Feedback after 450h.

Campaign is S tier. You folks knocked that out of the park. Build freedom is top notch. I was able to let my imagination run wild and this is primarily why I was able to get so much out of the game in such a short amount of time. Support has been pretty good also. And unlike other games in the genre ive played recently, when I feel like grouping up for multiplayer.. I actually can with no real issues. So Kudos to your back enders. But it's not all sunshine and roses so here goes with the things I think are holding the game back.

First and foremost, I think the punishment structure is far too extreme for where the reward structure is at. Winning no longer feels like an accomplishment, it simply feels like dodging yet another kick in the nuts. Meaning if I had something to show for my time, i could look past the loss. but as it stands, im sitting here like, wow i played all day and got nothing out of it but a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. That needs to be offset with rewards coming more often imo.

I have, mostly on steam I suppose, advocated FOR the difficulty of the game. I am not here to complain that it's too hard but for me there is something off about how often and how significantly I feel rewarded for the hours that I succeed. For example. I am level 93. I spent today, for the better part of 6h mapping with no real issues. and during that time I found 300 breach splinters and gained about 30-35% of the xp required for my next level. So i attempted the breach pinnacle boss. and was promptly 1 shot. I tried again, and lost. again. and lost. Now, not only am I at 0% XP progress for the day, but I am in the hole as far as currency accumulation. Given that the previous 6h was largely successful, and my character does not map slowly it's actually quite fast at it, do you think that having received nothing but enough items to try the boss a single time was enough reward to offset how bad it feels to have lost? I certainly don't and I'm not an average player. to accumulate the hours I have since launch, I'd have to average what.. 80h a week for 5 weeks? Even 6h today alone is abnormal for the vast majority of players. Now let's factor in the cost to make my 3 attempts. At the current rate a breach stone is 200ex. divines are 300. so i spent the equivalent of 2 divines attempting to play the game and experience new content. (I'm lucky to see a divine drop once a week) which i was punished severely for doing and I will not do it again. Is this good game design? Does it scream longevity to you? Does the data show most players will put up with this and support the game through microtransactions? Anecdotally using my own feeling as the base-line, I would say no. I spent money when i was having fun. and will not, now that I am not.

I read in the patch notes that these bosses were going to give more than one attempt, but by tier 4 you should have learned the fight by then. fair enough. but was that only for arbiter? did I misunderstand? either way. the cost to payoff ratio, in my opinion is way off.

The obvious response to this post is some version of "skill issue" and you're right. it is. I am not a pro gamer. I'm just average. Imo, im an above average theory crafter and love that side of this game. but im not a big fan of having my time wasted and if success is measured in hitting every button perfectly at all times with microseconds of questionably telegraphed warning.. then I will fail more often than I succeed guaranteed. and this was just my most recent experience so i have it fresh in my mind to describe how and why it has left me feeling like im not enjoying the game anymore. Literally, I made no progress today. In fact I made negative progress and I've never even seen an audience with the king. it is prohibitively expensive to even attempt even and would make me feel even worse when i inevitably lose. I think that token is what, 9 divines today? guys, it takes me like a week of playing constantly to even see 1 divine drop. you want us to grind for 9 weeks, just to take 1 shot at a boss and die because we didnt have any idea what to expect from it? some people out there can do this. and thats great. they're awesome. my hat is tipped. but it is not me. and it is most likely not most people, who can do that. leaving the punishment structure like this long term, i just dont see it as sustainable.

So that's the big one. and I'll finish off with the other that I find irritating but have less to say about. Trade. Currency exchange is great. because it's automated and hands-free. Person to person trade is amongst the most toxic online experiences I've ever had. When it goes smoothly, it's not so bad. but more often than not it's price fixing, scamming, ignored whispers as the buyer, inconvenient as the seller, and altogether not something I have any interest in participating in any longer. SSF is not a solution either. it might be, if it was completely isolated, meaning players could never transfer over to normal league and you pumped the drop rates up or made crafting more deterministic. but as it stands, no. just. no.

all in all, I think even 1 portal for mapping is fine. it makes death mean something. but 1 portal for bosses that take several more hours than the average user even has to spend gaming in a day? or weeks? or more? to even be able to attempt the content? you might want to re-think it.

Yes, it was only 6 portals for Arbiter. The other bosses require more effort but will have more attempts.

Doesn't matter on Arbiter, the fight is nonsense. Just like most of the pinnacle bosses. You need to kill them before they can start doing their one-shot mechanics.

Agree with you on the punishments. Not sure why they essentially copied parts of hardcore death onto softcore league. I lost 60% XP on Arbiter at lvl 93. I was excited to finally get all the pieces and forgot to notice how far into the next level I was. That said, I don't find XP loss a problem. I don't think losing your waystone is a problem. I do think everything else needs to be stopped. You shouldn't lose the juiced up node.

Pinnacle bosses all need their one-shot mechanics removed or reworked. Trialmaster is great example of a good fight. His one-shots are telegraphed well, the visual clarity of the environment is pretty good, and the fight is a fun 3m fight if you have learned his mechanics and how your build should fight him. I think the other ascendency boss(time dude) is also a good fight except for involving honor in it. The rest of the pinnacle fights are garbage(except maybe Ritual since I've never seen the key for that).