Changes to the Atlas of Worlds in Path of Exile: Delirium

I really miss the old way of mapping. Maybe I'm just a creature of habit but I didn't feel like this much change was necessary to keep it from feeling stale. I'm sure you'll figure out a way to get the system back to something most players will enjoy, but right now for me this isn't it.

Why in summery there is no info that you are removing the "x% chance for Maps to drop one tier higher" bonus from Awakening Bonus Objectives?

I don't like it. I don't like it... a lot.

Responses from Bex on reddit:

"

Bex_GGG wrote:

Just wanted to note that we're monitoring the feedback in this thread and will be having a discussion about it later today once more team members are in. I'll keep you updated on the result.

"

Bex_GGG wrote:

Just an update, we're still discussing the feedback in this thread and there's a lot of ground to cover in our reply. In light of this, we're preparing a development manifesto about the Atlas changes which we hope to release early this week.

And quote for truth response I saw:

"

Uh oh, usually a manifesto means hey we know you don't like it but were doing it anyway, ripppppp.

GG, GGG.

Are we ever going to be able to farm a map of our choice again, or is this new atlas going to force us to farm tilesets that we dislike for the foreseeable future?
Was it really that much of a problem that 0.1% of the playerbase (if it was even that many) decided to spend 16 hours a day running the same map for an extra 10% efficiency? There are some people who will always optimise the fun out of a game and no changes you make are going to change that, they're just going to annoy the rest of the playerbase.

Missed t11 shaped strand days...

The only good change here is change to conquerer spawns, literally every other thing is horrid and i know for a fact would make me and my friends not even bother with PoE this league.
God damn the double-speak with "Higher Awakening incentives" is abhorrent.

LOL you could sustain t15/16 by just tossing alc's on maps last league. you didnt even have to try to sustain it was so easy. shit you could've probably sustained running white/blue maps last league. the amount of zero effort in for max reward people are getting out of control. seems a good chunk of people think they should just get 10ex given to them for logging in.

Going to have to say that the Awakener Bonus Objective change is a bad one, for only one reason (and it is not map sustain):

Alternate characters.

Now, because of my main character, my alternate characters have to deal with increased difficulty in their maps, difficulties they may not be able to handle.

Before, the bonus was just that: a BONUS! I got something extra for doing the tasks.

Now, you shifted one modifier from Awakener Level to Awakened Bonus Objective, for Atlas Missions (which, have variable use, depending on the player and their goals), but also gave us a PENALTY, a DRAWBACK.

This honestly is where I see the problem. Not in the lowered higher-tier map drop chances, but specifically in placing flat, untoggleable, additional difficulty on any character past your first that steps into the Atlas in the same league settings.

Additionally, as this can turn some map modifiers from "high reduction" to "immunity", being unable to tweak and balance past it, means that depending on a build, some people will just have to flat-out reroll map modifiers, because this makes a map undoable (reduced ailment duration becoming ailment immunity, for example).

Turning a "bonus" into a "lesser bonus with a penalty", at the account-level, is never a GOOD design decision. Ever. Not even in the slightest. If the bonus needed to be trimmed, or changed JUST to the Atlas Mission bonus, hey, that is fine. Not ideal, but okay. Anchoring Awakened Level difficulty modifiers, which could be toggled off by taking watchstones out of the Atlas, to something that is always-on, is NOT good design.

"

dachoppa wrote:

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Aias_o_Telamonios wrote:

So on standard we will lose all our watchstones? What's the point of having completed maps if we need to re-do everything to get the watchstones. Standard becomes impossible to play like this. We have to get 32 stones in the league and then repeat everything to get 32 on standard. This is ridiculous.

yep, i'd like to return to a few old builds once in a while, but resetting the atlas every league, converting maps that sometimes get eaten by bugs... no, thanks.

oh what???

Is that confirmed that we have to get all watchstones again?

That is insane... redoing the whole atlas to get the watchstones was the biggest pain in the ass this whole league. Please, not again. I play standard to avoid these shenadigans.