Development Manifesto - Character Balance in Path of Exile: Lake of Kalandra - Forum

As a non-minion player, I feel the changes seems mostly justified, but I was expecting waaay more after six months of development... This manifesto feels extremely bland as if there were no burning problems. My biggest regret is not addressing the low diversity at high end-game. The manifesto seems to even further amplify this problem by taking away "cheap" power - auras - that is accessible to almost every build and every player. Of course, I can put 200 ex into a build (and I do), but do not make it a requirement for a non-meta character. I play long enough to remember 20 ex builds clearing all content - it felt good, it was accessible, and I could make crazy off-meta builds just for fun. Well, I am going to wait for the announcement, but if there is no great novelty nor great league mechanics, I will most likely skip the league. DI ignite inquisitor: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3080303/ (retired) MoMMeme hiero: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2487766	Posted by sprawdzampoczte#4462 on Aug 4, 2022, 2:41:32 PM Quote this Post
POG	Posted by Gibsonaan#6601 on Aug 4, 2022, 2:51:49 PM Quote this Post
Problem: Archnemesis mods make weak monsters overpowered, they one shot players randomly and everyone hates it. Solution: Leave it in the game, ignore the fact everyone hates it and, substantially reduce the armour and evasion granted by Defiance Banner. Absolute genius company. GG G Problem: Our playing retention sucks. Solution: We are gonna break the game even more. Whoever is calling the shots at GGG is deluded and running the company into the ground. It's been on a decline since 3.13 and still going downhill, hopefully the shareholders wake up soon. My life is slipping away... Addiction is a harsh drug...	Posted by EstocSlayer#0218 on Aug 4, 2022, 3:43:50 PM Quote this Post
Copy... GGG please reply... " MisterAbsence wrote: Can I ask GGG few questions: 1. How many builds are capable to do hard core content and kill most of content? 2. How many builds will be able to kill all content in softcore? 3. How many people will be able to gear those builds referred in previous 2 questions? 4. How many builds that are not capable to do most of content are affected by the nerfes in this character balance manifesto? 5. Do you think is a good practice to dismantle some structural parts of all builds just to nerf those top tier builds (i think 6 meta builds) that were able to do all content? 6. Is it normal for a game with so many combination of skills and items to have only a few builds that are capable to do all content?(with god tier investment?) 7. Moreover, when talking about trading, 99% of the players have no idea what those meta builds are and what items are needed for all of them, and so the 1% who usually zoom through acts in 3 hours get most of the expensive items, and start to price fix the market. So, if you are a casual player wanting to try lets say a build with frenzy charges, by the time you get out of maps with a crappy build, and start getting some currency, the frenzy items are already 20 ex. and they grow in price every day. Is this what is wished from trade? 8. There will always 20 builds that mostly played. Why do you always nerf the top performers? Is this what balance means to GGG? 9. Why not work to make changes so more skills are able to do the uber bosses? 10. I am literally curious of how many players were capable to kill the uber bosses? (and not the ones that have 20000 hours - because they will always play the meta, the players that were not playing the 6 meta builds) 11. What i wonder, is it possible to take one skill at random and make a build that is capable to do all content? If not, maybe you should work on that. 12. Why is it, that most of leagues, when someone shows on youtoube a build that looks amazing, can do all the content and it is tanky, most of us see it and say "that looks really cool, maybe I should try it next league" - the one who made it says that the build is about several mirrors, and the next league GGG destroys the build? (what is the thinking behind this? you have about 30 people getting the actual currency to be able to make the build - that takes a shit load of time, and usually the people who play 8 hours a day or more can get that -, and you have 20000 people that watched the video on youtoube, never had the chance to even try to gather the currency to put the build together, because not many of us can have that time/currency investment and GGG already destroys the build, and more than that, when they nerf that build, they nerf globally most of builds for the losers that struggle to get to level 95. Not only the ones that dreamed to play a build that looks awesome, have no chance because it is financially impossible, but now the builds that they were struggling to get some currency with will not work). 13. How do you imagine casuals that play lets say 1 hour a day, will ever get the currency to buy mirror tier items? (they make 1 - 2 ex per hour for 90 days, that is 180 ex. I really want to know what kind of build will you have with 180 ex that will be able to kill uber bosses? - how many builds cost that much? - so basically lets say that is 1 build, by the 90th day he will have a chance to kill uber bosses) 14. Lets take the new players, most of them try builds on their own, and they struggle with the acts. They see the youtoubers playing awesome builds into a league, and next league that build is destroyed. What idea do those new players get? 15. Lets assume that you give every player in the game at the start of the game, a mageblood and Ashes. How many builds will those players make with those 2 starting items capable to do uber bosses? 10? 20? (my bet is they will play 5 of the most op builds, because the rest are not capable to kill uber bosses and do all content) On a personal note, you play a game to have fun. To have fun in this game, you need to know all the mechanics. To know all the mechanics you need at least 20k hours and to have played it since 11 years ago constantly 8 hours a day. If you start later, you have no idea how the meta builds are and what to build. I bet most of players at a start of a league google builds on redit and try to look for youtoube tutorials of what to play. There are 500 people maybe, that are capable to figure out and theory craft builds, but for the rest 1 million players or more, it is just monkey see, monkey do. You are basically making a game available for 500 to 1000 people, and 1 million idiots that copy what they do. And if you are not lucky enough to find the build that works in that league, the next league will not be an option because GGG already F....ed it. Is this what you want for your game? Ow, and one more thing, when talking about skill - you would think that skill refers to three things - knowing how to build a character - knowing how to farm currency for that character - knowing the mechanics of the fights If so few players are able to play the game at its fullest extent - that is doing all the content and bosses - because only a hand full of people can actually do that - why does not GGG take action to raise the skill of the 99% of the players that struggle with the game. All nerfs are making the game harder for 99% of the people that already cannot do most content. Why is it that GGG only takes the best players as reference when they are literally 500-1000 of them? Is that normal? It is like the Gov of a country looking only at the billionaires and making tax and law changes only taking them as etalon and reference. You say that putting more than x auras on a build is too OP. Look at how many people afford to stack that many auras on a build? maybe 30 players? The rest of population struggle to get a head hunter in 2 weeks.	Posted by jfgonza#4687 on Aug 4, 2022, 3:49:38 PM Quote this Post
Good day to all of you, I will put the situation, how i am seeing it, in the frame which poe comes from: Classic Pen & Paper RPG. Generally the Players AND the Dungeon Master will play TOGETHER. Surely the DM puts Monsters and Traps in the Adventure, but only to bring fun and action into. Why? The Game is for FUN! If you got an really evil playing DM, who plays AGAINST the players and intents to kill the Characters as soon as possible, there´s no fun anymore. Sure, DM has fun. Bute the consequences are that the players will look after an other DM to have Fun ALL TOGETHER. And hell i know, im playing RPGs about 35 years now and i won´t if I had those devilish DMs. So back to POE. Dear GGG, i don´t think that the aim of your game should be to kill the characters fast, instantly and in tact of a minute. Thats no fun, maybe for you. Let us play and enjoy the game, therefore you got your supports and sell other ingame stuff you get your income of. TOGETHER, not AGAINST. I am myself not a powergamer, i have work, and after x seasones I have got actually a char that reaches lvl 98, much more than ever before, but only cause I said to me, this time i bite. Surely its extremely complicated to have the classes and builds on an near equal level of endgame possibilites (thats a problem most arpgs have) but up till now I personally have seen endgame - and i don´t mean the t16 maps with that) only trough asking other players to kill a boss for me. And yes, I have viewed soooo many vids and other stuff for them. Every saason its the same, there are a dozen or maybe two dozens of builds that could possibly reach endgame bosses. If you pick the wrong build or you just want to have fun and create something wierd build you get lost an could quit that character almost at the mid maps, sometimes earlier. You have all the tools implemented in the game, that will allow all kinds of stuff, but you - it seems so - will not allow the players to chosse freely. Especially if they want to play more than the campaign. It´s also clear that some content has to be real challenging but i think those uber versions are enough. Let the casual gamer get to the xperience of killing bosses. Those casuals (incl. myself) will get a bunch of adrenaline if a boss is finally defeated and will put therm in the want of more status. Thats the fun you have to create. And pls fix the quest problems if we are playing together. It´s really annoying to do most of the quests, especially late game qs more than once, cause it doesn´t count to every player in the group (one of many examples: the invitations). Nearly ALL other games are way better to force people play together, besides togteher playing is more fun. Sure the greed among us players is a problem to the loot, but also there nearly other games do a way better job in splitting/ordering loot. Last but not least, patch that stupid xp loss out of the game. We are not the 1% players which get 100 after a few days, have their eq and farm every uber boss in 5 seconds. All the deaths included this season i maybe reached lvl 150 (if there was that opportunity). Not the loss is the problem. The "i will try that boss, map, whtaever later when i lvl up" mentality is the problem. You hinder the players to try out things, you block them out of the game, cause no one will have lets say 60% xp, and has a quest or map or boss to clear and - maybe eventually successful in that effort - has 0% after that. Its just a hindering of us and our fun with that game. Please, GGG, make that game a great fun to play again! (sorry for the mediocre english) Dewandou Last edited by Dewandou#1737 on Aug 4, 2022, 4:18:50 PM	Posted by Dewandou#1737 on Aug 4, 2022, 4:05:23 PM Quote this Post
" FalkenRaiding wrote: " BlazeSTX wrote: My bad. PoE lost about 97% of the population in the past 7 years of nerfing expansions. https://steamcharts.com/app/238960 - Analyze based on static peak sum + 25% addition on the peaks. That's some CNN level data analysis there xD FTFY	Posted by dachoppa#6765 on Aug 4, 2022, 4:07:24 PM Quote this Post
great. a bunch of nerfs to cripple all but the most meta of builds for the top 500 players who get 10 mirrors worth of currency per league. As a non-meta player this pretty much breaks my build, and as a result im likely going to skip 3.19 since it looks like the buffs will likely only focus on meta builds.	Posted by fuxxnuts2#3126 on Aug 4, 2022, 4:11:15 PM Quote this Post
GGG logic of balance: you have builds from power 1 to 1000. 100 players abuse builds A, B, C of power 1000. 10000 players uses builds D, E, F of power 400-600. (meta slaves) Rest of the players scattered on non-meta builds, builds they created themselves of power 1-400. what ggg do?? they nerf build A, B, C by 100 bringing them to 900 which makes no difference whatsoever for those 100 players. Targed HARD builds D, E, F which are the meta builds, nerf them to 400, but the nerfs on builds A, B, C affects them aswell so they lose even more power, to 300 lets say. Rest of the players on non-meta builds gets affected by nerfs on builds A, B, C, D, E and F. this means: the top players doenst give a f*ck cause they will do the same shit the same way they do, the meta slaves will struggle with most content and rest and the casuals will have no chance. do you really think NECRO archetype was the problem? or the problem is cleave, sunder, reave, glacial hammer, statick strike, flame blast, crackling lance, winter orb, essence drain and so on are complete GARBABE??? so your solution is to bring the meta skills on the GARBAGE LEVELS so everyone plays GARBAGE while the top 1% of players still dominate untouched on their godlike builds thats been around for ages already??? its the same thing of sayin: "hey sir, you are being too efficient with your both hands and a axe to chop of a tree, lets give you a knife and take one of your hand. while the other dudes still have both hands and a freaking CHAINSAW.	Posted by blindwar#5838 on Aug 4, 2022, 5:04:31 PM Quote this Post
Thank you!! "All that fancy sword swinging when all you need is one good stab."	Posted by reinventingHell#5341 on Aug 4, 2022, 5:21:39 PM Quote this Post
Wow a slight nerf to explosive arrow (being run as champion in HC leage) and fire trap (combined with RF on templar). Slight buffs to other stuff? Mostly inconsequential because RF and champion will definitely still be the favorite choices. So many skills remain unusable and doesn't look like that has been fixed.	Posted by Castor_Bean#3152 on Aug 4, 2022, 5:24:23 PM Quote this Post