Popular Opinion: In 3.28 League Challenges Should Require Solo Completion

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

pink and a little bycycle with training wheels next to it for softcore trade, with a message: Well done little princess, now go tell everyone you have 40/40 ;P

Hoho*, something like this?

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

Challenges also need far more careful design so we end up with 40 well-crafted, enjoyable, and genuinely engaging tasks, and worded in a way that prevents players from simply being carried. Playing in a trade league already gives access to a literal item editor, assuming we have enough currency, and that alone is more than enough of a handicap. There’s no need to let players outsource the entire challenge and then complain about content they never actually engage with. Making players participate again would go a long way toward restoring the meaning behind these challenges and stripping away the cheese.

I don’t think locking them behind SSF would be ideal, but something similar to the approach they took with Ruthless could work, perhaps giving SSF its own exclusive rewards as well with the other changes.

I really wish they do something like that, I really do, I wouldn't even care if GGG would move most MTX to first challenge, for me all that matters is totem and that 40 number next to nickname... Honestly I would love if they would extend this solo requirement to acquiring atlas watchstones, to slow down game progression a bit, but that is a different topic.

*This “Hoho” carries the official seal of the Hoho Movement, issued by its creator, xPiranha#4678.

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Nomancs#6176 wrote:

I wouldn't even care if GGG would move most MTX to first challenge, for me all that matters is totem and that 40 number next to nickname... Honestly I would love if they would extend this solo requirement to acquiring atlas watchstones, to slow down game progression a bit, but that is a different topic.

Honestly, since most MTX already come in tiers, they could easily hand out the most basic and admittedly rather unattractive version for a low challenge count as a participation trophy, while reserving the full and far fancier versions for those who complete the higher challenge requirements. With forty well-crafted challenges that cannot be bypassed through shortcuts, there is more than enough room for the FOMO crowd to pick the easiest tasks and still unlock the simplest reward without ever being pushed outside their comfort zone.

After all, it is still free MTX, and if FOMO somehow hits them afterward, that is the moment where those players might want to turn around completely and actually start working toward the remaining challenges if they truly want the full set. If engagement ends up being low, it is not because the rewards were out of reach, but because someone refused to take the time to engage with the content. Skipping, shortcutting, or relying on others to do the work is exactly why they would miss out on something that was entirely within their grasp.

It is not as if this kind of change removes rewards from trade league or puts them behind a real payment wall. Everything remains fully accessible. The only difference is that players would need to participate themselves instead of expecting others to carry them. On a related note, I also feel that voidstones should not be obtainable via carries. If someone cannot acquire them on their own, then quite frankly they are unlikely to genuinely need their benefits, and they should not have the option to shortcut their way through the already easy natural atlas progression designed for casual play.

as someone who only plays the game in a duo as an aurabot, this would turn me away from new leagues.
i literally don't enjoy singleplayer games.

Bump for viability. With 3.28 arriving in a few months, it is time to push for some solid changes.

SSF exists, you can play that to do solo challenges and have those bragging rights. They made that mode specifically for the people who wanted to play this game solo. It exists, so there is no reason to turn SC Trade challenges into SSF.

Meanwhile I'm gonna enjoy buying challenge carries in SC Trade again in 3.28, and uber boss carries, and maven invitation carries, and voidstone carries for my other 2 stones the moment I'm done with the exarch and eater quests so I can rush progression as fast as possible and be done with the league in less than a week, then proceed to post a review of it. Then move my game to HDD and wait for next patch,repeat.

Its a completely valid way to play this game, and carries are a huge part of the economy. I love paying people my hard-earned currency to do things for me, it feels amazing.

I also love buying any item I want by farming currency, and then having that item forever, its why I play SC Trade. So if you want to complete solo challenges, you can go play SSF. How others choose to play the game doesn't affect you in any way.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

SSF exists, you can play that to do solo challenges and have those bragging rights. They made that mode specifically for the people who wanted to play this game solo. It exists, so there is no reason to turn SC Trade challenges into SSF.

Meanwhile I'm gonna enjoy buying challenge carries in SC Trade again in 3.28, and uber boss carries, and maven invitation carries, and voidstone carries for my other 2 stones the moment I'm done with the exarch and eater quests so I can rush progression as fast as possible and be done with the league in less than a week, then proceed to post a review of it. Then move my game to HDD and wait for next patch,repeat.

Its a completely valid way to play this game, and carries are a huge part of the economy. I love paying people my hard-earned currency to do things for me, it feels amazing.

I also love buying any item I want by farming currency, and then having that item forever, its why I play SC Trade. So if you want to complete solo challenges, you can go play SSF. How others choose to play the game doesn't affect you in any way.

In this post where you complain about other people supposedly wanting to change the way you complete challenges you tell other people how they should complete their challenges. That's a little on the nose now, isn't it?

What we're asking is for challenges to be meaningful milestones that are fun and engaging as well as something to look forward to. Solo completion may be the title of the thread, but as you have been made aware of multiple times already, the discussion has shifted towards challenge design.

If every person did that, the game would have 0 players after week 1. I don't think catering to people who only want to play 6-7 days is the way to build a game that has 4 month patch cycles.

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Lonnie455Rich#2087 wrote:

If every person did that, the game would have 0 players after week 1. I don't think catering to people who only want to play 6-7 days is the way to build a game that has 4 month patch cycles.

"We don't care for how long people play, as long as they keep coming back every league."

This was said in a response to player retention being mentioned during the Q&A of the most recent PoE 2 reveal livestream.

So yeah, challenge completion is a nice shiny free reward that keeps me and many others coming back every league, because free mtx=good. I've played almost every league since Essence, so I'd say its very effective. No reason why they'd wanna change that, because then it would actually be a net negative of revenue for the game.


In other words, the fact that I only play for 6-7 days per league now, but keep coming back for every single league is exactly what GGG wants in terms of player retention.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

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Lonnie455Rich#2087 wrote:

If every person did that, the game would have 0 players after week 1. I don't think catering to people who only want to play 6-7 days is the way to build a game that has 4 month patch cycles.

"We don't care for how long people play, as long as they keep coming back every league."

This was said in a response to player retention being mentioned during the Q&A of the most recent PoE 2 reveal livestream.

So yeah, challenge completion is a nice shiny free reward that keeps me and many others coming back every league, because free mtx=good. I've played almost every league since Essence, so I'd say its very effective. No reason why they'd wanna change that, because then it would actually be a net negative of revenue for the game.


In other words, the fact that I only play for 6-7 days per league now, but keep coming back for every single league is exactly what GGG wants in terms of player retention.

The funny thing about that phrase is that whenever you read it, it actually says.

"We don't need to make our game good because we make most mtx money early in the league. So we just need to make sure we keep hype high so we get people to play for a few days and get their money."

I honestly don't think he means for people to only want to play for a week every league. That would be a disaster.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

SSF exists, you can play that

SSF is not the ‘be-all and end-all’ answer to valid criticism that you think it is.