I feel Ruthless is better for new players than regular game and here is why

I agree. Base storyline till maps works very well in ruthless. It's challenging and does not give much loot that you wonder what to do with. It can appeal to people that will be hardcore PoE fans. For random gamer that are not willing to study every part of the game I think there might be just other games that could be recommended.

I have theory that Ruthless was created because the direction where PoE has been going is not what GGG originally intended. Too risky to just change the course all around now too and make ruthless-like adjustments to the core.

"

Northern_Ronin wrote:

"

leto2626 wrote:

Couldn't disagree more.

One of the biggest reasons for people to quit early is the lack of potential of feeling powerful anytime soon. If they would start Ruthless, this is amplified tenfold because of the lack of support gems and lack of anything really.

In general people play hack&slash games to feel powerful, literally chop through hordes of monsters, ruthless is basically the opposite. Sure there is a market or it, but it sure isn't average Joe loving the lack of everything, basically playing a 2012 beta version of an ARPG.

This makes an erronius assumption that players are playing an ARPG for the same reasons, and forces PoE to compete directly with D3, TL, Lost Arc and other games that cater to that desire. It's a FAR better market plan to find an unfilled niche and fill it, and PoE's harsh realities do that far better than the high scope compared to those games. Much as PoEs game play, it is best to focus on strengths, than invite a weakness in conformity.

PoE already has a very specific niche - it's a high difficulty arpg game with extreme level of complexity with a vast and varied endgame, that can be played at a very high pace and that features an endless variety of unique builds.

Ruthless throws away a large part of the game's niche, and replaces it with a different niche.

People indeed play ARPG for different reasons, and seeing how tiny the ruthless community is, it's not even a question which of the two niches are more sought out.

"

SPYDER680 wrote:

Just tried ruthless up to lvl 75.

1: its not hard

That depends on the metric for "hard" and on what you play. Not being able to die your way through boss fights makes it harder than non-ruthless, for example.
No access to support gems makes it harder, not only slower, because you are more easily overwhelmed and boss fights take longer, making it more likely for you to die, which leads to the boss regenerating life and we're on square one.

Thanks for bringing up this interesting take. As a newbie myself that intends to play a bit this Christmas is a very legit point.

Appreciate. :D

PLayed the game when it was released till level 20 or some.. Never really got into it.
With Diablo 4 being released soon I tried D3 again, but it gets boring very fast.

Will try a ruthless character now, maybe I will like it more then the normal game? :)

Wait, there is no Pantheon and no Crafting bench? I don't think it's good for new players. They can't build viable defenses even with these instruments.

As someone who fell in love with 2013's Path of Exile, I just think Ruthless is a better game. It's the most fun I've had with Path of Exile since maybe Forsaken Masters.

In the original game, item drops mattered, but in the past several years there have been so many crafting systems introduced that item drops are irrelevant in current PoE outside of the most powerful uniques in the game. Even in SSF, you still rely heavily on crafting gear.

I LOVE that there is finally a game mode that throws away all the overpowered and too-convoluted reliance on crafting mechanics and just asks you to kill monsters to get loot, which is what an ARPG is supposed to be about.

I get that ruthless will always be a small niche, because so many gamers just want instant zoomy-zoom power with full screen explosions after 10-20 hours of investment, but the long grind for rare items and power is what I originally loved about PoE, and I'm glad it's back even in niche form.

Yea I'm sure a new player will be thrilled to play PoE ruthless, when he not only gets stunlocked to death by rhoas in mud flats, but now also won't drop jack shit after hours of playing, assuming he doesn't already uninstall after 30 minutes.

Ruthless is the best way for new players to quit PoE and go play Diablo 4 instead. Really, nobody with their sanity intact would recommend game mode with 0 loot and 0 crafting to a new player rofl.

I love Ruthless. I'm returning to PoE because of it.
Slower gameplay and item scarcity add more depth for me. Everything you find matters.
Also even if the game gets more difficult I like the simplicity this mode offers. I get more satisfaction playing like this than doing late game content with crazy OP builds. SSF Ruthless will be my main league from now on.