Simply stop playing the meta...

So most of the responses I am seeing seem to interpret my OP as saying either engage in the meta or dont, black and white. And I suppose the title is partly to blame for that.

My intent was to offer another perspective, or kind of remind ppl of the perspective the game itself offers. I agree that in an always online game you can't wholly escape the meta but to have some balance in how you play and experience the game I feel would really benefit those who focus solely or perhaps just "too much" on the meta and end up aiming most of their criticism at it knowingly or not.

Also I wanted to emphasis that the player himself/herself has to take some responsibility in how they interact with the game and what they expect from it based on their approach, I think Mivo summed it up very nicely.

Thanks for all the responses its very interesting to see some veterans and newer players perspectives on the topic.

"

Mivo wrote:

Your wife would not be able to kill Atziri with a decked out character. Presumably neither would you, even if you had, say, Mathil's character and gear. The same is true for me.

I disagree. With OP stuff Atziri doesn't look that bad and on softcore I still get all the portals to get the job done. My wife probably couldn't just because thats one fight where you do need to move around some to keep from dieing. With a little practice she probably could do it as well.

"

Claiming that it's all RNG and that everyone can do it, regardless of "skill" or knowledge really doesn't cut it, because most people can't do it. The "no lifer" line doesn't apply, races are only an hour on average. Have you ever won a race? Ever been top-10? I haven't.

Races may as well not exist to me. I don't really comment on them because I don't do them, same for hardcore I don't do that as well. I think I would say mostly what your talking about his PoE's form of skill which is basically just knowledge, builds, and time. Its not the skill that I am referring to, although it does make a gap between mediocre players and the high level guys.

"

The theme here seems to be, "I haven't achieved much in PoE, so the game takes no skill. I'm pretty good at Dark Souls, and that shows how much skill it takes.

Definitely not. Its just seriously my opinion. From my perspective I am just fine at PoE. I just think Dark Souls uses real skill and PoE uses more other stuff. Its not a dis on PoE, Diablo style Dungeon crawlers are like my favorite type of game.

"

iamstryker wrote:

Races may as well not exist to me. I don't really comment on them because I don't do them, same for hardcore I don't do that as well. I think I would say mostly what your talking about his PoE's form of skill which is basically just knowledge, builds, and time. Its not the skill that I am referring to, although it does make a gap between mediocre players and the high level guys.

What really is "skill", though, if not the combined result of knowledge and time?

It's not something you're born with. It's the result of learning (acquiring knowledge) and applying it (practice, which means time). For some tasks you also need to meet some physical criteria (doesn't help much to study piano playing if you have arthritis in your hands, or wanting to be a jockey if you're six and a half feet tall).

What is the skill you need for Dark Souls? And how is it different from the skill you need to consistently win races? You presumably have to learn DS to get good at it. The same is true for PoE races, and really, PoE in general. I honestly don't see the fundamental differences.