Which is just so far from the way you would wanna go with your game currently, we have D4 and PoE 2 coming out, PoE still extremely popular - all these games are pretty smooth (we have yet to see PoE 2, but it looks pretty epic). LE is just gonna be the clunky buggy brother, with old graphics but require a 12gb GPU and an i9 to play above 20fps, and not feel like combat / movement is totally clunky, and this how it feels currently. your character moves like Michael jackson if you hold your mouse centered over him, game kinda bugs out if you get to close to minions and goes into slow motion, you cant hit all mobs as melee hit boxes seems to be out of the range of your swing range and we can keep going.
But i am guessing you are right, since these issues and combat in general havenât had an update since 1.0 when i started playing, instead they seemed to been working on a dodge roll that also lags out because performance and combat is as clunky as it is. Sagde.
In theory updating to the newest version of unity should give them a ton of new tools to get way better performance, but it all depends how the code is written, combat / movement and other related things would probably have to be completely rewritten. Lets see with 1.2
YepâŠconstantly over 2 days. US West/US Central Morning or Night, it doesnât matter. Game isnât really playable and is starting to almost feel like launch, but with waaaay less players. Shouldnât be happening like this so far into Cycle 2.
Correct me if Iâm wrong but I believe youâre saying that these other games are going to steal players from LE so the rest of my comment is based on that assumption.
Video games are not a zero-sum game. What I mean by this is letâs say we have a pool of 100 players and thereâs two games Game A and Game B, a zero-sum game would require that all 100 players be divided equally into both games, so if Game A had 70 players then Game B must have 30 players. In reality you could have 80 of the 100 who play Game A and 90 of the 100 who play Game B. Thereâs only 100 players, but a group of them play both games.
Just because PoE2 launches and if D4 gets better doesnât mean that the players who play those games canât also play LE, and TQ2 is also coming out in EA soon. This just means more variety for players of the genre. I currently play LE, GD, and TQ for the Diablo-clone genre. I also play MonHun World and MonHun GU. I also play the ratchet and clank series through emulation. I could keep going but Iâm sure you get the point. Just because I play one game doesnât mean I canât also play others.
This is probably the best time to be an ARPG fan with all these games that are coming out (PoE2 and TQ2), getting expansions (GD), or being improved (D4 and LE).
Uff, I HATE the ââcharacter moves like Michael jackson if you hold your mouse centered over himââ. I have even shared video about this issue on the forums and many players said they donât care âŠ
Meanwhile, D4 and POE 1 does not have this issue and the character movement is pristine and responsive.
What I think he actually means is that D4 and POE 2 (To be seen) are so superior in the polish (combat, VFX, responsiveness, character movement), that many players will set theirs standards out of them and will not be able to enjoy Last Epoch anymore if it is not improved in that department.
Sure, there are some players who do not care about graphics, responsiveness, VFX, etc. but I would say that many players, if not most, do. At the moment, Path of Exile 1 graphics is outdated, and D4 is not really complex ARPG, but once Path of Exile 2 is released, with top graphics and hopefully AAA polish, many players will have issue returining to ââoutdatedââ games.
I know, there are some players, who still play Grim Dawn, Diablo 1, Titan Quest 1, but those are very small numbers compared to players who somewhat enjoy ARPGs. For most players, those are old and pretty much outdated games not worth even trying out and you donât want Last Epoch to end like that in 2 years (exaguration).
I can understand that not every game is for everyone, but I think your critique is quite exaggerated. First, endgame content might not be for everyone, but many players actually enjoy the grind and the challenge of getting blessings and perfecting their builds. Itâs part of what makes the game rewarding over time. Not every game has to hand you everything easily, and some of us appreciate that long-term progression.
As for drop rates and crafting, theyâre meant to reward dedication. Sure, they can be tough, but thatâs part of the genre. Games like this have always been about RNG and luck, and thatâs what keeps players coming backâhunting for that perfect item.
Regarding balance issues, itâs true that some builds are stronger than others, but isnât that always the case? Build diversity is something the devs are constantly working on, and the meta shifts with every update. Itâs not perfect, but no game is 100% balanced all the time.
Calling the developers disconnected from the player base seems unfair, especially considering how often they interact with the community and release patches based on feedback. Theyâre not ignoring the gameâs issues; theyâre just tackling things one step at a time. Itâs a complex game, and balancing new mechanics while fixing older ones isnât easy.
Your comments about the optimization feel a bit off. Yes, itâs not flawless, but the devs have made noticeable improvements over time. Itâs a process, and for most players, the game runs just fine.
As for the community, labeling them as âfanboysâ or âbotsâ just because they enjoy the game is a bit extreme. Not everyone who likes the game is being paid to leave positive reviews. There are thousands of players who have found genuine enjoyment in the game, even if itâs not perfect.
Finally, saying the devs should âleave the industryâ is overly harsh. Developing a game like this is no easy task, and despite the challenges, theyâve created something a lot of people love. Criticism is fine, but it should be constructiveânot just a list of complaints.
Personally I donât care. Iâve often said that EHG could completely abandon LE as is and I would still play it for years to come.
However, what the âold veteransâ have been saying isnât that they would rather play a clunky game, but that, looking at the market and how it evolved, the majority of players would leave and wouldnât return if there wasnât anything new.
So itâs the majority of players that would rather play a clunky game but with new stuff.
You only have to look at PoE. Do you think that if they said: âWeâre not going to have a new league for the next few monthsâ theyâd have another 200k+ player peak anytime in between?
What you want is fine if you have a standalone model with expansions, like GD. Which, coincidentally, has a few peaks at new patches/expansions, but mostly has a lower playerbase.
But if you have a live service seasonal model like LE, PoE, D4, etc, then you have to release new content regularly, even if you still have to fix bugs. If you donât, then the game really does die.
I am not so sure about graphics and VFX. Most people I know usually argue gameplay > graphics and happily play indygames with good gameplay and retro graphics rather than good-looking games with boring/bad gameplay.
Responsiveness or good hitboxes appear to be much more important to people, as this directly affects the gameplay.
I lowered my graphics settings for LE, deactivated dmg numbers (too many anyways) etc. and have rarely problems with the controls. I can run this game mostly stable around 60 fps with an outdated GTX 1050 ti.
Thatâs not me defending LEâs performance. It appears to be abhorrently optimized in its current iteration.
the graphics are fine. the only visual issue that bothers me is looking at character models in the select screen (in game they are too small to notice). obviously the characters do not look remotely close as good as the monsters (love the monster models here).
I would spend my own money to get the MTX shop going full steam if I was an investor or hire someone super overqualified to get it off the ground
Despite how much we can argue that hardcore gamers donât like graphic, the truth is we need them to get large sales.
There is a reason indie game studios upgrade graphics the moment they can, as normies see eye candy and click buy. Half of Gen-shit profit came from horny comers who wanted to see cute girls. Diablo 4 also has benefited from normies with 5 kids who want surface deep borderline brain rot.
It is a part of our nature. We canât fight it. Even in this genre. TQ, LE, Torchlight, Grimdawn reviews by normies usually highlight this.
It is why I do adamantly spoke about it in my videos about making visibly easy to notice mass scale changes that any one can see at eye glance- and front loading all changes in Le.
Even worked for BG3 which is a terrible game past act 1. And also why Wotr and kingmaker get hammered as best part of game is at end.
People say Gameplay > Graphics, because complex or unique games are often created by smaller studios that have no manpower and funds to create a great/complex game that is also graphically awesome, they have to choose one or the other. If they had funds to do both, they would.
I think graphics, are as important as game systems and that is why I donât really play older games such as Grim Dawn, Runescape, Titan Quest, etc. even if they were 10/10 games. If LE had the graphics and polish of Diablo 4, it would be more popular, even with hardcore gamers, and also a better game in general. (Not that is that great)
And here is where Path of Exile 2 steps in. From what was told, it should have better graphics than Diablo 4 and yet be almost as complex as Path of Exile 1. That will be a big win.
I donât want to really get into an argument if D4 or LE is better. I just know some hardcore POE players who canât say if they enjoy LE or D4 more (for different reasons) Sure. LE might have way better ARPG elements such as crafting, itemization, or skill tree, but on the other hand, Diablo 4 has better graphics, combat, polish, cosmetics, cinematic, etc. and all those are also VERY important aspects of a game. D4 as it is now even has a better endgame than Last Epoch, believe it or not.
At the end, volume (number of players and sales) speaks the most and whether you agree or not, Diablo 4 is a clear winner in that regard (IP also plays a role I know). Sure, you can call all those millions of D4 players normies, casuals, or whatever, but they are players as you are, and I am sure some of them are hardcore players who just prefer D4 over LE, for whatever reason.
Thatâs a very shareholder perspective. Compared to D4, probably all competitors combined are a pile of crap in that regard.
McDonaldâs sells more meals in a small restaurant in a day than my favourite restaurant in half a week or even a week, I would estimate.
McD earns basically 0⏠from me. I spend 150-200⏠in other restaurants each month on average. There is a market to cater for a smaller audience. As long as you break even by catering to a smaller audience, everything is fine - except your goal is to get rich.
I mean, EHG should absolutely fix the many issues with graphics and performance. Cosmetic MTX is how they want to bring in a continuous cash flow from people who already bought the game. Pretty stuff sells better in a pretty game, I dare to assume.
I still play GD. Heck, I still play PD2 which uses D2 LoD (not resurrected) graphics.
That is undisputable.
That is less so. Not that it wouldnât be better, but that thereâs a balance. If they had focused on graphics over gameplay, weâd have less than half the systems we currently have, because graphics is what takes most of the programming time for games.
So there is a line for each person where graphics are âgood enoughâ and game mechanics start to matter more. Each person has their own tolerance for this (some people like pixel art games, others require better produced graphics).
But you could have the best graphics in the world and if the game wasnât good you wouldnât play it.
Whereas you can have acceptable graphics (again, personal threshold) and youâll still play it if it has great gameplay.
Obviously if a game with great gameplay improves their graphics it will be a better game. But the effort required for this is usually too big and requires that you stop working on gameplay.
I think these have different levels of importance for different people. Itâs not that LE, PoE or D4 is better or worse than one another, they just target different people.
There are some that like more than one, or even all of them, but the main target playerbase for each of the 3 games is different.
They certainly expanded on their systems, but D4, to me, as a âfatal flawâ, which is that their systems donât overlap. What do I mean by this?
In PoE, you have dozens of different mechanics. You can choose a few of them or even focus on a single one that you like and you will be able to get everything in the game with it. So if you donât like mechanic X, like Delve, you donât ever have to do it.
In D4 you have a series of linear goals and do the related mechanic until itâs achieved:
-Want to level? Do mechanic X (currently Helltides, might change in the future again)
-Want to gear up? Do mechanic Y
-Want to level sigils? Do mechanic Z
You do one of them until you filled the checkbox and you move on to the next one. If you donât like mechanic Y? Tough luck, you have no alternative to it and are forced to play it for hours on end.
The main thing is that not every game wants to be the most popular ever. Not every game wants to outsell everything else. Sometimes a studio just wants to do their own thing and create a unique product theyâre proud of.
Thatâs the case with EHG. They set out to make the game they wanted to play and attracted a bunch of people that also shared the same preferences.
Obviously no one wants to lose money, but you donât have to be GOTY to make enough money to justify making a labor of passion.
If volume and sales were all that mattered, the industry would basically just be P2W mobile games.
Even that is not necessarily true - or depends on what we consider improvement.
Could be nicer, but adding so many lighting and particle effects that it actually becomes a worse experience as you lose visual clarity. So the upgrade is actually a downgrade.
I donât stare in awe at pretty graphics most of the time in grindy games, I perceive the game almost from a peripheral view, only reacting to the most important visual input. Avoid red zones, target areas where there is movement, as that is where the enemies are.
Mine craft and Roblox can be modded and some of the modded content is honestly of very high graphical fidelity.
Mine craft with Ray tracing is god tier. But Minecraft also has the added advantage of being a old game which released at the golden time slot (1/b) which allowed it to rocket to success similar to WoW and PoE.
