Lite-weight social systems/shared spaces would be nice

The game feels tad bit empty when you're just dashing between your hideout and maps/temple. You don't really see any other players at any point.

I think it'd be nice if there was a bit more of shared spaces. For example;

- League entrance areas like the Temple entrance could be shared instances;
- There could be a proper well-set up and convenient shared town that made sense to use instead of the hideout;
- I guess the current hideout layouts don't really fit that, but having your hideout be seamlessly represented in-town (its location in the town of course varying by instance) would be really cool; prolly doable for some hideouts, but quite a lot of work admittedly

Very low priority of course, but still something I think would make the game a bit more lively.

I get the vibe you're going for, but this starts drifting into MMORPG territory, and I don't think an ARPG is really meant to be a permanent social lobby.

Also, the moment you let people cast stuff in a shared entrance/town like they can in a hideout, it's going to turn into a lag festival. Nothing says "lively shared space" like 40 players spamming effects until everyone's FPS becomes a slideshow.

That said, I do agree the game leans a bit too hard into the "singleplayer with a chat window" vibe. I'd love to see more stuff where you actually end up playing with other people organically.

And I don't mean premade parties or Discord logistics. I mean "randoms", somewhere, somehow. Give me occasional shared instances, public-ish events, or some lightweight co-op moments that don't require scheduling a raid like I'm applying for a mortgage.

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Jyrlep#4788 wrote:

I get the vibe you're going for, but this starts drifting into MMORPG territory, and I don't think an ARPG is really meant to be a permanent social lobby.

I do feel that this was pretty nice in the D2 days and far as I understand, both D3 and D4 have more shared areas than PoE2. Though I haven't played either.

Most looter-shooters also feature these lobbies in one form or another; not necessarily as your main hang out, but as a place you visit now and then.

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Jyrlep#4788 wrote:

Also, the moment you let people cast stuff in a shared entrance/town like they can in a hideout, it's going to turn into a lag festival. Nothing says "lively shared space" like 40 players spamming effects until everyone's FPS becomes a slideshow.

You don't have to enable skills in town or you can automatically reduce the particle counts and vfx fidelity and hide some effects; like is already done for party play.

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Jyrlep#4788 wrote:

That said, I do agree the game leans a bit too hard into the "singleplayer with a chat window" vibe. I'd love to see more stuff where you actually end up playing with other people organically.

And I don't mean premade parties or Discord logistics. I mean "randoms", somewhere, somehow. Give me occasional shared instances, public-ish events, or some lightweight co-op moments that don't require scheduling a raid like I'm applying for a mortgage.

Yea, some lite-weight co-op dungeon things or something could be fun to see far in the future.

I don't know for sure how to do them well, as in, so that players can't grieve, and where co-operation is somehow incentivized or encouraged, and without that content becoming just something that 95% of players skip. But I imagine there would be some way of making them well.