Equipment Grind

[Harharkh]

First, some context. I am a relatively casual ARPG player with 160 hrs in Last Epoch. I enjoyed that time, but I think that I am going to move on to other things. I appreciate all that the devs have done though, and want to leave my impressions in case they read this and make changes that would bring me back.

There are a lot of things that I like about Last Epoch. The overarching story, the loot filter, and the crafting system have all received a lot of attention and are very well designed. The thing that I liked the most though, and the reason that I spend as much time in the game as I did, is the passive and skill system. There is just enough complexity there that there are really interesting builds waiting to be discovered, but not so much as to be overwhelming. A lot of my time was spent looking through the passive and skill trees for a new class and trying to make a plan of what I wanted to do, and that is great because I like games that give players choices.

What I do not like, and the main reason that I am leaving the game, is the grind for equipment. Many of the really interesting ideas for builds need specific combinations of affixes on the equipment to see if they are viable in the late game. Finding those combinations of affixes is really just a soul-crushing grind, regardless of whether you work on monoliths, farming exalted items from the Temporal Sanctum, or try the soul gambler. There is absolutely no sense that my time and effort is being rewarded by bringing me closer to trying out my build idea. And that means that the most fun part of the game, the build design, is locked behind something that is not at all fun, the equipment grind.

I found myself including more and more set and unique items in my builds (with the obvious opportunity cost) just because I knew that I would be able to find one with a reasonable investment of effort. That feels weird, that a unique item is easier to find and less exciting than a rare (even as low as T16) with the right combination of affixes that would enable my testing a build idea.

If there was a sense that I would consistently be able to improve my rare of exalted gear with the investment of time and effort (perhaps through the crafting system) I would be happy to sink more hours in this game. As it is though, I don’t want to invest hundreds of hours in a slot machine just to get the chance to find out that an experimental build idea really does not work on empowered monoliths.

And so I am off to other things for the moment at least. Peace.

EDIT: As a specific proposal, perhaps make crafting lower tier affixes cost less forging potential than higher tier affixes. Then I could take a blue item and potentially get T4 affixes in all the slots just to try my build, or spend the time grinding for an exalt and roll the dice with the crafting system. This would not affect the endgame at all, and you could reduce the impact on the early game by reducing the frequency of random shard drops (but leave the number in monoliths the same).

[Makszi]

Odd, I find the equipment search not really to be a grind at all, seems really fun although there is an RNG element… It’s really fun finding upgrades, or finding something that maybe could be an upgrade and trying to forge it into what you need. I love how they handle drops and equipment. Doesnt feel grindy at all to me, at 250 hours. I look forward to doing more of it, it’s one of the most fun aspects of this game.

I feel steady progression from this system, and find the progression very rewarding.

[Harharkh]

Again, that is one of the things that I like about LE, that there are multiple reward systems for different kinds of players. When I was working on my first (or second) build the RNG element felt good, and finding that first unique item that really worked with the build was fun.

As I learned more about the systems and the interactions of the skills with the equipment I started to get more build ideas though, and if I could try them in a reasonable amount of time that would keep the game feeling exciting and keep me playing. For example, you could theoretically build a spellblade (build planner) that reliably procs Reactive Ward every six seconds using Bulward of the Abyss and Last Steps of the Living with health regen, and then use that health regen to increase damage with the Shattered Lance set. The reason I give this as an example is that you need to have health regen in a very specific range, but I spent a weekend getting together the gear and the attack speed is just too slow. That was ~30 hours of investment that ended in disappointment.

Anyway, I am happy that you are enjoying the RNG aspects of the game.

[Travoas]

@makszi0

Odd, I find the equipment search not really to be a grind at all, seems really fun although there is an RNG element

As much as I have enjoyed LE and am continuing to play it, I have to agree with the OP on this point and disagree with you on it.

I know that is your opinion and this is mine but after so many hours in the game and having to move to another character because of this sole reason, it does get frustrating.

I have played every class and mastery (pre and post 0.9) and when looking for an item with specific affixes to fill in your build, the RNG really does get to be a big bugger that many times keeps that one (or several) item(s) from you.

This happens very frequently for someone as unlucky as me.

There have been numerous posts about the multiple levels of RNG which is a serious hurdle sometimes. I haven’t posted on many (or any?) of those but I recognize that it can be a real issue.

I simply don’t see that as a reason for me personally to give up on the game as I still thinks it’s a great game with a lot of potential.

[Aknathon]

I think that it could go other way.

Let’s say you go to the monolith and you not get a +30% item rarity, but a +30% chance to drop a item with Health affix… Then on the next +40% to drop item with vitality affix and so on… This would make the monolith soooo much funnier

At the end off a line, you could have a node that you would do not only for the loot at the end, but because you would have the perfect match of affixes, so, killing everything on the node would be a great grind.