what's wrong with optional combat?

I have way too many hours in classic wow and hc classic wow ssf. You do not have to fight every mob you see to level up, get gear, beat the game. You don't have to fight a single boss or mini boss / elite. You don't even have to do a single "campaign quest". and it's still one of the most engaging games you can play.

I saw people commenting on LE and POE 1 gameplay and saying that it shows what "optional combat" is, and i'm just like, yeah, why shouldn't combat be optional?

If you HAVE to fight every single mob and cause multiple genocides through each leveling experience then you're putting a lot of time into gameplay that does nothing for you. If you can level (get xp and gear ) by fighting the mobs you want to fight then you're going to have a good time. Zone's shouldn't be the size of skyrim just to get 50% of a level of xp and 1 downgrade of an item. I get if you are meant to farm the zone to get gear like in d2, which is fun, but the only thing you farm in poe 2 campaign is time towards death irl.

They SHOULD make a campaign mode where each zone boss is the guy you farm to beat and eventually beat the final campaign boss with the gear you farmed with limited currency and drops ( but obviously boosted / balanced for this mode ) and then have a mode where endgame is the focus and we can blast through the campaign.

idk what the difference is in hc wow that i'll put 150 hours + depending on the challenges i put on myself and something like poe 2 where i can't stand leveling. but i also just think the campaign and bosses are bad in poe 2 in general. maybe it's that i can choose not to have meaningful combat UNLESS i choose what is meaningful to me.

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RevertHarvest#4002 wrote:

They SHOULD make a campaign mode where each zone boss is the guy you farm to beat and eventually beat the final campaign boss with the gear you farmed with limited currency and drops ( but obviously boosted / balanced for this mode ) and then have a mode where endgame is the focus and we can blast through the campaign.

idk what the difference is in hc wow that i'll put 150 hours + depending on the challenges i put on myself and something like poe 2 where i can't stand leveling. but i also just think the campaign and bosses are bad in poe 2 in general. maybe it's that i can choose not to have meaningful combat UNLESS i choose what is meaningful to me.

And what do you think you'll be doing at "endgame"? You want to skip campaign bosses so you can ... fight campaign bosses in maps. They literally added more of the campaign bosses to all of the atlas nodes. What makes the campaign so different than the endgame for you?

Optional combat in an ARPG? So an RPG?

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RevertHarvest#4002 wrote:

I have way too many hours in classic wow and hc classic wow ssf. You do not have to fight every mob you see to level up, get gear, beat the game.

Are you not aware of the daze mechanic in WoW? If a mob hits you while you run away, it can cut your run speed in half, reducing your ability to escape. Also dungeons and quest areas have packs of mobs that patrol/are placed in such a way that you have to fight them.

You don't have to fight every mob in PoE2 either. I run past things all the time. Sometimes I use abilities to get away from them, just like in WoW.

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nonoffensivename1#2572 wrote:

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RevertHarvest#4002 wrote:

I have way too many hours in classic wow and hc classic wow ssf. You do not have to fight every mob you see to level up, get gear, beat the game.

Are you not aware of the daze mechanic in WoW? If a mob hits you while you run away, it can cut your run speed in half, reducing your ability to escape. Also dungeons and quest areas have packs of mobs that patrol/are placed in such a way that you have to fight them.

You don't have to fight every mob in PoE2 either. I run past things all the time. Sometimes I use abilities to get away from them, just like in WoW.

not sure you make the point you think you're making. You can strafe away from mobs and not get dazed while basically running backwards. you can wait a few seconds for the patrol to pass or pull smartly to avoid every patrol and even every pack in a dungeon... dungeons that are entirely skippable if you read my whole post.

GGG seems to think you need to fight every mob in a zone for it to be entertaining, they even repeated it in the newest interview. with this mentality you're going to keep zones huge because they think that fighting every white pack fills you with joy. watch them decrease zones but increase mob density to make up for less packs of mobs, making it harder to run past them which its already hard enough as it is.

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plz#2115 wrote:

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RevertHarvest#4002 wrote:

They SHOULD make a campaign mode where each zone boss is the guy you farm to beat and eventually beat the final campaign boss with the gear you farmed with limited currency and drops ( but obviously boosted / balanced for this mode ) and then have a mode where endgame is the focus and we can blast through the campaign.

idk what the difference is in hc wow that i'll put 150 hours + depending on the challenges i put on myself and something like poe 2 where i can't stand leveling. but i also just think the campaign and bosses are bad in poe 2 in general. maybe it's that i can choose not to have meaningful combat UNLESS i choose what is meaningful to me.

And what do you think you'll be doing at "endgame"? You want to skip campaign bosses so you can ... fight campaign bosses in maps. They literally added more of the campaign bosses to all of the atlas nodes. What makes the campaign so different than the endgame for you?

you've never played a video game if you have to ask this question.

campaigns are just a wall to climb to keep you playing longer before you get to the actual game ( endgame ). but in poe 2 you want it to be over before the first zone and in wow classic you don't feel this until around level 40.

I think poe 2 could have a great mode for campaign mode where you run the campaign and the can choose to restart at the end and either beat your time or do it with another class, but it's not good for making multiple characters to play endgame or redo every league.

i cant believe you actually asked me that low iq question

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Soulscar1#4896 wrote:

Optional combat in an ARPG? So an RPG?

Optional doesn't mean there's no action. just the action you enjoy

very low quality bait

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RevertHarvest#4002 wrote:

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Soulscar1#4896 wrote:

Optional combat in an ARPG? So an RPG?

Optional doesn't mean there's no action. just the action you enjoy

very low quality bait

Bait what? An ARPG not focused on "action" is an RPG like Baldurs gate, it wasn't a criticism.

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RevertHarvest#4002 wrote:

you've never played a video game if you have to ask this question.

campaigns are just a wall to climb to keep you playing longer before you get to the actual game ( endgame )

Yes, that is definitely something that is universally true for every video game that has ever been created in history and must be remain true of any new game that is created since it is one of the absolute and incontrovertible edicts written in the ancient and venerable Tome of Very Important Rules About Video Games That Everyone Must Follow and Never Break which is a very real thing that we have all read and must agree to before we're allowed to play or even discuss video games.

Like, dude what in the actual world are you talking about?

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Soulscar1#4896 wrote:

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RevertHarvest#4002 wrote:

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Soulscar1#4896 wrote:

Optional combat in an ARPG? So an RPG?

Optional doesn't mean there's no action. just the action you enjoy

very low quality bait

Bait what? An ARPG not focused on "action" is an RPG like Baldurs gate, it wasn't a criticism.

You're trolling or being disingenuous

There's still action SINCE YOU HAVE TO still do combat to level and get gear. it's jut not every single mob like in most of poe 2 because they rush you and circle you in and xp is so bad you can clear entire zones and get 10% xp

in poe 1 it's more of an action game than poe 2 but i can kill just the mobs and packs i want, except the rhoas in act 1