Skip Acts function for the second and subsequent characters in the league

If a skip was indeed put into the game, wonder if we would se instead of after 2-3 weeks. We would se on day 2-3 "League is dead" hurr hur

Jokes aside.


As one of the "Im a dad, full time work etc etc" this would be great for me timevise just makes new characters faster.

However, i cant help feel that overall it would make the leagues die faster, and prices go up faster since less are playing. Ultimately for a gamerdad as myself, i think i would always be behind on getting currency for things unless i get a lucky drop or two.


I think if there was some sort of increased value of redoing campaigne, like there are maybe some new juicy bosses added for the new runs would be enjoyable.

Maybe as you progress things endgame, you also unluck new areas you can now explore in the campagine also?

That would make End-game progression = Added Campaigne Value.

And that could be a never-ending circle of:

"Completing a full Swamp biome in End-game will now unlock a extra area in Act 3 as a optional route to the end of Waterways. This swamp area is very dangerus and will challange even the most seasoned of veteran! But the reward is a big timecut on Act 3"


For example.


Things like this, play game, improve game, i personaly would love.

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Taistelija#5483 wrote:

THat would actually be good. Zone levels could be just your character level whenever you enter a zone. I wonder if it would turn out that everyone does the reward objectives first that provide passive points and other permanent things and then just spam farm the best mobstacked map until lvl65. But then again, who really cares if someone wants to play like that so should be fine.

Zone levels should stay the same I believe so it will not potentially ruin the trade economy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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SwedishTavern#6176 wrote:

I think if there was some sort of increased value of redoing campaigne, like there are maybe some new juicy bosses added for the new runs would be enjoyable.

Maybe as you progress things endgame, you also unluck new areas you can now explore in the campagine also?

That would make End-game progression = Added Campaigne Value.

And that could be a never-ending circle of:

Yes, there we go. That is where I'm at...It's predictability we are fighting.

Now, my OFFICIAL POSITION:
Make POE2 = Baldur's Gate 3 Lite + POE2 Combat

:everyone's teeth starts gnashing..."This is an ARPG."

Yeah...I know! However, definitely NOT "Next Gen ARPG". Having a campaign with heart and soul with dynamic quest/story-lines that have an effect on end game + dynamic atmosphere (light radius = perception), and difficulty (0.1 patch, standard, SSF, etc).

I'm evolving on the subject because at first I'm a strict "No skip" campaign guy. Currently, I'm to a solution that is not so much a skip option as it is the campaign evolves the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time through (whether it be by dynamic systems or a new way to play through Acts 1 - 6).

Anyway, I've been trying to gather everyone's opinions/feelings as to why they are FOR and AGAINST a campaign skip. Rather than argue one side, here's what I've actually heard from both:

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latrynka#7337 wrote:

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Soulsniper1313#7576 wrote:

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600lbpanther#3839 wrote:

I wanted to reply to both of you guys at the same time so I kept the entirety of the posts (did adjust spacing tho to condense it):

Anyway, all the information I can find from Jonathan states he is not in favor of skipping the campaign. I've always played POE as a HC SSF player (so I don't trade) and it's really frustrating to get to ACT 10 Kitava or Tier 1 Map and die in a stupid manner which for me as a HC player means: I start over immediately. So I do understand campaign fatigue or slog (even with POE1's shorter campaign).

GGG's perspective is that "The campaign must be played." However, the issue is that "The campaign must first be worth playing."

Yes I know their perspective and it is wrong for the reasons they say which is why I believe it is purely about metrics. They know if they force this long slog of a campaign on people, they know they will put their heads down and do it because endgame is what they want. They gain an extra 20 hours per character from the start. That is why.

"The campaign must first be worth playing"

Yes this is correct but I don't care HOW good it is, eventually when you have played/seen it enough, you don't want to HAVE to do it EVERY time.

Think of your favorite movie, like you had that OMG this is amazing moment when you watched it. Now, was it that good 30 times later? Did you have the same reaction? Did you even watch it that many times?

That is the entire premise of it. "Cow Level" for leveling secondary characters every season would be the absolute best thing they can do to be a win win for everyone except the deceivers who claim to be campaign purists but actually care about trade more.

Do you like playing campaign every single league and every single new character?

No, not at all. After over a dozen times I am over it. It is the single biggest reason I don't make more characters.

I offer a win win middle ground spot that covers all arguments. First character of new season does campaign, all other after completion get to level either in level scaled maps with the campaign character rewards given as specific level intervals or better yet, some sort of "cow level" with the same character campaign rewards given at specific levels.

The difference for all the "what is the difference people".... I dont have to click to talk to 1000 different people to move the caravan to get off to talk to get back on to talk to move it again. I dont have to click 25 water ways levers. I dont have to carry quest items around to have to talk to more people to turn them in. It is all a slog. It was fine and dandy the first few times. After 10+ there is no desire to do it ever again. I dont care how good they want to make it, even the best movie ever gets boring when you rewatch it dozens of times. It is never the same experience. Act 1 is ok, 2 is crap until dreadnaught, all of 3 is crap, 4 is meh. They still have 2 more to go!

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Dark0ne#6104 wrote:

alot of us will stop playing if u implement some of this skip nonsence.

Explain why....

Or are you one of those fake campaign purists who say its the greatest and a skip would become mandatory because of trade...

That means you care more about trade than the campaign....

Also, the best idea is for second characters on leagues so first one still has to do it to keep things in the middle.

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bloomhead#3858 wrote:

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default_mp3#9394 wrote:

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Dark0ne#6104 wrote:

alot of us will stop playing if u implement some of this skip nonsence.

A lot of ppl already dropped the game during 0.1 anyway because of the boring slog of the first act.
I don't really understand your position here. Your campaign is not going anywhere.

Then you can surely show us some proof, that sooooo many dropped in 0.1 because of the campaign. We'll be waiting for your non-answer.

GGG's own words a very large % of players never finish it and the players numbers have been dropping since launch.... So simple math would let you know people are leaving in the campaign and its the only part they experienced...

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Evilsmiter#8011 wrote:

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arkanie#2558 wrote:

so far,

who is againts 'skip' option without any lose or benefit,

couldnt tell any valid reasonable solid fact about why not

all comments are againts it like 'i dont want becouse i dont' :)

what they think about skip option? it is just skip, not become instant lvl 65 or something.

it is just skip, start from lvl 1

OR if u dont want, dont skip, play your campaign, but do not force people.

it is GGG problem to solve what after 'skip' to figure out.

as a player we want that opiton, thats it.

There are no level one maps. What you are asking for is an alternate campaign that would be even more tedious(map spamming) and repetitive than actually going through the campaign. At level 1 there is no end game atlas tree or nuthin' just finding skill and support gems(level 1) etc. This is not the reason people are asking to "skip". Those are in general lazy players who don't want to level their character and just want to "skip" to end game.

It's called "end game" for a reason.....

No... we are asking for second character of a league to not have to move a caravan around to talk to people to load another screen to talk again to get back on it to hit 30 water levers to carry around quest objects to talk to this person to give this item to a person crap....

We are asking for some sort of level scaling maps OR some sort of "cow level" where you can just go in and kill monsters to level and not have to worry about talking to 1000 different npc's.

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Soulsniper1313#7576 wrote:

We are asking for some sort of level scaling maps OR some sort of "cow level" where you can just go in and kill monsters to level and not have to worry about talking to 1000 different npc's.

Ok, Fine. But make sure it takes way longer than the campaign and doesn't give any of the bonuses from doing the campaign. -Happy?

Or you just want to be lazy and have an easy mode?

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Soulsniper1313#7576 wrote:

It is all a slog. It was fine and dandy the first few times. After 10+ there is no desire to do it ever again. I dont care how good they want to make it, even the best movie ever gets boring when you rewatch it dozens of times. It is never the same experience. Act 1 is ok, 2 is crap until dreadnaught, all of 3 is crap, 4 is meh. They still have 2 more to go!

I get your firmly on the "Skip Campaign" side due to the reason of "I've done this 20 times" as highlighted by your "best movie ever gets boring when you rewatch it dozens of times" analogy.

What I don't understand (yet) is that the "I've done this 20 times" argument can can also be used for end game or to put it another way:

If the campaign is boring after 15 runs then the endgame MUST be boring after run 300.

However, you don't identify the end game as repetitive (and many others who like the skip option don't either).

My initial assumption is it isn't the content. It's that maps lets you choose your repetition and the campaign doesn't.

This goes back to the "Dynamic Systems" proposal or said in another fashion: Give the campaign the same agency and decision making ability as end game mapping does and the argument disappears.

Here is some rough math just to highlight the disparity in the argument and why NOT having a choice in the campaign (i.e. doing the same exact thing everytime) is the problem (not the concept of a campaign).

Campaign length: 20-40 hours per character (linear, unchanging).

Endgame length per league: 200-600+ hours (voluntary, however functionally identical loop repeated hundreds of times).

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Soulsniper1313#7576 wrote:

The difference for all the "what is the difference people".... I dont have to click to talk to 1000 different people to move the caravan to get off to talk to get back on to talk to move it again. I dont have to click 25 water ways levers. I dont have to carry quest items around to have to talk to more people to turn them in. It is all a slog. It was fine and dandy the first few times. After 10+ there is no desire to do it ever again. I dont care how good they want to make it, even the best movie ever gets boring when you rewatch it dozens of times. It is never the same experience. Act 1 is ok, 2 is crap until dreadnaught, all of 3 is crap, 4 is meh. They still have 2 more to go!

Act 1 was good with atmosphere but still feels painful to play until hunting grounds. Once you enter Act 2 everything dissappears. It's just a boring walking simulator with fetch quests. Nothing is happening around you. Everything feels static. I understand it's mostly a dead dunes but Act 3 is the same. Nothing is really happening before the Black Chambers. No meaningful story progression. You just keep walking those stupid zones while world around keep being static. Act 4 have its own unique atmosphere but ultimately suffers the same problem. It's dead chapter until you beat boss in Excavation Sites.

If you want an example of what is GOOD campaign should be. Look at Diablo 3 at least. That game's campaign of course not a masterpiece but did much much better job to keep you engaged in the story. And that was a 10+ years ago. While so-called NEXT GEN ARPG in 2026 is just 10 15 hours of forced checkpoints.