Poor GGG, they just can't win can they?

"

brunowa wrote:

Happy people are generally quiet and simply get excited for the game.

Angry and upset people post all of their complaints on forums hoping that they can influence decisions.

This forum is generally a 90% complaints forum.

Happy people generally don't play game, those other ppl are not angry or upset as you understood or as they wrote out, they just play the game in their own ways, welcome to the social game, bro, there is a whole new world for you to explore.

No changes makes the game balance as bad as it was last expansion, that was without diversity in playable builds.

And, if this expansion content makes the game/monsters harder than the last, and the player builds continue the same; this is an effective overall NERF only.

As people that complained keep saying and being ignored, no changes means no new viable builds added. As they keep saying, we need buffs to underused builds/skills.

In other words, we need BUFFS WITHOUT NERFS.

Something GGG can't seem to be able to do.

"No new viable builds"

Thats just bunch of BS. Mathil and several other people proved this statement to be wrong many times.
Its not that there is no new viable builds. People just play same shit over and over again, for the 20th time in a row and complain that its boring instead trying new thing.
Half of his builds are with "dead skills" that everyone says are not viable. Here comes the guy, makes build with 20-30ex budget (which nowadays is consideed low investment) and destroys the game with it.
Everyone who says "there are no new viable builds" is just waiting for someone else to discover that new build for them and present it on silver plate.

"

Aynix wrote:

"No new viable builds"

Thats just bunch of BS. Mathil and several other people proved this statement to be wrong many times.
Its not that there is no new viable builds. People just play same shit over and over again, for the 20th time in a row and complain that its boring instead trying new thing.
Half of his builds are with "dead skills" that everyone says are not viable. Here comes the guy, makes build with 20-30ex budget (which nowadays is consideed low investment) and destroys the game with it.
Everyone who says "there are no new viable builds" is just waiting for someone else to discover that new build for them and present it on silver plate.

In fairness it is 100% accurate to say that no new skill were introduced in this league. Its also 100% accurate that no existing skills were modified or balanced.

So this concept of "it's new to me" replacing development and balance doesn't real hold too much water for me.

That said, I've always indicated that GGG should try to stop the massive pendulum swings that normally occur every 3 months. There is nothing wrong with introducing new content and skills, but imo, there is no reason to be in the meta/nerf spin cycle.

Unfortunately I'm not really interested in the league mechanic nor the continued lack of QoL. Loot is still totally fucked, and the game just doesnt respect an average players time anymore.

Maybe next league GGG. Maybe.

"

Aynix wrote:

"No new viable builds"

Thats just bunch of BS. Mathil and several other people proved this statement to be wrong many times.
Its not that there is no new viable builds. People just play same shit over and over again, for the 20th time in a row and complain that its boring instead trying new thing.
Half of his builds are with "dead skills" that everyone says are not viable. Here comes the guy, makes build with 20-30ex budget (which nowadays is consideed low investment) and destroys the game with it.
Everyone who says "there are no new viable builds" is just waiting for someone else to discover that new build for them and present it on silver plate.

Telling me some streamer picked up an old skill and found it was still usable isn't "new viable builds." They are just old builds that still work. Surprise, a skill doesn't have to be meta FotM to be semi-functional, this shouldn't be news to anyone. I know a lot of people in the community lack any sense of originality and require a build guide to hold their hand through the game, and usually stick with the "best" ones, but people have found ways to use all existing skills already. We don't need a streamer to show us a skill we played with for 50 hours 3 years ago still does what it says on the tin, nor does knowing it still work make it any more an exciting concept to play with that skill again.

If that isnt "new build" to you how would balance change make any new build? Its still old build, just with more damage or w/e.

"

Aynix wrote:

If that isnt "new build" to you how would balance change make any new build? Its still old build, just with more damage or w/e.

"Balance changes" often change the functionality of old skills to make them work differently. Taking a basic skill that usually performed poorly because of the simplicity or shortcomings of the effect and adding new effects to it to make it attractive to use in creative ways beyond just a simple +10% damage buff. The evolution of Arctic Breath introduced during beta to the current version of Creeping Frost is just one example of a fairly significant change to a skill that now performs entirely differently from how it did originally because of "balance changes." Those are exciting changes that make it fun to come back and try out the new version of the skill.

Dude everything is viable if you play 10+ hours and you get free handouts by your fans..

Good example of this behavior is the challenges this league.. most forced/desperate attempt I've seen so far from TGGG to keep people playing..

Good old poe community that still havent found what is like to think freely without bias..

To be fair to critics, GGG ignores very common sense advice ALL the time.

For years they wouldn't stack currency, saying how bad it would make the game. Then the change, and do they acknowledge they are wrong?

Do they make other QoL improvements, trade, etc?

No, they lied for years, proved they were wrong, and made no further improvements.

"

DarthSki44 wrote:

I've always indicated that GGG should try to stop the massive pendulum swings that normally occur every 3 months. There is nothing wrong with introducing new content and skills, but imo, there is no reason to be in the meta/nerf spin cycle.

We've been saying something like that for years though, so there has to be a reason for them to 'be in the meta/nerf spin cycle'. Going with your metaphor, I believe it's because it's the easiest way to keep things churning, to maintain at least the verisimilitude of change. I've yet to see proof that these 'massive pendulum swings' aren't 100% calculated and controlled, as chaotic and dramatic as they may seem to mere Exiles. Do you remember when they had to nerf snapshotting of minion-summoning mid-league? THAT was a pendulum swing beyond their control, for sure. Not too long after that, they started actively promoting incoming meta to guide people onto an easily-followed (but never fully OP) path towards and even through the Atlas. I can't confirm that the snapshotting incident was the key moment, but something definitely changed and GGG went from being at the mercy of the spin cycle to calibrating its parameters.

BUT as long as they can make it feel like it's a wild ride, players will be all over it. No one really wants to be on a rollercoaster that doesn't have safety measures, but equally no one would enjoy it if those measures were too obvious, if the inherent experience didn't feel out of control and exhilarating.

When we'd suggest that maybe GGG should just not with the next metaquake and maybe focus on fixing what's already in play (QoL), I think that'd be like telling a theme park operator to shut down its most impressive rides for a season to meticulously ensure they're 100% safe...as opposed to making it, say, 85% safe, opening up for the summer, and watching the cash just flow in.

I've heard that GGG once believed (and maybe still do) that updates that don't have enough 'new' stuff to bring players back don't do very well in the only department that really matters, and I believe it. We can say we want safe, that we want clean, that we want QoL, but I truly believe it's the dangerous and dirty and the slightly rough that opens people's wallets: look at this cool crazy new thing GGG are doing! No other developer would dare! I can't wait to try THAT...

And that's sort of the essence of the spin cycle. It's not meant to be stable; it's not even meant to be a quality experience. It's meant to be just shy of fucking catastrophic. It's about agitation, shock, trauma. And some vague belief that if the machine starts to actually break, a professional can always fix it.

In other words, I think GGG have mastered the simulation of an ARPG in crisis (probably unintentionally for the most part). It's why, more than any other ARPG to date, more than most games, we see so many people predicting PoE's imminent demise. They fall for the trick, and start believing the rollercoaster's actually dangerous, actually out of control. That somehow despite 12 years of relatively smooth operation, it teeters on disaster.

And those who don't fall for this trap, pretend to because that's a big part of the fun. Them, we call 'Exiles'.

...And yeah, I totally ignored the OP itself because...really? GGG can't win? They won long ago, and y'all know it. Don't confuse skirmishes for battles, nor battles for the war.