That’s what D3 did and it still didn’t help. It’s ok that you like to have quick swap. But there are lots of players that leave a game that has this option, as can be seen in D3. D3’s playerbase was mostly composed of casual players and their player retention suffered from it.
There were already multiple threads about this, and this has all been discussed before. There isn’t any new argument here from either side. Bottom line is that not all games have to please all players. Some aim for a more casual playerbase, like D3 or D4, some to more hardcore players like PoE.
LE is somewhere in between and this change would push it more towards the casual side of the spectrum and many players would leave. It’s all about the players EHG wants playing their game.
So if this really is a big issue for you, LE isn’t the game for you, like PoE isn’t. D4 might be. Just like D3/D4 isn’t the game for me and if LE would change this, neither would it be.
Please read my option1 and option2 and if someone can please give me a reason why, specifically, Option 1 would be either unfair to players, take away from integrity of the game, or laterally anything that would affect THEIR playing experience then I will leave this discussion.
If LE added something similar to my Option 1, are you saying you would leave the game?
It’s about the identity of the game. It doesn’t matter if you make it optional or not. If the game allows it, players that don’t like casual playstyle will leave. Because the game’s identity would change.
Do you also go to FromSoftware forums and ask them to implement a quick swap? I mean, you could, but they would ignore you. Because they know that if they implemented it, their playerbase would leave en masse.
As I said, it would change the game identity. My perception of the game would shift and I wouldn’t find it appealing anymore. Just like Dark Souls players would do the exact same thing if you implemented that in their games.
I said that in relation to Dark Souls and other FS games. And it definitely would happen.
In LE it wouldn’t be en masse, it would just be a very significant part of the playerbase that EHG wants to target. Some casuals would come in, but those don’t really contribute to player retention, as seen in D3.
I would absolutely leave the game if loadouts were added. Not because of loadouts themselves, but because of the wide, sweeping design and balance changes that would have to come with them that would turn LE into a game I couldn’t enjoy anymore. I don’t want my experience to be balanced around players with build ADHD and those who would abuse loadouts to optimize content completion. I don’t want every boss and every trash pack to be shittier to engage with in different directions to keep narrowly tailored build swapping meta slaves in check.
Diablo 3 exists already. I don’t want to play Diablo 3: Time Travel Skin. I want to play Last Epoch.
That’s because there is value to an actual limitation, rather than “just do as if”.
After all, you could typically pretend Softcore is Hardcore, and delete your character yourself when it dies, and you could just as well limit your characters to the items they have found.
I’d personally be ok with the existence of an option 1 (check an “easy respec mode” option at character creation for infinite free respecs), and even allow them to play with players that didn’t choose it (so as not to fracture the community). Just don’t try to force the option on everyone. And make sure the game is balanced around players not using the option. The point is I don’t want to enforce playstyles upon others, but I don’t want them to enforce theirs upon me either.
Option 2 is definitely the worst of all worlds, though.
The playerbase would definitely suffer if you did that. Dinonappa’s Option 1 is the only case where you could possibly hope for it not to take a significant hit.
Since you can already f with your offline characters, this could certainly be an option for offline play.
Personally, I don’t get more enjoyment out of playing late game vs early game. If anything it’s the opposite. I like to watch my character unlock new skills and get stronger throughout the campaign. It’s the RP part of the ARPG. The main thing holding me back from making more characters is the limited number of online character slots and knowing that I’ll have to delete some.
Yes it actually does effect the game. Not just the player/s.
Having load outs creates a meta of switching builds to take on said content such as bossing clearing ect. Vs building ur build around single target and clearing capabilities.
Load outs also allows players to have everything. Aka u dont have a build. As we as u dont have build identity.
In turn this makes it so players dont need to learn what a builds strong points are and its weak points content wise.
Load outs change the game more than u think it does. Its not just about how a players preferred play style
It disadvantages people who don’t want to use or don’t like using it because it means that people who do use it are able to more quickly and efficiently get items to throw on MG. This influences the market economy, thus influencing the rest of the game.
Any amount of brainpower is all you need to figure this kind of stuff out
Because how you get the gear and what you can build with the gear are 2 different things.
If you go online and look at build guides with planners, do any of them say “must be Merchant’s Guild for this build to work” ?
Does a build become impossible because you’re in Hardcore, or in Offline mode?
None of these change the options of builds. Your suggestion would essentially do so.
I’ll take the example of WoW again: It used to be that people ran a single build per spec (mastery class) in raids. Ever since they implemented an instant-spec swap, playing the EXACT build for that particular boss is, in essence, required. Hybrid builds are essentially dead for any challenging content.
In fact, I would argue that instant-swapping builds is bad for players like you as well. Because if you do want to maximize your character, especially within a single cycle, (and unless it’s cycle-only content you specifically want, I would suggest against it if you’re limited in time) you’ll need MORE gear. Namely a set for bosses and a set for clear. Plus extra for specific dungeons or Arena and so on. That will be the optimal way to play, even if it’s just a “single build”. Forcing players, including you, to limit themselves to 1 build for all content (and the respec is cheap enough that it only really locks you into that and not build changes) means there is no need for multiple sets per build archetype. And yes, D3 has specific buildsets for rifts and bosses in virtually all its build guides nowadays.
This is a complete “the things I want are okay the things I don’t are” take.
There is a META by default. If you are making a poison build you are off meta, if you don’t use specific uniques in a build to match the META build you are off META. This does not create a META, META already exists, The only difference is you are okay with what is currently “required” of you
No, this is a “If a game doesn’t have the things you want it isn’t for you and if it does it is”. LE doesn’t have the things you want. It isn’t for you. If EHG ever changes their mind and decide to implement this, then LE won’t have the things we want, it won’t be for us.
You can’t please all players, as D4 as shown.
This is a dishonest argument. I could say that you could put an option in the game where you become immortal. If you don’t like it, then don’t use it. And still, it would kill the game.
This is blatantly untrue. I had a gold farm build, I had a speed farm build, a push glasscannon build, and a push tanky build on every character I played.
NO ONE is leaving a game because there is an optional system in place when there is no competitive atmosphere. You trying to make broad brush statements that align with your views and hiding behind the fake “everyone”. D3 was better BECAUSE of the ability to swap builds and if you don’t think so you never got over GR100
