Abyss Astrolabe Mapping Win/Loss condition feels RNG gated and unfun
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In general I really like the astrolabes, I think they are a good 'memory-lite' type content. However the loss conditions for them feel pretty unfun; Particularly the Abyss ones. I have run them with both Headhunter and Mageblood and the risk is essentially, if your Abyss spawns a Soul Eater mob at the wrong time you cant fully clear the enemy 'wave' so you end the Abyss and therefor the next astrolabe modifier.
I do not mind that there are loss conditions for them but having one be RNG-gated like this one feels pretty bad. I'm not sure what the counterplay is for a Soul Eater spawning and instantly having max stack 90% damage reduction before it's crawling animation has even finished. To be 100% honest I am not sure if this is feedback for Astrolabes or for Abyss/Soul Eater in general. Last bumped on May 1, 2026, 12:12:42 AM
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+1
Loss conditions for a couple of Astrolabes could be reworked, I agree. Abyss and Legion are the ones I see causing issues, just because of the bugged situations you can encounter. Losing juice because of things outside of the player's control feels incredibly bad. With the Abyss Astrolabe, the well-documented buggy interactions will fail these. Sometimes Abyss can bug out and the spire just won't ever close...automatic failure. It's the same with Legion -- Hyrri can get stuck on something in a map and won't despawn. If she's the only General that spawns, and you've got 1 or 2 Legions in a map, you could fail the Astrolabe objective. Last edited by Beavith#5056 on Apr 29, 2026, 1:14:30 PM
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This is a perfect example of where "just don't fight it for a while so the stacks decay" people often use to defend soul eater existing in the game simply doesn't work.
You either kill this thing or fail the astrolabe condition on the map. Waiting isn't an option. PoE players: Our game has a wide diversity of builds.
Also PoE players: The [league mechanic] doesn't need to be nerfed, you just need to play a [current meta] build! The others found strength in their Afflictions. They became reliant on juice. I am not so foolish. |
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" theres a butt ton of mods of monster mods in the game that i learn to deal with and have at least some sort of counter play. SOUL EATER has only 2 ways to deal with. 1. Disable/stun/freeze lock the enemy 2. Kill it before it becomes a threat the reality is when youre busy trying to defend/clear an objective, your strategy devolves into KILL AS MANY THINGS ASAP. in most cases, by the time you realize there a soul eater mob you may have unintentionally fed it a gazillion souls by accident. and by then, your counter play could be eliminated as its already too late as the monster is super charged and could be charging at you faster than most humans can react to. what OP is complaining about is actually about monster mods that can feel unfair and brick entire runs. one reason why i dont run sanctum is because i dont want to waste my time doing well for most of the sanctum, racking up good rewards, only to brick the entire run with a random mob with some stupid mods. theres a ton of mods that i HATE in POE. but the one that pisses me off the most for literal years is soul eater. i fucking hate it. the only time its good is only when it applies to me. other than that. monsters with soul eater? fucking bullshit. if i m being honest about it, i personally find it really sad that GGG has kept soul eater in the game forever. to them its a none issue. i have no kind words for anyone who thinks soul eater is a good and balanced monster ability. i do think it is a neat idea but really, fuck that shit to hell. fucking shit soul eater bitch [Removed by Support] Last edited by exsea#1724 on Apr 30, 2026, 3:19:39 AM
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" I agree, and I hope my post wasn't giving you the impression that I was disagreeing with the OP. As a summoner main, soul eater is one of the worst mods I can run into, especially if they appear in timed content. They're not a dangerous threat to me, but the amount of time I need to put into taking them down is annoying, to say the least. And this Abyss astrolabe content reveals just how bad of a mod it is, because a mob with it could very easily cause you to fail the objective unless you have bonkers DPS to blow it away. PoE players: Our game has a wide diversity of builds.
Also PoE players: The [league mechanic] doesn't need to be nerfed, you just need to play a [current meta] build! The others found strength in their Afflictions. They became reliant on juice. I am not so foolish. |
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" no worries, we're on the same page on this. i have seething hatred towards soul eater. [Removed by Support]
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" If Soul Eater starts causing problems and makes you fail the clear condition, the simplest fix is to lower the difficulty so that a lack of damage is no longer holding you back from defeating the rare enemy in time. On the other hand, you can choose to improve your character and rise to meet the challenge you have set for yourself. More often than not, making adjustments on your end is the easiest and most straightforward way to deal with these kinds of issues, rather than placing the blame on the game for every shortcoming. Hobby Gamer and Professional Software Engineer & Systems Architect from Tennessee
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe“ - Albert Einstein unofficial tech support — not affiliated with GGG |
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" Try using Blight of Contagion which has an extremely low power plateau and diminishing returns with more expensive gear. PoE players: Our game has a wide diversity of builds. Also PoE players: The [league mechanic] doesn't need to be nerfed, you just need to play a [current meta] build! The others found strength in their Afflictions. They became reliant on juice. I am not so foolish. Last edited by Pizzarugi#6258 on Apr 30, 2026, 6:20:39 PM
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" One of the reasons experimenting or playing off meta is perceived as a waste of time. Me personally i never really struggle with soul eater mobs even in hc. Ive never died to one in hc either. In timed mechanics though its really annoying. You can't make a game with monsters that are near unkillable in timed content then seem upset that people want to break the game with builds and flock to that sort of thing. |
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" Exactly this. 100%. If GGG ever wishes to bring the game to a balanced state, they will need to decide whether to keep timed leagues or remove any potential mods and combinations that can create a monster which single-handedly bricks an encounter. Soul eater is often at the center of multiple combinations, removing it would be the easiest solution. PoE players: Our game has a wide diversity of builds.
Also PoE players: The [league mechanic] doesn't need to be nerfed, you just need to play a [current meta] build! The others found strength in their Afflictions. They became reliant on juice. I am not so foolish. |
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