My final feedback on patch 3.28

Hello everyone reading.

I'm planning to write a long post. I'll try to express my opinion as constructively as possible and offer a few ideas.

Atlas Expansion.
+ Something has changed
- Not all changes were implemented successfully
+++ Itemized Memories
+ Map unification has had a positive impact on sustain, made progress easier, and improved trading opportunities
- There are even too many maps, which is good for rushing, but questionable for casual players. For 100 Alchrun maps, you accumulate 300+ maps, and there's no point in tools that increase the quantity of found maps.
- Map unification has led to a loss of usability in another area, namely, "put it in and run." One missclick, and you have to search the required map on the atlas again to launch it.
- Map unification has led to the problem of having two of them, namely "100 doors and 1 key." When you're just starting to open the atlas, randomness doesn't guide you; you have to figure out the best path.
- Unlocking the ability to trigger various invitations, unique maps, keys, and other passages is too strict. Players are forced to guess the region containing the required passage, or only complete additional content after they've almost fully unlocked the atlas.
+ Astrolabes make the game more challenging and rewarding.
--- Memory Vault rewards need to be revised. Two of the four regions offer rewards that are too dependent on impact. And failing to complete just one map from the entire Astrolabe guarantees you'll receive "coal" instead of a gift.
- Because the Astrolabe's distribution is thread-like, completing maps not on the edge of this "thread" is punishable, as the Astrolabe's influence breaks, and an uncompleted map is considered a failure (Memory Vault rewards turn into "coal").
- Using the "Synthesized Stability" Keystone almost guarantees a break, and constantly respecking it to "tidy up loose ends" and run the desired map only when nothing can break is an unnecessary inconvenience, with the risk of making a mistake and running the desired map without a Keystone.
--- Maven has completely lost its relevance, and she no longer offers anything for long-term farming. Only the uber version, due to Awakened gems, is in demand.
- Memories are still uninteresting to run.
- Many bosses still have low long-term farming potential (they offer nothing interesting).
+ The T17 change is great!
+ The petals change is great!


Mirage mechanics.
+ This is an interesting expansion to the game, which finally opens up new horizons for juicing favorite mechanics (provided they're on maps).
+++ New currency spheres have dramatically expanded the range of possibilities and added value to previously unclaimed items.
++ Gold generation, allowing you to spend it more confidently.
+ "Synthesis" effect on maps
- Old "Synthesis" effect bugs on maps (dead, impassable zones)
- In some cases, Mirage corrupts mechanics from other leagues (replacing useful ore with dust)
- Disappointing spawn rate near bosses (it's frustrating to see a mechanic affect a boss or a necessary mechanic without fully capturing them)
- A largely uninteresting selection of additional modifiers, as rewards from some choices are practically ineffective/give nothing.
--- A fairly boring league boss that offers an extremely boring ascendancy where there is only Damage (Cruelty), Minion Glasscannon Damage, and a more confusing version of Defiance of Destiny


Meta and Vision.
+ Balance changes were well-founded and successful (archetypes remained viable).
--- Wanderers remain overpowered.
+ New support gems were added.
- Awakened gem variants were removed without providing alternatives, which resulted in an unfair nerf to some builds.
- Coins (Mirage) are not applicable to item-based skills (Revive Spiders, Death Aura, Death Wish, etc.).
+ New ascendancy skills expand the number of build options.
--- The power gap between builds begs the question: "Why do we need all these builds when we have Kinetic Blast?"
- Some old skills and support gems, as well as some new skills and support gems, are categorized as "slow, with a difficult condition, no potential," while Kinetic Blast and Kinetic Fussilade are available. - Even a large budget doesn't guarantee a build will work, despite adhering to basic build principles (disjointed power scaling leads to poor results, unlike scaling a single attribute that affects both damage and survivability).
- All mechanics reward only the speed of their completion, except for Blight. This means that in a game like this, using abilities with a 2-second cooldown or requiring a 3-second channel is completely impractical.
--- Shrine stacking shouldn't exist as a mechanic. Shrines are short-term boosts that were never intended to become a permanent buff with +170% effect. There are no alternatives, meaning it's a monopoly, and not using it is a mistake.
- "Damage overtime multiplier" was added seven years ago, and since then, the archetype hasn't seen any significant buffs. At the same time, countless new damage scaling mechanics were added to other archetypes, allowing them to increase damage to the billions.
- Some skills are mechanically non-unique and are reskins of other skills, sometimes with a different element.
+ Someone is working on fixing this.
--- An atmospheric hardcore ARPG with great progression has for several years now turned into a "grind on a meta build" for many, which significantly affects the community's reaction when any changes occur in the no-brain grind.

League Challenges and Player Retention.
+ This league retains players quite well, as the new currency types have created new horizons for development. Progression is the most important thing in the game; without it, the game is uninteresting.
+ The league challenges were quite simple this time.
- Challenges that require a lot of mapping (reaching 8,000 map tiers) feel irrelevant and stifling, as there are plenty of other things to do in the game besides maps. Boss-rushing 400+ maps isn't a Challenge; it's routine. (I completed 38/40 a week ago, and I still had 50 Mirage bosses and just under 4,000 map tiers left. About 200 maps, of which only ~30 involved the Mirage boss.)
- The armor set rewards for challenges this time aren't up to par with previous ones, as they don't have any unique mechanics, not even a counter for Regal Orb usage, let alone a unique effect for using a Regal Orb.
- After completing the tests, there may be no reason to continue playing, as the build is already strong, and there's no point in trying new ones. Building your own builds in the current meta is a 95% chance of getting overwhelmed, as a large budget doesn't guarantee the performance of even the builds that worked before.

---

I wanted to write my suggestions and ideas, but the writing process has already dragged on, so I will write later.

My ideas and suggestions.

Atlas expansion.

Reworking Maven's functionality. It doesn't provide any significant bonuses to map completion. It seems to offer no bonuses at all, compared to Eldritch Altars. Therefore, I believe it's necessary to add tiers to Atlas bosses, like in PoE 2, which would be earned for each map separately by capturing that boss. If you capture a boss, say, five times, it gains an additional property that increases its level, adds a new skill (this requires reworking bosses, perhaps in a couple of years), and, of course, improves loot. This buff should also apply to Maven's Invitation, which would thus scale closer to the endgame.

Usefulness of a regular Maven. I would suggest adding an altar after the Maven battle, similar to the Divine Font, but with the ability to convert gems into a random exceptional gem, a random double-corrupted gem, or something new.

Synthesis maps. I believe it's high time to reclaim the right to call synthesis maps "synthesis" maps. Specifically, adding an altar after defeating the boss, similar to the Divine Font, but with options for crafting synthesis items. Specifically, adding and rerolling synthesis implicits. Additionally, we could add something new, such as removing synthesis implicits in exchange for the addition of a additional (seventh) explicit.

Availability of unique encounters. In PoE 2, the availability of the Reliquary, Breachstone, and Arbiter of Ash isn't hidden behind atlas exploration. It's available from the very beginning, at any time. Limiting the ability to launch unique encounters feels like a step backwards. Therefore, we would like to see a step towards convenience and provide the opportunity to more freely open unique maps, blight maps, and especially encounters that are not truly part of the atlas (eldritch invitations).

Astrolabe structure. I find it a bit odd that a player is "penalized" for attempting to run a map that's not at the end of the Astrolabe's thread. They lose one map with influence, one upgrade, and adequate rewards in Memory Vault (which, by the way, isn't indicated on the Astrolabe). I think it would be better to change the Synthesized Stability keystone so that the Astrolabe works more like a sextant, with charges. And for balance, while the Astrolabe can usually capture up to 8 maps, the Astrolabe with keystone here will only be able to provide a maximum of 6 charges. This will cheaply prevent situations where the thread breaks and rewards turn to "coal". For Astrolabes without a keystone, you could add a warning about the possibility of breaking, or remove the possibility of breaking altogether.

Memory Vault. Great idea, seriously. I just wish regions didn't differ so dramatically in rewards. This is a negative detail from the old days, when people only farmed the region that had the Maven tree for Beyond. We shouldn't repeat those mistakes. I suggest giving out itemized Memory Vault keys, universal for each region. Then the player can choose which specific Vault they want to open. Or sell them.

Map drop rate. I think we should lower the number of maps dropped; we could safely reduce them by half. Then scarabs and perks in the atlas tree will become more useful. And there won't be such a huge surplus that only boss rush players will appreciate it.

Progress vector upon first opening the atlas. I'd like to see some improvement regarding the solution for players who don't know that to progress the Exarch and Eater quests, they need to go to the lower-left region, where the T11 bosses are located, as well as the voidstone socket. Envoy could at least highlight them in the fog of war in the atlas. Not all players meticulously complete all the maps of each tier. Some save some for later, to be completed in T16. You're doing a great job, try doing more.


Mirage Mechanics

In case they decide to add this mechanic to Core (I think it's very likely), I'd like to offer a couple of ideas.

Smoother deadzoning. Mirage boundaries could be made dual: the first boundary limits the spawning of mechanics and monsters, and the second (slightly larger) limits the Mirage itself. Basically, something that would avoid annoying situations where something inaccessible or inactive is at the very edge of the Mirage.

Saresh. If the boss remains in Core, I'd like him to be a more challenging opponent. And I'd like his ascendancy to be more interesting. For example, instead of the boring Cruelty node, we could add a "Death's Friend" property that would reduce experience loss upon death by a certain percentage, while also providing a boosted Culling Strike that would prevent enemies "On Death" effects and resurrecting. Sounds more interesting! Instead of a minion node, you can simply and concisely create a property that says "your damageable minions resurrect once after death." Tweak this idea with additional options, and you'll have a great node for a kamikaze summoner, or a save feature for the proud owners of Animated Guardians.

Changes to league mechanics. It would be great if there was a way to influence the chance of league mechanics changing to a Mirage-like version. For example, an increased chance for Expedition farming, a decreased chance for Kingsmarsh Ore farming. Flexibility is great.


Meta and Vision.

I've already said a lot on this topic. I don't see the point in repeating myself. I just want to see a glimmer of hope for a brighter future, where you can, like before, assemble your own build, and it won't be weak solely because you dared not use stacking. A couple of years ago, Triple Elemental Damage Claws were meta. Now they're useless, considering we have HoWa, Str Stack, Dex Stack, and Ward Stack. They're all much stronger and have greater upgrade potential. I don't see the point in the state of overtime builds, even Poison (with rare exceptions).

Player Retention and League Challenges

Challenges could be more generalized. I believe challenges are a great tool for guiding players to play a specific type of content. This builds a base from which certain conclusions can be drawn. It's also important to understand that not all players are ready to fully participate in this event, but they enjoy the game and spend time elsewhere (heist, delve, legion domains, bossing, etc.). They potentially contribute just as much useful work, and it's a bit unfair that they have to subsequently catch up on content they're less interested in (or don't care about at all). The 500+ map grind requirement per league could be lowered for everyone. Or more variety could be added. It's also worth remembering that the game can be played by those with limited time. I'd prefer to see more interesting challenges, for example, killing a pinnacle without every equipment slot. Something that could be completed gradually. I think this can be taken into account in a group as well, so as not to abuse a friend's help.

Replayability. I played in this league for a whole month, a total of 13 days. Today I completed the last challenges, and I have nothing else to do in the game. I created four of my own builds and two others. My builds performed poorly, which frustrated me. The others' builds were capable, but they weren't as fun to play as my own (despite my successful efforts to infuse them with my own touch). PoE used to be about an exile gathering strength to cleanse Wraeclast of its abusers, and then to help Zana defend the Atlas. Now it's just grinding for the sake of grinding. The player doesn't feel like an exile. They're either crippled, unable to even complete acts normally, or a god who can conquer everything without even looking at the monitor (Six Portals is the strongest defense). I'd like to see opportunities for free build development. To achieve this, we need to clip the wings of all stackers and finally add buffs to long-forgotten builds. So that they can not only complete Acts but also progress all the way to the uber-endgame. If a build can't be played with the goal of buffing that very build, then it's a bad build. If a build only works in the final version and can't be tolerated for a single change, then it's a dubious build. Players should be willing to experiment. And right now, the game punishes experimentation. This is why Acts are hated, because no one wants to waste time leveling a character who's incapable of anything. That's why unprofitable farming methods are ignored, because no one wants to waste time on actions that won't provide resources for character upgrades. That's how we live.

upd.
In fact, there's no need to nerf stackers, as they exemplify how build development can be progressive. It's bad when build development ends at a mid-range budget, because builds that draw damage from non-attribute stacks have a hard cap in the form of T1 modifiers on weapons, a limited number of flat damage sources on jewelry (which aren't all that numerous), and increased damage comes from limited sources (a finite number of points on clusters, limited T1 affixes on only some items). Meanwhile, attributes are available everywhere. Therefore, we need to make it possible to gain power from any source, not just the limited number that came with them in 2013, which has barely increased. This idea is literally obvious. But how can it be solved so that stackers don't abuse the new properties? My first thought was about modifiers that provide significantly more damage than usual, but with the "attributes less than 350" condition. And if you tie damage type to a specific attribute, you need to get rid of or significantly change the modifiers that apply spell damage to attacks (it's gotten out of control).


It took me over three hours to write all of this. I love this game and want it to continue to grow and become even better. Thanks to everyone who read this far.

I hope at least some of my ideas will be heard.

Great feedbaack. I agree with almost everything.

"

moonretealoud#1487 wrote:

I hope at least some of my ideas will be heard.

I too.