Gear Affixes Change

Dear GGG Developers

I have been discussing this with others and reading many things one being the difficulty of the game. I think some of the reason why players are struggling with the game is the affixes they get on gear does not benefit the class at all and the market is not much help as the pricing of items is a bit absurd. This then causes some to just give up on the game as getting to endgame content is a HUGE investment and they may not have the time, money, or lost of interest. From what I have read, others have voiced the same concern.

You staff has mentioned about making affixes more implicit and I think this is the right direction. Looking at the list of affixes gears can roll, it is VERY overwhelming due to the sheer number. This issue constantly voiced by the player base have been addressed by many other games by either making certain affixes roll on gear based on your class so there is no "dead affix" or limit the number of affixes so it is easier to obtain the ones you need.

My suggestion is two fold: having implicit affixes and restricting them to class specific only. I have reviewed many builds and I do not think this is a bad suggestion as many builds run the same affixes with only a couple of adjustments depending build needs. So each piece of gear will have 4 implicit affixes: 2 prefixes and 2 suffixes that are implicit with 1 prefix and suffix that is roll-able to a different affix.

Weapons:
*** Physical / Elemental Damage +/% --- roll-able
*** Weapon / Spell Damage %
Mana +
Critical Hit Chance For Spells % --- roll-able
*** Attack / Caste Speed %
Gem Level +

Armour:
*** Armour / Evasion / Energy Shield --- roll-able
Health +
Mana +
*** Stat +
Resistance (1) Elemental --- roll-able
Resistance (2) Chaos

Boots:
Movement Speed 30%
Health +
Mana + --- roll-able
*** Stat +
Resistance (1) Elemental --- roll-able
Resistance (2) Chaos


Rings:
Weapon / Spell Damage % --- roll-able
Mana +
Spirit +
Stats + --- roll-able
Resistance (1) Elemental
Resistance (2) Chaos

Amulet:
Weapon / Spell Damage % --- roll-able
Mana + / %
Spirit + / %
Stats + --- roll-able
Casting Speed %
Resistance (1) Elemental

I know this is a long post and I do apologize, but I hope you get the picture of what I am trying to suggest. The * in the armour section is that the flat added armour / evasion / energy shield and stat will be based on armour type. Meaning if armour is solely strength based then it will roll additional flat armour and strength for the stat; however, if hybrid like strength and intelligence based then it will roll additional armour and energy shield and the additional stat will also be strength and intelligence. This can also help builds to stay true to their build theme. If building hybrid, they will be more likely using hybrid-based gear based on their build to get the affixes that they need such as split stats. The * in the weapon section is class based so if a caster-based class, then elemental and if an attacker-type class, attack.

I really think this would help the game for players especially new players as progress will feel smoother and less daunting. I know some players might disagree with this and think this will restrict builds. I beg to differ as I believe this will open up more possibilities and make for some interesting gear combinations depending on said build.

I really hope a GGG Developer takes a look at this and responds.

Sincerely
Randy

Dear GGG Developers

Here is an updated list. I removed the fix Chaos Resistance from armour as it does impact built in chaos nodes in the skill tree such has Chaos Inoculation (CI) and can cause players to go over cap once endgame. I also changed a couple of the rollables around as well.

Weapons:
Physical / Elemental Damage +/% --- roll-able
Weapon / Spell Damage % (affix based on weapon type)
Mana +
Critical Hit Chance For Attack / Spells % --- roll-able
Attack / Caste Speed % (affix based on weapon type)
Gem Level + (affix based on weapon type)

Armour:
Armour / Evasion / Energy Shield --- roll-able (affix based on armour type)
Health +
Mana +
Stat + (affix based on armour type)
Resistance (1) Elemental % --- roll-able
Resistance (2) Elemental % (random)

Boots:
Movement Speed 30%
Health +
Mana + --- roll-able
Stat + (affix based on armour type)
Resistance (1) Elemental % --- roll-able
Resistance (2) Elemental % (random)


Rings:
Weapon / Spell Damage % --- roll-able
Mana +
Spirit +
Stats + (random)
Attack / Caste Speed % --- roll-able
Resistance Elemental % (random)

Amulet:
Weapon / Spell Damage % --- roll-able
Mana +
Spirit +
Stats + (random)
Attack / Caste Speed % --- roll-able
Resistance Elemental % (random)


I do have another suggestion in regards to affixes as I have experienced this and players in chat have also complained about low-tier affixes rolling on endgame gear. My suggestion it to have affix tiers tied to item levels where, for the most part; a tier below the item level up to a tier above the item level. Example is below.

Gear level 1-9 -- T1
Gear level 10-19 -- T1-T2
Gear level 20-29 -- T1-T3
Gear level 30-39 -- T2-T4
Gear level 40-49 -- T3-T5
Gear level 50-59 -- T4-T6
Gear level 60-69 -- T5-T7
Gear level 70-79 -- T6-T8
Gear level 80-89 -- T7-T8
Gear level 90-99 -- T8

I really hope someone from GGG see this post and reaches out. I am curious to hear their thoughts in the matter and even other advance players. My suggestions may not be perfect as there could be things I am just not considering as there is a lot to this game, but I am open to suggestions. I just feel and I know others feel like this game is pay-to-win as you never earn a piece of gear for yourself as it is all bought. My goal is to try to find a healthy balance between free-to-play and pay-to-win.

Sincerely
Randy

I find the market is actually very cheap. The gear upgrades you can obtain for a single exalted orb far outstrip anything you will typically find/craft yourself. Yes, as you get to the higher tiers of mapping this becomes an entirely different equation (and should).

The current failure of this game is the lack of crafting available to the players to give them the agency they need to upgrade their gear.

I'll flatly state outright that if your idea for what will make this game better is for loot to drop in a manner that allows players to progress their gear in a 'solo self-found' manner; you're playing the wrong game. Period.

Honestly, the best thing PoE2 can do for new players is to get them interested in PoE1. Path of Exile for many reasons was a game that many people felt was unapproachable. It is however a game that will continue to be far superior to PoE2 for YEARS to come. The transition from PoE2 to PoE1 is a lot easier than other ARPGs to PoE1 and so you're got a bigger head start than you think.

Gear affixes mismatch and market pricing hurt player progression heavily.

Sorry but this would be a very bad change and they will never do it.

1. The whole point of having all the different affixes on items is because there is a heavy element of RNG involved with crafting. The best items in the game are perfect because someone got either extremely lucky or invested A LOT of currency into the craft.

2. It would destroy the economy of the game because the economy would no longer exist. if u can gear near perfect items every time and it became just a linear power progression it would be a single player game.

3. The point about the Tiers of affixes being fixed is actually fine except your tiers are wayyyy too high. If anything an 85 ilvl piece should be able to roll like t4-t10 not t9-t10. For the same reason as i said before, if u are basically always guaranteed a perfect item cause the affixes are fixed there would be no point in playing the game. everyone would have perfect progression for a week kill the last boss and because nobody is trading they would be done playing.

@EliasTorres#4153 Agreed.

@Malgeo318#2320 You are misquoting my tier range to try to make a point. For a level 85 item, the tier range is 7-8 not 9-10. I also said open for discussion and not asking to be taken at completely as is. It does not have to be a -1 - +1 range, it can be -2 - +2 changing the total range from 3 to a 5. I do not agreed on your tier range as it favors under rolling. Your suggested ranges of -4 - +2 (total range of 7) of items current tier level so a level 55 piece of gear can roll tier 1 affixes. I am saying a t5 item should not be rolling tier 1 affixes. That is my point. You are halfway through the game and still getting beginning of game tier rolls? Games that have a progressive level system should have gear that match that level. POE is the only game that does not. Progression of gear should match the progression of the game. If it does not, players will start to get frustrated as they start to fall behind and wondering what they are doing wrong when it is actually not their fault, but the game just giving bad affix rolls which this game does A LOT.

Furthermore, you are not getting "perfect" gear as each piece of gear will have like 2-4 random rolls with some of those randoms being more restrictive. This still allows for affixes to roll not conducive to your build, but still is a decent item to throw up on trade for someone that can use it. This will allow more players to enter the trading market and allow for more frequent trades. As it stands now, the market is being controlled by a small percentage and because of this, they set the prices with no oversight which allows them to price gauge and gauging they are. A good (not perfect item) level 55 item can easily fetch you 10-50 Divine Orbs. Divine! I have a level 65 and a level 58 character and you wanna know how many Divine's I have? 0. This is a level 55 item and they are asking for high currency that is extremely rare to the point is not currently accessible for the player buying.

I am sure GGG is aware of this as the game has been out 30 days and they already lost over 50,000 players according to Steam data and that is not including EA, console, or players not using either so numbers are most likely much higher than that. When you analyze it from multiple angels, from my standpoint; the only main factor is the gear. My suggestion is to try to help remedy that. Even if my suggestion is not utilized, my hope it gets the discussion started and positive changed comes from it.

Okay i probably went a bit extreme in my rebuttal ill own that.

But, I think my point remains the same. The point of having a piece of gear be able to roll a low tier is to encourage trading. If it was easy to find good gear then nobody would need to trade because they can find pretty much anything they need on the floor as they get higher level.

Im not saying your wrong about the price gouging but i have never seen just a "good" item go for 10-50 divines. After you finish the campaign you can fairly reliably get your elemental resistances capped and have a little bit of health for like 10-15 exalts as you start your mapping journey.

Then you gain more ex as you map and can upgrade a piece of gear at a time.

I really do agree with your idea of being able to roll a certain tier i just thought your range was too narrow.

I will also say if you had a bunch of people that can roll "good" gear with a dump roll or 2 then prices of everything go down. That would also affect the people getting the ok gear. Right now you can pick up something off the floor and if your lucky it could be worth 10s of ex to a divine. but if everyone can pick up good gear it would probably never sell. you would need to find a perfect piece.

I hope i was a little more respectful this time, sorry.