Development Manifesto: Harvest Crafting

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Aziello wrote:

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UKlimanco wrote:

I hope this manifesto does not come true, without harvest i will not play the next league.

It will. They already said they do not care about our opinion. Bex insinuated that this outburst is as meaningles as crying about GCP recipe years ago.

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https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aWjYPA2_460svav1.mp4

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RymdLeif wrote:

This will be my second post in this thread but I felt like sharing my thoughts on it from a different perspective.

For me, this game is about the depth and experimentation. There's a reason we have a skill tree that wont fit the whole screen, so many ascendancies and skill gems to choose from, and countless different ways to play the game.

I understand how hard it is to balance things out between all of this, and we all get that there will always be stronger builds that functions on a 20c budget to reach end game. Now I have about 8000 hours in this game, and I've been around since 2013, and I've done everything the game has thrown at me pre-harvest on solo self found hardcore. The reason I'm saying this is not for bragging rights - the point of me saying all this is because the game for me is not about killing x boss (and I understand it might be for some people) or clear all content the game can throw at me. The game for me is about experimentation. To take those underused skill gems and interesting ascendancies and make something awesome out of it. And harvest have helped me push the boundries of what would otherwise be theoretically impossible before harvest crafts, because a lot of these interesting uniques (like one of my personal favorites - white wind) that I love, sometimes feels out of reach if you think about the RNG-aspect of the crafting system pre-harvest combinded with a lesser used skill-gem or unique. I can actually push something that might be viable (might not be the strongest, but that's not what's important for me - hell, I played Berserkers for the majority of the league) for hardcore while balancing out my defenses in a reasonable way, rather than something that would take ages to be able to do. It's not impossible without Harvest, but for a big portion of the playerbase it might be out of reach. The point being that it excites me more to know that I'm working towards a progression (and gear progression) that's somewhat linear, and not determined by whether or not I hit those mods I need to even begin to challenge the end game bosses. For me at least, Harvest enabled me to experiment more, and that's why this is the league I've played the longest throughout since I first started 8 years ago.

There's so much to do in this game, and it's fun as long as there's new things to try out and discover. I know this holds true with or without harvest, but there might be a reason why people are still so active on the servers playing ritual league right now, and it feels like a lot of that (even though we got an amazing expansion as a whole) has to do with the ability to craft your own gear, to progress and to be able to experiment with new things that previously wasn't possible for the largest player base. My takeaway from some of the comments is that a lot of people who were previously uncomfortable with the idea of crafting actually started to craft gear for themselves, because it was fun and rewarding and they felt a sense of purpose and progression, rather than throwing currency at something hoping to get a good piece. What I'm taking away from a lot of the comments in this thread is that it just felt more meaningful than using currency as... well, currency - to buy items other people had found or crafted that fit your character just right.

And if I'm once again putting myself in a mindset of a newer player, time might be a big factor, and experience might be an even bigger one as to why they might feel "forced" into these meta builds, and that's killing build diversity, and it also makes them stop playing the league faster, because they might not have the tools to be able to farm these interesting items to make a decent character for themselves with the skill and ascendancy combo they might find interesting, because before harvest, that was not something they could do.

I understand that harvest might be an easier way to get to the actual end game for the average player, and I understand your thought process behind the decision, but I feel like it could've been handled better than this. A lot of the issues being brought up in this thread is more about not being able to experiment and try out the builds they'd like, rather than a shortcut being taken away from them. The way I see it - me and many other more experienced players will get to the end game no matter what, and end up with a strong build whether it's with harvest or not. Having good gear wont be the reason I stop playing the league, I just want to have a journey with every character I start. To actually feel like there's a linear progression that I'm in control over within a reasonable timeframe and odds, and I feel like harvest filled that gap.

This is just my take on it, and there might be some people disagreeing with me, and that's perfectly fine. Just make sure you make YOUR voice heard.

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thanks you for your effort and time typing this out!

this is exactly how most of us feel!

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RymdLeif wrote:

And if I'm once again putting myself in a mindset of a newer player