Almost 1000 hours played... Feedback time for you GGG :)
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So, I'm closing in on 1000 hours played since day 1 of Open Beta, and wanted to provide some more extensive feedback based on that playtime to the devs in the hopes that it gets read. I've also posted a number of negative comments on feedback and thought I should make a more balanced post on my thoughts.
Background & how I like to play PoE
I'm almost 30 and have been playing games since the early SNES era. I'd say I've been somewhat a hardcore gamer since the N64 days and have been a hybrid console/PC player since about 1999/2000. I've enjoyed pretty much every genre of game except MMOs in that time.
I don't like playing hardcore mode in any ARPG, but I do like making character builds, pushing them as far as I can, and then rerolling with the hopes of making something more powerful. I played several failed builds during Open Beta as I learned the game, made a level 84 Freeze Pulse scion in Domination that ultimately disappointed me in maps, and re-rolled into a CI melee build I made up and got to level 90 in Domination. I am now continuing in Standard until I get enough wealth built up to try a more GG build. Races don't interest me, neither do hardcore leagues. 4 month leagues don't particularly appeal to me either, unless I was about to make a new character anyways. Summary: PoE is not my favorite game ever, and I'm not even sure it would be top 5, but I think I can illustrate how much I like PoE by listing all the games in which I've ever played ~1000+ hours during my 20-25 years of gaming: -Counter Strike (1.6 and Source) -Halo (CE, 2, and 3) -Morrowind -Pokemon Blue/Red -Path of Exile It's a short list, and it's a testament to the fact that PoE is an absolutely excellent game. Thank you, GGG, for making what I consider to be the best ARPG ever (yes, better I think than Diablo 2 - a game I played for maybe ~200-300 hours).
Some things I have really liked
* PoE is very well designed to let players play the way they want. Races/4 month leagues/permanent leagues/new cutthroat leagues, etc. Players can play how they want and can set their own goals based on what they think they can and want to do (e.g. "finish the game"... "make lots of creative builds and try new skils"... "get to level [x]", etc). This is excellent, and I have never played an ARPG that offers such flexibility. I think it's the best thing about PoE. * Character build depth (skill tree & itemization) is excellent. I think this is well known, so I won't harp on it, but it deserves to be stated. The game is very satisfyingly deep in terms of character builds and progression. * Mapping system is cool and varying the map mods always makes playing endgame interesting. * Graphics / atmosphere / sound effects are really nice. This isn't Crysis 3, but I love it. * The depth of how game mechanics work is excellent. It always feels like there is something more to learn about how the game works at the inner level. I like that it's not all revealed for us. * Monster and boss design in general is really superb. I think it's among the best in the ARPG world - lots of differing monster mechanics, and they all engender different reactions ("yay free XP!" or "not those stupid bird wretches running away again...") * Ethical F2P model is win-win-win for everyone. I get to spend ~$200 on your game but more casual players can enjoy it for free (even, I suppose, 1000 hour players can enjoy for free... though I personally think that is unethical)! * Constant updates make the game always fresh and exciting.
Some things I think need to be improved
* Desync and latency issues. I know there's a million topics on this and I don't want to beat a dead horse, but this needs to be improved. It's the biggest gameplay flaw in the game by an extreme margin, and it's the only thing I would label as "bad" about PoE. * Ability to play endgame (e.g. map drops) dependent entirely on streaky RNG. This makes no sense to me and seems to unnecessarily punish solo play. I do not agree that it is good design to gate the ability to play behind an RNG wall. * Communication from GGG to players surrounding balance issues. I think that when significant changes have been made to game balance, you guys could do a better job explaining what motivated the decision. You've done this very well with most of the uniques, but very poorly with some passive tree changes (most recent example = Vaal Pact/life and mana leech nerf). When communication is poor, it easily can create the feeling (as seen on the forums), that anytime someone comes up with a good build, it's going to get nerfed. * Trade chat. It's an abomination, clearly not designed for the player count that the game has. It needs to go or be reworked substantially. I actually don't have much of a problem with how the trading metagame works (post shop thread --> rely on poe.xyz to index), but the in game trading system is poor. * Tutorials. The game desperately needs more of them for new players. Even if it were as simple as "read these PoE Wiki pages first!", it would help. * Crafting good endgame gear impossible for all but the top 0.0000000000001% of wealthy players. I honestly don't know how to fix this without disastrous side effects (everyone getting GG gear in 50 hours), but I do think it's a problem. Most orbs are nearly worthless as anything other than "gold" except for those with extreme wealth (excluding race scenarios, of course). So there you have it. Might update if I think of more things. Gotta get back to playing now! The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard Dernière édition par tackle70#1293, le 19 mars 2014 à 21:47:56
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Nice feedback, while written, and I am very happy that you played Morrowing for over 1000 hours.
As to your feedback, I like the way you have listed things that went well, it balances out the feedback very well and it also gives a good indication of what you enjoy and how things you don't enjoy could be modified. One major thing I will agree with that I haven't seen suggested very often is having GGG give us more information about major balance changes. I remember them having done so a few times, they discussed the aura change a fair bit. But for the change to leech, nothing beyond "leech is changing to this, leech was too powerful" |
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Really nice feedback I agree with most of your points on the 'things that should be improved section'
I strongly agree that it is a shame that the map system is bit to random, especially for solo play. I almost exclusively play solo and I love PoE. At the moment I am lvl 89 on ambush league and today I went from 5 lvl 75+ maps, 5 lvl 74, 10-12 lvl 73 and 15 lvl 72 maps to 0 of all of the above. I used all my maps in a single day. I am currently running lvl 71 maps gaining less than 1% xp per map. It is very discouraging :o( Also I made a separate thread about better feedback from the devs to the player community when they patch and balance the game :) Both because I feel puzzled by some choices, but also because I feel it could adress a lot of the negativity on these forums. A few weeks back we saw a lot of 'you guys ruined my bringer of rain build. I will never play your game again' posts. If GGG had stated something a long the lines of "While we feel Bringer of Rain is a well designed unique, we feel it was to strong compared to a 6L chest and hindered build variety. With the changes it will be tuned down a notch while still being viable throughout the endgame" Good feedback takes out the mystery and helps players put changes into a larger perspective. In short: Good feedback :) Good points :) |
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My 1000 Hour Feedback...
This game desyncs. |
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" Buying Dratini is a must, but a pain in the ass to level, just as Magikarp before Cerulean Cave. Anyway, nice feedback. |
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Stopped reading at 1000+ hrs of pokemon. Seriously the game is for children. If you find that to be a great game no wonder some people can't take the difficulty of POE.
All jokes aside, glad you love poe! "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe IGN: DarkenedSoui Dernière édition par ShaeG#0897, le 19 mars 2014 à 23:03:16
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" Pokemon games has a very simple learning curve that can be overcome by a 5 years old. But online battling with other players and winning? I really doubt you would get more than 1/100 wins in competitive fights. Pokemon has more dept when it comes to PvP than PoE does ;) Edit: I see you added "joke aside" with edit. So I guess you were just sarcastic after all :) Dernière édition par symban#2593, le 19 mars 2014 à 23:06:49
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" Reading 'battle stories' from pokemon are very interesting, the mindgames, thoughts, etc. Well written they can be a very great story, of a 6v6 battle between two people and ones attempts to stall or sweep. Pokemon the single player game definitely is simple, but the rules based pvp is quite complex, because of how you can spec your pokemon, to max speed for example |
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" Well I was 12-13 when it came out... that game is almost 16 years old. It was my school bus / travel game for most of middle school. Never really had any interest in other Pokemon games after that though. The 352nd character to hit Level 100 in Standard The 82nd character to hit Delve 1000 in Standard Dernière édition par tackle70#1293, le 20 mars 2014 à 00:38:14
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" I strongly suggest BW and XY. Especially ever since they introduced weird type combination pokemon like ground/water type or electric/bug or flying/rock where placing a counter type is quite hard especially in 2v2 or 3v3 fights (you know that in new ones it is not only 1pokemon vs 1 pokemon only, right?). Things get real interesting when opponent sends a dark/flying + ground/water. Also due to trick room skill (which reverses turn order or speed) having a full team of extra fast pokemon now does not work. Have a look you will love new ones. |
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