An Open Letter to GGG RE: One Portal

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Cocofang#3395 wrote:

Evidently you haven't noticed but PoE2 is not supposed to fill the exact same niche that PoE1 does. That would be a stupid decision by GGG. Why would they make two games for the same people instead of catering to two crowds?

Doomers prophesize already that PoE1 would be abandoned (which it won't be because it has a striving and still growing community) but simultaneously there are these constant demands that PoE2 should be exactly like PoE1, just better and shinier. Which would most definitely lead to PoE1 being abandoned, because what would be the point of it then?

The sooner you stop coping and start accepting, the better. Play a different game for now and come back to the next PoE1 league to play all the zoom you want.

Give evidence that PoE1 won't be abandoned. Sure GGG has said they wouldn't, but have they doubled their devs? Have they spoke against the rumors of only 8 people left on PoE1 or the reduced league frequency? Larger companies have trouble justifying keeping older live service games (even when those games still have a thriving community) in active development when the sequel comes out. Show me something beyond GGG saying they will. Actions matter.

The evidence is think.

PoE1 is still growing, its playerbase is hitting new peaks, the reoccurring players and paying customers keep increasing. It would be ludicrous to pull the plug or put it on life support. It is a growing game. The same would be true to just up and cannibalize the PoE1 community by making PoE2 the same game but shinier.

Why would you do that when PoE1 fills a unique niche in the market that no other game can come close to touching and you can make PoE2 fill a different unique niche that no other game, including PoE1, can come close to touching?

There is not one game PoE1 players can to go that offers them the same experience. And there won't be another game that PoE2 players can go to that offers them the same experience. That is an ideal position.

Doomers prattle about what supposedly is the likely business move yet fail to realize that from a business perspective keeping both PoE1 and PoE2 striving and distinct from one another makes the absolute most sense. Because then you have two untouchable main pillars instead of one.

A lot of the feedback given is people not realizing PoE1 is meant for them, not PoE2. This isn't Ubisoft or Activision.

Still dont understand why GGG cant simply replace 10% exp penalty with penalty that eats all your exp earned on exact map, so you leave the map with same exp as you entered it. There always will be random deaths from event/chain of events that manage to get through all defensive layers. Its an issue in poe1, and even worse issue here. Right now the game is trying to penalize you for attempting an unknown, which should be counter-intuitive not to early access, but to a build-making game. At release it will penalize exactly the same for experimenting with expanded skill/class/gem system while being advertised as supportive. And when that experimentation is achieved with passive tree thats not giving you full potential (even if were talking about 5% of it or final 5 to 10 points) - it starts to feel like the game is not delivering what is promised.

Keeping maps is not that big of an issue, you will run hundreds of them anyway, you will get to top tier anyway, you will start to sustain them anyway because its the end-game routine. At current gamestate lowering map a couple tiers back still ends in getting couple of ex in raw drops from them, so you can get better gear and prepare accordingly. Or buy a higher tier map. Or ask a friend/guildmate to share/carry you. So there is a quick solution to map/challenge loss presented in a current gamestate. MAYBE GGG will adjust the breach/deli fragments later on (but i guess its not the problem of grinding them, its time wasted on picking them from ground is an issue rn) so we could attempt them more frequently and without too much hassle if said challenge was failed. Ive also spend some time trying to progress through the atlas points quest, but when you manage to do that - sustaining t15 is more than possible. If you keep dying at t15 so you cant get any waystones - maybe its time to reevaluate your build for a final time, cuz the game wont give you much more than that.

But there is no quick solution to 10% loss at lvl 90+. Its the experience that should be kept at death, cause now its the only progress that values time spent no matter randomness/challenge level you are percieving, especially when a second time-rewarding system of gem exp (most reliable tbh) was removed. Even if you buy leveling via any legal means - it still takes time. People tend to spend hours doing safe underleveled content not because they cannot progress, but because theyre afraid of doing that even longer by making one mistake.

+1 one death should not deny entry back. Wont go in detail, just plainly not fun. And i die rarely, and no , it does not feel good when i do not die, it actually feels horrible all the time when i go in map.

Game can be made with options to satisfy all kinds of players - casual and quasi-hc. Current setup just does not do that.

GGG hit it almost perfect with the 1 portal option, you (and all the others that just parrot what some streamers have said) got it wrong.

Both friends and new guildmates (who are not prior POE1 players) have had zero complaints about it. In my experience it's purely POE1 players whining about it.

Loss of a waystone (that drop like candy once you know what you are doing) and a bit of experience is not a major loss but enough that you feel your mistakes. Losing couple bonuses a specific node had is fair, you FAILED.

Chaos was a bit too high (patched), but even then I never felt more than a moment of shock/annoyance when I failed a map before I put in the next one and kept going.

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janka#0977 wrote:

+1 one death should not deny entry back.

Yup, good thing it doesn't do that.

Literally just got giga nuked by Ritual boss, without any warning and came here to add my 2 cents.

It's extremely over-bearing and such a killer of TIME to expect players to go into this 1 portal mindset when some of these encounters (Pinnacle, Ritual, Breach, Expedition, Simulacrum) are so time gated to obtain.

I'm on trade league too, and yes I'm aware I can buy said items to run them again. But again, its time gated to farm currency, and then try again and pray the game doesnt cuck me with a mechanic that I haven't seen, or a bugged interaction I cannot avoid.

You don't even have to give me 6 portals, but one and done is just not cutting it.

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Cocofang#3395 wrote:

The evidence is think.

PoE1 is still growing, its playerbase is hitting new peaks, the reoccurring players and paying customers keep increasing. It would be ludicrous to pull the plug or put it on life support. It is a growing game. The same would be true to just up and cannibalize the PoE1 community by making PoE2 the same game but shinier.

Why would you do that when PoE1 fills a unique niche in the market that no other game can come close to touching and you can make PoE2 fill a different unique niche that no other game, including PoE1, can come close to touching?

There is not one game PoE1 players can to go that offers them the same experience. And there won't be another game that PoE2 players can go to that offers them the same experience. That is an ideal position.

Doomers prattle about what supposedly is the likely business move yet fail to realize that from a business perspective keeping both PoE1 and PoE2 striving and distinct from one another makes the absolute most sense. Because then you have two untouchable main pillars instead of one.

A lot of the feedback given is people not realizing PoE1 is meant for them, not PoE2. This isn't Ubisoft or Activision.

Again, I'm asking proof that GGG will. They haven't stated how, they haven't doubled their devs, they have given no actual action to show that they will continue it with anything more than skeleton crew. For example. We've seen a drop in number of leagues for PoE1 down to 3 in 2023 from 4 the previous year, and then down to only 2 this year. Last time there was only 2 leagues was nearly 10 years ago. They can say they want to all they want, but until they actually show us something that shows they actually are, they should always been seen as doubt. After all, PoE2 was just supposed to be an extension of PoE1, yet here we are. Just because the devs say something doesn't mean it will happen.

As for PoE2 players, they will be the PoE1 players. The audience PoE2 caters too is too small. D4 tried it. Hell PoE1 tried it.

Luckily, they are also running a long term business and aren't reactionary fools.

Why would they have to double their devs?

The reason why they expanded their team so much in the last few years was to continue to hire people for both games as PoE2 was in development.

The assertion they would have to double again makes no sense. They already did increase their team size precisely for that reason.

And creating a completely new game with its own campaign, assets, designs, AIs and everything obviously hogs more resources than maintaining it with expansions.

If GGG hadn't split PoE1 and PoE2 you people would have had a complete meltdown, even more than you have now, because they would have removed PoE1 in favor of realizing their design direction.

Please stop making things up that do not hold up to the slightest scrutiny.

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Cocofang#3395 wrote:

Luckily, they are also running a long term business and aren't reactionary fools.

Why would they have to double their devs?

The reason why they expanded their team so much in the last few years was to continue to hire people for both games as PoE2 was in development.

The assertion they would have to double again makes no sense. They already did increase their team size precisely for that reason.

And creating a completely new game with its own campaign, assets, designs, AIs and everything obviously hogs more resources than maintaining it with expansions.

If GGG hadn't split PoE1 and PoE2 you people would have had a complete meltdown, even more than you have now, because they would have removed PoE1 in favor of realizing their design direction.

Please stop making things up that do not hold up to the slightest scrutiny.

No I'm saying they have not doubled their dev force from 2018. They have hired more but not doubled. They were also hiring more before PoE2 work started. They were around 120 in 2018. Most sites including their linkedin put them around 150 now.

Their design direction is the same failed design direction they took with PoE1 and Ruthless mode and that D4 took. PoE2 has to support its own weight, and repeatedly, it is shown that this "hardmode" ARPG is not a design that keeps players in any meaningful numbers. It fights against its own underlying core designs. Wanting meaningful difficulty while also having most character power come from something with so much rng, there is no meaningful way for the player to influence other than time. This make the difficulty nothing but a numbers game rather than actual skillful difficulty. Wanting deep combat in a genre that struggle to do anything more than hacknslash

PoE2 is a great game for a 1 off purchase style game, but not a live service game meant to retain as many players as possible.