I love the item filters in the game. I honestly don’t understand why your design isn’t industry standard for ARPGs. Unfortunately, because of how in-depth the filters are, making small changes can be a pain unless you know exactly what you’re looking to add or change, even with the search function.
I would love to see the ability to hide item affixes, etc. on the fly. I see it in my head as something along the lines of when showing the item tool-tip, a keybind is implemented that can hold the tool-tip in place and allows you to show or hide dropped items. One possible example: when the keybind is used and the tool-tip is held in place , check-boxes appear next to every affix, etc. Checked mean it shows items with the affix on dropped items, unchecked means that it hides items that affix on dropped items.
Real world example: Evasive Small Etteran Idol of Doom dropped while I was playing my Rogue. I currently have to make hide items with X affix, but nothing shows up when i search “increased void damage” because the affix is actually called “shared void damage”. (In this specific example, search functionality could be improved.)
With this function, the item filter requires less upkeep and over time becomes a more efficient filter without even having to be opened. This process would take 1-2 seconds instead of the 10+ seconds that it currently takes to hide one affix. This function alone would be sufficient for the majority of players in the majority of cases to play the game without ever needing to open the item filter and can therefore spend more of their time killing things and getting loot.
EDIT and a TLDR: In theory, if a player holds alt and shows more info, a checkbox would appear next to affixes. If that is unchecked, items with that affix would be hidden. If it is checked, items with that affix are shown. This check status would be linked to a permanent item rule HIDE/AFFIX that could be adjusted just like what is already possible (and I’m pretty sure used by almost everyone) in the item filter. You could move the rule, edit the rule, turn the rule on and off, change how many affixes it will hide, etc. I also think an on/off option in the settings for this function would be better so that it can be disabled for players that don’t want to use it.
There’s a rule that has a HIDE/AFFIX property in the item filter that says “With at least X of these affixes on the same item”. This function could be linked to that rule in the item filter.
I might be wrong but I think that a large majority of players that use the item filter have a HIDE AFFIX rule, so I it would make sense if the rule was made permanent, but blank, movable, editable, and inactive until it’s activated or until someone unchecks an affix using this function.
I think the theory seems nice, but it would easily lead to cluttered and overly complicated filters. If you click one item and select Affix A to show and then later click on an item and click on that same affix to hide, what should it do for later items?
Also, that will lead to having one rule per item dropped until you’re happy with the filter, meaning filters will end up with dozens more rules than they need to. And when you later want to change it you won’t be able to find the rules you need to change.
Yes, in theory it seems nice, but not only would it be quite complicated to program but it would also lead to clunky filters and people not learning to make them properly.
If you press ALT key when looking at an item, it will tell you the name of the affix and you can then search for that. Maybe this should be better explained somewhere in the game to make it easier for new players.
EDIT: don’t forget that many times you’re also filtering for specific item slots, like Silver Rings and sometimes you want to have boots with specific affixes and helms with other specific affixes, etc. Your system wouldn’t really help with that.
I use alt regularly to view stat ranges and I started using specific affix names after that happened. It was just an example. It’s not meant to “help” with someone that wants boots with specific affixes and helms with other specific affixes, etc. In more specific situations, you would go to the item filter. The idea is to make general filtering easier for most players so that they are spending more time playing the game and less time in the item filter. I have 607 affixes that I hide that I don’t want to see on any dropped item while playing my current character. If an item drops with an affix that I never want to see, it would be easier to use an on the fly function than to go into the item filter every time.
Yeah, as I said, it seems like a nice idea, but it wouldn’t be easy to implement, creating all the logic behind it, the interface and trying not to let it clutter too much.
Personally, I’d rather just have some basic filters as templates available for new players.
I think that such a hotkey would be fat fingered and create confusion through unintentionally hidden loot far more often than it would be used to solve the very niche, very minor inconvenience you’re trying to solve with it. You can already easily and rapidly create a filter that hides every affix you don’t want to see. It takes a matter of minutes and already “gets you playing the game more” because you do it one time, up front, instead of stopping constantly to add a new rule for each individual affix when it appears.
It just seems to me that you’re not using the existing functionality very well. To wit:
Or you could just search for “void damage” and find every void damage affix that you’d want to hide all at once.
Many of your assumptions are incorrect. I already always make a new filter or import a filter after character creation but I have a light touch at first because I don’t want to hide something I may want down the road, at least until I’m more confident in my knowledge of which affixes I do and don’t want. Not every player has some crazy inherent genetic knowledge of Last Epoch affixes from the get go. Also, I do not stop constantly to add a new rule for each individual affix when it appears, but it happens often enough that I considered other options that have the potential to be better than the status quo (which is why I am here). There are countless reasons why a player might want to hide an affix quickly on the fly.
Maybe you’re an ubermensch with a photographic memory and you can make the perfect item filter in “a matter of minutes” after creating a new character and never touch it again, but I personally have to adjust mine regularly, which I believe is the case for most players.
I also believe that most new players and players new to a class do not have the knowledge to make a proper item filter up front so they likely are adding affixes they didn’t even know existed or changed their minds about later to an already established rule when it appears on the ground in front of them during gameplay.
Your fat fingered concern is valid, but if this function is linked to an already established hotkey like more info(alt), that concern mostly disappears (unless you have an issue with the more info hotkey as well :). If a player does make a filter up front , there’s a good chance that that it would create confusion through unintentionally hidden loot because they only took a minute to make a filter when they didn’t know what they were doing, and because they don’t have the knowledge to make a proper filter. I could easily argue that your suggestion for players to create a filter after char creation has more potential to create the exact problem you say that this would create.
Even playing devils advocate here, a checkbox in the item toolbar that shows/hides affixes would not “create confusion” for most players. It’s a checkbox. It’s not complicated. Not to mention confusion and misclicks would be reduced if the checkboxes only appear when linked to more info as stated before (which many players barely use until later in the game). There are also numerous simple ways that the devs could reduce confusion by indicating that a checked box means show and unchecked box means hide.
Or you could just stop making assumptions about my experience playing the game, stop arguing in bad faith and stick to arguing the merits of a QoL request instead of deciding that I’m BAD AT FILTER.
After I was unable to find the affix after searching for void damage, I did change the search and was able to find it (which is obvious if you actually read my OP). It was just an example of something that happened to me earlier that could be improved. Even if I made the search properly the very first time, it would still be faster and easier to hold a key and uncheck a box.
As you seem unaware that the process of determining the merits for a QoL change include really only one thing in this discussion from a players perspective(or you are intentionally ignoring it), let me help you out: Does it make the quality of life for the player better?
I think this would, especially for new players. They can hop in the game and when they get to the point that they’re annoyed by all the affixes they don’t want, they can take a few seconds to hide some of those affixes. They have a better handle on the game and are more likely to make the best choice, and are able to move on quickly, thereby making the loot aspect of the game more manageable and reducing the time spent in the item filter for those that want to focus on the gameplay. As they play, they have to hide less and less items. By the time a player is in the end game, this quick function will have removed the vast majority of drops they don’t want. The process to add an affix in the item filter would stay the same. It’s a time saver and it keeps you in the game longer. That’s what QoL changes are for.
Are there legitimate concerns from a player and developer standpoint? Of course there are. That’s the point of this discussion. Would this change affect you at all? Probably not, but I still thank you for you input.
The main concern to me at this exact moment would be if someone unchecks a box and fails to realize that they’re now hiding an affix. Are there ways to avoid and mitigate that risk? Of course there are. (Off the top of my head a way to turn this off in the settings or an addition toggle, maybe add a line of text that says something like “You are now hiding XXXX affix”). The second is over-complicating things, but I don’t think that added functionality to the more info tool-tip or an additional permanent rule that just about every already uses is over-complicated. Do those concerns and issues outweigh the advantages of the implementation of the function that I recommend? Possibly, but I wouldn’t be here if i believed that.
Could a player with a character and at level 1 or level 20 go through the list of affixes and hide the ones they don’t want in the item filter? They sure can. This wouldn’t stop them. Could a player at level 20 go through their loot and see a couple of affixes they don’t want and add them to the hide rule, then do the same thing again at 30 and 40 and 50 etc? Yep. Can a player do both? They sure can (I do right now). Would this function make the game better for them? Probably!
I do know that for me personally, if I bought a new ARPG today, started playing it right now, and started getting overwhelmed with too much loot in a few hours because of affixes I don’t want, I would rather spend a fraction of the time incrementally making adjustments to the item filter on the fly then going into the item filter every time i want to hide an affix.
This would be just another option for players to control their loot. One that if implemented, I believe, would increase the enjoyment of a great game for most players (which is hopefully what you’re here to help with). Is it necessary? Nope. Would it make the game better? I think so. Hence the QoL tag in the title that you seem to have skipped.
The real questions are: how many people feel the same way (hopefully I can explain it well enough to them that they truly understand what I’m getting at) and how hard would this be to implement in a simple enough and cost effective way that would appeal to and be understood by players and devs both?
It seems I misunderstood your post. What you seen to be proposing is an alternate filter like the one in Grim Dawn, or a variant of it.
Other than the shame of giving a way to hide what I feel was an excellent job at creating an accessible loot filter, and other than the fact that it would require quite a lot of programming to juggle both methods (mostly this one, tbh) I don’t think it’s a bad idea.
I think there are better ways to achieve this, though, like my idea for creating templates. So you’d create a sentinel and could choose from many premade filters, including something like “Sentinel Warpath” or maybe just “Sentinel melee physical” so we don’t get tied to skills. These filters would just hide a few things and highlight some beneficial affixes and then the players could improve on them or just make their own from scratch, having already a decent example to learn from.
This would also be much easier to code.
I agree with you completely concerning templates. A template would be a great starting point for beginners and would allow easier modifcation of the item filter after that. I’m network admin so my coding experience is limited, but you’re probably right that this idea may have to be implimented earlier in a game’s development cycle. I know that I personally used to use Neversinks PoE loot filter that everyone has and that would fix most issues. I haven’t played Grim Dawn in a couple of years but it’s possible that’s also where the idea came from.
I’m probably over-hyping the idea but this feels like something that if implemented well that has the potential to become an industry standard in combination with other modern features like the templates that you suggest and LEs current loot filter. Especially in an ARPG which as an genre feel like they are increasingly going big, loot big damage. I would rather go through 10 things and find one I will use than like D4 which is go through 100 things and you’re lucky if you find one good item. LE so far has a done a great job with basically removing useless gear from the game.
When they initially announced loot filters they did plan to add template filters as well.
But for reason that we don’t know that was not done.
After they initially implemented filters a lot of people liked the loot filter and tinkered around with them, but because there were still a significant amount of people asking for help or asking people if they could use/psot their filters I decided to do a generic template filter for all classes.
These are very generic and don’t really hide that much, except low level base types (once you are in the level range of higher base types.
From everything I gathered in thsi thread I am not sure if my Filters are what you are looking for, tough.
I’ll check them out, thanks! I personally prefer more barebones templates like yours seem to be so that I feel like I’m actually feel like I’m a part of the process a bit more
But yeah the purpose of my filter really is to be customized and personalized.
The main idea was to give people a helping hand with some basics.
But due to the nature of being as generic and unspecific as possible there are many methods and thigns that I can’t really do.
Feel free to leave me some feedback, if you have tested it. Also happy to hear other perspectives.
It would be a really nice thing to add. I understand that their time is limited, but in this case they could just ask the community to come up with the templates and all they’d have to do was add them to the game.
Since they would just be loose templates there would be no need to keep track of current meta, so unless something changed in the mechanics themselves, the filters should be good to use for a long time.
