Crafting System Overhaul
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Hello GGG
I think we all know what the problems are, so this post will focus on the crafting system, or the lack thereof in the game's current state. POE1 had the best crafting system of any game in the niche. POE2 not only cannot compete with its predecessor, but with the current skewed drop rates of Regals and, especially, Exalted Orbs, I am hard pressed to call it a system at all. It's a once in a while long shot gamble that results in garbage 95% of the time. So what's the problem? We have plenty of Orbs of Transmutation and Augmentation, very handy early on, and critical to the process overall, but ... the process has four steps: Transmutation -> Augmentation -> Regal -> Exalted. If any of the previous rolls is lacking, the piece is bricked. Fine, or it would be fine if there was enough currency to try more than once in a blue moon. For this system to work, the game should be tuned so that for every twenty Orbs of Transmutation / Augmentation, we find a Regal / Exalted (Exalted Orbs should actually drop more frequently than Regals, since once a Regal succeeds you want at least two Exalted to complete the process). In my inventory right now, I have over 100 of the first two, and none of the second, which means I'm stuck, unless I want to manufacture an ocean of blues for sale to NPCs. If you remove from the system any opportunity for deterministic crafting, then, inevitably, the thinking is to provide enough currency for the RNG mechanics to make it worth doing. Next, Chaos Orbs. I've already spoken on this before, but here goes again. They are useless, worse, they are vastly more likely to harm than help. Not only are you unlikely to get lucky should you choose to use one, but you are far more likely to lose one of the affixes you actually wanted to retain. If you changed Chaos Orbs to allow for a targeted affix reroll, then that choice completes the crafting process. Transmutation -> Augmentation -> Regal -> Exalted -> Chaos. You would use a Chaos to fine tune, once you have a piece worth the investment. You are still unlikely to get lucky, it's still RNG, but at least you are not overwhelmingly likely to invalidate ALL OF YOUR PREVIOUS INVESTMENT. Fix these two things, the drop rates and Chaos Orb mechanics and presto chango, POE2 would have a viable crafting system. Still not nearly as good as the crafting bench which pretty much everyone misses, but a thousand times better than it is now. Thanks for listening. Inethil Last edited by inethil#2258 on Dec 17, 2024, 11:18:36 PM Last bumped on Jan 7, 2025, 4:28:46 PM
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While I do believe the stinginess of currency drops makes me feel bad (and sometimes even stupid) to use them for crafting, I believe the whole system is probably deliberate.
Just like how SSF exists without any buff to drop rates whatsoever, crafting is a kind of self-challenge that a player chooses to take on, in place of trading. The "smart" players will always trade and never bother with crafting. And that's by design. Crafting and SSF is just providing players with additional challenges. Crafting was never supposed to be something every player engages with. That's what I think is the intention of this design. |
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I have to disagree, otherwise they would not have designed the system with the foundational pillars of POE-1. After all, one of the primary attributes, one might even say signal features of POE has always been an absolute level of customizability and crafting has always gone hand in hand with that. Providing an avenue of thoughtful, engaging downtime which emphasizes and counterbalances the core action feel of both games.
I do agree the current state of crafting is by design, but more a product of an overall, hyper conservative design which they wanted to tune by small, careful increments, having learned well the lesson that you can increase drops, but it's far harder to decrease once you commit. I think in time POE-2 crafting, while it may be different from POE-1, will be just as interesting, useful and robust. After all, I think it's evident that nothing in this EA is set in stone. |
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" I don't think sitting 10 hours in a hideout spamming orbs until you get the affix you need is a good crafting system. " It was garbage 100% time in poe1, you had to sit for hours with 100 divines worth of currency to craft a single item of gear. There are much higher chances to get good gear now, and even pick it up ready made from the floor, or fine tune what you get. " Much better than before, it rerolls only one stat, not the entire item. This is a high risk - high reward approach. You either brick, do nothing or make it better. Last edited by GODOFWARSANCHEZ#4574 on Dec 18, 2024, 6:54:10 AM
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" Dont you dare saying negative thing about PoE2. RMT ''players'' will rush to say crafting is fine. L2p Twitch and YT full of people in gear worth 400-1000 divines. Last edited by Werdx_1#3669 on Dec 18, 2024, 6:56:34 AM
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I actually do not try for perfect items when Transute>Alteration>Regal
I aim for 2/3 I do this because I am going to dump them into recrafting bench and my odds will be very high to get 3 or even 4 good mods. Settling for almost perfect on the starting items saves time. I could then repeat the process and use 3 of these insane items to craft something even better. Also omens are very good for deterministic crafting, but sadly are only in the endgame and WAY too rare. Last edited by doombybbr#6074 on Dec 18, 2024, 7:03:19 AM
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" Of course it was deliberate. This is the "vision" at work, where they wanted drops to feel meaningful. The problem is that it sucks. The itemization/affixes system in this game is way too complicated to rely on loot drops to progress, and no determinism in crafting just turns the whole thing in a futile-feeling lottery. That feeling of futility and no compelling path forward permeates most of the complaints for PoE2 in its current state, and this loot system is going to 100% need to be overhauled. |
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I don't tend to listen to extreme opinions, which either trash the game or defend it uncritically. What we have in POE-2 is an epically great game that worth criticizing. I am providing suggestions and feedback not because I think the game is defective, but because the skeleton of the game is fantastic and with the help of the community it will only get better.
I'm sure of that last point because I have come to understand the dedication inherent in the culture of GGG. They are not trying to sell me on something that isn't fun, they are making a game they enjoy themselves. Sure, I offer suggestions, but I'm confident GGG will take those elements of feedback that gain traction in their minds and come up with something far better than I, as a player, could have come up with. Call it loyalty if you wish, but I prefer to think of it as faith. Faith in GGG which has been vindicated time and time again. Given how few companies put players first these days, I think that's not only the right attitude, but the only reasonable one. Inethil Last edited by inethil#2258 on Dec 18, 2024, 10:35:35 PM
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I agree 100%. I love POE-2 and badly want it to succeed, but the non-existence of crafting hurts the game enormously. I posted a complete crafting system overhaul here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3646566/page/1#p25692083
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