I've played this game for a decade by now. Never cleared an uber pinnacle boss before, never cleared the feared, never cleared ravaged blight map nor level 30 simulacrum.
I stubbornly refuse to play meta and i do my own thing, but i do that with full knowledge that i wont be clearing all these "harder content".
but you know what? i m not complaining about that. in fact i've tempered my expecatations and am fine with not clearing all those content.
back when uber pinnacles were revealed i already knew i wouldnt be able to clear em. but i wont complain about that.
but what i am complaining about today is that there is so much emphasis on "END END" game content that it really feels as though POE is only for the top 0.001% playerbase.
i see a lot of people ranting about not being able to unlock their 5th map device slot.
there definitely are people who would say stuff like "just pick a decent build and follow it and you'll be able to clear everything". theyre not wrong for saying that.
it is a very valid argument where there definitely are ways for players to excel at the game if they follow builds.
that said, i come from the mindset of making your own build, playing what you want to play. i will still highlight how GGG marketed POE back in the day saying that the game was a "classless" game where you could be a melee witch etc.
as josh strife hayes mentioned. the harder the content you create, the less options players have as theyre forced to be increasingly more efficient in order to clear said content.
I remember when uber pinnacles were released chris mentioned how it's aspirational content and how not all players were expected to clear it.
i remember accepting it as the uber pinnacles truly were optional back then. you DIDNT have to kill them to get their uniques. they didnt give you atlas passive points. they didnt unlock anything.
now GGG has gated uniques behind the uber pinnacles as well. on top of that 5 ways are also gated behind them.
i would argue they are no longer "optional". its so "not optional" that players are paying tons of divines for the unlock.
i remember bitching about how maven and uber elder/shaper were unreasonably difficult compared to eater/exarch and that many players would usually only be able to get the first 2 voidstones themselves.
GGG was fine with that.
and now things have escalated to where we are today.
things are not as optional as it seems. carry services are lucrative.
as someone who enjoys "doing their own thing". i know i will not be able to clear a lot of things myself. but seeing things that used to be aspirational/optional content become "mandatory". it just feels that GGG only wants to challenge the very top players and doesnt care about the rest.
i do not forsee my self ever going back to temp leagues and will remain on STD.
tbh, this is one of the times where i give feedback on something that does not affect me. i've already got the stuff i need on STD and i m just chilling and enjoying the game for myself. i only play temp leagues to enrich my std wealth and seeing how things are i dont feel the need to play temp leagues anymore.
i m fine with this but i do hope that GGG does take all the feedback to heart.
