RNG is good.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We're not here to indulge in reality but in hack-and-slash fantasy. ARPGs have become a second-rate genre. Its player retention and community management problems are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of Diablo 2 when ARPGs were a top gaming genre, there was a concept of build diversity. The Breath of the Dying Necromancers, the Widowmaker Sorcereress, the builds which built this great feeling of wonder, were made possible due to a community commitment to variety. Today, players have no stake in variety! All together, those of you complaining on the forums consider maybe three builds to be viable. And where do those of you with considerable in-game wealth invest it? Not in rogue builds, or at least not enough. You could benefit from diverse play. That's right, you, the Path of Exile player. And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these copycat wannabes, with their build envy, their 5L and 6L formulas, their droprate buffs and self-found leagues.

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He took the name of SFL in vain! Burn the heretic!

Fellow players, QQers, these forums have 33 different suggestions for making it easier to acquire the same gear as HvC. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing why you feel the need to build just like this guy, and I still can't figure it out. One thing I do know is that a lot of you feel stuck grinding for hours and hours, and I'll bet that half of the reason for that is that you're all trying to trade for the exact same gear. The new law of ARPG economies seems to be to crush diversity rather than foster it. Well, in my book you either have have a lot of possibilities, or you don't have enough of them. In the last seven builds that I've been involved with, I have handcrafted each of them without relying on any guide or streamer, have gotten to 87 with one of them, and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Thank you. Variety is not a destroyer of viability. It is a liberator of fun!

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that RNG, for lack of a better word, is good. RNG is right, RNG works. RNG clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of a broad spectrum of diverse possibilities. RNG, in all of its forms; RNG for gear, for "crafting," for monsters, for area generation has marked the upward surge of ARPG entertainment. And RNG, you mark my words, will not only save Path of Exile, but that other malfunctioning entity called ARPGs. Thank you very much. One more thing, which I couldn't fit into the Gordon Gekko speech pattern: everyone is pissed off at the coin flip right now. All you see is the choice between the one thing you want and the absence of it, the economy becomes a boring hierarchy of essentially the same affixes spiraling up with slightly better numbers, and your supposed solution to that problem is to put heads on both sides of the coin so it can no longer flip incorrectly. The answer isn't to limit the options in a binary pass/fail situation, but to increase the options so there are multiple different ways to pass. More viable builds, using a wider variety of different itemizations... and, as a result, less of a chance of getting any particular item you need, while a better chance of still getting a great item which someone needs. Free your mind from a monotone ladder of gear progression and embrace a plan for increased diversity... if Path of Exile has a problem, it's not too much RNG, but not enough meaningful RNG, meaning: a systematic conformity to a singular pattern of gear and Map evaluation.

I agree that RNG is good. It really is what divides ARPGs and MMORPGs. And I think thats where the build pigeonholing comes from too. In Guild Wars 2, if you want a X class that can do Y, you want W weapon and G gear stat set with T traits. Thats it. And its easy to get. You buy your exotic or craft your ascended/legendary...no RNG just mats and hitting a button. You grind your dungeon or craft your armor set depending...all it takes is time and its a FIXED amount of time for the most part. You can farm gold without finding buyers, etc.

Guild Wars 2 is good. PoE isnt GW2 and it is also good. People need to free their minds in PoE. Realize that progression is not linear. Ive gambled most of my gear for every build IVE created. Will I ever kill Atziri? Probably not, but that speaks to that content, the reason that content was made, and for whom. But it is what it is. My builds and chaosed gear have worked for everything else. Dominus, temple piety, Villiga...

Take the red pill people, open your eyes and minds to new possibilities, and actually have fun playing. Its a game, not a job with required billables and productivity numbers...

The one and ONLY reason I do not fully agree with this post is that actual game content is gated behind RNG. Gear, weapons, even gems, I can understand being reliant on RNG because it is what gives me a reason to keep playing; but actual content being gated behind RNG is too much IMHO.

I am specifically talking about Atrizi here. If I can kill Merc Dom then I should't have to rely on chance to be able to fight Atrizi. I think that putting actual story-line behind a gate of RNG was going too far with it.

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GingerBeast wrote:

The one and ONLY reason I do not fully agree with this post is that actual game content is gated behind RNG. Gear, weapons, even gems, I can understand being reliant on RNG because it is what gives me a reason to keep playing; but actual content being gated behind RNG is too much IMHO.

I am specifically talking about Atrizi here. If I can kill Merc Dom then I should't have to rely on chance to be able to fight Atrizi. I think that putting actual story-line behind a gate of RNG was going too far with it.

I don't think your level 69 character would do good vs Atziri.

Gating content behind RNG, or what the hell developers wish - is fine by me, as I'm used to adapt to what games throws at me.

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1988288 wrote:

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GingerBeast wrote:

The one and ONLY reason I do not fully agree with this post is that actual game content is gated behind RNG. Gear, weapons, even gems, I can understand being reliant on RNG because it is what gives me a reason to keep playing; but actual content being gated behind RNG is too much IMHO.

I am specifically talking about Atrizi here. If I can kill Merc Dom then I should't have to rely on chance to be able to fight Atrizi. I think that putting actual story-line behind a gate of RNG was going too far with it.

I don't think your level 69 character would do good vs Atziri.

Gating content behind RNG, or what the hell developers wish - is fine by me, as I'm used to adapt to what games throws at me.

Hell I dont even think my 83 Lightning caster could fight her, I *only* have a combined 3600 life. My resists with auras are *only* 80% and I have *0* uniques-of-the-month...so I dont think I stand a chance. Ive basically written that off as something that was never meant for a player like me who plays for fun and not "professionally." If I played the way that is required to beat Atziri I dont think Id have fun anymore.

I know why its gated behind RNG and I dont agree with it at all, but whatever. In the end it is just one thing...

To say game content is gated behind RNG may be true, but its also bullshit.

Regardless, skilled players can find consistent success, beating rng in even the worst circumstances by knowing how to work with it.

When atziri first came out many people cried how she is an an rng gate and a godsend to RMT users. Of course as usual, those people were just the GGG hate squad talking out their ass about things they know nothing of. As of now tons of builds both cheap and expensive have taken her down. First atziri kill was a build that typically will use alphas as its most expensive item (not including 6l that you dont need). Many people will say that you can beat her on almost any build as long as you learn her patterns well.

a few remarks, Scrotie:

"ARPGs have become a second-rate genre" - wrong.

"Today, players have no stake in variety! All together, those of you complaining on the forums consider maybe three builds to be viable" - wrong.

"these copycats, with their build envy, their 5L and 6L formulas, their droprate buffs and self-found leagues" - never asked for a drop-rate buff because that's random too. and did you just call me a "copycat"?

"these forums have 33 different suggestions for making it easier to acquire the same gear as HvC" - no... ok well maybe. but you know, Median XL had those crazy charms you got for killing Uber-shit. "trophies" I call them. useful too, with awesome godly buffs.
so yeah I want my first damned 6-link. and make it a Shavronne's Wrappings. and I want it as a trophy for first-time killing Palace Dominus. solo. after I got to face him based on my own skill and progression, and without RNG just randomly screwing me out of maps and back to farming Piety.

"you're all trying to trade for the exact same gear" - wrong. see my "narrow mind" thread. and fuck trade.

"In the last seven builds that I've been involved with, I have handcrafted each of them without relying on any guide or streamer" - now that's what I'm talking about! but tell me, did your gearing go according to plan, or did RNG just randomly step in and said "no"?
I agree it's nice to drop something random and think "hmm I can build around that", but it's even nicer to plan something of your own, then watch it happen using your own actions rather than the random favour of a bunch of virtual dice.

"RNG for gear" - depends on dosage.

"for crafting" - no. especially not in a crazy-variance way of total wipe-out, exactly what you wanted, and anything in between, with absolutely no player-control.

"for monsters, for area generation" - yes. definitely. because that's where it belongs.

"And RNG, you mark my words, will not only destroy Path of Exile, but that other wonderful entity called ARPGs" - fixed that for you.

"the economy becomes a boring hierarchy" - who cares? is "economy" even aRPG?

"while a better chance of still getting a great item which someone needs" - and what exactly can I do with that, besides just give it away to the guy who needs it?


and finally:

"if Path of Exile has a problem, it's not too much RNG" - it sure as hell is. but sadly, that's just one of many other problems. most by design, and some by unforeseen consequence of that design.

+1 to op.Its a mentality thing really and people that expierienced arpgs in the past are more likely to agree.

This game isnt for everyone,but can grow on 'new age gamers' as i call them.

This are the kind of players that prefer to jump in a game,be flashy enough and end game in some hours with a smile on their face the whole time.Just like watcing a movie,end it,shelve it,if it had some superior aspect,remember it for a while.

They prefer the destination and not the journey.That journey can be harsh,joyful,live.Yet destination is all they can think.Yolo right?Its the today we live and nothing else,they say.
If only they knew what are they missing...

Ill just say this to John and everyone else...

The reason I play PoE, the reason I loved TQIT and D2...you never know what will drop next. Ive played MMOs too, they are more about gathering and achieving...PoE offers me the sense that whatever I find next could be awesome. If that were handed to me through true crafting it wouldnt be the same. I like collecting orbs, starting with a base, socketing and linking it, rerolling it, and the rush when that amazing combination comes up. Its a real sense of fun when youve built a character from the ground up like that. The feeling would be gone if PoE became more like an MMO with crafting where you can dial-a-gear if you just have the ingredients.

If anything though, I did enjoy how TQIT handled "monster infrequents" as I believe they had special implicits that came on each one. I would accept this in PoE. If you could start with a special (rarer) base type with an implicit you wanted, thatd be cool. Of course some items already do this, maybe more should.

@elwindakos: Exactly, Im a "journey" player. I make destinations for myself. They are rolling a certain upgrade, or beating a certain boss, etc. When I run out of "destinations" I usually roll up a new character. But sometimes the goal is simply to relax and slaughter monsters with whatever method Im in the mood for. Thats when I do a piety run or roll a 66 with a 80+ toon that hasnt much else left to do...

So wait, you're holding it wrong?

Petrov.