Short thoughts on Developer Intent

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Manël wrote:

Do you mean that playing the game in itself is not a purpose? Because thats what they do , they give you a place where you can keep playing the game and progressing.
Isnt that fun enough? Is fun intrinsictly tied only to loot?

^sry messed something up and no idea how to fix it....


YES that is precisely what I'm saying. And frankly, it isn't even my own words, it is straight from the developer's mouths when on multiple occasions they have said and I quote: "PoE is primarily a LOOT game". It IS the defining aspect of the genre and the core or HEART of the game itself. ALL ASPECTS of the game center around loot. Hell, its the NAME OF THE COMPANY...

Not one (I am including you) player simply plays maps because they are intrinsically fun. There is a goal: improvement, growth, reaching higher difficulty, getting faster, leveling your character, etc. It is PROGRESSION that makes the game fun. And that progression comes from loot.

The very essence of an RPG is the growth and progression aspect. It is NOT a MOBA where each individual "game" needs to be standalone "fun". Running a map is not the same as playing a round of DOTA.

Your example of mapping as a vehicle for sulphite is a poor example: people have been complaining that sulphite is locked behind maps since delve was put into the game. If your ONLY goal is to acquire sulphite, then you aren't going to be playing the map. You run to the sulphite, click on the pile, and then exit the map. That example merely shows a way to AVOID playing the game. But even in this case, the map serves as a lootbox: the loot in question being sulphite because sulphite is the vehicle for progress.

How often do you take a level 100 maxed gear character and just sit for hours playing maps with no thought towards drops or content or skill changes? That isn't and never has been the core of the game. LOOT is the core. PROGRESS is the core. Delving is the ONLY place in the game where progress for progress' sake is the goal rather than loot. All else is just a vehicle towards gaining currency and loot for that next character growth point.

Some rpgs you progress from beginning to end through a storyline. Well, PoE's storyline does NOT continue into maps so that isn't even a choice. The story ends at Act 10 and then there is VERY vague story in the form of conquerors/maven/elder/shaper/etc but that has really no connection to mapping anymore.

My whole entire point is not an opinion on whether any of this is GOOD or BAD, but rather what it IS. We can argue on a whole separate topic as to whether endgame mapping in general is a good system or not.

Just my thoughts, so take with a grain of salt.

1) "Maps are not meant to be lootboxes"
What you are talking about here is making maps the Trash mobs to the bosses, Or the leveling in elden ring before you contest some demi god. This would be a Fair point as long as you realize everyone hates leveling and clearing trash.
So your a Dev and you have a system that is working Great as a filler content but someone poses a question? should be make our filler content absolutly horrible? and dragged out? make single encounters sometimes take 10 mins with little to no reward for their time? mmmmmmm i wish i was in the room so i could tell them to stop being stupid and get back to making new wings models for the vault pass.

2) "Players should ingage with content:
When making side content, It's true that you should want your players to engage with it. But there is two questions you should ask.
Should we try to make the player Want to play this side content or
Should we try and force the player to play this side content?
There is a correct answer, i'm sure you'll find it.

3) "The Economy is a priority, even at player expense"
A free and open economy does not need to be directed. While the divine changes is just something the players can get use to over time It is in fact just moving a problem they are having to a new currency. That is a Low IQ use of resources.
The bigger problem with your statement is this
" if the influx of currency is too big, then inflation is unavoidable.
And why is it bad? Well, because the prices and values of everything become unachieable for most players."
This is not how free economys work. If the top players are getting more items to sell. but the 99% player base has less money. This drives the prices down. not up. No insane 70 uber boss killer a day player wants to sit on 72 ashes of the stars for 3 months till they sell. prices fall so he can move the inventory.

This isn't the issue with the economy. The issue of why the economy sucks is because a much larger portion then ever before of the playerbase quit in maps or are stuck in white maps. Unable to craft gear to get them to red. and unable to drop raw currency to buy items that don't exist because even the drop players have less to sell and have crafted less.

It's really just the great depression of POE. 3.1910 The year of the 200 armor scraps.

Thanks for posting you did great but i feel like you only saw this from a dev point of view and never thought about repercussions of dev actions. which is why we are here right now.

miss

This level of lot reduction would be fine if ggg didn't balance around getting huge amounts of loot to progress through the atlas and see things like maven or whatever.

Players are having a hard time getting maps to drop at all. They need 30 per boss attempt.

I think maps need to be revamped if this loot level remains. Like they need to make them non consumable, atlas progression accrued a different way. Something.