The Labyrinth is everything I dislike about games in one package.

I love the Lab... despite that fact I lost 50% percent exp to level 100 :)

I knew there will be plenty of scrubs crying how crap the lab is.

Like, seriously? You are getting extremely powerull subclass passives and you would want it to be for free or what? [Removed by support]

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innervation wrote:

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HeWhoAnswersTheCall wrote:

Complete opposite to my feelings. I hate the aspect of PoE that is brainless, speed-based and little more than a gear check fueled by trading and lucky drops. The Labyrinth is engaging, immersive and stimulating for me. I think the traps are well-implemented, the maze itself REALLY feels like a maze, the boss is integrated into every aspect of the maze (the acquisition of devices, for example), and the backtracking...well, it's a maze. It's a pretty shitty maze if you don't have to backtrack.

But your feedback is totally legitimate. I read it less as a criticism of the Labyrinth's implementation and more as an admission that you just don't like it, and a clear breakdown of what you don't like about it. And that's fair enough.

I disagree that it's near mandatory however. The game's difficulty hasn't been touched as a result of Ascendancy. You can do everything you did before. But if you want that extra power, you take that extra challenge. I think that's a fair trade-off.

Thanks for fostering some real discussion.

I'll grant them that the boss is well designed and interesting.

To go right to the mandatory topic, no, it's really not close to mandatory except in this sense: In today's modern always-online MMO-ARPG, devs feel the need to give people a reason to come back. I would have never touched Diablo 3 again if they hadn't done paragons and eventually seasons. While I enjoy PoE more than that other game for what it offers at the core level of experiencing an ARPG, I still come back primarily for the new content.

I want to experience the game again, in a new way, from level 1-90 (ish). The labyrinth, and by extension, Ascendancies, are the only new things they've put into the game in 4 months. It's a total take-it-or-leave-it experience, and when that falls flat, like it seems to have for me, it sucks =/

I'm glad I rolled a build that's using the new skills, and I'm glad that Perandus is fun. Because that's enough novelty to overcome my overwhelmingly negative impressions of the Lab. (and on that note, I'll have to remember to make a positive feedback thread about those things, gj devs!)

I'm always happy to provide as rational a contrary position as possible if I feel it's not a waste of time.

Give it a few days. As I've said elsewhere, my first day with the Labyrinth was really rough, but since alpha feedback needs to be more than just first impressions, I stuck with it. I took the breaks necessary to prevent me defenestrating either my monitor or myself. I learned the tricks. A few days later, I found the Labyrinth much less aggravating.

But you know what? You can just buy lab kills. That'll totally be a thing once players more content to do the runs realise they can make a profit from it. That way you get to Ascend, maybe score some loot from the chests, get some enchantments...and you don't have to deal with the intricacies of the Labyrinth itself. Before long, there'll be people clearing the Labyrinth in less than ten minutes. Of that I am sure.

As for experiencing the game 1-90 differently? I don't think that's a fair expectation given GGG's resources. I mean, we can go full pie in the sky and say, hey, why not make Maps available from normal onwards? And indeed, many of us have made that suggestion -- even I don't enjoy doing the same damn story 3 times in a row, dozens of times across a roster of characters. But that GGG haven't done something like that tells me there are factors we don't know making it impossible, or at least unfeasible.

But if you look at everything that's been added since beta, hasn't your 1-90 experience changed quite dramatically? Master missions, corrupted zones, strongboxes, rogue exiles, nemesis rares, bloodlines magical creatures...these are the sorts of changes you can expect GGG to make to the core game. Not some completely new stream. Even Ascendancies, if we're being completely honest, don't change anything other than what happens when you click that button. More damage, in most cases. They're a game-changer only if your idea of the game is decidedly character-development based.

At any rate, before too long, the Labyrinth will be mastered and it'll be no big deal to 'buy' Ascendancies. GGG can't really monitor or control that, not without disabling partying, and they'd never do that.

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Diphal wrote:

I love the Lab... despite that fact I lost 50% percent exp to level 100 :)

I knew there will be plenty of scrubs crying how crap the lab is. Traps hurts mimimi!

Like, seriously? You are getting extremely powerull subclass passives and you would want it to be for free or what? [Removed by support]

It should be more skill orientated. The fact that you died as a 99 to lvl 16 mobs says alot

thanks GGG my brain was not working anymore playing this game, now I need to click AND look where I am going.

It is hard on people with low concentration but maybe they will learn to enjoy braincell stimulation once in a while.

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Chadwixx wrote:

The fact that you died as a 99 to lvl 16 mobs says alot

Yeah, it says 'deadly traps' means DEADLY. Which part of that is giving people problems?

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You've all been on autopilot too long. Wake up. A trap that deals percentile damage doesn't give a fuck about your level or your astronomical life or your otherwise impenetrable Energy Shield.

GGG, let's acknowledge what you've done right: you created classes that further differentiate the characters. You've created a bunch of new monster models that look great. You've added powerful new enchantments and spells and supports.

Those are all good things.

But what you've done wrong is make so much of that inaccessible except by traversing backtrack maze trappy-puzzle HELL.

I don't play PoE for traps and puzzles. GOD i hate traps and puzzles, and the only thing I hate more than traps and puzzles in a video game is frickin' MAZES! Though to be fair, there has always been a maze-y aspect to PoE that i have learned to tolerate even though I hate it. Because usually there's fun stuff to do while I'm stuck in the mazes, like killing monsters, looting chests.... but with invulnerable trap machines being the only threat, there's no fun in that!

Congratulations, guys. You've put all of my most-hated game elements into my favorite game all at once. Spent a couple of hours trying to clear normal lab today. My hand-eye coordination isn't the best. I guess you want only elite uber pro gamers playing your game now?

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HeWhoAnswersTheCall wrote:

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Chadwixx wrote:

The fact that you died as a 99 to lvl 16 mobs says alot

Yeah, it says 'deadly traps' means DEADLY. Which part of that is giving people problems?

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You've all been on autopilot too long. Wake up. A trap that deals percentile damage doesn't give a fuck about your level or your astronomical life or your otherwise impenetrable Energy Shield.

Do players get the "deadly" mod so they can kill lvl 99's at lvl 16 or is that a mod that only benefits mobs. Like i said they went gay over balance, a lvl 16 area trap shouldnt kill a lvl 99.

...Sometimes I forget not all PoE players are Diablo veterans...given D1 and D2 were basically nothing more than giant mazes populated with shit to kill and loot.

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joachimbond wrote:

GGG,

I don't play PoE for traps and puzzles. GOD i hate traps and puzzles, and the only thing I hate more than traps and puzzles in a video game is frickin' MAZES!

I hope GGG realise how far away from original idea they made the game to attract players with this kind of taste. Old school ARPG always had traps and puzzles, but GGG too long made people in POE think this game was just pew pew 1 click no brain.

MAybe with all those negative post GGG will see they attracted wrong people because they went too arcade-ish instead of old hardcore school-ish.

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HeWhoAnswersTheCall wrote:

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Chadwixx wrote:

The fact that you died as a 99 to lvl 16 mobs says alot

Yeah, it says 'deadly traps' means DEADLY. Which part of that is giving people problems?

__

You've all been on autopilot too long. Wake up. A trap that deals percentile damage doesn't give a fuck about your level or your astronomical life or your otherwise impenetrable Energy Shield.

This is not a roguelike or a puzzle game.

My astronomical life or impenetrable energy shield should protect me from traps; otherwise what is the point of having it in the first place? Why do I bother gearing when the traps completely ignore it?

The labyrinth design completely contradicts the entire point of the rest of the game.