I’ve been messing around with a new character in Path of Exile and trying out the new “Ruthless” mode. This is a new mode which is made more difficult by drastically reducing the number of drops (and useful drops) as well as reducing the access to skill gems. There are numerous other changes, but the net effect I’ve felt, at least on my first character, is that the pace is far far slower, and there’s a lot more thought into individual drops than before. There’s no more just assuming you’ll have access to XXX skill gems for your build, I think only a few of the quests grant gems as rewards now, and I haven’t seen any support gems thus far. I’ve had one gem actually drop in the first few hours, zero uniques, and maybe 2 usable rares. Everything else I have is magic or even normal at lvl 30. It’s a completely different experience in many ways. Some of the named monsters can be pretty tough to kill, I don’t know if they’ve been enhanced or if it’s just the lack of having better skills/equipment.
I understand this isn’t the type of experience many (most?) people enjoy from their current ARPGs. But honestly, I am really enjoying it in a way that reminds me of early Diablo and Diablo 2. Without a teleport power and fast boots, I actually pay much more attention to the surroundings, as I’m spending more time in each area and am more able to appreciate graphical detail I’d largely just ignored in the past. Every time I open a chest I have a glimmer of hope something useful might drop, or in this case, anything might drop at all. There’s very little freebies and much less “waste” in this mode. I took a quick look at the Trade and it looks like most regular skill gems are going for an orb of alchemy, of which I’ve so far seen zero. Again, putting together a build is not going to be an easy affair without some serious playing and planning.
So of course while I’m playing I think a lot about Last Epoch. I’ve played the opening so many times now that I’m definitely in that mode of just rush through it. Sometimes I’ll try to slow myself down to look for something I might have missed, but inevitably I just rush. Which is a shame because I know a lot of time and effort has gone into the artwork (and reworking) of making the environments.
The way loot drops work I feel could still use an overhaul. Or maybe a separate mode like this where drops are more uncommon? I don’t know what players would prefer. I know some people like using filters and just having a million things drop but only 2 show up that are filtered. I’d much prefer to just get fewer drops and evaluate them myself the old school way. Maybe chests could give a better chance of getting something (or a certain type of loot) so they’d be worth the effort to click on, and generate some excitement.
The way builds work right now is good, but I also feel could use either some more thought, or again a different mode where your choices have more weight and permanence. I know many people prefer being able to change builds at a whim, but I still think you end up caring more when your choices are not so easily reversible, or maybe that it’s just not so easy to take for granted that xxx skill will always be available whenever you feel like. I don’t know how that would be implemented in LE, maybe by limiting the cross class skills and/or ease of taking back passive points?
Anyway, just some idle thoughts. Curious if there are others who also still enjoy the slower, more thoughtful pacing and impactful choices of old school Diablo 1/2, or if the vast preference is the super sped up “modern” ARPG style - rush rush rush to endgame, etc.