Regarding PoE... (Destiny)

by slycrel , Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 16:17 (3264 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY
edited by slycrel, Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 16:22

I think it's good, not great.

PoE is bungie's way of addressing raid-style mechanics to a 3 person fireteam, bringing more raid style content to their larger audience. This is their first attempt, and it is both hit and miss. That really didn't exist in the past. It's the equivalent to when WoW went from 40 man raids down to 20 and 10 man raids. Suddenly each raid member had to be a little more skilled, things had to go a little more smoothly, there was a little less wiggle room. I expect future content such as this to be in different, bigger, areas. I think the arena stuff was good use of limited map space, but ultimately an experiment for 3 man fireteams with more difficult mechanics than what you see in the strikes or in the story mode. In that respect it's a success.

It falls down though in that, as has been discussed, it's less approachable. I think Bungie would have been better off marketing it as a mini-raid rather than something completely new. We have spent, and thought little about, spending hours in a raid figuring out mechanics with no loot to show for it. Skolas is the new crota hard. It's frustrating, but the same paradigm. The lack of a checkpoint is probably a time-gate, to prevent people blowing through it way too fast via LFG tools. It adds to the grindy nature of the process though -- it's a 40-60 minute run to get to him, then you practice.

It fragments raid groups as well. I don't run as much with a number of people that I used to see a few times a week. On the flipside, I've gotten to run with some other guys I hadn't run with as much in the past, but enjoy spending time with. So a mixed bag there I guess. There's definitely less team cohesion as well.

I don't like that PoE has 4 separate difficulties. I think 3 would be enough. I think Bungie has been trying really hard to onboard new players through both expansions, and this one is showing through a little -- 28 is one of the gated levels to get to higher content. They're still maintaining a gear upgrade path for a new character all the way to 34, and trying to have interesting things to do along the way.

IMO There should be a lvl 32 matchmade PoE that randomly drops, once a week, an etheric light, a weapon core, or an armor core. Only available to 34's, maybe via an unlock quest.

The lvl 28 PoE is, probably intentionally, like a dragon strike -- it goes pretty fast, but at 25ish minutes it's too long for the (seemingly limited) reward pool at the end. I'm better off running 2 dragons strikes for weapon parts and chances at ships, along with other random junk once I've gotten some of the queen's weapons.

So yeah. All that said, the PoE wasn't for us raiders. It was raiding for the guys who could get a couple buddies together here and there rather than coordinate a 6 person team. I like it, and as a hobbyist game dev, I admire what they've done. But it wasn't quite what I was looking for for PvE "endgame" content. I'm more disappointed than angry, and I know I just have to wait a few months to see what's around the next corner. It'll go pretty fast. Like any MMO, it's as much about the people, the journey, than the end. When that gjallarhorn or hawkmoon finally drop, they are so much more fun because of the stories they've created. It's about that, or should be, as much as about the loot.