Monotony in Gameplay and Mob Encounter Systems

Hello,

this is something that is maybe a problem with many ARPG games or videogames in general, which is I think usually solved by what is called "progress" in videogames: the monotony.

The problem seems to be that there is some kind of monotony arising during gameplay, and I will take this game to make a case, that for example you seem to run into the same kind of encounters over and over during a map.

I think GGG sneakily added some mobs in 0.2 and I thought to myself, the game needs more of this. And I also thought sometimes, that the encounters are maybe the most fun, when there's some kind of system behind how you encounter mobs. For example, I'll claim that it's probably less engaging to encounter the same group of 6 skeletons over and over, than to encounter 6 skeletons, then get surrounded by lots of bugs, then encounter some fast moving snake-like creatures, then encounter a big army of skeletons, and then 6 skeletons again.

Systems like these are usually, I think, called "game-director". I feel like this is lacking in Path of Exile 2 and encounters seem to be placed via an algorithm, but without much of a system behind it, except for randomization.

A system would try to create some kind of dramaturgy to how you encounter mobs. A game-director would be some kind of AI that manages those encounters.

I don't believe PoE 2 has that kind of AI at the moment, but I think it would really benefit the game.



Cheers