Goodbye POE - nonsense game by design?

So after about 9 months I decided to move away from this game. Probably after getting bored with good parts of the game, I realised its pure nonsense by design. I have four builds - lvl 92, 91, 88, 73. And after reaching mapping part with four build I suddenly lost all motivation to play. It was very rapid. I noticed that despite doing another build - everything is still very schematic, almost the same. So let's proceed with main problems

I) Main, simple issue - overgrinded in endgame. The game is pretty ok until like early mapping and merciless lab. After that builds are mostly feature complete and the rest is just mindless, pointless grinding. Grinding is not a bad idea itself, but overgrinding is. Grinding must come in ballance with learned player's skill(s) and must give rewards in proper pace. That is disturbed after finishing campaign and doing mapping. Better PvP could for example give meaning to grinding in late game. Seeing how you advance in ladders, while having fun in PvP matches.

II) Second cause - looking greatly playable from the outside - passive tree, skill combinations, different classes, ascendancies etc. Under the hood it turns out that POE is just slightly better than Diablo III. In end game only DPS and speed farming matters. There is incredible easy schematic in most builds. Isn't it strange that I got totally bored after 4 bouilds - that is even less then the number of classes (sic!). So POE is mostly artifical complexity, not playability complexity.

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Now we can go to the list of most important post-design issues - assuming the two above would be addressed properly. This is not about making the game less casual and so on - most games are for fun, POE is not a recognised e-sport game. So for fun is first, competition is secondary. Challenges are in real life. So clearly, everyone who spends playing POE only for challenges must have problems in real life.

1) No particle effects settings in visual section - problem as old as 2013. Makes party playing often ridiculous.

2) Mandatory labirynth with traps. Traps in isometric, mouse controlled movement game? Srsly? So can be, but not mandatory.

3) One shot mechanics vs. exp penalty in softcore. Pure nonsense - someone enters some area, gets killed almost at once without a warning and gets penalty. Too big damage spikes - too easy mobs vs. too hard bosses at same tier.

4) Not enough priority in balancing - results in lots of missed ideas for a build or overpowered speeders.

5) No basic social features in game - e.g. to assemble a proper team. Maybe guilds have some more, but what about normal ppl, who don't spend 24h/7d or simply play also other games.

6) Sudden difficulty raise when entering endgame - very annoying for typical ppl - difficulty should raise gradualy or should be better adjustable.

7) Connected with I, extension - the game focuses too much on most nonsensial part - the endgame and post level 80 builds, while too little focus on <80 builds. Post level 80 builds start to simply be turbo clearing speed power builds, with OP movement skills, endless mana etc. While earlier there are lots more possibilities of challenges and better gain in party, where members are more specialized.

So very funny thing is that how GGG managed to keep my for 9 months in the game, concerning all above? Ok there are good, fun features - but that is maybe good enough for 2 builds max until mid tier mapping. The rest is illusion and social/psychological techniques. So that seems GGG is good at.

So bye and I'll come back to this game maybe after some time to see whether GGG has made something that makes sense.

GGG good luck making this game good and playable more!

I) Have you heared about "GRINDING Gear Games"?

II) In endgame matters only what you want. If you think it's all about lvl 100 you are wrong. So far i don't remember to ever be intrested in getting to lvl 100 (every league i have different objectives but xp is not one of them).

2) lab is super easy nowadays. Sorry but i was able to finish uber lab without any deaths before 3.0 playing trash (fun) build with low defenses and dps. Now it's much easier. If you don't like lab that's fine, I myself hate act 1-10 but im not crying about this fact.

3) Git Gud? If you die to white/magic mob its your fault. Boss part is harder but still possible (hardcore league)

4)This game is all about possibilities. If something is really broken it gets fixed (sure some things need a lot of time).

6) I myself skip white and most yellow maps when playing new character as they are too easy for geared character.

7) Lvl 80 is 2, max 3 days when starting league for casual player. I don't see any reason to change this focusing on "party" - from what i know most players play this game alone and only "online" interaction is trading.

While most of the points are valid, this is just a case of burnout. The game kept your attention for 9 months. You admit it's better than D3. This is actually a high praise for GGG. You will not find another game that can do the same. PoE is not perfect, but all other ARPGs are even less so.

But who said that you should be playing PoE all the time for years? It's perfectly normal to take a break and enjoy other games. I can predict one thing though: soon enough you'll have a PoE withdrawal and come back to play in a new league. :)

Eventually you'll find your own balance, how much time you want to spend in a league before taking a break until the next one. And that's exactly what GGG designed for you.

Its nothing wrong to leave this game if dont like it, just look for another one(Grim Dawn, D3)

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Fnts7 wrote:

1) No particle effects settings in visual section - problem as old as 2013. Makes party playing often ridiculous.

Can we talk more about this? Also the possibility of turning off the shadows in dx11 client.
I would expect, since this is a f2p game, that developers would want it to run on as many machines as it is possible.
Well, I guess you can get far more players by telling people that option to change particle density would brake the immersion (rescalling screen resolution to 860x480 is fine tho). lol silly me.

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karoollll2534 wrote:

2) lab is super easy nowadays. Sorry but i was able to finish uber lab without any deaths before 3.0 playing trash (fun) build with low defenses and dps. Now it's much easier. If you don't like lab that's fine, I myself hate act 1-10 but im not crying about this fact.

I agree with your other points but I don't think you read the criticism of labyrinth. He was not complaining about difficulty. Labyrinth is poorly done trap game play. That kind of game play is clunky with a mouse. It really shouldn't be in a game as great as PoE or it shouldn't be mandatory at least.

Hi all. Good feedback i suppose.

I just wanted to ask in regards to

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1) No particle effects settings in visual section - problem as old as 2013. Makes party playing often ridiculous.

Is target framerate and dynamic resolution not enough for multiplayer? Still very laggy?

You seem to have a lot of knowledge since you mention the problem being particles so i am curious as i only play single player.

Valid points, I agree with some of them.

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Fnts7 wrote:

So clearly, everyone who spends playing POE only for challenges must have problems in real life.

lol

The problem is that POE has no real endgame activity except of trading
Crafting is just too unrewarding for the majority of players to even touch and the randomness also prevents it from being fun.
How about fishing or farming special cosmetic items or designing hideouts

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MasterTBC wrote:

The problem is that POE has no real endgame activity except of trading
Crafting is just too unrewarding for the majority of players to even touch and the randomness also prevents it from being fun.
How about fishing or farming special cosmetic items or designing hideouts

I agree with the crafting point, fishing and hideout design are not my favorite things. Personally, I think end game content in PoE is a major strength compared to other arpg's. With 34 new maps and extensive balancing done in 3.1, it appears that it is only getting better!