The Campaign was honestly fine the first ~50 times.

I actually kinda miss the old campaign process of playing the same three acts at increasing difficulty level. Primarily because most of Acts 4-10 I really despise.

Act 4 - Where the game really started its decline. Awful end boss in a terrible arena. I really dislike the dark dungeon aesthetic because it's not gloomy and oppressive, just dark and I can't see anything.

Act 5 - Dull and unclear storyline that nobody actually cares about, and more tedious indoor darkness. I actually don't mind the Reliquary and Ossuary, possibly because of the mix of monsters and the lack of stupid door clicking. Ossuary also teaches you the most important lesson of the game: That the Devs design bad enemies and your best option is to run past them (talking about the over-tanky monsters that climb over the balconies). Yep, how's that for a great game, just don't engage with things.

Lastly, we also learn that hit boxes in the final Kitava stage do not align to the image you see on your screen. Dodging the dark shadows that creep along the ground and you still get hit because the Devs only test everything on top graphics, rather than scaled down to the level that most people actually own.

Act 6 - I actually enjoy most of this Act, but then again it is mostly Act 1. Don't like the Prison or the Tower that much and the Reef is dull and meandering.

Act 7 - Again, don't mind a lot of this because it's just repurposed Act 2. A lot of unnecessary back and forward though. The stupid layout of the Vaal City is always painful and unenjoyable.

Act 8 - Sewers suck when you don't have chaos resist and it was bad enough before the loot rework. Now that nothing drops anymore you're going to have low to negative resists. Again, highlighting that the game is not designed for the average player. Not because of a highly challenging design but because of imposed scarcity. "There are tools to overcome this, but we're not really going to give you access to them until it's too late for them to be useful"... wow, much design, great play!

It's here you also learn the next most important lesson of PoE: get yourself immune to ailments. Go through the bath house without freeze and chill immune and it's a frustrating experience. Have immunity though and the enemies no longer matter. What another stellar piece of design. Resistances are good design, even when you haven't maxed them you're at least getting some benefit. Ailments though are purely Boolean, you're either immune, or your not.

Act 9 - Really enjoy the Blood Aqueduct, the outside areas are OK, and once again the underground, Belly of the Beast, Rotting Core are dreadful.

Act 10 - just a repurposed Act 5 and therefore I feel exactly the same about it.

Back to the actual topic, and yes the game desperately needs an alternate levelling option as the campaign is dull and tedious. What was that option recently with endless Delve? Perfect solution, although I'd prefer and endless ledge because the dark dungeon scene is just so dull and uninteresting.

But, with Chris so in love with the storyline that only a minority care about, and having sunk endless resources into it over several years, there's no way in hell we'll get this.


Just have a look at their history:

Situation - Everyone plays map Gorge
Option 1 - understand what it is that appeals to players and then give them additional options at this level to spread the field.
Option 2 - kill the map so that players hate each remaining map equally.

We all know what option they chose.

GGG is not about providing a superior gaming experience. They could if they wanted, they have the talent to do so, just not the will or desire. It's just about appealing to the top end players and deluding themselves that they are so edgy.

"

Kookro wrote:

Just give me endless ledge till I hit 70. Hell give me endless ledge after. Going in a straight line blasting mobs is peak PoE.

Haha so much this!!

If only there was a way to experiment with a replacement for the campaign. Like some type of time period where you could temporality add it to the game; and have everyone make fresh characters to play around with it and see how it feels. Then, say, after three months, you could see how it worked out. If it turned out well, you could then add it to the game permanently. If not; you would just dump it and just move on. Wouldn't such a system be swell?