3.20 Balance Manifesto: Curses

Problem: GGG designed a game without time for action tactics, so ppl mostly just use automated/aura curses.

Reward Solution: "Let's put this doom thing, ppl will use it to cast the curse themselves, of course!"

Problem again: GGG designed a game without time for action tactics, so ppl mostly just use automated/aura curses.

Punishment Solution: "Let's nerf the hell out of their precious aura and auto-cast, then they'll have no choice! I'm a genius!"

Future problem: GGG designed a game without time for action tactics, so ppl mostly just use automated/aura curses...

...and quit the game fast every league, I wonder why...?

Oh, and a nerf to temporal chains aura also speeds up the action even more, but why worry, right...? Surely players who didn't will start casting curses now. /s

Consider me underwhelmed. These manifestos should be getting me hyped for the game, but instead it just reads like more nerfs and tedium being added to the game. Who wanted malediction removed from the game again? I just don't get what's going on at your studio. If it's 4D chess to get me to play other games besides yours, it's working.

"

SerialF wrote:

so a nerf to general mapping wich is 95-98% of the play time and a buff to bosses. interesting. why not just remove the penalty for bosses and be done with it. why the hell nerfing automated curses. and for most bosses, aka map bosses, vulnerability goes from 40%*0,66 inc taken to 40% so 10% more dmg. nice, not gonna complain, but i dont see why it would justify to nerf 95% of our playtime with this automated curse nerf. [..]

40*0,67=26,8 | 40/26,8=1,49 thats 49% more effect

Moreover at pinacle bosses where it matters the most because of 66% less curse effectiveness it goes crazy.

40*0,34=13,6 | 40/13,6=2,94 thats 194% more effect

3x curse power is nothing to sneeze at. Having 40% more dmg instead of 13% more dmg is a huge diff. Like having extra 50% reserve aura.

edit: If they won't nerf enfeeble and temp chain to oblivion those might actualy become legitimate defensive layers again. Looking forward to that.

Rip Occultist xD

There is so much wrong with this whole idea that automated curses are bad.

Why the hell would i want to cast curses and lose precious seconds only to apply a -dmg debuff when in those precious seconds i can die from attacks or spells.

That in itself is funny and ironic.

The first reason people automate curses is to not lose downtime or miss the chance to apply a curse in order to not die or deal more dmg.

Secondly people dont want to press 10 buttons when they play poe.

Thirdly people enjoy fast moving characters, they dont want to stand still to cast a curse.

People already have to think of 20 different scenario's when playing the game so making one aspect of the game easier feels good.

On a side note there were alot of occultist builds but they mainly focussed on profane bloom.
The more OP choice for alot of builds, not curse effect or automated curses.
Another misconception of why people choose Occultis is that they dont play it for defence.
So nerfing dmg and buffing defence thinking people will enjoy or like this change is strange.
And not the main reason people choose curses in todays POE.
Curse bot's were a niche even for support choices as aura bots already made the difficulty pointless.
So thinking this impacts party play or balance in itself is funny.
But hey that might just be my experience and opinion.

You could check poe ninja ofcourse and check what people play ggg....
Anyway, nice ring tho and boss curse effect is a good change.
Sadly dwarfed by its nerfs and misconceptions.

"

de_Prolitie wrote:

Thirdly people enjoy fast moving characters, they dont want to stand still to cast a curse.

There's your problem. "The vision" dictates that less speed = more fun.

So GGG tries to sell us self cast curse again with nothing to actually show for it.
Hell that anathema ring actually makes curse bots easier to build as now you only need to find +8 maximum power charges instead of +10 curse limit to apply every hex in the game to a single target.

and there's a LOT more sources of plus max power charge than plus curse limit in this game.

If you want self cast curse to be relevant you actually have to provide a reason beyond adjusting the sliders (because god knows GGG will just turn the sliders back the moment they arbitrarily think OP must nerf) or the status quo will remain.

You hate automation we get that.
Players hate having to press 5-6 buttons to get respectable damage on non-boss enemies.

I think you guys should support some automation, and not discourage it

"

mrhouston wrote:

Problem: GGG designed a game without time for action tactics, so ppl mostly just use automated/aura curses.

Reward Solution: "Let's put this doom thing, ppl will use it to cast the curse themselves, of course!"

Problem again: GGG designed a game without time for action tactics, so ppl mostly just use automated/aura curses.

Punishment Solution: "Let's nerf the hell out of their precious aura and auto-cast, then they'll have no choice! I'm a genius!"

Future problem: GGG designed a game without time for action tactics, so ppl mostly just use automated/aura curses...

...and quit the game fast every league, I wonder why...?

Oh, and a nerf to temporal chains aura also speeds up the action even more, but why worry, right...? Surely players who didn't will start casting curses now. /s

All of this. The fundamentals of how curses have ended up as they are haven't changed in the slightest with this fresh round of nerfs (because that's what they are), all they've done is move the sliders and aim it at the players who use any of the automation mechanics, like it's our fault they can't figure out how their game works.

Stellar work.

On the plus side, the "simplification" will make it a lot simpler for people to understand the magnitude of the nerf this time around. I call that progress.

Well... looks like you guys are doing a great job making others quit and also keeping the new players away. I was getting hyped to get on the POE train but thanks, after just watching a lot of people on the way out made me think if I was just going to waste my time. looks like I chose the worst time to get started on this game not to mention crazy late to the party.