The reason for the low level of active players in Path of Exile

Again great post that sums up well the issues here. GGG should start reading your posts.

"

Crackmonster wrote:

So long as PoE remains as unrewarding as it is, it will not attract as many players as it could, simply because the gameplay is not fulfilling enough. Still a great game, but you need to go no-lifer just to get the very basic items required for a properly competitive build, and that is where many lose interest.

It takes around 1.5k+++ hours before you have completed the circle of just feeling one character has reached near completion to the point you are satisfied and want to try something else because of that.

Due to that raw time restriction, very few players get to experience more than a very few builds to a satisfying level of their potential, and so being restricted to a small part of the game's potential it is less interesting, in particular when it is a game focused around freedom of choice.

Only flippers, people who do not care about constantly selling their items on all characters so that they can focus their entire wealth on one character while gaming nonstop, those who play in full organized groups and those who spend every waking hour of their time on poe get to experience the fullness of the game.

That is why PoE has so low player numbers in a genre we know has potential for many times greater player bases.

"

Mahesys wrote:

..

So you´re against generalization and would like to see constructiv threads? Fair, i´m with that. But if that´s your point i don´t know why you yourself start with generalisation.

"..none wants to adapt.."
"..everyone wants a game.."

"

People forcibly adapt, but keeps whining and keeps thinking that their bad gaming experience is shared by every other player. Because hey, game is crap for me! it MUST be crap for you all too!

My point? enjoy the game as it is. Stop posting infinite whines with the convinction that solving your own QQ is the best way to change the game for everyone or for this famigerate "majority".

So you´re now telling me that YOUR view is the only "good" one and who are those "people"? Are they here in this thread? Can you point them out? Or is this again a generalization? Also what´s "QQ"? Isn´t QQ also called feedback? Doesn´t some of those feedback worked in the past in a good way like loot allocation?

This thread was quite constructive for the first 10 pages, then something when horribly wrong...

No clue who decided to turn this into a poo slinging contest.

I really don't get why people keep throwing around the casual/hardcore arguement.

At this moment, dota 2 has 575K active players. I think you can hardly call dota 2 a casual game, both it and POE have huge learning curves to understand what the game is all about, both are free to play on steam and both and are based around games over a decade old.

I'm never gonna expect POE to have its own national with people wearing jumpsuits to lan games, nor do I expect GGG to ever hope to compete with valve fanboyism. My point is that pretending POE is unpopular cause it isn't casual enough is bullshit.

"

Boem wrote:

This thread was quite constructive for the first 10 pages, then something when horribly wrong...

No clue who decided to turn this into a poo slinging contest.

Lol this thread was doomed the moment OP thought he had the 1 and only reason that there was a player decline.

"

GeorgAnatoly wrote:

"

Yohanu wrote:

Eh? It is pretty obvious that we have entirely different ideas of how to enjoy ARPG's. Having next to nonexistant droprates for uber endgame is great for me, it gives me a long-term goal to reach.

Did you miss-quote me? Sarcasm? Not sure what you mean about 'entirely different ideas of how to enjoy arpg's'.

Sorry, i wrote that while on my phone at work. As i got home and read the forums properly, i realised my mistake.

the key word in the OP is competitive. If you want to be competitive you have to put in as much effort as the people you are competing against. Period. You wont beat out someone that is playing way more than you are. If you are competing you have to compete, not just be awarded a win because you wanted it.

If you cant compete or dont want to put in the effort to really compete...dont try to be competitive. I dont know why this needs to be explained. The only reason people have to play so much to even 'compete' is because their competitors are playing so much. It has nothing to do with the rewards of the game.

"

Mahesys wrote:

People adapt

!=

People forcibly adapt, but keeps whining and keeps thinking that their bad gaming experience is shared by every other player. Because hey, game is crap for me! it MUST be crap for you all too!

My point? enjoy the game as it is. Stop posting infinite whines with the convinction that solving your own QQ is the best way to change the game for everyone or for this famigerate "majority".

I'm perfectly fine with costructive threads like:

"a suggestion to endgame" "suggestion: new orb" "suggestion: a new way of crafting" "how to fix desync" "what do you guys think about my idea of map system improvements"

But i'm totally against THESE kind of threads:

"we want AH" "without AH game will suck" "trade works this way so it's crap" "the reason players are quitting is X" "Puncture killed me it needs nerf" ecc. ecc. ecc.

See my point now?

And now *DON'T KILL ME* i prefer PoE over D2 (apart PvP sice ofc)

There's not really a difference between the one and the other, except how they're worded. But unless someone really goes over the edge, people don't discuss the words someone used, but the content of their posts. I know manipulative or extremely hyperbolic statements can be very annoying, but the OP does not fall into that category.

There are two main assertions:

"

So long as PoE remains as unrewarding as it is, it will not attract as many players as it could, simply because the gameplay is not fulfilling enough.

It's hard to argue with that. Being "unrewarding" is one of the most often heard reasons why people quit.

"

Due to that raw time restriction, very few players get to experience more than a very few builds to a satisfying level of their potential, and so being restricted to a small part of the game's potential it is less interesting, in particular when it is a game focused around freedom of choice.

It's also hard to argue with that. How many people are there who have more than a couple of builds in or close to endgame? Not really that much. How did they do it? Really don't know, but it seems by a) excessive playing, and b) excessive trading. And it's propably safe to say that a good portion of them also used RMT and/or flipping and scamming, and when you take those out of the picture not that many are left.
In PoE seems to be a huge discrepancy between its possibilities and its potential versatility and the means given to you.

So the questions, and what should have been talked about in this thread, is: How can GGG get those people that find the game not "fulfilling", without betraying those who want a more hardcore experience? And how can it take full advantage of its "unique selling point" (the endless possibilites), again, without betraying the hardcore crowd?

This is for me the essence of OP's post. Not the 1,500 hours played, not making PoE drop BiS items like flies, but this. It's a point very worthy of discussion. But what we got was hysterical bickering and accusations. It wasn't in the OP, it was in everyone who thinks taking sides and defending that side and attacking those on the other side is more important than the game.

A GAME, MADE BY HARDCORE PLAYERS. FOR HARDCORE PLAYERS!

/Endthread