Remove Kingsmarch as a core mechanic

I completely no-lifed the first week of this league, enjoyed it a lot, thanks.

By far the biggest turn off the 2nd league in a row is having to deal with Kingsmarch, the only upside that I can see to this is having the recombinator and I would not like seeing it gone.

Why is Kingsmarch a bad mechanic?

1. No ARPG elements
2. Upkeep & time-sinking - I am not looking forward to waking up and going to Kingsmarch to check my mappers and boats and send out new ones. I am playing an ARPG, not a mobile game.
3. Disconnected from the *FUN* core loop of Path of Exile
4. Accessibility - I can see Kingsmarch being a decent mechanic for casual players, but I don't see how casual players that play 1-2 hours a day can get enough gold to manage a maxed out town?

Why is it a good mechanic (from GGG's perspective)?

1. The nature of the mechanic's design boosts playtime (Is this really a bonus in a free to play game where the company makes their sales at the beginning of the league?)
2. Progress loop (similar to point 1) making players FEEL rewarded when they come to check town, creating a psychological hook to keep players playing
3. Innovative? (again, zero ARPG elements)


Adjustments can be made to make the mechanic feel better I suppose, but this will always remain the worst mechanic that you are forced to do. I will not provide any suggestions on how to improve this mechanic as players generally cannot provide good solutions, according to game developers at least.

Just curious, has GGG ever removed a mechanic from core, after making it core?

They removed Metamorph but added Ultimatum even though Ultimatum league was a long time ago and had nothing to do with the current league a that time. They also removed Prophecy or whatever it was called. I don't even remember the name of the NPC right now that was there for so long, sadge. But probably a good thing that they removed the prophecies.
So, yes they removed Prophecy and Metamorph.

Kingsmarch going core was very debatable, yes. Just playing to get enough gold for your town to have everything running at all time is not where you want to be. "Dark Patterns" for sure to quote the goat ;)

Just don't go to kingsmarch at all if you don't want to interact with it?

It's optional just like heist or delve.

It's not the first mechanic that requires some set-up to get going and will reward you for doing so. I like that it's there.

There are instant gratification mechanics that have no prep requirement at all. You just spec it, put the scarabs in and go. And then there is Heist, Delve, Betrayal and Kingsmarch. Mechanics that do require some set-up to become profitable.

It is not about my interaction with it. I play a lot so this does not affect me, but the mechanic does not benefit casual players in any way as this is is just predatory game design with questionable returns IF you're a casual (target audience?)

Bad design is still bad even if avoidable. I feel like this is just a hollow take "Just don't do x if you don't want x"

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Esubane#6099 wrote:

It's optional just like heist or delve.

It's not the first mechanic that requires some set-up to get going and will reward you for doing so. I like that it's there.

There are instant gratification mechanics that have no prep requirement at all. You just spec it, put the scarabs in and go. And then there is Heist, Delve, Betrayal and Kingsmarch. Mechanics that do require some set-up to become profitable.

That is very true but none of the mechanics you listed are designed even remotely closely with what the intention of Kingsmarch is designed to achieve.

You don't want to heist? You can't get experimental bases or replica uniques or orbs, and that's fine
You don't want to do betrayal? You miss out on good xp at leaguestart and veiled exalt

etc

Kingsmarch is different because it's not just "ok I set this up, time to profit"
It introduces continuous resource management and upkeep. It ties into your progression even when you're not actively running Kingsmarch content. Opting out doesn't only mean missing a type of reward—it means ignoring a system that applies pressure over time.

I would like to say this again just so other people don't reply with the same take. This is not about me or players like me, I play a lot, I have no problem keeping the town running.
The issue is that the mechanic places ongoing management and economic pressure on players even if they don’t want to engage with it, which makes it different from other opt-in systems.

Kingsmarch is a lot more different than let's say heist. If you don't want to run blueprints you can sell them but nothing you can do with the gold other than respec and buy stuff so if you play normally and you generate the gold the town turns it into rewards.

It sounds like you don't want to do it but you still want the rewards from it. But since you don't want to do it you want it removed so nobody can have the rewards from it. Got it.

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Ispita#4020 wrote:

Kingsmarch is a lot more different than let's say heist. If you don't want to run blueprints you can sell them but nothing you can do with the gold other than respec and buy stuff so if you play normally and you generate the gold the town turns it into rewards.

It sounds like you don't want to do it but you still want the rewards from it. But since you don't want to do it you want it removed so nobody can have the rewards from it. Got it.

Please try and read the post again, if that was your takeaway from it then I have nothing left to say.

This is not about ME, I play A LOT, I benefit from Kingsmarch. I don't know how I could be even more clear