From the beta to it’s current state the Monolith feels like an area I visit to grind levels and loot but for me there’s a lack of ownership over the system itself. After 5K+ hours in POE something that has always felt good is that maps feel closely linked to me and my account. I stash them, roll on them, run them, trade them, collect more while advancing through tiers, and overall these locations feel like they are closely tied to me and my RNG.
Suggestion: I would personally love to see Monoliths reimagined to include some form of character or account ownership over the system. Some ideas:
Instead of a randomly generated Monolith, you can find nodes for specific areas with different mods/rewards that you can insert into the Monolith cluster. Or that the Monolith nodes are filled in but you can replace any of them with nodes you’ve acquired or found inside other areas. Some form of collection and rarity with the possibility of crafting on the socketed nodes themselves.
I love the feeling of leaving my home base to go on a run. I don’t get this with the current Monolith system as it feels like a menu that I’m clicking through to complete. So reimagining the Monolith to borrow some inspiration from roguelites or the map device from POE. This feeling of “one more run” from roguelites isn’t currently there in the Monolith for me personally as running nodes sort of blur together.
Adding content to the loot pool that is something I can be excited about finding. The feeling of finding the highest tier map feels great, I would love to see content be added to the loot system.
The foundation of the game is incredible but I’ve lost the desire to run the Monolith and I’m not sure if adding more dungeons is the answer to this.
Overall great work, excited to see where the game goes overtime.
Personally one of the things I really like about monoliths is that they’re not complicated, and I’m not trying to track 5+ forms of progress while doing them. It doesn’t feel bad to just click and go. While I do hope they add more to the system I hope they’re very cautious about how they do it, so that it doesn’t become the convoluted mess that PoE has become many times (shaper/elder manipulation being a stand out).
I’m not sure how I personally feel about content as drops since it can lead to your favorite way to play the game being rng gated. I would prefer a simple augment system, similar to PoE’s void stones, or maybe even the LE idol system but for each monolith.
I can definitely imagine having a good time trying to get my monolith set up for exp or gold or w/e with monolith idols, and changing it for my needs as my personal journey progresses.
Don’t need extra clicks, just mono choice and go. I want to play and don’t managing some collectables/maps or other stuff. And this map device from PoE? Seriously want to useless extra drag&drop actions?
On the one hand, I appreciate that Monos are very “click and go” and I don’t have to micromanage a bunch of bullshit like I do in POE; dealing with maps as items, rolling them, deciding if I can handle the affixes, putting them in the map device - all of this is obnoxious and tedious.
On the other hand, I also agree that I don’t feel very much sense of ownership or control over Monos and especially their affixes, and it feels like something is missing or could be improved. I do like it about POE that any map affix that sucks is something I can either reroll, throw away entirely, or at worst is only going to be there for one map. It is also obnoxious that if I have to pick a shitty or annoying affix to get a reward type I want in a Mono, I’m stuck with it for a while, and it can accumulate.
I agree mostly. I’m not looking for something overly complex that grows out of control, but from my experience so far the Monolith feels the same as when I first start it until when I reach very high levels of corruption. Content as drops could be more focused on modifying existing content, so Nodes that can be inserted/crafted to enhance or alter the current Monolith. In it’s current state it feels like the same thing over and over.
yeah well said. I wouldn’t want systems added that pointlessly make the game more tedious, but the click and go nature of it tends to get repetitive. I would love to make some more decisions when looking at nodes and deciding to click that impact the run/content/loot/enemies/etc. Deciding on the reward at the end doesn’t hold my interest when everything else is the same besides area + monster types. In it’s current state I don’t have a strong pull to come back for the next cycle because the end game part of it feels too linear and simple and I know the leveling process leads to the same place. There’s a lack of depth that I think could be improved upon without making it feel like added work for the player. I don’t know what this looks like but the main thing I’d like to see expanded on is the flow: node click, clear, repeat x10,000. It feels too one dimensional to keep me coming back. This might be a personal take as I love games like POE but as we’ve heard end game is a focus of theirs so I believe they’re aware of some of these issues.
Something they did extremely well is the crafting. It’s addictive, rewarding, and has the perfect amount of RNG in it. These concepts could be integrated into the Monolith/end game system that ultimately makes nodes and your Monolith feel truly unique to you.
Upvoted for this one. If it is implemented like things that enhance the whole current monolith (add/remove/make certain modifiers more / less common), and are permanent, not like PoE maps, where you have to craft each run individually. There may even be mods with unique effects which are not present in the baseline monolith, that drop from endgame content (dungeons/bosses).
That’s already done, albeit in a shitty way, with dungeon/arena keys. I wish they improve it somehow as well.
Influencing the monolith runs itself is the natural next stage without making it vastly more complicated. By choice obviously and with a variety of directions. Similar to how PoE with their map device handles it or Torchlight Infinite.
Itemization of monoliths on the other hand in any form… nono… absolutely no. Everything related to it should solely be kept on your own account, not to be traded and any sort of powerful combinations hence need to be played for and used sparingly rather then non-stop. Automatic storage and ‘spreadsheet style’ is the way to go for those mechanics as it does interfere the least with the current feeling while having nonetheless a big impact.
So overall for it if properly handled, absolutely.
