SSF Itemization important feedback

The itemization in SSF is so extremely off.

1. There are SO many potential upgrades.

2. The time it takes to pick up + ID these and manually throw them on the floor 19/20 times is extremely poorly designed. I know PoE2 isnt based around SSF but its still a game mode you provide so some balanced to SSF will be appreciated.

3. In the Vaal temple one mob can drop 5 items that are potential upgrades. 1 Mob and there are many mobs in the temple. This is not sustainable in any way.

4. You based this game of Diablo 2. In Diablo 2 I have my pieces after playing a while. Mostly uniques. In PoE2 its mostly rares that are going to make up the build so the itemization will be very different. I get that. But it interrupts the flow of the game so much. In Diablo 2 I know that rare boots and sometimes belts/gloves depending on class are worthwile. They drop much less often than they drop in PoE2 cause you have so many different agnostic class items cause there are no hard classes in this game.

I dont know how to fix this problem but it is a huge problem in terms of game flow. I want to be excited for ground loot in a loot based arpg but PoE2 just makes me exhausted having to pick up so many crap items and throwing them back on the ground.

Edit

Because reforging and recombinator is a thing it makes things even worse cause you save bases you would otherwise throw out. The idea is nice but in practice this just causes more trouble than it solves.

I dont think reforging and recombination should be in the game as it is right now cause its better to spend the time playing the game gaining xp and more items instead of using those mechanics.

Again no solution just problems I'm presenting.

Good points. Also, it is important to consider that PoE is now competing with too much new and rewarding entertainment. If the game remains balanced solely around trade, it will lose steam.

SSF

These are good points, and there are a couple additional layers.

I don't really have an issue with the amount on the ground, although typically things are rarely valuable.

I've found that the more I play, the less I actually pick up. I don't even pickup and sell yellows anymore, its simply not worth it. I'll only pickup what I'm wearing.

Due to bag space, I've even found myself keeping a few inspection scrolls on me. Yeah! Crazy! So if I pickup something that MAY work, I can inspect, see if its got good rolls- if not I throw it on the ground. Simply because its far more efficient to never goto town. LOL

This is after a lot of playtime mind you. Many characters, at least 5 to endgame. You start to get the feel of the game eventually- what is worth your time and not.


Next there are massive upgrade issues in gear. A couple different layers of issues.

The first is going from blues to yellows, 2 mod to possible 6. At some point you're going to start having all 6 mods, pretty early in the game. When this happens, now its VERY difficult and EXPENSIVE to TRY for gear. Basically, its not worth trying, its as simple as that.

For instance weapons. The best way is to wait for a high roll you need, and hopefully have an essence to apply another- then hope to hit the third. Usually this is +% physical, into +static physical, into +skills.

I've actually gotten most of my really good weapons... from vendors. I kid you not, and its pretty consistent. I rarely ever pickup or craft something super solid- I simply don't have the currency to really try that often.


Now the next layer. Resistances. Even if you do get something good- the resistances have to match up! If they don't, OR IF THEY ROLL BAD, you're effed, toss the piece. The chance that you'll hit a chaos on it is... basically not worth even trying.

Resistances have to be separate items that you can collect and apply to gear. Otherwise there will always be this MASSIVE barrier to upgrading. Massive.

Notice I didn't even mention trying to get chaos resist.


This issue is massive. I've played with the same weapon on characters for 30 levels. Thats how difficult it is to get everything you need for a weapon to literally be better. The game has to SCALE to the point where trash weapons become better than a really good item you had. MASSIVE ISSUE.

Similar to resistances, there are other things that should be treated just like them. Some sort of modifying item. +levels for sure, movement speed.


Then beyond all of this, item modifiers, such as runes, uniques- should scale automatically. OR scale at drop. So if a unique drops that is level 80, its waaaaay better than one that drops at level 10. The way the system currently is- most uniques are automatically always trash. At the very least, you're using them for one stat. Its just, its feels terrible. Once you've played for a bit, unique are not exciting at all. You realize they are mostly trash. The concept is fun, the execution is dogshit.


I'm sure there are additional layers, but these alone spoil a TON of fun from the game. A ton. Which is crazy, cause the game is pretty good as is, really good.


They need to really think about the core concepts. If they want a groundbreaking game- which this already is, they need to go a little deeper.

They did this with movement and dodge roll. Game changers.

Now, rethink the core.

Imagine if resistances just weren't that difficult to gear? It does change alot, it changes the power of currency even- but its a needed step.

The gearing curve of this game is not great.