So serious discussion Chris wants Hard Mode his player base want Casual mode

On topic: PoE IS hard mode. Anyone who doesn't see that has been playing too long.

For a while I expected we'd see something like Guild Wars 1's hard mode, since GGG were far from subtle in using that game as an inspiration, where mobs just got bumped some levels and drops adjusted accordingly, but when you've a flexible endgame system like the Atlas, and when your leveling campaign is already a mess of difficulty spikes and long stretches of mindless killing, a 'hard mode' for the campaign would probably just feel like the Atlas, only with annoying filler, less customisation, and content most players would rather just skip.

Equally, 'casual mode' is just as unattainable -- the difficulty of the game is so much more than just the tuning of the mobs. It comes with the territory of being an unrelentingly complicated game on every level, so a true 'casual mode' would in fact be 'simple mode' vs 'complex mode'. Not sure how that'd go but that's what it would take.

Meh, in the end if you're not playing PoE for the complexity/difficulty, then you're already losing a fight the game doesn't even really acknowledge. There are other games out there that almost certainly cater to what you do want better than PoE ever could. But none of them are without their own problems so maybe PoE is still better as the Diablo you know...

^

Yes, PoE is hard mode but It's not only about complexity, I think.

It's about having a mode with less difficulty where more builds are viable.

A "Role-Play" mode with -25% monster damage and -25% monster hp will open up a lot more build possibilities, esp for HC

Even with the modifiers above, PoE endgame is not easy. We are just so used to it, while new players are getting destroyed in T6 maps.

I would use this mode to play a lot of meme and off meta builds. After all the difficulty would even out.

PoE right now is like someone making D&D campaings suited for people that play multi-classed characters only to get the most power out of them.

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Gordyne wrote:

PoE right now is like someone making D&D campaings suited for people that play multi-classed characters only to get the most power out of them.

This is true but with the proviso that the campaign designer/DM doesn't actually know the difference between true difficulty and just making something seem difficult. One of my best friends and the smartest person I know is a serious game-breaker (including multi-class D&D minmaxing), and he dismissed PoE as too easy to break long ago. Not because it's so 'easy' but because it's so complicated. It has a lot of moving parts, therefore it has more variables, therefore it has more stress points and vulnerabilities. Where a lot of people see complexity and think 'ugh, too hard', a certain other mindset sees it and thinks 'unless this is genuinely brilliant, it's going to have some major weak spots'. And, of course, he was right. GGG made a truly legendary attempt at it, but in the end, their lack of experience shows in how poorly they've balanced mechanical complexity with structural integrity and rigour. The brittleness might be hard to see, but you know it's there because nothing this complicated and yet rushed can be rock solid. It's just a game of finding the right spots and hitting them with a tuning fork.

He also recognised the unfulfilling treadmill and the stash tab monetisation loop instantly. Ironically he finds mechanically 'simpler' games much more challenging: Sekiro, for example, which he describes as 'a rhythm game without the music'. I tried it, and the only rhythm I found was dying pretty much on schedule every time the game expected me to do anything other than hit shit. :)

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shadopaw wrote:

Like really though.

i work 9 hours a day I spend an hour to 2 hours in traffic a day.

I dont want to play a game that feels like work.

Even just taking away the xp penalty and maybe making drop rates better.

Even better just Void the league so nothing comes into standard.

Bam done doesnt even need a balance pass man.

I work as well, sit in trafic, but I want hard mode. Can't wait for it.

I cant speak for others but every time I walk away from PoE for an year or so its because of 1 reason and 1 reason only, Chris wants to be popular and panhandles to his precious streamers.

The problem you are describing is what we call the "vocal minority", people like walrus or shagsbeard that just eat/sleep/breathe the game, playing 23 hours a day peeing in buckets or depends.

They will flood the forums and livestreams and everthing with the same complaints, its too easy to get to lv100, endgames stupid ez, maps are soooo easy to sustain just spend 48ex on each map rolling it you peasant, etc etc cringe.

Between that and the streamers just doing nonstop dumb shit Like Empyrian and then broadcasting it you have constant nerfs killing regular players because of that specific idiot and his massive army of professional rmt flippers and movers.

The actual, human player just wants a game they could log on and have fun while being comfortably challenged, ESPECIALLY if they are hanging out on a SINGLE PLAYER ARPG, like wtactualfk, when did this become an nightmare final fantasy trial.

But ya, this constant mess that the game has devolved into is all from the tryhards and streamers constantly bitching about everything be too easy for their e gamer asses and Chris will always, ALWAYS pander to them, it is what is.

if you want boosted progression go play lost ark
its similiar game, you can pay your 8 hour hard earned money to be with end game players

i wouldnt advice you diablo immortal, cause i wont wish my worst enemy play this piece of shit.


but leave the fuck alone PoE like it is, allright ?

Guys, there is already an easy to progress arpg game, where you need 0 effort to do 484738393874 more % damage after 2days of playing (D3).

PoE is about being hard, unforgiving and rough - this is the way it stays, so either adapt or move on.

PoE already established very strong hardcore fanbase, and who cares about these casual game-hoppers. One day they play your game, other day they leave for new fotm. And if you simplify the game, you also lose your hardcore fans, and in the you lose both casuals and hardcore players (like D3).

So no, PoE stays as it is, and hopefully, we will get hard mode for story, to push us further.

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Daniil8888 wrote:

No. Everybody knows, if u donating - u get expensive loot from monsters, it's GGG's drop system. You can even try to donate 5$ and wonder how drop rate changing.

guess i'm excluded for this:(

People who are against hard mode, do not know what hard mode is.

I want hard mode, if i wanted casual, i would play diablo, i dont like casual.
This game is for me, and thats why i play and put money in to it.

Make it casual and i quit.

There are so many casual ARPG's, play them instead.