An Open Letter to GGG RE: One Portal

"

Vangl#2478 wrote:

+1

The barebones of the game are 10/10 amazing, but this is a garbage decision that adds nothing but frustration. Let’s hope they change it, and honestly I see people hitting the bargaining stages and saying oh, maybe 2 or 4 portals!!

Why bargain on a terrible game decision? I actually agree with bosses resetting and having to do the whole fight in one go if it’s a boss fight. But iirc one of the devs said something about, “we want people to learn from your death!”

The only thing people learn is how to put the game down.

Here’s to everyone having a fun early access period, and remember, this is THE time to give feedback like this. They have done an amazing job of listening to the weakpoints of the game and making adjustments.

This guy gets it.

"

BlackPapaBear#4656 wrote:

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.

And this guy gets it too.

I dont know why the get good people in this thread think GGG is some uni-thinking monolith. Jonathan himself said it was a big discussion within the company that went back and forth.

The devs at GGG that were in favor of six portals were right all along. The ones pushing and the decision makers that chose one portal were wrong.

When A divine orb drops now I get a spike of anxiety instead of dopamine because I am instantly worried about losing it, it's awful. This one life per map thing is the only thing I want changed, nothing else matters in comparison. I would rather they changed this and never release the rest of the game than keep it this way because I'm not playing on launch if one death per map is still in the game.

"

justgivemeafuckingaccou#1081 wrote:

When A divine orb drops now I get a spike of anxiety instead of dopamine because I am instantly worried about losing it, it's awful. This one life per map thing is the only thing I want changed, nothing else matters in comparison. I would rather they changed this and never release the rest of the game than keep it this way because I'm not playing on launch if one death per map is still in the game.

Agreed, it is the single biggest issue facing the game at the moment. All other things crafting, skill tree, ascending, etc are fixable, but this one core game design choice will nullify all the progress they make on every other front.

That spike of anxiety is a good thing. The game is making you feel emotions. All the best games make you feel emotions. Do you just want to sit there emotionless spam clicking a button watching a podcast while playing the game on your second monitor?

One-death maps design is, out of the entire EA game which I've enjoyed a lot so far, enough for me to put the game down until major endgame tweaks happen. Totally cool, it's EA and all, but that's the feedback.

Hoping we see the return of multiple portals because this is actively not-fun. With the changes to bosses that reset their HP with each attempt, which I like, I don't really see the need for this anyway. The hardcore among us can always hold themselves to honor mode mapping if they enjoy the challenge and dip after their first death.

"

yourwhitenoise#3882 wrote:

One-death maps design is, out of the entire EA game which I've enjoyed a lot so far, enough for me to put the game down until major endgame tweaks happen. Totally cool, it's EA and all, but that's the feedback.

Hoping we see the return of multiple portals because this is actively not-fun. With the changes to bosses that reset their HP with each attempt, which I like, I don't really see the need for this anyway. The hardcore among us can always hold themselves to honor mode mapping if they enjoy the challenge and dip after their first death.

This guy gets it

"

hboi#6131 wrote:

That spike of anxiety is a good thing. The game is making you feel emotions. All the best games make you feel emotions. Do you just want to sit there emotionless spam clicking a button watching a podcast while playing the game on your second monitor?

This reply to me is nonsense. We play to have fun, intentionally trying to create angst in the playerbase is not conducive to long term success.

You play to have fun. You don't speak for everyone. I play good games that spark emotions in me anxiety, anger, happiness, sense of achievement, overcoming obstacles.

If this doesn't suit your play style that's fine. There are games more suited for you.

"

That spike of anxiety is a good thing. The game is making you feel emotions. All the best games make you feel emotions. Do you just want to sit there emotionless spam clicking a button watching a podcast while playing the game on your second monitor?

Brother, this game was built around the dopamine hit of a good drop. Not the anxiety of losing it because you failed to see multiple on-death mechanics, or somehow the stars misaligned in your favor and you just get nuked.

I've played PoE1 for thousands of hours for that dopamine high, specifically in softcore damn near exclusively. I didn't sign up for a hardcore experience, but here I am getting one. How can you not see that issue? Have you not lost HOURS of progress from failing something due to quite literally an unfair mechanic or from what I've seen quite literally bugged interactions?

I get it, it's early access. This game isn't going to look like this hell in 2 weeks let alone a few months, but good grief if they hold true to the one portal mindset I don't think my time and frustration is worth the effort.

Lets just hope they don't put PoE1 on life support as it already has been this year which is such a disappointment as a whole.