most sacred of rules regarding PoE (no offline version) it lives and dies in a space you cannot control. All you can do is make your paltry offerings and hope that whatever is really paying for the game's bills continues to do so.

As for that tired old "X is a PoE killer" line? Pay it no mind. WHAT kills PoE is not even worth discussing, any more than people care what sort of bullet an assassin used. It is such a petty perspective, don't you think? Petty because I don't believe GGG have given it much thought for years now; theirs is about profit and prosperity, as is only right for a service business. So why should you get all steamed up over it? Surely you have bigger concerns in your life than that.

Speaking as someone who for a little while actually did not...or rather, convinced himself otherwise. Trust me: not healthy.

Hm. It is interesting how static mtx prices are -- neither inflation nor deflation really seem to affect them. Is that comforting or alarming, I wonder.

Edit: perfectly understandable that someone newer to The Game might think of PoE 4.0 as something worthy of being called "Path of Exile 2", but a veteran to GGG's Game should be a little more resistant to an expansion rebrand. Even if that expansion is the size of a game itself -- as Starcraft Brood War was, and no one called that Starcraft 2. Not even Blizzard themselves.

Sure POE will die one day like all online games probably, but I do not think that moment has come yet, at least as long as the ARPG genre is still popular and no other company creates a better alternative. At the moment this is the game with the greatest depth and richness of contents and the least aggressive monetization tactics. This is a hard combination to beat in a loot boxes driven market.

PoE 2/4.0 will be very interesting. You can say whatever you want about the naming scheme, but naming it "PoE 2" will probably bring it "a lot" of new players - and bring back players that haven't played PoE for years. What will they do to keep these players? I'm actually expecting a rather huge QoL system to improve the in-game information/presentation of mechanics. They sort of have to, if the "relaunch" is supposed to have some sort of prolonged effect.

I honestly believe the amount of cleaning, polishing, refining, and paring they'd have to do to retain those new players would more than justify just making a new game. But we all know why they can't do that: you. Your mtxes. Your loyalty.

This is a pie and eat it too situation: they want to retain those who will be all over PoE 4.0, being an expansion and system rework of unprecedented scale but still of the same game into which you have poured so much time and money, but they also want to attract a bunch of new folk who have little to no idea what they're getting into. Oh, I am sure those early moments into the campaign will be fine -- what little we saw of the carefully built demo, it's all a lot closer to a modern gaming experience -- but it has to lead to the same existing endgame as the current one and there is no way GGG can similarly modernise that without pissing off the existing players.

I am genuinely intrigued, as a spectator, as to how it's all going to work. I have seen GGG pull off miracles, but I have also seen them self-dunk. And more the latter than the former in recent years. I would say they are very lucky to have such a forgiving and understanding player base but honestly it's just addiction and inertia for most of you now. Too much ongoing whingeing about the game contradicted by ongoing engagement with it for it to be anything else.

Not a single thing I have seen about 4.0 so far indicates it will be newbie-friendly enough -- the skill gem change might seem slick to an Exile but in and of itself it's still likely to be one of the most complicated ways to allocate and improve your skills in an ARPG. But then again, PoE's least is typically ten leaps beyond another game's most. I don't see 4.0 changing that.

In other words, what Path of Exile 2 offers and what Path of Exile 4.0 delivers will likely be very different beasts. I remain unconvinced that an overhaul of an infamously complicated game is enough to attract and retain new players unless GGG figure out a way to shed the campaign's reputation among veterans of "tutorial mode".

There are just so many metaphors and similes I could use, but the one I favour right now is the image of a high schooler wearing their comfy clothes from pre school, lovingly adjusted to fit year after year. It's not that their parents can't afford new clothes; it's just not cost effective to do so.

Meanwhile the same parents are buying the other kids entire wardrobes and cars and shit because they are more popular.

Gee I wonder why.

Hm. That line of thinking relies on the idea that Tencent have some say in whether or not GGG get to make a new game or just keep on bleeding the existing one...when honestly it might be GGG's call. I guess some part of me wants to blame Tencent because at least then there'd be someone at GGG with the ambition and passion to do the name "Path of Exile 2" the justice it deserves.

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Phrazz wrote:

PoE 2/4.0 will be very interesting. You can say whatever you want about the naming scheme, but naming it "PoE 2" will probably bring it "a lot" of new players - and bring back players that haven't played PoE for years

There is absolutely zero doubt that naming it PoE2 was solely a marketing ploy. It will likely be effective as you described, however I also think there is a greater than zero chance that many people will respond with "that's it? We waited YEARS for an alternate campaign, some engine tweaks, new ascendancy options, and a skill gem rework? We still mapping with a shared PoE1 atlas?"

PoE 4.0 will be big, with many changes, no doubt. Is it enough to call it PoE2? No fucking chance, and people will see that very quickly.

It should be fun to see the "Twitch community" play the beta at Exilecon in 2023. If D4 is out by then, this could be a laughable situation.

Well, it will feature new classes, a new gem system and a new campaign, and this is only what we know for sure. It is pretty big already. Mind that at the beginning this game did not even have a 10 act campaign and it took years to develop one, so a full 10 act of new campaign is great.

It won't ,,die,, it will die out like world of tanks did..

And 5-6k online during the last month isn't ,,living,, as well..


They have shot themselves in the foot wayy too many times in the past few leagues and with each backfire the game is less and less...


Either they take a NOTE or it will happen. ANd soon.

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TheFazzos wrote:

Well, it will feature new classes

Sauce please. I have seen nowhere that there will be multiple classes added to the seven we have now.