Is PoE suffering from poor game design choices?

First off disclaimer; I'm a fanboy of PoE. I've put in enough hours to understand all the game mechanics etc and I feel like I have enough experience to speak to the things I'm about to.

Does PoE suffer from, how shall I put this; I'm not trying to be rude or start a flame fest, being negative just for the sake of being negative or a back seat developer - my point is this isn't a negative thread even though it's going to sound like one. Constructive and always with respect is where this is coming from so please do bare that in mind at all times when reading this. With that said I must ask you, the reader, permission to speak freely and for you to withhold judgement if possible.

Anyway, without further ado!

When I read about the new chisel recipe last night I had to ask myself, 'Are the developers somewhat... lacking in intellect or foresight or are they somewhat apathetic in how various decisions will affect the game?' It took me and, what I assume, many others literally seconds to realize that recipe was simply an idea the should have been scrapped and something else more pragmatic to achieve the same goal thought of in its place. But you have to assume they did the development of that recipe with thought and intent which just circles me back to the question, are the people responsible for that recipe's implementation, forgive me but, stupid?

Then that led me to think about many design decisions that are clearly inferior to easily thought of better options and how numerous those examples were. I'd like to keep this from being as ranty as possible so I'll only list a few that I find the most baffling that made it into the game:


The trust in the client operating their game is so little they are willing to let horrific desync undermine the entirety of their project yet they are incredibly soft on rmt, bots, and other arguably illicit and unfair practices.

They have insanely obvious and unfortunate balance issues in terms of the various possible build's power/skill gems and furthermore whole segments of combat (magic in general, low level zombies being worthless etc) are inferior or obviously gated/has a lower glass ceiling.

Trade and PoE's economy/crafting is so obviously poorly designed to anyone new and experienced and is so unbalanced compared to normal play that an average player with a reasonable amount of time to invest can't possibly hope to compete against an avid trader, botter, rmter, or multiboxer.

The difficulty is really ridiculous. I'm not saying give me carebear or make the game easier, read this sentence again if you need to. The difficulty spikes are extreme and unforeseeable with the punishments feeling excessive. Unless you already know the when, where, whys, and hows of those spikes in difficulty your character will be simply unable to cope with them. An unfortunate consequence of this poorly thought out difficulty ramp is that the game gets non-linearly less rewarding the longer you play a given character in terms crafting rewards, drops, exp progression etc which just feels awful to be honest.

I'll stop there. I could go on but my point is not to QQ, rant, flame or try to incite flame. Honestly if you can't contribute to this thread in a constructive and positive manner please don't post here.

But my point is, how did these obviously poor design choices make it into the game?

I personally believe that they sometimes miss the forest for the trees. They have such a grand design and vision that the miss the small quality of life things that end up being huge turn offs for the average player after they invested a significant number of hours. As an example : trade chat, lack of notes on friends list.

As much as every gamer likes to sit around and think "I could make a game!" the reality is that game design requires a strong & wide background. Not just in video games, but also in psychology, economics, etc. It hasn't felt to me that this game has a designer who has the chops necessary to fill the role.

PoE is a better Diablo game than Diablo 3, but serious improvements need to be made. Every time I think of spending money on this game something happens that reminds me how bad an idea that is.

Every game has poor design choices which causes it to suffer. So, yes.

PoE succeeds in gaining titles like PC Game of the Year not because it utterly avoids bad design choices, but because it succeeds at making a significant number of excellent choices.

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ScrotieMcB a écrit :

Every game has poor design choices which causes it to suffer. So, yes.

PoE succeeds in gaining titles like PC Game of the Year not because it utterly avoid bad design choices, but because it succeeds at making a significant number of excellent choices.

Path of Exile succeeded in getting one game of the year from GameSpot, a site notorious for making very poor reviews ever since everyone figured out GameSpot is in the pockets of publishers. I haven't trusted GameSpot to make a decent review for years now, mainly because those that write at GameSpot aren't really quality reviewers.


And really, lots of us have been over this discussion already. Path of Exile is a good game, and some even consider it a great game. But by no stretch of the imagination should it have won Game of the Year over some of the titles that were released this year.

I just don't pay enough attention I guess to worry about such things. I have played these types of games long enough to know that there is no such thing as a finished product. I play how the game exists until they change it and then adapt to that. If it gets bad enough, I will play something else. I just don't have time to worry about it, and try to maximize the time I have, playing what is available to me.

The only design decision I truly have a problem with is the lack of a toggle to eliminate weather/particle effects. I find it analgous to walking into a sandwich shop and having the following conversation:

Me: Hey, let me get your signature sandwich but hold the special sauce please.

GGG Sandwich Maker: Sorry, but you have to have the special sauce to enjoy the full experience.

Me: But the sandwich is good enough without the special sauce. I don't need it.

GSM: Yes, you do.

Me: But I don't like the taste of the sauce. It actually detracts from the experience for me.

GSM: Um....

Me: On top of that, I'm allergic to it. It could lead to something detrimental.

GSM: Well, maybe you could pay a doctor to give you an allergy shot before you eat the special sauce.

Me: You realize that the money I give the doctor is less money I can spend on your sandwiches, right?

GSM: Yes, but the experience. You need the experience.


See what I'm getting at? I may not like desynch or other isuues. But they aren't game breaking (for me) and the company has what they believe are valid reasons behind these things. Fair enough. But having my FPS drop to 2 in a boss fight when a simple toggle eliminates it for what, in effect, appears nothing more than a vanity driven decision is misguided at best.

Please, GGG, please stop forcing your special sauce on me.

PoE absolutely suffers from a variety of poor game design choices.

On the other hand, it benefits from a large number of very GOOD game design decisions. Those are enough to make it a very good game overall. I'm just worried that the poor game design choices cripple the game's growth and sustainability.

very good write up

for me the shock came when few days before THE RELEASE we've been told that passive tree is still being worked on

FEW DAYS!! few days before THE DAY when everything has to go smoothly the core of the game is being changed dramatically (for new ones - main question was if and how to allow 'going trough the middle' for non-Scion characters)

then I realized that this game is in for a bumpy ride


other minor shocks that made me come to a 'not a single cent more' conclusion:

- endorsement of PK at bandits (way to handle new players. such experience == 'cya, there are so many other games'. this is a business disaster)
- 'we created gameplay with alt-f4 in mind'
- 'economy is the most important part of this game'
- clumsy razor promo. that was a PR flop of great proportion
- 'blood magic is now stronger than ever' - this was a final nail to the 'connected with the game' coffin

stuff that should have been done earlier/at all:
- re-balancing sporkers during OB, not waiting for release. that cancer set in and created 'expecting broken' mindset that still lingers
- reverse of catastrophic 'melee buff' path in OB, not waiting for release
- legacy stuff should have never be in! this is invitation to RMT
- banning people from top20 on all ladders (With full account wipes including alts!) for rmt. if it takes me 5 minutes to track them down on jsp it is not hard to do.

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allbusiness a écrit :

And really, lots of us have been over this discussion already. Path of Exile is a good game, and some even consider it a great game. But by no stretch of the imagination should it have won Game of the Year over some of the titles that were released this year.

Totally agree, Bioshock Infinite or Gone Home deserved it way, way more.

Edit: Wait, sorry, I meant Battlefield 4...

Edit Edit: No wait, I'm still thinking, sorry, give me a minute, one of these games was truly innovative and fun....

Edit Edit Edit: Let me get back to you on this. I swear there is one.