Lessons We Got from the Templar

This league is genuinely fun for me. Yes, the Temple has real issues: it’s clunky (especially on PS), and it’s too easy to brick a run with one bad room choice or a missed connection. But the core idea — and the way it feels rewarding (even if it’s probably overtuned right now) — is the kind of endgame that actually keeps me playing.

It also highlighted why the classic “endgame = farm the endgame boss” approach doesn’t really work. You can redesign bosses and buff their loot, but optimized builds will trivialize them quickly. Once that happens, drops get devalued and the economy inflates. It turns into a solved farm loop.

The Temple did something different: it created progression. You invest time, you build up your run, and the payoff scales in a way that feels earned. It’s not just “kill X boss again,” it’s “push the system further.”

What I’d love to see is this idea expanded beyond the Temple: a progression-based endgame loop that ties into multiple league mechanics.

A rough direction (just to explain the concept):

Farm Expedition / its boss → earn a currency that upgrades your endgame rewards (rarity, extra modifiers, map juice, etc.)

Farm other mechanics → earn different upgrade currency (more rares, stronger packs, extra encounters, whatever fits)

If these currencies are tradable, players can skip mechanics they dislike without falling behind, while still engaging with the overall progression.

One more thing this league exposed: loot filtering and rare drops. In endgame, a lot of players filter out rares entirely — sometimes even mid-tier ones — because picking them up and dealing with scroll friction isn’t worth it. That shouldn’t be normal. A modern loot system should make “finding a good base” or “spotting a good rare” actually feel worthwhile, without burying you in clutter.

Removing or reworking outdated friction (like scroll-style item management) would be a huge QoL win, and it would support the kind of endgame where rares and bases matter again.

TL;DR: Progression-based endgame systems like the Temple are more engaging than boss-only endgame. Build that progression across mechanics, make the upgrades meaningful (not just raw loot explosions), and modernize loot/rare handling so filters aren’t forced to hide half the game.