Atlas Pathing Feedback: Reducing Friction While Preserving Player Choice
This is a suggestion regarding Atlas pathing. I don’t have deep knowledge of game development, but I felt it was worth sharing because it’s something that keeps coming up both while playing and in community discussions.
Goal of this post:
Reduce Atlas friction without removing exploration, and give players more control over what content they want to engage with.
Summary of common community feedback:
- The current system forces players to run nodes that are not always interesting or efficient.
- Progression often feels like an obligation rather than a choice.
- There’s no clear way to specialize without interacting with multiple mechanics.
- Accessing important content (bosses, citadels) often requires excessive pathing and detours.
Suggestions:
1. Biome-based progression (repeatable)
- Completing maps of the same biome should grant cumulative progress.
- This progress could unlock alternative paths (sea, mountain, etc.).
- Exploration would then have a clearer purpose beyond just moving node to node.
2. Increased Atlas reach
- Similar to Delve, allow progression to unlock longer paths in multiple directions.
- This would reduce the need to clear every intermediate node.
- Keeps the system intact while reducing backtracking.
3. Biome bias through Atlas Passive Tree
- Similar to favorite maps in PoE 1.
- Atlas passives could increase the probability of certain biome types appearing when revealing nodes.
- Not deterministic, just a directional bias.
4. Smoother Atlas progression
- Adjust how Atlas passive points are obtained.
- Avoid forcing players into mechanics they don’t enjoy just to progress.
- Make progression more aligned with preferred playstyle.
5. Corruption and rewards
- Once corruption areas no longer contribute to progression (e.g., passive points), they should provide more meaningful alternative rewards.
- They shouldn’t feel like dead content in later stages.
6. Atlas mechanics
- Reduce the need to engage with every mechanic.
- Allow players to skip certain mechanics without feeling penalized in overall progression.
7. Tablets
- Currently feel unintuitive and low impact relative to their complexity.
- Consider:
- -Full rework
- -Removal
- -Or replacement with a more direct system (e.g., scarab-like approach)
Final thought:
The goal is not to simplify the Atlas, but to make exploration unlock meaningful options and allow players to better choose how they want to approach endgame.
Would like to hear if this makes sense or if I’m completely off here.
