When Chris says that lab haters are a minority, how right is he?

I'm one of the "minority" that stopped playing a few weeks into Ascendancy because I didn't care for Labyrinth and the gadgety Mario Bros puzzle based gameplay along with having to make builds around that component - and having to do it on every character for every difficulty level. It's not a slam on GGG or the people who love it. It's just not my cup of tea.

I saw the new trailer for Atlas, GGG looks to still be doing awesome stuff.

Question I have: Is the Ascendancy content optional now (i.e. Lab, having to run it over and over in order to unlock passives etc), or are they double downing on the game design and will continue to have same type of content in future releases?

If the answer is "yes" - I will definitely be back to try out Atlas, and with it comes my financial support as gaming consumer for GGG and the streamers and others who make their living playing and promoting this game.

If the answer is "no"; expect more of the same or similar gameplay, then I will be one of the minority on the outside looking in with my nose pressed against the glass with fond memories of how Awakening was the peak for me and my GGG gaming experience.

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HomeBrewBBQ wrote:

Question I have: Is the Ascendancy content optional now (i.e. Lab, having to run it over and over in order to unlock passives etc), or are they double downing on the game design and will continue to have same type of content in future releases?

I don't think much will change, honestly. If anything, I suppose they might tweak trials a bit because there are complaints about that part even from those that like the labyrinth.

However, you don't have to build for labyrinth unless you want to farm it. Any competent build can pull it off, and any player once he had enough practice.

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HomeBrewBBQ wrote:

Question I have: Is the Ascendancy content optional now (i.e. Lab, having to run it over and over in order to unlock passives etc), or are they double downing on the game design and will continue to have same type of content in future releases?

No, if anything they made it much worse since you last played by adding a new, super hard 4th lab behind super-hard RNG-gated trials in maps. (Although there was also a positive change in not requiring trials to be done more than once per league, even when starting a new character).

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FourForces wrote:

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HomeBrewBBQ wrote:

Question I have: Is the Ascendancy content optional now (i.e. Lab, having to run it over and over in order to unlock passives etc), or are they double downing on the game design and will continue to have same type of content in future releases?

No, if anything they made it much worse since you last played by adding a new, super hard 4th lab behind super-hard RNG-gated trials in maps. (Although there was also a positive change in not requiring trials to be done more than once per league, even when starting a new character).

Guess I had to figure they were all in. From a game design mechanic, having the passive points tied to the completion of the trials is so integrated, removing it would essentially mean the Ascendancy release never happened. Also by the time GGG released it, they were already designing and building Atlas it doesn't surprise me they would continue with the trap/puzzle concept that would differentiate PoE from other dungeon crawlers, i.e. D3. I still think PoE has the best meta going out there right now; no other game has come along that can touch it to date. That being said, other games that compete with them don't necessarily "suck" in comparison either. Eventually a game will come along that will take the best parts of what people like from other games and get the combination right (Blizzard pulled it off with WoW taking all the best parts of EQ with it). But GGG has their vision of where they want the game to go and players can either come along for the ride or shop elsewhere. You have to respect that.

I'd love the lab if it weren't for this shit


http://i1300.photobucket.com/albums/ag99/offoffmaymay/you%20still%20have%20the%20nerve%20to%20beg%20for%20money%20and%20this%20shit%20still%20happens%20on%20uber_zpsbxdeu67l.png

and it still sucks

he can say whatever he wants, its called pr, he will not say thing that might put the game in bad light even if they are true

Oh good so the majority of people who voted do dislike lab... Guess I am not alone here.

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tarantoga wrote:

he can say whatever he wants, its called pr, he will not say thing that might put the game in bad light even if they are true

There is a different between not putting a problem into the spotlight

and blatantly lying about it

Nah... he's not lying. He's using a subjective measure. "Hate" can be defined a number of different ways, so if he takes an extreme view of it, he's right. I don't think anyone from GGG has been shot over it. So the "hate" hasn't risen to that level. Use that measure and the majority of us don't hate the lab.

He's not lying. He's using language deceptively.