Syndicate - bloated convoluted mess

well.. ignoring the inexcusable technical issues the syndicate encounters are fun.

problem is - the entire syndicate isnt. or rather - it is until you learn how this thing works.

there are 17 masters and 4 divisions, masters can have 1-3 'stars' and be 'leader' of their division. it already sounds like busywork - trying to remember that

thankfully people made various tools to help with understanding that. stuff like this:



one quick look and.. you realise that most masters are worthless. problem is that entire syndicate safehouse/mastermind rewards are based on masters you put into each safehouse.

so you either try (hello rng!) to manipulate who-goes-where and ignore 13 masters to achieve good rewards or get rewarded with 2 chests of random items and 6 worthless unique items

after doing Mastermind for the first time (green on green gfx vomit that is pretty much HORRIBLE for melee) i no longer want to interact with this system - i know that i HAVE to do it certain way or ill get junk as rewards

suggested solution:

- give scarabs to ALL rewards. scarabs are way too rare, if you think some are too strong - nerf them. but make them available. right now it is depressing that the only source of scarabs is one of four divisions SOME of the time...
- remove junk rewards. 'rare items' from haku or 'radom unique' from elron are worth nothing 99.99999% of the time
- replace junk rewards with veiled items. unveiling crafting right now is a nightmare due to encounter rarity

in fact id be happy when safehouse reward is combination of scarabs (100% of the time), veiled items (100% of the time) and a splash of division-themed 'special rewards'

right now the 'base' reward if you did not lucked out and got the 'good' master is laughable

and yes, i know you can manipulate the board. if the rng smiles the right way. you cannot force a master to appear in the rooster, you cannot force the correct bargain option. unless you want to waste several rounds 'waiting' for good rng you cannot manipulate the board. and tell me since when 'wasting' gameplay is a good game design?

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sidtherat a écrit :

tell me since when 'wasting' gameplay is a good game design?

Game is intentionally designed to waste the player's time. The game has the same philosophy as a casino. We're pulling the lever on a never-ending slot machine with per-determined unbelievably awful odds.

I hate syndicate and I hate memory nexus.

I at least know how to use the syndicate mechanic and, in theory, get good rewards, but it never spawns for me nor do the right members spawn so I can never get anything good out of it. Don't have issues with difficulty, so it's not that - it's just not fun IMO. Trying to farm harbour bridge and still not getting anyone I needed or the right options last league was beyond boring. Beat mastermind several times last league before I realized how pointless it was; this league I've only done a couple safehouses due to low spawn.

Nexus... I just don't really understand. I mean, I know how to get a lot of memory modifiers, although I've never done it successfully because you run out of charges (disconnecting the memories) and then things seem to change randomly and blegh. Supposedly there are bosses but I've never seen any. Who knows what's real anymore; none of this content has any impact on me. Fractured items are so stupid convoluted that I just combine them entirely at random.

Delve I get. Delve I enjoy doing. Delve gives me rewards and doesn't make me Google reference charts. I map to get sulphite and then I delve. Bing bang boom.

Call me lazy as much as you want, I just do not want to do all the research and legwork that's now required in order to make these league mechanics playable! I want challenge in PoE, and I want it to be earning the ability to blow up screens through hard work and smart building/gearing. I don't want it to be figuring out entirely non-intuitive tricks to farming a limited amount of RNG-based mechanics.

It's not even that impressive to learn, since YouTube will tell you the exact, precise, prescribed, formulaic ways of getting anything done in these leagues. You just have to sit there and spend that time learning the special trick, then shape stuff through grinding to get everything lined up the right way (with no wiggle room, no other options, no creativity, nothing but the formula). Then grind more and hope for some reward.

Sorry, it's just not my thing at all.

Why you even talk about syndicate!?

This buggy and awful mess need to be totally removed from the game, period. Its beyond repair now.

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John_Ra a écrit :

Why you even talk about syndicate!?

This buggy and awful mess need to be totally removed from the game, period. Its beyond repair now.

+1

At this point the game is becoming too much for me. There is nothing wrong with Zana mods for past leagues you enjoyed. Adding everything to the core game is just bad.