The disparity between group play and solo play is too much

First of all, I know Mark and other people at GGG are enjoyers of group play, and that's probably going to prevent anything from changing here, but I'm still going to comment and just giving feedback.

I think the disparity between group play and solo play is just too much and is bad for the game. The difference between running in a group with a rarity bot versus playing alone is a little ridiculous. The amount of currency it generates is so much greater than what a solo player gets from mapping that it sort of feels bad for the 2 things to even exist in the same league. It's almost like the difference between trade league and SSF for solo players.

The group play players are the richest players and control the economy. I almost wish there was a separate trade league with only solo play so that it felt more like everyone was playing on a more equal playing field.

It's not that I don't want group play to exist, but I don't think they should get rewarded so heavily for what honestly amounts to gameplay that is really not any harder than solo play. They get too much currency and too much ability to manipulate the economy.

Personally, I have no interest in SSF or hardcore, because they make an already very time consuming game even more time consuming, and I like trading, but I sort of wish that I didn't have to be in the same economy as players who are running in groups and abusing group-oriented tactics and reward mechanics, because there's no chance to compete with them unless you find a group and do the same thing. And let's be real. The actual experience of the group play is pretty bad too due to how many things are going on on screen all at once, causing a lot of lag and just generally being really messy and less enjoyable.
Dernière édition par avastcosmicarena#5899, le 17 juil. 2025 à 13:12:43
Dernier bump le 18 juil. 2025 à 14:54:05
"
First of all, I know Mark and other people at GGG are enjoyers of group play, and that's probably going to prevent anything from changing here, but I'm still going to comment and just giving feedback.

I think the disparity between group play and solo play is just too much and is bad for the game. The difference between running in a group with a rarity bot versus playing alone is a little ridiculous. The amount of currency it generates is so much greater than what a solo player gets from mapping that it sort of feels bad for the 2 things to even exist in the same league. It's almost like the difference between trade league and SSF for solo players.

The group play players are the richest players and control the economy. I almost wish there was a separate trade league with only solo play so that it felt more like everyone was playing on a more equal playing field.

It's not that I don't want group play to exist, but I don't think they should get rewarded so heavily for what honestly amounts to gameplay that is really not any harder than solo play. They get too much currency and too much ability to manipulate the economy.

Personally, I have no interest in SSF or hardcore, because they make an already very time consuming game even more time consuming, and I like trading, but I sort of wish that I didn't have to be in the same economy as players who are running in groups and abusing group-oriented tactics and reward mechanics, because there's no chance to compete with them unless you find a group and do the same thing. And let's be real. The actual experience of the group play is pretty bad too due to how many things are going on on screen all at once, causing a lot of lag and just generally being really messy and less enjoyable.


They Cant Buff Solo Play in terms of MF/Quant etc.. as it will also have a greater effect for group play,

they need to equalise it.

every 25 levels or something your player automatically gets 25% MF or something, at 100 you have 100% MF.

This 100% Mf doesnt apply or become applicable in group play, and the standard group play MF comes into effect..

this way solo players sitll have some MF/Quant, and group play isnt changed
I don't see how this is bad.

Let's say you have 5 people in the group. Now you have to split all your loot between 5 people and sometimes the rewards can actually be less than solo play.

Also monsters have more hp % based on number of players in group.

I think it's fine the way it is. You are thinking 1 person vs. 1 person in a group who gets all the loot. When you think about all the loot split between people, it equalizes or sometimes could be even less than solo play.
"
2836742981#3689 a écrit :
I don't see how this is bad.

Let's say you have 5 people in the group. Now you have to split all your loot between 5 people and sometimes the rewards can actually be less than solo play.

Also monsters have more hp % based on number of players in group.

I think it's fine the way it is. You are thinking 1 person vs. 1 person in a group who gets all the loot. When you think about all the loot split between people, it equalizes or sometimes could be even less than solo play.


The only way to confirm if it is an issue or not would be to collect a sufficiently large sample size of data that compares how much time it takes to clear a map in solo and how much rewards it earns with how much time and rewards for a group of each size. In theory if all is balanced a group of 2 should get double the rewards as solo on a per minute basis, a group of 3 triple, etc. But without having an accurate and sufficiently sized data size to work through to confirm if that is the case, then everything is just opinion and speculation. Group play could be a big issue as the original poster implied, or it could be a non issue as what I have quoted has implied. But without a sufficient level of analysis there is no way to be certain.

GGG did say in a recent interview that they do now have a data person in their development team, so hopefully they use them to review data to ensure this amongst many other things is balanced.
Dernière édition par dabellinator#3011, le 18 juil. 2025 à 04:35:30
"
2836742981#3689 a écrit :
I don't see how this is bad.

Let's say you have 5 people in the group. Now you have to split all your loot between 5 people and sometimes the rewards can actually be less than solo play.


That is such a disingenuous way to to frame how those groups operate. We all know the gear is being funneled to one or two players and the others are stat sticks to be carried around. This is likely why they thought MERCS would fill the gap.

But if you punish that method, the RMT groups and streamers (the bread and butter for GGG) will all cry and throw a tantrum because they might actually have to work for some items like the rest of us who are not goobers who drag non interactive stat sticks around.
"
LordKillius#0678 a écrit :
"
2836742981#3689 a écrit :
I don't see how this is bad.

Let's say you have 5 people in the group. Now you have to split all your loot between 5 people and sometimes the rewards can actually be less than solo play.


That is such a disingenuous way to to frame how those groups operate. We all know the gear is being funneled to one or two players and the others are stat sticks to be carried around. This is likely why they thought MERCS would fill the gap.

But if you punish that method, the RMT groups and streamers (the bread and butter for GGG) will all cry and throw a tantrum because they might actually have to work for some items like the rest of us who are not goobers who drag non interactive stat sticks around.


So your issue is that group play allows you to turn off dedicated drops? Cuz if that wasn't allowed then it would be fair because the rarity teams couldn't invite xp leeches and then take their loot.
Dernière édition par DankWeebTrash#7386, le 18 juil. 2025 à 10:18:46
+1 GGG needs to take this seriously. Lots of solo players, game has like 5K active players some days lately. Or i guess they don't want to upset the streamers
"
2836742981#3689 a écrit :
I don't see how this is bad.

Let's say you have 5 people in the group. Now you have to split all your loot between 5 people and sometimes the rewards can actually be less than solo play.

Also monsters have more hp % based on number of players in group.

I think it's fine the way it is. You are thinking 1 person vs. 1 person in a group who gets all the loot. When you think about all the loot split between people, it equalizes or sometimes could be even less than solo play.


lol you probably play group play. Or you've never played in a group and don't realize how big of a difference it is. It's a massive difference even after taking into consideration that they have to split the loot in a group. It just drops so much more currency and so many more valuable items that it's way beyond what a solo player gets. They not only get better items due to significantly higher rarity but also MUCH MORE quantity of items because of the group play buffs. The rate at which they acquire items is just way faster.

Also, the higher HP % of monsters is completely irrelevant in a group. IMO, group play is EASIER than solo play despite the buffed monsters. It simply doesn't matter because you have too many people doing damage or buffing each other to do more damage.

EDIT: Also, as someone else pointed out, we all know tons of groups are just having people join solely to leech experience and not allowing them to pick up any loot.
Dernière édition par avastcosmicarena#5899, le 18 juil. 2025 à 12:19:03
"
Turtlerer#3183 a écrit :
"
First of all, I know Mark and other people at GGG are enjoyers of group play, and that's probably going to prevent anything from changing here, but I'm still going to comment and just giving feedback.

I think the disparity between group play and solo play is just too much and is bad for the game. The difference between running in a group with a rarity bot versus playing alone is a little ridiculous. The amount of currency it generates is so much greater than what a solo player gets from mapping that it sort of feels bad for the 2 things to even exist in the same league. It's almost like the difference between trade league and SSF for solo players.

The group play players are the richest players and control the economy. I almost wish there was a separate trade league with only solo play so that it felt more like everyone was playing on a more equal playing field.

It's not that I don't want group play to exist, but I don't think they should get rewarded so heavily for what honestly amounts to gameplay that is really not any harder than solo play. They get too much currency and too much ability to manipulate the economy.

Personally, I have no interest in SSF or hardcore, because they make an already very time consuming game even more time consuming, and I like trading, but I sort of wish that I didn't have to be in the same economy as players who are running in groups and abusing group-oriented tactics and reward mechanics, because there's no chance to compete with them unless you find a group and do the same thing. And let's be real. The actual experience of the group play is pretty bad too due to how many things are going on on screen all at once, causing a lot of lag and just generally being really messy and less enjoyable.


They Cant Buff Solo Play in terms of MF/Quant etc.. as it will also have a greater effect for group play,

they need to equalise it.

every 25 levels or something your player automatically gets 25% MF or something, at 100 you have 100% MF.

This 100% Mf doesnt apply or become applicable in group play, and the standard group play MF comes into effect..

this way solo players sitll have some MF/Quant, and group play isnt changed


I didn't ask them to buff solo play. I didn't suggest any ideas at all really other than maybe vaguely hinting that there could be a solo-only trade league, which would completely solve this problem, but since POE 1 doesn't have this I highly doubt they would even consider it.

As for your idea, it's not a bad idea. However, even 100% rarity wouldn't come close to equalizing it. There are many groups running around with a dedicated rarity bot who has 500%-700% rarity on them. In fact, this is one of the main reasons for Ritualist to even exist as an ascendancy, being able to get really high amounts of rarity via triple rings. So, it's probably intended by GGG. But it just feels so bad to have group play so much more incentivized than solo play.
Dernière édition par avastcosmicarena#5899, le 18 juil. 2025 à 12:10:32
I'm inclined to agree. The main concern seems to be the use/abuse of the rarity bot interaction, not specifically your average group of friends playing together for fun. I'd venture to say that the method of having multiple accounts logged in at once for the purpose of capitalizing on increasing loot rarity/quantity is treading close to being exploitation.

Or maybe rarity bots are part of the "vision." It may forever be a mystery.

Signaler

Compte à signaler :

Type de signalement

Infos supplémentaires