Adding content locked items is antithetical to the design philosophy

One of the core ideas of later PoE is that you're supposed to be able to do the content that you enjoy. Eventually there is going to be content bloat to the point of there being way too many leagues and mechanics in the game, just like in PoE1.

In PoE1 we got the atlas tree to help us get rid of things we didn't like, and add more of the things we did like. I am not a huge fan of this system really, but it's better than the alternative.

However, in PoE2 there are tons of things that are simply hard locked behind certain things. If I want to get timeless jewels (I think) I have to do Sanctum. If I want to get soul cores for +7% chaos res I have to do Ultimatum. There are many more things like this, such as delirium "oils". Being forced to do Blight was one of the worst things about PoE1 by far.

There has to be a lot more cross-over between the drops of these mechanics. I should be able to get delirium oils in other areas than Delirium. The important part is that you get MORE when doing Delirium, otherwise you are still forcing people to do terrible mechanics that they don't want to do.

For example right now I am forced to grind Ultimatum, a mechanic I would never do freely in a million years, just because I NEED to have the chaos resistance socketed in my gear. It's just not fun.

That's literally how 1 already worked though so... I don't get your point?

Yes, some items are specific to certain mechanics, and this is a good thing. It works the same in POE1, and many other similar type games.

Personally, I'd like to see more chase items be specific to bosses or other mechanics. Instead of just global drops.

these titles are so funny lol

Content lock is fine, it encourages you to engage with different content.
Any even remotely functional end game build should be able to clear any challenge the game offers.

It might be that you need to make minor adjustments in gear gems or talents but you can only have great rewards with additional challenges.

target farming is a good way to get something deterministic, overwise you'll be locked in infinite loop of global drops.
I would like have more deterministic craft and drops. Ie jewels there, ibases in different place, currency is 3rd method etc. It's still a lottery, but at least you chasing something moe specific.

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KaosuRyoko#1633 wrote:

That's literally how 1 already worked though so... I don't get your point?

Yes, and that was bad. Especially since later leagues were all total trash. Blight, TotA, Sanctum, Ultimatum having basic things locked behind them that you need is extremely stupid when they don't even play like Path of Exile.

I seriously find these takes stupid as hell, people complaining that they only wanna run certain things bla bla bla, then they go play any other game and play what´s given and dont even blink, i never saw anyone crying that they only wanna do boss fights in elden ring, or just dungeons, or playign slay the spire and crying that they should be able to play only with the cards they want, or play monster hunter and say they should only fight the monsters they like to progress and shouldnt be forced to fight other monsters for their specific loot, it´s stupid and makes no sense or whatsoever, just play the whole damn game, it´s ok to enjoy some stuff more then others and that´s ok, but the ups and downs is what makes the up´s fun and interesting, i love ramen for example, do i eat it everyday? No, and probably would get sick of it if i ate it everyday and would start hating it, but because i dont do it repeatedly i can enjoy it so much more.

The point about being able to engage in the content you want to goes hand in hand with their philosophy of trade being a central pillar. It's not antithetical at all. You don't have to do blight, because you can farm harvest or whatever else and use the profits to buy blight stuff. If you're playing SSF then you choose a self imposed restriction that by design forces you to engage with all content. If everything could drop anywhere, almost no one would do anything except whatever mechanic allows them to kill the most monsters per minute and there wouldn't be any true end game variety. Sounds like your idea of game design philosophy is based around a single player game, when this is not that and trade has always been a central pillar for GGG.

Oddly enough I think each mechanic should protect its drops with your only other alternative to get the drops you need from trade.

With systems like this it might mean that Delirium, Expedition, Ritual, etc. will have their own identity so that players can carve out a niche and be better able to participate economically as opposed to doing what seems to be the default:

1. Stack 200% rarity on gear
2. Stack "quant" as much as is reasonable
3. Clear as fast as you can specializing in Breech
4. Profit!!