PoE: The big picture. Something for everyone (to complain about?)

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This post was written and buffed up with enough complimentary content that it is nearly impossible to tell that it's just another lab-hate entry.

Well done, sir.

;)

The lab part is just a little cherry on top. It's not the main topic by any means. My forum anti-lab build relies on steady and sustained damage over time, not on big hits :P

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It's the wise way to approach it. The big hit (one-shot) method only results in the non-purchasable red supporter tag. (For some of us)

Lab is clearly anti pay-to-win!

Peace,

-Boem-

Very nice and captivating read. The categorization of the players was enough to make a point on its own and why certain issues came up. "Issues" that for some are problematic and alienating (nerfing legacies, nerfing certain interactions etc) and for others another fun or balance implementation added to the game (nerfing legacies, "fixing" certain interaction, lab etc).

The least i can say is fortunately the forum is still entertaining.

I haven't read the OP (sorry fam) but I just wanted to say that my issues with the game have no lobby :( I hate the super small inventory and tetrissing items and looting itself is quite unnerving with all of the tiny currencies I have to click all the time but yeah I feel like I'm the only one who cares so usually I keep my mouth shut. Ok rant over.

That was a very interesting read! =)

I had a general idea of the design philosophy you described and how GGG might use it but you laid it out very well and the MTG analogy really helps, too.

I'm a big fan of MTG myself and now that I think of it I play PoE the same way I play MTG. I always made my own decks and rarely played the meta decks. In PoE I always make my own builds and never play the meta ones.

I actually stopped playing MTG and as a matter of fact PoE gets a few things even better than it. The main reason why I stopped MTG was that I'm a Johnny and in MTG the Johnnys usually only have other Johnnys to play with.

They can't play with the Timmys because Timmy's decks will usually have all the unfair / banned cards that Johnnys don't necessarily like to use because they favor elegance over raw power. They can start a game of course but usually the unfairness of Timmy's cards will make quick work of Johnny.

They also can't play with the Spikes because the Spikes are usually playing the seasonal competitions (T2 in MTG), memorizing the meta and knowing all possible responses to each play, but Johnny doesn't want to use only T2 cards and specialize in only one game format, he wants to have a much bigger range of options to exercise his creativity in deck building and be able to play games that are not always the same.

Those are problems in MTG but I don't think they are problems in PoE. In PoE I have the full ability to be a Johnny and enjoy the game as much as the Timmys and Spikes. I can make absolutely any build I want and that won't be affected by the builds everyone else is making. At least it won't if you have a Johnny mentality. If you think you must always win in the best way possible then you are forced to play the meta and you aren't a Johnny. But despite what others might think, PoE does not force you at all to play the meta, although MTG kinda does in some ways.

Nice read! My pro-lab hitpoints are slowly dwindling. ;)

@OP

In one sentence you write that GGG knows exactly what they are doing in other you criticize them that they make flaws (so dont know what they are doing). Make up your mind.

Also the best proof that there is for any game discussion - its popularity of given game. Now go ask milions of players that are fans of ARPGs, why arent they playing POE. Come back and bring the list, that will be exactly what GGG does wrong. Because as any company, you cant just focus on players that already play, you gotta focus also on possible customers, so new players in this case.
The question is always "why arent they buying our product?".

Nobody on this forum sems to care about this side of a wall at all.