Experience loss driving some players away?

"

My friend isn't the only one who won't play a game with experience loss. I talked to my wife about trying the game out as well (she played D2/D3/Sacred/Dungeon Siege, etc) and she won't play it either because she doesn't want to deal with the XP loss penalty.

This is not the first time I have seen this comparison. I think some people don't really remember all the details.

D2=Loss of gold and xp on death in higher difficulties

D3=Loss of gold(repair costs) on death after (I forget what level)

Sacred 2=Loss of survival bonus, which is loss of stat points and magic find, even in bronze.
(Easiest level)

All Dungeon Sieges=no penalty for death

One of the mentioned games has an xp loss and most of the others have some penalty. POE seems to be in line with most other similar games. Sacred/Sacred 2's having the worst penalty IMHO, due to the fact you just got killed and now have lost life, mana, defensive and offensive stats making you even more prone to death.

to answer the topic's question in short:
YES, it is.

i am lvl 89 and i tell you, dying on that lvl is a real pain in the ass in almost every aspect. you do not only lose xp. you lose a lot of time, too. and this is a fact that i am currently not liking at all and i am thinkin about taking a break after i died on the maze map to vaal to a huge dsynch. my partymembers were telling me that i am just standing still, but in my screen i was moving the whole time and vaal was also moving and suddenly i just saw the "resurrect screen". i even didnt see vaal doing his smash attack. this is getting so frustrating to lose not only 15% xp but also a hell of a time in reallife, because you just spent many hours for just ... well .. nothing at all.

so right now i am hondestly thinkin about takin a break or maybe quittin for good. the reason is very simple:

if i wanted a penatly system upon death i would play hardcore.
i am playing default, because i do not _want_ such a harsh penatly system.

when i play a game, i want to have fun in the first place. and i want my time not to be wasted. every game that frustrates you more than it makes you enjoy the game is a bad game design imho.

so i personally think an xp loss in theory is a good idea, but in poe its not working. it needs to be adjusted or worked on in someway.

one solution would be to reduce the % xp loss the higher lvl you are, because it takes much more time and effort to gain the lost xp again.

for example: a lvl 70 dies and looses 15% xp. gettin 15% xp back is fairly easy and doesnt take so much time.

a lvl 90 dies and looses 15% xp. this is a huuuuuge frustrating moment, because gettin those 15%XP back takes this character waaaaay more time to get it back then the lvl 70. so in the end its not the same 15% xp that were taken as a penalty. the lvl 90 was punished much harder.

why not make it so that a character above lvl 85 only loses 10% and a character above lvl 90 only looses 5% etc.

"

Mooginator wrote:

He's a pretty hardcore gamer, so I asked him what the big deal was and his response was "I don't like games that take away my core efforts. The very essence of the game."

What is meaning of HC to your friend?

HC is harder than lose xp, it´s about lose your entire character.

you reach 90... when there are only 3 acts.

do you even know what that means.

do not use "i'm thinking of quitting" as your threatening shout.

just go play diablo 3 man.

it offers just what you need.

The XP loss certainly blows due to the lack of consistent high level content and wacky balancing issues. Hopefully it will start to get better when Act III is finished.

Theres many things driving players away, but to be fair, theres also many things that lure in new players.

Each to their own.

Plenty of new content to come and leveling will be easier then. Not sure why everyone needs to hit 100 now, I hit 83 and just went full Offense doing 74+ maps with 4k ES, if I die, I die. I run for the loot I don't care about levels now.

To each there own I guess. As soon as you realize you don't need to be top level to do the content in the game now you'll be better off.

Would love to see you solo lvl 74+ maps with 4k ES,it would be so entertaining to watch.

Some great discussion here! Thanks to everyone for their feedback.

BTW when I said hardcore gamer, I meant he games a LOT, not that he necessarily plays "hardcore" games. I probably chose the wrong word. I'll change it to "avid gamer" heh.

There is a good point about additional content making the progress easier between now and launch, but at the same time, more and more people want games that do not take from their efforts. This is an evolutionary norm. One example is EVE Online; a truly fantastic game - but ruthless as all getgo. There's a reason their user base has remained fairly small overall given the quality and breadth of their game. The very nature of "lose everything on death" drives a massive number of folks away. Then again, they're still very successful and king of their niche.

I think a valid point is to say just because other games did it doesn't mean it's the right/best choice. It's like the evolution of MMOGs. Everquest hit players hard on death, and even caused level loss. No MMOGs do that anymore; because it would drive players away. Developers figured out how to penalize in other ways.

This thread was created just to discuss the penalty concept, the current state of expectations, and some ideas as to what might be done. I think the concept of not being able to re-enter the area upon death (without paying a penalty price) is a very good idea.

Also, because of the League system, it would be very easy for GGG to create a League of "Funcore" (vs. softcore) that's identical to Softcore with no penalty (just for example).

In the end, I want PoE to be very successful and appeal to as many gamers as it possibly can, as I'm sure GGG does as well.

People are driving themselves away from challenge.

Path of Exile is fine.