As the title suggests, after playing LE for the last month, browsing throught the forums constantly and actually witnessing some of the game’s issues myself, I would like to make some suggestions regarding mainly the endgame and crafting. I am not a LE veteran obviously, but after almost 4k hours in Grim Dawn, 3k hours in PoE ( I should measure my D2 playtime in years ) and many other ARPGs, I think that all that experience could help me be of help to this amazing game’s growth.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the game has core problems. It’s perfectly playable, especially for a game in beta. All I will try to do is express my ideas on some issues that many others have noted. Keep in mind these are all my personal thoughts and I may very well be wrong.
CRAFTING
I think the main problems with crafting are the RNG involved and the power curve. I actually really like the crating principles, like in PoE, cause every character feels unique and you never know what your char will wear in the endgame apart from maybe a couple of uniques and/or set items. The problem is, RNG can really ruin a long time of farming, and high tier affixes you get access to early on, making you feel you stop progressing after a while.
Suggestions: a) Make affixes’ tiers on crafting tied to char lvl. clv 1-25-50-75-90 for tiers 1-2-3-4-5. You will still be able to find and equip items with any tiers on them ( similar to exalted items ), but your crafting ability will be gated behind your lvl. That way, you won’t be able to have gear full of tier 5, 3 hours into the endgame.
b) We can have a new crafting material called Rune of Brilliance ( name is just an example ), which will drop with a low droprate from monolith bosses and will allow you to remove fractured status once per item. There can even be a Greater Rune of Brilliance from empowered monolith bosses which will allow a 2 per item uses. That way, you can keep your good items in stash while farming for these runes, and you wont be forced to change items every half an hour cause of RNG.
Endgame
Endgame issues are actually tied to crafting cause of the power curve. As I have read many times on these forums and actually realized myself, trying to farm monolith bosses is quite tedious and many times without result.
Suggestion. Similar to crafting, bosses in monolith and the monolith chest ( after you have completed that timline once ), can have a low chance to drop an item called Rune of Knowledge ( again, name is just an example ), which we will be able to put in a device similar to the arena key, and instantly spawn the boss quest of the respective timeline. I think this would make monolith much more pleasant and less repetitive.
Closing, these are of course my personal thoughts and I may very well be wrong. If you managed to read up to this point you are a hero:P Thank you very much.
It just sounds like you have a problem with the current power curve in the game. I believe, and someone please correct me if I’m wrong, that the dev’s haven’t done a balance pass at the game in some time and intend to do so. It’s been noted by many on the forums here that the game feels a little too easy, specifically during the campaign. As @Jerle has noted, crafting is already gated behind levels.
It’s also my personal feelings that you should be capable of all crafting by the time you hit the endgame (which is currently approxmately level 50 as of right now). Level 90 just to have the possibility to craft that item I’ve been saving for 15-40 levels isn’t my idea of fun.
This is correct. I wouldn’t be surprised if they waited til all the masteries are in before doing that, otherwise they’d need to revist everything when they add the other masteries.
That’s nice about the balance patch. I just threw some ideas there to help alleviate some endgame issues. I still think crafting should be gated before the endgame though. We can adjust the numbers to our liking. I am not talking about leveling, but if you are able to be t5 geared before you enter your very first monolith, ofc you will notice miniscule progress.
That’s why we see so many threads from ppl claiming that they are not incentivized to continue playing after lvl 70-75. Why would they be? Being able to enter your very first monolith in full gear with t5 on them, there is so little room for improvement left. Just my thoughts
The tiers don’t make the whole quality and use of an item. The base is also very important and sometimes, it’s beneficial to remove a T14 item for a T10 item with a higher base. That’s where you will find the gating system: as the high bases are for certain levels only, you still have a power progression along with the level progression. And we’re talking about pure mathematical power, but some weapons also have added power (for example +adap spell damage along with +elem spell damage).
) and many other ARPGs, I think that all that experience could help me be of help to this amazing game’s growth.
