[XBox] Mayhem Feedback

Overall, I've enjoyed the Mayhem event.

There are two issues that I didn't "enjoy:"

1) The lack of items in the Marketplace to complete even a generic build. (Six links, of course) An early Tabula was really the only thing that saved the game experience for me. But, I'll also note that players were giving them away as soon as they could, which was nice. In fact, this League had a good collection of genuinely helpful gamers. :) (GGG must have imported them from some MMO's Newbie-Zone, somewhere...)

2) The XBox (Series "S" for me) just could not handle my Necro build in combination with Harbingers or Breeches. It just... couldn't. Things quickly devolved into a slide-show and I had my first crash since "Delve League" last-night due to that. Admittedly, I tested that last night by not taking steps to limit my inputs or to cull mobs/encounters to reduce stressing the console to its upmost.

I was able to actually experience "seeing" some Uniques I'd never ever had drop. I tried paying close attention to the drop conditions and feel that I was getting good drops, more often, from regular encounters and mobs than I'd otherwise have expected. Of course, all the other events in the game magnified one's opportunities, but I still feel someone, somewhere, "bumped" up the rates a bit... despite GGG's protestations to the contrary. (Don't tell me getting an "ilevel 7" Tabula isn't a loot-bump. :))

The terrible thing is that now that I have experienced actually seeing some items in the game I've never touched or had the opportunity to fiddle with, I'll be... dissappointed more often in regular League play. I typically get garbage drops, low currency amounts, and end up getting frustrated late in the game by not being able to afford any of a build's "chase items." That's largely due to the lower player base, but it's amplified by the general "RNG solves everything" issue.

All in all, I'm glad I experienced Mayhem and after finally getting a halfway decent six-link only yesterday... I felt better about my play experience overall in Mayhem. If I hadn't gotten lucky in quickly bidding on one of the only TWO six-linked Str/Int chests in the marketplace, I would have likely just stopped playing Mayhem.

I'd like to see some more of this in the future. There have been a good number of Leagues that have fallen flat in terms of their overall mechanics and of course that reduces my enthusiasm for them.

If I'm still around the next time this League pops up, I'll play it. :)

I speculate several reasons for the terrible marketplace in Mayhem. I play on PS4, but the experience is the same over here.

1) A significant portion of top players chose to play SSF for Mayhem, because they felt it would easier to get a Demigod's Authority in SSF than Trade League (due to smaller playerbase).

The removal of these players reduced the market by more than their "fair share" by player number, because the top players are more likely to have multiple premium tabs to put stuff on the market, and they play a *lot* more, and thus get a lot more of the loot. The top 10% of players are responsible for a *large* percentage of the number of items on the marketplace, especially the higher tiers of items.

2) Some players aren't interested in Mayhem, and continue to play regular Heist.

3) Mayhem drops so much loot, many players seem to be forgetting the marketplace is even a thing.

4) Some players (like me) are splitting their time between multiple game modes, which reduces the amount of stuff they can put on the market, if they normally play trade. (My personal reason: I wanted to play with a friend, who only had about 16 hours of play time available during the event, but I also wanted to try for a Demi, and I felt my chances of getting a Demi were highest by playing an unpopular class in SSF. As it turns out, I should have just played 2 characters in trade league -- so many players reached the same conclusion that SSF if pretty much just as competetive as trade, in the "small" classes anyway).

Its a race, a competition, its advantageous NOT to sell something that could help out another player. If you really need the currency, sure sell it, but Harbi's are raining chaos and exalts.

Personally I've been impressed with how well the console has held up to this chaos. The Harbi's are a bit laggy, its pretty suicidal to run into a pack rather than pulling them out to you.

I really enjoyed using a binding orb, like for the first time ever. There's no other point I can think of to use them than while leveling. After that the gear you socket is already Rare and rolled well. I'd love it if there was a way for those shards to drop off more monsters while leveling.

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QQPQ wrote:

I felt my chances of getting a Demi were highest by playing an unpopular class in SSF. As it turns out, I should have just played 2 characters in trade league -- so many players reached the same conclusion that SSF if pretty much just as competetive as trade, in the "small" classes anyway).

Yep, 100% that's what I did. You're in 5th tho so at least you're getting one. I believe in you, you can take #1!

The Heiro in #2 has really impressed me, in Heist SSF the highest is 94, he's already past that within a few days. They are really zooming! Glad I picked Inquisitor hah.

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Matt_AsA_Hatter wrote:

Yep, 100% that's what I did. You're in 5th tho so at least you're getting one. I believe in you, you can take #1!

Not happening. I'll push a bit more to defend my 5th if someone boils up from lower, but I'm not trying for higher than 5th.

I don't love the build I'm playing (Tec Slam), and I don't have enough regrets, or access to leveled gems, to switch.

Plus my internet is terrible, and it's an XP race. It's super demoralizing to lose 45 minutes of progress to a net hiccup.

I'm pumped about the Delve race though.

I don't have any idea if I'll be competitive or not, but it sounds like tons of fun, to me.

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QQPQ wrote:

I speculate several reasons for the terrible marketplace in Mayhem. I play on PS4, but the experience is the same over here....

IOW - A lack of participants/players. :)

It's the same issue that has plagued consoles for awhile. The game is "balanced" for a larger player base with more participation in trade. Console players suffer due to the scarcity of items and much higher prices, overall. Some drop rates have, I suspect, changed a bit so that certain things are not quite as difficult to get. (Just my observation since Delve on consoles.) But, the marketplace is still an issue for console players no matter the League/event.

I wanted to experience the League and really didn't care about the prizes. If I had played last night, I could have likely "placed." (Witch) But, I was tired and went to bed early. :)

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Matt_AsA_Hatter wrote:

Its a race, a competition, its advantageous NOT to sell something that could help out another player. If you really need the currency, sure sell it, but Harbi's are raining chaos and exalts.

There were plenty of players giving away gear and/or selling it at a decent price on XBox during the League. Of course, few were being so generous with "chase items." Seeing the lack of even very basic gear, I put up three pages of vendor-loot for struggling players.

On XBox Performance and Harbingers - I ran a necro build, so it's already pretty hard on performance in certain situations. When there can be four or more harbingers popping on the screen at once, things get... a bit nasty. When each of my minions is effected by multiple procs/bufss, that pushes things a bit as well. More than once I was killed simply by "lag." There were many times when effects/hits/nasties were going off all over the place and I had no possible way of even knowing about it.

Harbingers/Breeches/etc in Trials is... just no. While not overly difficult at all, the screenspam often obscures traps and lag means that some "bleed" one may have picked up doesn't get communicated to the player until it's a deadly serious issue. :) I don't mind Exiles, Ghosts, etc in Trials, just the screenspam crap.