Some More Delve Improvements

half league already and still many bugs need to be fixed. I almost given up for 36 chall because of those encounter things.

This all seems nice enough, but can we get something to address the constant crashes in Delve? I know these are two different teams, I'm asking that the problem be addressed publicly.

Too bad that this is four leagues now where GGG has decided to not permit players consistent access to content.

Breach was an example of doing it right. Casual players would fight the T1 bosses (Xoph, Esh, Tul) every couple days with how consistent Breaches were, aka, you were guaranteed a segment (splinters) of the boss interaction literally every Breach.

Harbinger, same deal. Bit more RNG, but Harbinger shards still pretty common, so Beachheads were as well.

From Abyss forwards, however, RNG-gating has been the MO, artificially inflating time-investment required to interact with the content consistently (and consequently, complete challenges) behind a wall of luck. Whether that was Liches, Farrul spawns, Lapidary lens / T3 Corruption Altar usages, and now Delve bosses.

Obviously you guys have the metrics, and you wouldn't be continuing to do this if it wasn't, at least on some level, working in regards to player retention.

But just because people are playing longer doesn't mean they are having more fun. It just means you've turned challenge pursuit into the equivalent of a hated job. They do it because they want the reward, not because they enjoy the game. And/or, as was my case for awhile, I wanted to keep my perfect challenge completion streak alive.

And the pattern continues with bandaid patches at the one-month mark, long after a lot of people have stopped caring.

What's truly disappointing is that the content is, otherwise, quite enjoyable. But the attitude of "hey, you might see this, you might not, who knows, good luck" persists.

It's unfortunate, really. I met one of my best friends in PoE, someone I've come to call family. PoE has been helping me through an awfully dark time in my life.

But I, for one, have had enough.

Unless something changes, goodbye, and good luck. I wish you all the best. Maybe I'll pop in now and again and see how you're doing.

..

"

Bex_GGG wrote:

As players get deeper and deeper into the Azurite Mine, some further adjustments have become necessary. We expect to deploy these changes this week, when we next restart the realm. Thanks for your continued feedback!

Voltaxic Sulphite Capacity

Players have indicated that they want to be able to store more Voltaxic Sulphite and have more control over when they Delve. We have added three new Sulphite Capacity upgrades, now capping out at 60,000 capacity. These are end-game upgrades, so require quite a lot of Azurite to purchase.

Flare Capacity

Long Delves require more than the current limit of 12 flares. It's great to see players Delve so deeply into the darkness. We don't want to stand in the way of this type of dangerous gameplay, so we're happy to facilitate more close calls far away from the Crawler. We are adding eight new Flare Capacity upgrades, now capping out at 20 flares. These start to get very expensive in terms of Azurite, so plan your upgrades carefully.

Fractured Walls

We want to encourage players to find, destroy and explore behind Fractured Walls. We have added many more rewarding outcomes concealed behind them.

Challenges

The "Complete Delve Encounters IV" is too difficult to complete. This now has four additional components that can contribute towards its completion. These new components are still somewhat rare, but should be much more attainable. You still require only six total to complete the challenge, meaning you should only need two of the very rare ones now.

Aul, the Crystal King

He's pinnacle Delve content, but was probably too rare. We are increasing Aul's spawn rate by approximately 50%.

Because what we really want to do is run the same tired, boring bunch of maps yet AGAIN to farm sulphite, not explore the wonderful new content you created for this league.

FFS, please let us run the DELVES. Cut the loot rewards if you think there is too much, but let us actually see, explore, and enjoy the new stuff. Since 3.4.3, the farming to fun ratio is horrible.

Also, could you please add prime resonators back into the game?

"

Ashriel wrote:

Increasing the sulphite LIMIT is so staggeringly insignificant in light of the other issues. The whole problem is acquiring the sulphite, which requires tedious repetition to even hit the current cap.

When I run out of sulphite, I alt+f4, because the idea of acquiring more is enough to make me not want to even delve or play at all any more. And this change does nothing to fix that. I knew it would be this way but you guys aren't listening and instead are making bullheaded changes designed as a placebo. Sickening.

Every subsequent change you make shows how adamantly you are NOT listening to feedback. Get rid of sulphite. It's quite past time.

It's only tedious if you insist on fighting against their league design, which is that you get sulphite WHILE ENGAGING with other game content, not merely BY RUNNING it for no other reason than to farm sulphite. They aren't removing it not because they haven't heard the feedback, but because this is a core mechanic than they'll stick to their guns over for the sake of the long-term health of the game. Sulphite was quite obviously put in as a mechanic in order to expressly prevent the very behavior you wish to indulge in - playing in the mine indefinitely. They can't afford to let people do that as it seriously narrows their design space for future content additions, as well as forces them to constantly fret over Delve mining getting stale in the same way they have to keep fretting over mapping getting stale i.e. they idea is that one serves as a release valve for the other so you don't get tired of either too soon. Just see how some people play Grim Dawn after the Crucible DLC was released to see what the ramifications of that choice are i.e. it completely separates players into a separate game mode. GGG quite clearly doesn't want that, and hence sulphite was intentionally put in to check that possibility. To address the sulphite issue, simply stop thinking of your mapping as simply sulphite farming and treat it like what it always has been - mapping - with just another side-bonus tacked on for the league. When full, or when you feel the need for a change, use whatever sulphite you've gathered on Delves. Rinse and repeat. Basically, stop thinking of it as 'grinding' and just play.

Lets say the truth

After 1 month Delve is dead. Instead of giving players more joy u already killed it. Why ? Thats very simple. First each update = nerf. Most of my friends quit Delve because of it. Its not so hard to see this. Look at poe trade (there is 99% chance visiting bot whos trading currency - lvl 2 charater with empty ho standing next to stash and flipping currency). Nobody is buying anything atm because players base is so low. Why GGG u cant give players more room ? Increase even 3-5-10 times voltaxic sulphite ratio from maps, let people explore delve easly.Just give them freedom because 99% players wont hit level 600 Delve.If u give them chance they will stay (grinding more currency = means poe trade wont be so dead) I gave up after 470 Delve lvl because doing over and over T16 maps to get ~1200 voltaxic makes no sense for me (btw no single exalted drop from Delve).I feel like playing standard atm and this makes me... Im playing for fun , i just see no reason to grind over and over T16 maps. How about other people ? im sure most of player base cant even do T16 maps / shaper. I dont know what r u doing GGG but at this moment Delve is just dead. No rewards , i saw only 1 boss (dragon) , drop ratio is just a joke. Im not playing standard (who does in 2018 lol). Look at Incursion (u gave us extra drop from each map - Alva) also we had funny double corruption option. Even 1 week before ending Incursion i could trade items. Here? no comment.

"

bamper1 wrote:

Lets say the truth

After 1 month Delve is dead. Instead of giving players more joy u already killed it. Why ? Thats very simple. First each update = nerf. Most of my friends quit Delve because of it. Its not so hard to see this. Look at poe trade (there is 99% chance visiting bot whos trading currency - lvl 2 charater with empty ho standing next to stash and flipping currency). Nobody is buying anything atm because players base is so low. Why GGG u cant give players more room ? Increase even 3-5-10 times voltaxic sulphite ratio from maps, let people explore delve easly.Just give them freedom because 99% players wont hit level 600 Delve.If u give them chance they will stay (grinding more currency = means poe trade wont be so dead) I gave up after 470 Delve lvl because doing over and over T16 maps to get ~1200 voltaxic makes no sense for me (btw no single exalted drop from Delve).I feel like playing standard atm and this makes me... Im playing for fun , i just see no reason to grind over and over T16 maps. How about other people ? im sure most of player base cant even do T16 maps / shaper. I dont know what r u doing GGG but at this moment Delve is just dead. No rewards , i saw only 1 boss (dragon) , drop ratio is just a joke. Im not playing standard (who does in 2018 lol). Look at Incursion (u gave us extra drop from each map - Alva) also we had funny double corruption option. Even 1 week before ending Incursion i could trade items. Here? no comment.

I've had no problem finding players online for trades, or to find parties to play with, in Delve. So I've no clue what you're talking about. The only people who really know how much player retention there is is GGG.

As for sulphite, read my comment just above yours - they clearly don't want you spending most of your time in the mine.

No sulphite gain increasement from maps = im not coming back = see you in flashback event.

"

Bex_GGG wrote:

The "Complete Delve Encounters IV" is too difficult to complete. This now has four additional components that can contribute towards its completion.

Sounds very good! Thank you for listening. :)