So is the New Affliction "Ascendencies" here to stay?

As per title.

Despite D4 being bad, at the very least they're very clear. In the past 2 seasons FAQs they have clearly stated that their seasonal bonuses and items will disappear at the end of the season.

I am keen to try the new second ascendancies but whats holding me back is whether or not its here to stay.

I would appreciate it if GGG can clarify if this is the case. If its just borrowed power like in D4 where it is poofed away without a trace, I would rather not play.

This happened with my sanctified relic.

GGG has historically never told us whether a league is being added to core until near the end of it. Nobody is going to be able to provide an answer to your concern.

Something to bear in mind: The chances of a league going core may depend on just how well received it was. Due to a lot of neglected issues, TotA left a lot of people put off from it so it likely resulted in GGG deciding it not going core. Assuming Affliction launches smoothly and any midleague improvements are made which leaves players happy, it's possible it might be added to core.

Don't take my word on any of this. I don't want to get your hopes up for nothing. All we can do is hope that the league won't be an unbalanced mess that was neglected like what became of TotA.

Given they are basically just pure power creep, I highly doubt they are here to stay. It would be extremely unlikely.

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Pizzarugi wrote:

GGG has historically never told us whether a league is being added to core until near the end of it. Nobody is going to be able to provide an answer to your concern.

Something to bear in mind: The chances of a league going core may depend on just how well received it was. Due to a lot of neglected issues, TotA left a lot of people put off from it so it likely resulted in GGG deciding it not going core. Assuming Affliction launches smoothly and any midleague improvements are made which leaves players happy, it's possible it might be added to core.

Don't take my word on any of this. I don't want to get your hopes up for nothing. All we can do is hope that the league won't be an unbalanced mess that was neglected like what became of TotA.

true, no league mechanic was confirmed to core. but the difference is what i m actually asking for is the league mechanic reward.

i actually dont care for the league mechanic reward in itself, but the reward is another matter.

besides sanctum, every player power effecting reward was retained and went to standard regardless of whether or not the actual league mechanic was went core.

for example, league mechanic crafted gear and crucible weapons. even tota tattoos, theyre insanely powerful but went core.

i originally posted my post in Help and Information and it was moved by support, they did actually tell me this:

"

Unfortunately we would be unable to speculate on any future plans regarding this, however your feedback is appreciated for our teams to consider moving forward!

i m a tad disappointed as i dont want to "waste my time" working up to get new characters with these ascendencies only to have them become regular standard characters at the end of the league.

everything i do in temp leagues is for the enrichment of my std character/s.

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TemjinGold wrote:

Given they are basically just pure power creep, I highly doubt they are here to stay. It would be extremely unlikely.

yeah i agree.

then again TOTA tattoos were insanely strong, so are crucible weapons

sure hope not, every single one far as i can see has a skill embedded in it and some of them have two, if this were isolated purely to the advanced ascendancy's then it wouldn't be a worry but this the same madness they're doing to the core ascendancy's now before this patch.

but given how they're going with all the other ascendancy's this is the future of PoE and its probably here to stay.

ascendancy picks your skills for you now.

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SilentSymphony wrote:

sure hope not, every single one far as i can see has a skill embedded in it and some of them have two, if this were isolated purely to the advanced ascendancy's then it wouldn't be a worry but this the same madness they're doing to the core ascendancy's now before this patch.

but given how they're going with all the other ascendancy's this is the future of PoE and its probably here to stay.

ascendancy picks your skills for you now.

i dislike that but its the direction that POE is going. you want "X" skill? you need to go for "XX ascendancy" no other way around it.

unless of course they make charm equivalents able to be socketed in to our jewel slots.

i've been playing torchlight infinite a lot recently. class flexibility there is way higher. their version of a watcher's eye is like a sanctuary relic that grants you 1-2 random ascendancy notables.

there definitely are ways GGG could implement a more flexible system tho i dont foresee it happening anytime soon.

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exsea wrote:

i dislike that but its the direction that POE is going. you want "X" skill? you need to go for "XX ascendancy" no other way around it.

unless of course they make charm equivalents able to be socketed in to our jewel slots.

i've been playing torchlight infinite a lot recently. class flexibility there is way higher. their version of a watcher's eye is like a sanctuary relic that grants you 1-2 random ascendancy notables.

there definitely are ways GGG could implement a more flexible system tho i dont foresee it happening anytime soon.

If they add enough ascendancy's like that it may not matter that some skills are thrown into the mix, but the way things stood a league or two ago it looked like i was never going to play PoE again.

Maybe given some time and ascendancy work that'l change since for now there's no competitor to PoE but with it changing so much so quickly that may not hold true forever.

so i take back my "i hope not" rather i hope they do stay and they simply add enough of these that playstyles such as mine can return with at least enough player agency to feel like im making a choice again.

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SilentSymphony wrote:

"

exsea wrote:

i dislike that but its the direction that POE is going. you want "X" skill? you need to go for "XX ascendancy" no other way around it.

unless of course they make charm equivalents able to be socketed in to our jewel slots.

i've been playing torchlight infinite a lot recently. class flexibility there is way higher. their version of a watcher's eye is like a sanctuary relic that grants you 1-2 random ascendancy notables.

there definitely are ways GGG could implement a more flexible system tho i dont foresee it happening anytime soon.

If they add enough ascendancy's like that it may not matter that some skills are thrown into the mix, but the way things stood a league or two ago it looked like i was never going to play PoE again.

Maybe given some time and ascendancy work that'l change since for now there's no competitor to PoE but with it changing so much so quickly that may not hold true forever.

so i take back my "i hope not" rather i hope they do stay and they simply add enough of these that playstyles such as mine can return with at least enough player agency to feel like im making a choice again.

2 months ago i felt that i would never touch POE again.

this new expansion promises me a way to gain new powers. make my weak ass stronger than before. its enticing enough for me to at least come back and try.

that said. i am thoroughly enjoying GD and TLI on the side tbh.

100% borrowed power.

Unfortunately for me I can't care about loot where they wont even PRETEND its persistent. I can't care about "builds enabled" that will be deleted in 3 months, and I can't care about game design that is bald faced temporary with no intent for future gameplay.

I need the illusion of permanence to get a dopamine hit from pixels. GGG seems to have forgotten what Chris talks about in his GDC ted talk. Break that illusion of permanent and I stop viewing the items as important or worth caring about.

Sanctum showed them that a significant portion of their playersbase is fine with borrowed power (relics) design as long as it spews currency so they can go shopping. for a few weeks and then start over 3 months later. Its the perfect slot machine.

No need for meaningful long term game design when you can make every 3 months a blank slate, make it rain fake money and just delete the balance at the end.

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alhazred70 wrote:

100% borrowed power.

Unfortunately for me I can't care about loot where they wont even PRETEND its persistent. I can't care about "builds enabled" that will be deleted in 3 months, and I can't care about game design that is bald faced temporary with no intent for future gameplay.

as a std player who's played since open beta, it saddens me a huge lot how much GGG recklessly changes things that absolutely devalues a STD players wealth and power. std is no longer sacred and untouchable.

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alhazred70 wrote:

I need the illusion of permanence to get a dopamine hit from pixels. GGG seems to have forgotten what Chris talks about in his GDC ted talk. Break that illusion of permanent and I stop viewing the items as important or worth caring about.

on a microscale, our std items have lost their permanency a long time ago, any random patch can simply DELETE our items or devalue them greatly.

on a larger scale, the game was meant to be played forever, POE2 was the BEST THING to happen to POE1 when it was first announced as the implication was that any subsequent POE would add on to POE franchise as a whole and all your gears, characters and wealth would just accumulate over the years.

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alhazred70 wrote:

Sanctum showed them that a significant portion of their playersbase is fine with borrowed power (relics) design as long as it spews currency so they can go shopping. for a few weeks and then start over 3 months later. Its the perfect slot machine.

No need for meaningful long term game design when you can make every 3 months a blank slate, make it rain fake money and just delete the balance at the end.

STD enjoyers are the minority in this game now. temp league players do not care for borrowed power. they relish the borrowed power and dont care if their mirror is deleted at the end of league if they had any.

i personally hated the sanctified relic i worked my ass off which i also bought a 10 divine enchantment, was just poofed at the end of the league. i also hated that the only time they announced that it wasnt going to standard at the end of the league on their official channels was deep mid league.

i am aware that chris did mention it in a livestream but wtf. this is real important info, cant you put it on the patch notes?

i even asked GGG a few times directly on the live sanctum FAQ post and got ZERO replies.