Potential Descent Champions issue

I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that Descent Champions will suffer from the same issue that Descent suffered from. I think that the way the race is set up lends itself to mob density and blue density rng.

If this race is designed to be finished, full clearing almost every zone and killing the final boss at the last minute is the strategy to do. It seems to me that once people figure out all the tricks of the race, the winner of the race will be the one who got the most mobs and blue mobs, or the most possible experience based on the zones that were randomly generated.

I cannot be certain this will be the case, but after doing a few of these and after discussing it with other racers, I find that this is a big possibility.

Hopefully once we determine if this is happening or not, you guys can apply some sort of solution quickly before the race season is over.

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Hybriis wrote:

you guys can apply some sort of solution quickly before the race season is over.

Good laughs all around.

I did the same strategy of clearing for this race as well as last race, and this race I ended up an entire level under the level I was in the first race.

Seems that the problems descent had are present here as well

full cleared every zone and was 21 at halls 3 earlier today, god knows how lucky some people must be to get to 23. I just really don't get it, I had full map revealed in every zone and everything.

Descent champions is even worse than Descent in that regard, because in Descent you "just" fall out of the xp bracket. In Descent Champions you might just get cockblocked by gravicius at lvl 21 if you don't have good zones.

And worst of all, most of the zones are so easy literally anyone can make it that far and the last zone with the arcers is a pure gear check, you just need lightning res.

Descent Champions doesn't even feel like a race to me, because I spend most the time hunting for blues and not actually progressing and even then there is a chance you end up underleveled...

Playing Descent Champions is fun and all but as a race it is extremely terrible, way worse than the first Descent and probably the worst 1 hour plus race POE currently has. The whole thing is already figured out. You need to full clear the last 6/7 or so zones and roll damage and as much lightning/fire resists as possible. Mob density plays a huge roll in what level you are before the boss because everyone is going to be full clearing the last several zones. Also the arcers in the last zone are insane and if you run into a sizable blue pack with the wrong mods they can probably insta gib you unless maybe you have 75% lightning resistance. I died one of the races with like 50 lightning resistance to power charge arcers instantly because of shock stacks. Then, finally, you need like close to 75% fire resistance to kill the general.

So to sum it up there is no racing at all in this event. It is 99% mob density and gg rolls on items that determine the top.

I'll just stuff my 2 cents here instead of starting a new one.
It echoes most of what's been said.

This "race" is short enough in content to full clear almost all zones for most capable racers. As such, it's coming down entirely to mob rng.
That being said I don't even see a measly reward point for beating the final boss.
I think for this event to be considered a race, points and "winners" should be awarded to those who kill the final boss first, less being given to those who come in second, third, etc. in their class to do so.
Level bracket points can also stay as I understand that majority of people won't reach the boss, let alone beat him.

As it stands now, there is absolutely no urgency nor room for skill to play a factor in this event (past the point where your skill allows you to complete the pre-boss content), and it's merely 1 hour of "let's play with all the neat orbs".


Simplest solution: Make Gravicius grant like a ~million xp on kill.

Honestly, the simplest solution would be.... a complete overhaul.

Make the early zones actually difficult so not literally everyone who can use a mouse can make it past them, get rid of the gear check arcers and replace them with actually challenging mobs that take skill to beat (dodge attacks, emphasis on player skill not gear, etc..), add some extra zones so players don't end up underleveled and racers can actually progress... and problem solved.

One of the few things that I like alot about the actual Descent race is how the early zones weed out all the bad players who get carried by great items in Descent Champions.

This is especially true with Ranger, if you can't kite properly you won't even make it past the first zone, then you have the Roah and goatmen zones in which you have to dodge monsters.

In the actual descent (despite some of it's other problems, mainly mob density) you have some kind of skill-check that makes it difficult for bad players to compete. Whereas in descent champions the early zones, without exception really, are all faceroll easy so literally anyone can make it to a point where items just carry them to victory.

That's extremely bad for competitive racing, I want to lose to players who are better than me, not some people who got carried by great items and had sick mob density in a piss easy race.

The only part in the race where I see myself die is either to arcers or gravicius. Arcers are a pure gear check, so they shouldn't even be in the race to begin with. Emphasis in any competitive game should be on player skill, not on factors they have little control over.

Unless you don't want racing to be competitive, I really don't know, part of the reason I'm so disappointed by Descent Champions is that it lacks everything I love about racing. In normal races I have a reason to improve, I want to compete with the best, whereas in descent champions you just see a bunch of actual randoms do well because the race is just absolutely stupid.

Sure it's fun and all, but the competitive aspect of it is just really not there at all.

/rant

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boof wrote:

I think for this event to be considered a race, points and "winners" should be awarded to those who kill the final boss first, less being given to those who come in second, third, etc. in their class to do so.

I think this is an awesome idea. A race to see how fast you can do it (not how much exp you have once you've done it) would be really awesome.

And not just for descent champions. A race to beat Act II, for eg, would be way more fun as a signature race than a race to farm docks.

Only problem I have with this idea is that people with good RNG would have it far easier killing the boss than people with bad RNG. Just imagine life leech vs. no life leech when fighting gravicius. Max fire res vs. no max fire res....

Nah, I don't think that's a good idea at all actually. Especially vs. Gravicius in his current form some melee classes would just get boned if they don't roll good enough items, which would ultimately bring everything back to RNG.

I completely agree with Slix in that this doesn't even feel like a race. I literally run around like a zombie just killing everything in the zone. That is not fun. Fun is learning each zone layout and maximizing my exp along the quickest path.

I like the idea that killing gravicious is the true way to win the race though. Exp should not matter at all since almost anyone can get to gravicious with ease in 1 hour.

Gravicious fight most certainly needs a rework. There needs to be some way to recover flask charges, and his es should not regen or should have a very long recovery time. I mean you can't even line of sight the incinerate for the whole duration because his es will full regen in that time. As a melee you need to walk out when his incinerate is at full power and some how hit him with any damage at all without dying. If you are a marauder, this means have capped fire and waste a health pot charge to get 1 measly ground slam off. That is simply retarded whereas a ST'r just takes one step and throws mid way through.