Feedback from longtime 36/40 and 40/40 player about challenge design

Challenges in 3.27 were almost perfect. Almost no RNG ones at all(if you don't count nameless seer but that is skippable) and I was actually able to do almost all of them myself. They've been getting better in more recent leagues,older ones were much more grindy and RNG-heavy. I've been doing em since Essence league

I think the only really bad one this league was Cross Contamination unique map boss while possessed in ritual. Yeah there's a gimmicky way to do it in Shore map, but if you can't do that then your only hope is to get a random ghost ritual and have it spawn on the boss too. That's 2 layers of RNG too many.

Please remove T17s and Uber Bosses from the challenge list, most players just buy carries anyway and I'm kinda tired of having to delete some of my early currency for them. Or at the very least take T17s out of challenges, that way I only gotta spend like 4 div per league for uber boss kills. That content just requires way too specific builds and that's not fun.

What is fun is how effortlessly I reached like 20+ challenges this league without even noticing just by doing atlas progression. Them completing naturally like this is a big W.

Making them more approachable by the average player with any build will definitely help attract more players to each league, knowing that the free MTX is possible to earn pretty much on whatever you decide to play so you don't feel pressured to level a 2nd character. That is the whole point of challenges after all, they're marketing for the new league.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh and the challenge rewards. Can we get some unique mtx again instead of armor sets? Portal effects,pets, even a whole hideout from Ritual league were all really cool. It would motivate players way more too so its a win/win. I'd be happy with making the armor sets more flashy too, or adding unique secondary effects to them like the cool purple hp bar we got from Affliction I think? These kinds of unique effects are just really nice.

They're so close to being actually in a perfect spot, just cut the T17s and Ubers, they're supposed to be aspirational content anyway. Challenges should only include stuff from the base game.


And if these changes don't happen then oh well, just gonna have to burn 5-10 divs on carries every league while speedrunning my challenges, it is what it is. I can always live in Sanctum all day or farm scarabs with an atlas tree that clicks every scarab drop % node+strongboxes, its not very interesting but that's a guaranteed way to print infinity chaos orbs by selling all scarabs on Faustus. Doing that while sending div shipments to Kalguur is the easiest passive currency I've ever made in any league.

I would just really like to actually spend all of my currency on gear upgrades instead of being forced to buy uber boss and t17 carries every league.

I hope that a T17 rework in 3.28 will turn those maps into boss-only encounters, which means you won't have to do the bad map layouts with bad mods for challenges anymore. Then I can just open the boss invite and do em myself with my glass cannon build. Seriously the 175% quant T17 challenge this league was one of the worst, most people probably just bought a carry for that one lmao

This is peak feedback!

"Take the challenge out of the challenges please!"

"It's too expensive to buy my way through my challenges"

Having defense (even just a little) is now "way too specific"



The modern PoE mentality is shameful.

"

cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

This is peak feedback!

snarky comment detected, opinion rejected

Uber bosses challenge is one of very few that doesn't work well simply because your mapper builds almost definitely will be incapable of doing bosses, not to even mention ubers.

Being forced to make another bosser-character just for the challenge would be fine.. if not for the time-gate tax with bloody annoying acts... And the fact that bossing in PoE isn't entertaining/fun (for some/most of players).

So a challenge that boils down to "pay service fee to complete" are just bad design.

"

Toforto#2372 wrote:

Challenges in 3.27 were almost perfect.

I don't think it's really feedback if you exclusively buy carry runs and don't even engage with the challenges or content at all.

I'm also a long time 40/40 player, without the need of carry runs btw, and I don't agree with you.
Challenges this league ended up pretty boring and it's time for GGG to bring back some of the more grindy and fun challenges.

"

cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

The modern PoE mentality is shameful.

Please balance the entire game around act 1 gear zdps and zhp :(

"

that way I only gotta spend like 4 div per league for uber boss kills

Honestly, 4d per league for 40/40 isn't bad design.
It's not the challenge to have the item from Uber Atziri which used to cost mirror.

And T17 is good design, it supposed to make you improve your builds since T16 are super easy.
It's supposed to force you to make a build that has defence (for bosses) and decent clear speed/damage.
You can just go full glass cannon on T16.

We need to revert nerfs to IIQ on T17 instead, return it to former glory.

"

Hornsent#1110 wrote:

You can just go full glass cannon on T16.

Careful with the wording.

"

We need to revert nerfs to IIQ on T17 instead, return it to former glory.

Pretty much this, good call.

"

deothor#4810 wrote:

snarky comment detected, opinion rejected

So a challenge that boils down to "pay service fee to complete" are just bad design.

That's all this post warrants.

You are absolutely right, "pay service fee to complete" is bad design. Well, I'm glad that ISN'T how its designed right now......and hopefully they'll make it impossible to do soon enough.

There exists NO CHALLENGE that boils down to "pay service fee to complete". You know what that is? Your personal avoidance of playing the game. It is a CHOICE that is not forced on anyone.

Is there a line of text in these challenges I'm not reading that says "This challenge should cost 5 divines for those too lazy to do it themselves"?

Because I'm like 110% sure this is a self-created problem that the game already has solutions for. You know, something basic like......playing the game.

"

deothor#4810 wrote:

Uber bosses challenge is one of very few that doesn't work well simply because your mapper builds almost definitely will be incapable of doing bosses, not to even mention ubers.

Being forced to make another bosser-character just for the challenge would be fine.. if not for the time-gate tax with bloody annoying acts... And the fact that bossing in PoE isn't entertaining/fun (for some/most of players).

So a challenge that boils down to "pay service fee to complete" are just bad design.

Exactly, this is why the uber boss challenges feel so bad. Nobody wants to have to go through campaign again, if we had campaign skip or alternate leveling options it would be a bit better. But we don't, so removing these challenges is the next best thing.

"

Hornsent#1110 wrote:

"

that way I only gotta spend like 4 div per league for uber boss kills

Honestly, 4d per league for 40/40 isn't bad design.
It's not the challenge to have the item from Uber Atziri which used to cost mirror.

I know, its not so bad. Just kinda annoying when there are other items I want to buy early too, but obviously buying a carry earlier is better since prices go up and less people do them later in a league.

The really bad challenges were stuff like "complete these specific vaal side areas". I remember having to farm on The Ledge Merciless one league for literal hours until I got the final one I needed lmao

Nah bruh.

If you are going to have challenges, they should at the very least include "complete most of the endgame content available in this league".

I would actually argue the t17 challenge and the uber boss challenge for this league should have said "complete all of" instead of "complete x # of", and I would also support deathless and no zone-out as a requirement for the uber bosses.

36 for the loot, 40 for the satisfaction I say.