Corrupted Nexus Atlas Points Play Pattern Issues + Suggestions

TLDR:
- Nexuses incentivise less interesting and less fun play patterns if you care about optimisation.

- Endgame feels overall directionless.

- Progression in endgame overall feels kind of pointless and systems feel disconnected.

- Why is atlas progression not tied to towers since these are already the linchpin of the endgame system?

- Atlas points could be tied to clearing maps that are influenced by towers, so that players are actually incentivised to clear the maps they are juicing as they go, rather than ignoring them for later and beelining to the next nexus.


I have not been enjoying the new endgame as much as 0.1 (even though there are lots of great changes) and I couldn't and still can't fully quite put my finger on why. As much as the previous iteration had it's problems, I mapped for at least a hundred hours in 0.1. In the current iteration I got up to t15-18s, 20ish atlas points, can clear everything comfortably and just kind of felt like 'okay I guess I'm done' within just a few of days of mapping.

My build and gear are very far from optimal, (I have used trade pretty minimally this time around) but I don't really feel like it's necessary or worth the time investment to get stronger when I am comfortably doing the highest map tiers at full juice and killing bosses quickly and easily.

I only have 22 atlas points, so yeah I can keep searching for nexuses (nexi? nexuses sounds odd lol) and unique maps to get the rest, but again.. Why? It just feels kind of pointless. I would rather be blasting juiced maps but it feels kind of wrong to do this instead of continuing to go after atlas points, since they will increase the juice on those maps.

Some people might say well why not roll a new character then? I have been thinking about it, but this doesn't really solve the endgame issues and I will just run into them again on another character. I am also very much the type of player who likes to invest heavily into one character and optimise that character as much as possible, do everything there is to do with that character, try to get to level 100 if I have the time etc. So it's very odd feeling so ambivalent about the endgame.

I think the structure of the atlas points being linked to finding a nexus (or unique map) means that I am actively disincentivised from doing any of the juiced maps I find/create, as this would be suboptimal compared to just beelining to nexuses and unique maps until I am 40/40, and only then coming back to do all the juiced content. This is not great, since I am losing interest before this occurs. I COULD go back and just do some of the juiced maps anyway, but this is suboptimal, and feels bad as it is not really helping me to progress in any way that feels meaningful. You could argue well you're getting gear/currency, but again, why do I need this if I'm already strong 'enough'. So it just feels like I'm wasting my time and should be trying to find another nexus instead.

I don't understand why the endgame progression is not intrinsically linked to towers, as these are kind of the linchpin of the whole endgame mapping system already anyway. Like why not something along of the lines of:

- You get 1 atlas point when you complete a tower map (up to a certain limit to disincentivise only beelining to towers and ignoring the next suggestion). This also heavily helps incentivises players to go for towers since this appears to be something the devs want. Make all tower maps have a boss so this feels a bit more rewarding/interesting.

- Then get 1 or more atlas points for completing all (or X amount) of maps within that tower radius that are influenced by that tower. This incentivises players to actually clear the maps they have just juiced with the tower, as well as better introducing this system of juicing then clearing to newer players who might know less about optimising their endgame.

I think this will also feel much better to be able to work through a section of the atlas one area at a time, tick that area off your 'to do list' and then move onto the next area. This would probably also help the atlas be cleaner and more readable. Rather than the current system of beelining to towers hoping to find nexuses, and ignoring most other maps, ending up with an incomprehensible mess that spans many screens and is full of a mix of cleared and uncleared maps.

If you are instead clearing sections around towers as you go (and not feeling bad/suboptimal for doing this) then it will be much easier to parse the Atlas visually and figure out where you are on it. Not to mention the satisfaction of seeing areas all greened out because you've completed them instead of a random hodgepodge.

Personally I'd say atlas points should be diversified.
Complete tower - 1 point.
Complete a map - 1 point.
Complete unique map - 1 point.
Beat a boss - 1 point.
Complete a delirium - 1 point.
Complete a breach - 1 point.
Find and kill a Rogue exile - 1 point.
etc.


Basically, instead of a repetitive "same task" with a tierNumber slapped on to it, you get to go on a journey to find various tasks to complete, and the first time you do it, you get rewarded with progress. In a way atlas progresses as you simply play and enjoy the game. Later you might open a quest list that lists all the possible objectives.

Such a journey seems much more fun than a literal hamster wheel of
1) look for red wiggly worms on edges of map
2) quickly beeline to it and towers along the way
3) find nexus, beat it
And now repeat SAME THING 15 times.....its nonsense.

Yeah I think those are solid ideas that would encourage you to experience as much of the different content as possible early on. To play devil's advocate I might assume that the devs wouldn't want this as it might be easy to get a lot of points very quickly at the start and then peter out to not getting many later on rather than have the progression be somewhat linear. But I'm not sure that would necessarily be a bad thing.

I do think there probably needs to be some sort of link to waystone tiers if that is going to be the system, just so that the progression path does require you to actually progress up the tiers as this is kind of just how the endgame works, and you do want to be scaling up the challenge as the player progresses so they feel like they are overcoming something and are getting rewarded for that.

I think that combining our suggestions could be an interesting way to do it, where you basically get a series of quests that could have a few (maybe 3-5, could increase as you progress) randomly generated or deliberately curated objectives from a large pool that is populated by the different types of content, and these objectives can be completed in tower influenced maps. I do think that tying the towers into this is important for incentivising players to actually clear influenced maps rather than skipping them for optimal juicing later.

So for example we could have something like:

Complete the objectives in maps influenced by tablets

Atlas Points 1+2:
- Defeat an Atzmeri spirit infused rare monster
- Complete a strongbox encounter
- Kill a map boss

Atlas Points 3+4:
- Complete a breach encounter
- Kill a rogue exile
- Complete a map with 2 or more modifiers

Atlas Points 5+6:
- Complete all rituals in a map
- Complete a map with 3 or more modifiers
- Complete a tier 2+ map

Atlas Points 7+8:
- Kill an essence infused rare monster
- Complete a mirror of delirium encounter
- Complete a tier 3+ map

Atlas Points 9+10:
- Complete an expedition encounter
- Kill Krosis, the Revelation
- Complete a map with 4+ modifiers

And so on