summary is i like it overall.
it does something that poe2 did with poe1’s atlas tree, where it split content specific rewards from the general atlas tree.
for comparison, poe1’s atlas tree slaps everything together and everything comes at a cost. which to me feels rather restrictive rather than rewarding. for example if you wanted to hyper juice up one specific content, you would want the atlas to be specced to specialize in that specific content. everything else thats not juiced feels bad to run. so it gets to a situation where “unspecced” content simply is “shittier” content. on one hand the content you DO like running feels much more rewarding but at what cost? why does 2-3 things need to be good while other things feel bad? it also forces players to have atlas templates/layouts. for sure players might feel the need for specific layouts in the weaver tree but at least the extra content will all feel good based on their faction progress.
poe2 improved on this where content specific trees are separate from the general tree. if you want more rewards from the content, you NEED to engage in that content and earn your rewards. having this independant from the general atlas meant players never felt bad for running content that unjuiced. if you want all content juiced, you put effort in it and you will be rewarded.
where LE differs is that LE’s faction system is an upfront BONUS to players. rewards just gets better. in poe2 theres stuff like monsters drop more stuff BUT monster are now more tougher/stronger. in fact this actually applies to other things like shrines in LE. in POE1 i FUCKING HATE shrines. they actively work against you until you click on them and an invulnerable shrine could be a huge pain to deal with. if i could block the content i would. in LE, it WAITS for the player to interact with rather than be an active ambush. i would argue LE’s enemy ambushes are fine compared to this. POE’s syndicate assassinations can outright kill players out of nowhere and just makes everything deadly and unfun for newer players.
but that said, i would have concerns or suggestions
- blocking content comes with a cost. any point used to block content is a huge opportunity cost. ideally i would prefer if blocking content was free, but poe1 made a compromise by “reimbursing” players by having “increased chance for other unblocked content”. i personally love the idea of pruning away content that i simply dont like. in fact sometimes i do it to such a great extent in poe1 that i m only running 1-2 specific content that i do like and actively DETEST content that i dislike. thus blocking content ideally should be free or come with a little bonus to offset the opportunity cost.
another expansion to this point is to make blocker nodes be dual nodes, where 2 nodes exist in the same tree. option 1 blocks content, option 2 makes content more frequent or rewarding.
another consideration is if players collectively keep allocating to block a content such as arenas in monoliths, if theres is enough content, players could be happier if the content is removed entirely.
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having multiple presets is almost necessary. poe1 does this with their atlas, torchlight infinite does this with theirs too. its inevitable and it gives players the “illusion of choice”. definitely they would prefer to have “everything allocated”, its more of a compromise between players and the devs. “you cant have everything for free but you get different layouts to tweak”. players will adapt and not feel too punished for having just one layout which theyre forced to scrap and reinvest heavily whenever they want to try a new strategy.
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faction rewards can be very good but may force players to get carries in efforts to min max their time. for example, some of the harbinger faction bonuses are bonkers good that can help the players gain much more power. but the requirements can be high such as defeating harbingers at a high level of corruption. players might feel that to get the best bang for buck they may need to engage players for carry services. the rewards simply are too good to be considered optional. thus i would prefer if the requirements to gain bonuses are more accessible to weaker players without them feeling forced to rely on carries or exploiting certain mechanics/builds. i do see that players are going to get much more power in the next cycle so indirectly we are moving in this direction.
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introduce more difficulty manipulation to help weaker players out. poe1 does this where there are atlas passives that reduce monster damage at the cost of monsters being tougher and the exact opposite. this allows a lot of tailoring. some ideas i have are corruptions giving less monster damage bonuses but at the cost of xp/drop bonuses. this can help players clear harbinger/bosses by themselves but at a cost.