Allow to pause game in offline mode

[valcros22]

Currently the game is working as offline (except for social part) and I really miss to be able to pause the game so I can take care of any stuff I need in real life without needing to find a safe spot or something

[XLVI_carpo]

The safest way currently is to use a town portal. The downside is that on return the mobs have respawned. But this is only a temporary issue due to technical problems and will be fixed sometime in the future.

[AndrewTilley]

While a town portal works for main campaign, you can not use one for MoF or Arena without suffering consequences.

I would also agree that a Pause function would be great to have in the finalized Offline version of the game. Though, I know there are so many other things to still implement.

[valcros22]

Yes I know that in normal mode you can use a portal but on monolith that means you will lose the progress and fail it.
I believe a pause function would more usefull

[XLVI_carpo]

Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I did not mean that a pause function is unnecessary. I’m with you on this.

For multiplayer there could be a mobe like vote pause system. If three of 4 people vote for pause the game is paused for 1min. Pause is interrupted if all 4 players unpause.

[vapourfire]

While your examples are fine, and allow for finishing of a level or map, and then taking a break. I think that a Pause button is not for planned breaks, but more for “oh crap, the doorbell rang” or the phone rings in the other room and you cannot ignore it.

In those instances, losing progression on a map could be annoying…

Granted, this is a game and making up a few minutes of lost play shouldnt really be that much of an issue. I think the ability to pause just takes away a little RL stress factor.

[XLVI_carpo]

It is completely fine how you personally set your priorities. Just other people prioritize things differently and there are thousands of situations where you can’t say “Wait, I’ll just finish this level.”

A pause function in single/ offline play won’t hurt anybody. Online it’s harder to implement because it could affect others in a negative way.

[XLVI_carpo]

Sorry if i misinterpret your statements.

@Sanctuarys_Reaper

You could always just finish the monolith your doing, they last a few minutes at the most, go to the end of time, and there is your pause button, you can leave the game, you can idle there and feed the dog, let the dog out, make some food, eat the food and no progress is lost.

Every 5 waves in arena you get a break point, it doesnt start again til you start the next round of waves, so there is your chance to take a leak or whatever

On my side this just sounds like you do not think a pause function is needed.

[valcros22]

I understand the points thrown here but I don’t believe that a pause feature should be at the bottom of the bucket in QoL as it is something usefull that shouldn’t demand a lot of work
But anyway this is always at devs consideration and also thanks for stepping by and contribute to the topic

[Llama8]

A pause for the SP version would be a very nice QoL for when you need to go do something else (eg, deal with annoying kids that don’t understand that Daddy is Gaming).

[VisionGL]

I just wanted to 2nd this, a pause feature would be nice to have while we are still offline - obviously, not at the expensive of a lot of development time on other content though.

Yes, you get a break point between Echoes and every 5 Arena Waves - sometimes pressing things come up though.

When the game is online I will just take the penalty - wouldn’t mind seeing a pause for now though. It does come up pretty often.

[Tibone]

Although it wouldn’t bother me personally having it or not. I wouldn’t mind it. I see how it could benefit and how if I don’t want to use it I don’t have too. but the question is

1. how hard developmentally is it too put in a game that has not been planned around it with dev time and developmental cost and resources.

2. would it be better at this point in time to go ahead and do that or should other systems take priority is it going to be just something quick to add or would it take significant time?

Idk I have never done game development. but it seems to me that this would be a nice feature. but might be something to aim for after launch.

or if it is quick and simple just add it in.

[Llama8]

@Tibone

would it be better at this point in time to go ahead and do that

Probably not, but it would be a very nice QoL for the offline SP people when they have time for it.

Edit: bloody autocorrect…

[Heavy]

I really have no clue how hard it would be to implement for Offline/SP only.

Me personally would use that feature alot, as i use it in similar games like GD alot too. For either important RL stuff or even just to pause and chat with a friend on steam.

I would want other features have a higher priority, but in case it is “fairly” easy to implement without any other feature getting pushed back considerably, i wouldn’t mind it being implemented soon.

But i do 100% understand that this is the kind of feature that some people really want to have.

[Tibone]

If not now definitely be something I would like to see after launch

[XLVI_carpo]

Admittedly I’m a bit confused about all the people being afraid of QoL features that could increase dev time. I’m no game dev. I just have no clue how easy or hard it is to implement such a function. Also a pause function in game X might be easier to implement than in game Y. But to be honest: Why should I care? I’m here for the imput, not the execution.

If the real devs think there should be no pause function, it’s their choice. If they think it would be cool to have one, but its low priority, its their choice.

People here give feedback of what they think should be implemented to increase overall game quality. If we take into consideration if a feature creates additional dev time, there would be no feedback anymore. The easiest way is to let everything stay as it is and only work on features already planned.

I guess if this would have been the mindset of EHG the game would’ve been released in April 2020 already.

Of course I get that we cannot demand an infinite number of new features if we ever want this game to be released. But I would leave this to the devs.

[TriKster]

@XLVI_carpo

For multiplayer there could be a mobe like vote pause system. If three of 4 people vote for pause the game is paused for 1min. Pause is interrupted if all 4 players unpause.

Is this even technically possible while playing online? What about other players sending you trade requests like in poe, are u then currently shown as offline?
Most of the time i play arpgs online if possible, because i like to play with other people and i like to trade. So if the devs say it’s technically impossible to pause a game in mp, i’m completely fine with it. Like you said, we are no devs and i personally have to clue how to implement a pause function in mp.
Also being a Grim Dawn player i can not tell you enough how much i appreciated the fact to pause the game, but yeah…GD is a single player orientated game.
I’m pretty sure the devs are aware of this situation and i mean they know how Blizzard / GGG / Wolcen / Crate Entertainment are implementing these features. So if they offer both an offline and online gaming experience for LE i can see a pause function coming for offline mode but i doubt we see a pause function in mp. So i definitly hope that offline players will have a pause function!

[tsuelue]

@XLVI_carpo

Of course I get that we cannot demand an infinite number of new features if we ever want this game to be released

Pausing in SP is not a new feature, it´s simply arpg standart, and surely will be implemented.

Also, the OP simply stated, that they “miss to be able to pause the game” …

[XLVI_carpo]

@TriKster

Is this even technically possible while playing online? What about other players sending you trade requests like in poe, are u then currently shown as offline?

The pause function is only necessary for interrupting an actual map. So the action is frozen as long as pause is active. During this time you could set the player status to “afk” and send an automated message. This function is very common in all kinds of MMOs.

Thinking about this I’d prefer to not get trade requests during a fight

In MOBAs you can call a vote for a break. And if a certain % of your team votes “yes” the game is paused. Everybody can unpause.

I’m not sure if it is really necessary for multiplayer. There are no competitive game modes where it is absolutely mandatory that all people are active. I can’t judge what would be more annoying: Needing to pause during a quest or a bossfight or doing a bossfight with 3 people with 1 afk that increases scaling difficulty with his presence.