Popular Opinion: In 3.28 League Challenges Should Require Solo Completion

Nothing needs to change, challenges are fine the way they are. And they're going in a great direction too, they are getting easier and easier to passively complete. I'm getting 20-30 of them without even trying to go for them, this is how it should be. They should be doable on any build, and thankfully GGG seem to understand that attracting lots of players with shiny free mtx is a good thing. The only thing that needs to change is t17s and uber bosses being part of the challenges, optional aspirational content should not be included in there. If they did that then they would be truly perfect. Just a fun checklist of stuff to do for some free mtx.

I play every league for the free mtx, cus I only ever spent any money on the necessary stash tabs to play the game. No free mtx=not much reason to play a league. That and sharing challenge completions with people is fun, so is co-op play. Taking that away makes 0 sense, so does forcing ssf on everyone. You have noooo idea how many people play solely for those mtx rewards, and how many are attracted to the league if its a cool portal mtx at 36 challenges especially. Or the Ritual Hideout we got that one time. Or the cool purple life orb. Or the ultimatum pet, or Heist Cat Pet. Even the Essence portal and wings looked cool back in Essence league.

The challenge rewards are a big part of this game's marketing for every league, and you're suggesting for GGG to make it attract less players. That's just not happening, in fact its going in the opposite direction and challenges have only gotten easier league by league, with less RNG ones.

Used to take me 2 weeks just to get done with atlas progression back in Metamorph, then another 2 weeks to be done with 36/40. Now instead of 1 month I'm done in less than a week, then I get to mess around and gamble away my divines on stacked decks. That's 100x more fun lol

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

Nothing needs to change, challenges are fine the way they are.

Oh, they absolutely do, the challenge system hasn’t been in a good state for a long time. Claiming otherwise only shows that we’re either content to exploit its current flaws or not genuinely interested in seeing the game move toward better, healthier systems. And as we’ve seen in this topic alone, the voices calling for improvements are far louder, while those arguing against meaningful changes are few and far between. With all the fantastic QoL upgrades and the impressive overhaul of an older league mechanic, patch 3.28 feels like the perfect moment to finally revisit the challenge system and give it the attention and long-overdue changes it truly deserves.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

I play every league for the free mtx, cus I only ever spent any money on the necessary stash tabs to play the game. No free mtx=not much reason to play a league.

Just a quick reminder in case the context got a bit lost, this topic isn’t about removing challenge rewards. Players would still be able to get their free MTX… they’d just need to complete the challenges. So nothing would really change for most people, after all, it’s still the same game at its core.

It’s a bit surprising to see hesitation toward meaningful improvements. Imagine enjoying and spending time in a game, but not wanting it to improve in meaningful ways like most invested players would, but seeing the same complaints pop up each league makes it hard not to wonder why some even play at all if they clearly don’t enjoy the game and aren’t interested in seeing it improve, given all the things they feel upset and entitled about. Quite mind blowing if you think about it.

And as mentioned before, most players seem to welcome these updates. In the rare case a change isn’t for someone and they step away, it’s probably not a huge concern for GGG, especially when the players who engage with and enjoy the improvements are the ones most likely to support the game financially anyways. So in the end, even nothing really changes for GGG, except they’d be implementing changes a much larger portion of the player base is looking forward to and eagerly awaiting.

That being said, I really cannot stress this enough, but patch 3.28 is the perfect time for these changes. It’s not directly Holiday time, but it’s sort of PoE1’s Holiday league vibe, making it the perfect opportunity for a fantastic league with meaningful updates and great changes!

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

Oh, they absolutely do, the challenge system hasn’t been in a good state for a long time.

the way i see it, ggg cannot afford to change. league mtx challenge rewards is a good way to get non leaguers/weaker-more casual players to play.

if they need to earn it themselves with no way to gain outside help they might write it off as "i cant get that reward, i m skipping".

so despite agreeing that league challenges should be solo only, i think its a ship thats sailed. its a bad business decision.

i think the better solution is to reintroduce alt art items that are for solo only challenges.

players who dont think they can do it will skip it. but if the insist on getting it, they can trade for it since its an itemized reward. everyone wins.

Complete the challenges in SC trade: wooden totem pole, no MTX

Add SSF: Unlock league MTX

Add HC: Gold totem pole

I hope this topic will get more attention from GGG as something has to be done with challenges, either required to do solo, or as mentioned, SSF.

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

Challenges used to mean something.

Please, keep bumping this thread from time to time.

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate#2605 wrote:

Complete the challenges in SC trade: wooden totem pole, no MTX

a wooden totem pole? I absolutely love this idea!

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Nomancs#6176 wrote:

I hope this topic will get more attention from GGG as something has to be done with challenges, either required to do solo, or as mentioned, SSF.

Indeed, it’s only a matter of time before GGG has its moment to implement such a good change, especially as the vast majority clearly desires and is asking for a rework of the challenge system.

Don't remember where it was, but in some interview/livestream they talked about boss carries. And they were like "if we make it so a boss is solo-only, people will just try to screen-share their PC or other sketchy methods, and that's a whole can of worms we don't want to open". I think it was a PoE 2-related stream.

People are very determined to get carried, if you close off 1 method, they will go for another more risky one. And then there's gonna be a flood of tickets about people getting scammed and so on. It would be an actual nightmare for GGG, so that's why this is just not gonna happen. It would be such a mess if people started going to weird websites or doing whatever else just to get their carry. Carries being confined to in-game chat channels and stuff like TFT is a good thing. You do not want people clicking on shady links for it, that's for sure.


And besides that, the free MTX and shiny golden totem pole each league is literally part of the marketing for every expansion. Its what attracts some players. Especially if its a good MTX like a cool-looking portal. It just does not make sense to limit it and make everyone play scuffed SSF. So many people would lose interest instantly.

All challenges are is a fun little checklist of things you can do if you feel like it for some free MTX for just playing the game. Or some people do them before quitting a league, whatever the reason they work perfectly fine how they are now.

A lot of F2P games have these kinds of rewards for the players that don't pay real-life money for cosmetics. Whether its a login bonus or whatever. Its a standard thing to have. I mean cmon we already have a battle pass in the form of Kirac's Vault, its a bit too late now. That feature was added so PoE could keep up with other modern F2P titles.

Same for twitch drops, games do them to gather attention,views and possible new players. And it works, I always get all of em cus who doesn't like free stuff? Especially free mtx that you can use in the game you enjoy. Its genius.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

Don't remember where it was, but in some interview/livestream they talked about boss carries. And they were like "if we make it so a boss is solo-only, people will just try to screen-share their PC or other sketchy methods, and that's a whole can of worms we don't want to open".

Well, yes if we close one loophole, others will inevitably appear. However, if players begin account sharing to buy carries, that becomes a serious issue, as it directly violates the Terms of Service. The same applies to screen sharing and using third-party input to gain an advantage. Looking at other games, take Final Fantasy XIV for example, it demonstrates how quickly developers respond in these situations, often shutting down offending accounts. The same approach would likely happen in PoE, and honestly, that’s a good thing.

In the end, there’s no real downside to closing the current loopholes. Any new ones would likely see little use due to the obvious risk of getting banned. And for those desperate enough to attempt them anyway… well, they’re essentially just shooting themselves in the foot. Even if a new loophole emerges, it’s likely to be addressed swiftly through appropriate action, keeping the game fair and intact.

It’s also worth noting that players would still be able to get carried, this method isn’t lost, as boss zones aren’t restricted to solo play. Challenges simply do not count if more than one individual enters the instance, so getting carried in this way means the challenge itself isn’t completed. What the developers seem to be indicating is that they don’t want boss fights to become solo-only areas, which would effectively enforce SSF and prevent party play in the core game, not about exploiting mechanics.

This discussion, however, is specifically about reworking the challenge system, an optional side content, and not about how the core game should function. Confusing the two only muddies the point, as optional challenges and the core game’s party mechanics are fundamentally different stories.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

A lot of F2P games have these kinds of rewards for the players that don't pay real-life money for cosmetics.

I don’t see how this change would stop any true F2P player from getting their F2P skin, because, quite frankly, it changes nothing for them, they still don’t need to pay a single cent to access challenges. Nowhere has anyone suggested modifying the challenge system or its rewards to require payment in order to unlock or access them.

The challenge system is perfectly fine how it is, and its only getting better. League after league they get more passive and easy to complete. I got to 30/40 without even trying when I was done with red maps.

So I'm happy to say they're going in the right direction, only a matter of time until they completely cut aspirational content like T17s and uber bosses from the challenges, then they will truly be a perfect system.

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

often shutting down offending accounts. The same approach would likely happen in PoE, and honestly, that’s a good thing.

2 ways i view this.

1. if players have so much fomo that they even consider screen sharing, they might end up just feeling demotivated. "i cant get this mtx, fuck this league".

end result: similar thinking players skip the league, potential loss of revenue to ggg as these players might not even want to see the supporter packs, kirac pass or anything released during the league.

2. some players have SEVERE FOMO. for sure one can argue its a them issue. and you're right. but this is also something that can be biological as people are wired differently. some people are born smart, some are literally retarded. there are many things that real people have different tendencies on. gambling and fomo is one of them.

so what happens to these people with severe fomo? they might attempt to use screen sharing service which gets them banned.

end result: these people who might be loyal to GGG and have supported them for a literal decade may be so salty, that they quit the game forever. bare in mind. usually these are the types of players that GGG wants to retain. they tend to spend more money on the game than "average players" too.

the fact that theyre willing to buy screen sharing services show how loose they are with their wallet.

i would also add.

it doesnt stop at screen sharing. i know for a fact that sometimes people are loose with their wallet when it comes to RMT. it is not a far fetched idea that someone would actually get someone to play on their account directly. whether by sharing the credentials OR by having them physically play on their pc directly.

that said, i strongly believe that changing the challenge rewards in any way will impact GGG financially and is a bad idea.

i DO see value and i DO prefer challenges to be solo only but it is a ship that has sailed.

the only thing i see that GGG can do without upsetting the status quo, is to reintroduce demigod/alt art rewards for harder challenges.

for example completing 40/40 on SSF gets you an alt art. getting 40/40 on HC gets a diff alt art. if you do 40/40 on SSF HC you get both one shot.

this does not trigger any FOMO. simply because the reward is itemized. whales can buy the alt art from the better players. more players would be incentivized to play harder modes with this huge carrot dangled in front of them, while the rest of the playerbase will just conduct business as normal.