State of Loot in POE2 and my prediction of outcome

I responded to a post with this and I think it deserves it own thread and further expansion.

IMHO the Loot problem is the most pressing problem that POE2 has.

I'm baffled as to why GGG has deviated from the premise of "Risk/Reward", which was quite well implemented in POE1 as increasing quantity and quality with more mods added.
One adds map mods and then scarabs and select the mechanics to apply on a map and the net result is you get more loot. All these mods etc add multipliers to the QUANT and RARITY parameters in the map you're playing.

A natural and predictable method.

Changing that in POE2 to having quantity and quality as explicit and crucially limited effect modifiers and then having Waystone drop rate as the sole parameter being affected by all the juice applied to that waystone via mods and towers, is the signal to me that GGG fundamentally misunderstands what loot is why players want it.

To be explicit in my thinking: Players want loot to upgrade / improve their character in order to progress in the game and play MORE.
Now this statement might seem obvious to many who are reading this, but I feel it needed to be stated for the benefit of any GGG employee who is reading this.

Where is the disconnect occurring?
I am of the opinion that this is happening because in GGG's internal testing of the game, they don't need loot to upgrade their characters. They can just edit what they are using and then proceed to play and then deem the game play acceptable.
The technical aspects of the gameplay: Character skills and power and effects of gear and so on has been the focus and left by the way side are the aspects of how players (who cannot edit their characters and gear) are expected to obtain these items in game.

The higher order game play loop in POE1 (especially Settlers) is far more forgiving of players who do cannot spend 10 hours a day playing and would like to make some progress.
In POE1 3.25, an average Joe (like me) can login an hour a day in the week, run a few maps, get some stuff, and gold. Give the gold to the farmers and get crops to sell and then on weekends do some shipments and get a few DIV worth of stuff to use on the crafting bench or use on your character or trade for stuff to use.

And all that comes together with the excellent crafting system in POE1, where you keep trying if you have the currency and get a decent item that you will happily spend 4-8 hours trying out in maps.

i.e. this interconnected process is a system that provides meaningful PROGRESS every step of the way. No time is really wasted and persistence does pay off.

Nothing like that exists in POE2 and from the sounds of the various responses in all the interviews, there does not seem to be plans to bring something like this into effect in POE2.

POE2 is literally a luck of the draw and it's very possible and likely that a player can login and spend hours grinding away for literally no progress. You cannot level up your gems / skills by playing more. You cannot gain more currency by increasing the difficulty. You just have to rely on your luck to roll increased quantity and rarity on your waystones and tablets and then find that lucky layout of towers on the randomised atlas map.
All luck and chance and random.

Which is the complete opposite of POE1 and this is why it does not resonate with a large portion of the player base.

And this lack of dropped loot in the game is creating a space for the RMT vendors to move in and try to meet the demand on the black market.
Much like Prohibition in the USA created the powerful Mafias, so too does scarcity in an economic system only encourage and bolster the Black Market.
Same is true of POE2's economy.
The consequences of allowing this artificial scarcity to continue is that players might choose to spend their money on RMT currency instead of spending that money in the GGG shop. What's the point of buying stash tabs for loot if there isn't any?

I do hope that someone from GGG is reading all this and I thank you for your patience in getting to the end. I also trust that my missive will be received as constructive criticism in furtherance of improvement of the game that I still love to play despite sucking at it and suffering greatly whilst playing it.

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EffKayZA#1861 написал:

I am of the opinion that this is happening because in GGG's internal testing of the game, they don't need loot to upgrade their characters. They can just edit what they are using and then proceed to play and then deem the game play acceptable.

GGG isn't doing this. That's our job. That's what EA is for.