I’m just dropping this feedback as it relates to me and people that enjoy the game like me. The way I have been seeing endgame as it is now and what motivates players like me. I am fully aware that others enjoy the endgame differently and that certain things are valued or devalued differently between everyone. Nothing I say here goes negatively towards anyone else’s viewpoint that is different than this viewpoint.
Ok, so Positives:
The game currently feels really good with a lot of classes as far as endgame OP-ness. And you don’t need to be at 99/100 to feel that power. I think a lot of games like this that put you as a demigod type character really under power you in a way to force you to grind endgame to get incrementally more powerful. I like that feeling that after 10-20 hours of playing and building a character you plow through content and feel amazingly powerful and the endgame scales to give you that breathing room to go farther.
I don’t like that feeling of “oh maybe one more item will make the game feel better”. I would rather keep pushing to make my character more powerful and not feel like i need to Die and extremely work to get past endgame content. Especially not after 30-40-50 or more hours playing. I also like that there are multiple classes now that have the ability to go really far without a ton of crazy endgame items or those perfectly crafted items. This is a major bonus to player happiness. And if anything needs to be balanced is to make even more classes be able to jump into high power sooner or the ability to. I think its not the right way to go to punish or torture people first in order for them to feel a sense of accomplishment.
Also, Drops feel amazing. Every monolith instance I feel like I’m bound to get something of an upgrade, or its really close, no matter how far i am into the game. It really feels really good. This is the best dopamine you can give players.
Monoliths feel really good, and I can keep grinding and then scaling that content till high corruption. Doing starter empowered monoliths I did not feel like I’m far away from endgame content. And the time to complete monoliths is perfect to run a few, feel accomplished with drops, and keep pushing the character forward. I also don’t feel like I’m treading water and not moving as I keep grinding the monoliths.
The negatives:
Splitting the buying and selling from CoF players. I think this was a mistake. If I do not want to participate in trade then I can do so on my own. But I cannot enjoy the bonuses of the CoF if I do decide I do want to trade. I understand if the trade guild allowed you to only sell items. CoF and trade should both have access to buying items. Or even split between alts, Like a CoF alt can farm and a Trade guild Alt can list those items. This keeps the famring for the guild reputation for the better bonuses, and makes you want to play both characters.
Also, as CoF, there is nothing aside from gearing myself that I can look forward to at endgame. What do I do after I’m fully geared? Is the expectation to just roll more alts? Part of the endgame Map grind in PoE was that slim chance that I can get some really good drops to share with others or sell to get those bad RNG items I’m not getting. Your limiting endgame of endgames.
Again, Its always better to have options that people can selectively not do and not be penalized. I’m POE or any game like it, the reason for the lack of drops was their way of controlling the trade market. The last season at POE was a good example of how it really didn’t matter if you controlled the economy and the more that was dropping or given to players, the happier they were.