The Trial of Sekhemas

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Coconutdoggy#1805 wrote:

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diablofdb#3816 wrote:

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Coconutdoggy#1805 wrote:

Trial is way too easy sorry.

oh I do agree, 95% of it is WAY TOO EASY.

Until you get the wrong affliction and it ruin it.

My problem is, it's not even based off talent, or well built characters. it's just RNG and you pray you don't get a wall of bad afflictions that ruin your entire run in a single row.

That's how bad it is. and you didn't even read.
I'm not complaining about the difficulty, I'm complaining about how boring it is and how unrewarding it feel. Lab in POE1 felt amazing to run every single time, it was great for currency drop and loot. You felt progressing each time.

You don't get the wrong affliction you just get another affliction that's less punishing.

But most of you don't know how to do that apparently.

You should read before posting

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diablofdb#3816 wrote:

My whole thread ain't even about difficulty, guy is just trolling and being a 5Yo.

Yeah, it's truly mind-boggling how many people are unable to grasp that finding something unfun or badly designed is not the same as saying something is too difficult.

Then again, there are also way too many people that can't differentiate "difficult", "challenging" and "tedious", so there's that...

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dreamstate42#3955 wrote:

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diablofdb#3816 wrote:

My whole thread ain't even about difficulty, guy is just trolling and being a 5Yo.

Yeah, it's truly mind-boggling how many people are unable to grasp that finding something unfun or badly designed is not the same as saying something is too difficult.

Then again, there are also way too many people that can't differentiate "difficult", "challenging" and "tedious", so there's that...

Honestly the whole trial could be harder, and it would just feel more rewarding completing it, I'm a hardcore soul fan and an old gamer that grew up with way harder games.

The thing is and this is where I compare it to the lab, Lab was fun, less repetitive, it has many reward. You had many side and hidden rooms full of goodies. The whole process was way better and you could get used to it pretty fast and do it well. There was no Lock down wall of Afflictions.

Like, we can compare this to the current mapping system, Most if not every mods waystones can have can be done by MOST builds. there is nothing locked out or frustating, it's just good challenge and reward. The current Trial has so many afflictions that can simply destroy many builds completely. This is not "hard" or "get gud" this is not "learn to play" it's simply something that lock out many content.

Going back to Lab in POE1, Yes I know MANY found the lab very hard and frustating in POE1 but here's the difference. It wasn't really based off RNG it was based on your knowledge of the lab and how used you are to it. Do it a few times and it won't be frustating anymore. The trial of sekhemas doesn't feel right even after many times. And the second part, I would run many uber labs in each league because of how highly rewarding it was, I don't see myself going back to the trials because I get nothing out of it.

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diablofdb#3816 wrote:

Honestly the whole trial could be harder, and it would just feel more rewarding completing it, I'm a hardcore soul fan and an old gamer that grew up with way harder games.

The thing is and this is where I compare it to the lab, Lab was fun, less repetitive, it has many reward. You had many side and hidden rooms full of goodies. The whole process was way better and you could get used to it pretty fast and do it well. There was no Lock down wall of Afflictions.

Like, we can compare this to the current mapping system, Most if not every mods waystones can have can be done by MOST builds. there is nothing locked out or frustating, it's just good challenge and reward. The current Trial has so many afflictions that can simply destroy many builds completely. This is not "hard" or "get gud" this is not "learn to play" it's simply something that lock out many content.

Are you me, sounds very familiar with the "old gamer" and "hardcore souls fan" ;)

To me the trials aren't fun because they are just tedious, they are an exercise in "damage control", not "ARPG gameplay". The Trials are kind of backwards in a sense: They would be amazing as a "test the limits of your build" activity, but unfortunately, the trials are what initially define your build. In terms of pure game design thinking, they are almost self-contradictory.

It's absolutely miserable.

Nothing about it is fun.

You can't learn the boss mechanics because they only give you one chance.

Nothing about Sekhemas is fun.

Honor system is complete dog.

The roguelike system is there to punish you even further rather than give any rewards.

If you TP to town you bricked your run and there's no warning about it.

It's insanely punishing and I'm not sure why GGG thought it would be a fun thing for players to go through. I dear hope GGG devs play it themselves (AT THE LEVEL THEY WERE "INTENDED") and see what their experience is. It's fucking miserable.

This isn't even "challenging", it's just straight up dogshit game design that you have to learn.

For example, why does the Terracotta Sentinel one shot you?

Well! Spend 1 hour to complete 20 rooms of boring gauntlets again and again and again to find out!

Sorry but that is COMPLETE ASS OF GAME DESIGN. A literal toddler can design a more rewarding soulslike experience than that if that's what they were going for.

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Slart1bartfast#0332 wrote:

It's absolutely atrocious game design that would make any student of game design fail their class.

- 1 hour runbacks on failure
- Each attempt requires an access token
- Access tokens can't be target farmed, only rng
- You are burdened with afflictions for no reason. Actively making your game experience worse
- You need to either earn or buy boons which often enough they come with an affliction.
- Afflictions can just straight up brick your run entirely. ("You have no armor/evasion/es", "every time you gain an affliction, gain another")
- You aren't automatically rewarded with loot when successfully finishing it. Instead you are required to additionally collect keys.
- Relics earned that would help you in the trial can't be used immediately but only on next attempt
- The game mode forces you into a no hit playstyle, de-emphasizing any defensive gear/setup.

It's bad.

This.

FWIW they nerfed the first two in 0.3. I agree with all the comments about ascending being boring, but I did Sekhemas in 15 minutes, and I did Temple of Chaos in two attempts (waiting a few levels after the first one) using the same chimeric ultimatum both times. So the runs are too short to feel boring.

I don't plan on doing either the third or fourth ascendancy. Not my idea of a good time. If I get stuck in endgame, I'll start a new character.