Simple solution to the One Death mechanic that is clearly hated by most players

The main argument for having one death per map seems to be that you don't want people intentionally dying as a farming strategy. This seems like a real lack of imagination here, folks. This is not complicated.

Here, let me solve it for you:

1. Do not allow mobs, or mechanics you have activated (breach, delirium, etc), to respawn when you die.

2. On death, player respawns in hideout, and 1 portal has closed. Heck, make it two portals, if you want to limit it to 3 tries. If going that route, may have to consider voluntary trips to hideout not costing you a portal, though this could be left as is if you want to make that decision matter. If so, each trip costs 2 portals - one on entry, one on exit.

3. When player re-enters the map after death, it respawns them at the last checkpoint.

4. Once all portals are gone, THEN map is bricked and waystones/keys are lost. Could leave the xp loss as is, so every death still punishes (though, I'm still not clear why that is a good thing).

5. For multi-player, any player that dies returns to hideout, and costs the same portals. So you don't get "3 lives each" but a maximum of 3 deaths per map for the whole party. They still respawn at the last checkpoint. If at a boss, and area is locked out, then tough titty. If not they can re-enter.

Done. Easy. No abuse possible. Best players still maintain dominance on the ladder by not dying. Gives less harcore players an opportunity to still complete the content and not get so frustrated, while maintaining this quasi-hardcore feel that GGG seems to want in the softcore gameplay.

The number of portals could easily be tweaked to provide more attempts in earlier maps, and less at higher tiers. You could also add in some kind of "no respawns allowed" modifier/currency for better rewards as some additional content later.

This seems like a pretty simple fix, while still maintaining the "vision" of a more hardcore game. But one strike then you're out feels awful, and will 100% cost this game players over time. Fix it.

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Hardcaliber19#6651 wrote:

Gives less harcore players an opportunity to still complete the content and not get so frustrated,

Translation: Gives less harcore players an opportunity to still complete the content without having to learn the game,

Should add a couple things.

1. Couch co-op, allow limited # of revives instead of portals. 3 (total, not each) per instance seems reasonable. Could just apply this to all party play instead.

2. Have deaths in ritual maps cost you tribute.

But I like it how it is.

I argue it's less about the one death penalty existing and more that the campaign doesn't train the player to prepare for that challenge. My interpretation of the Q&A is that the earliest mapping should be made gentler so players transition more smoothly. I view it as e.g. letting a player with a fragile AND low-damage build (that still scraped by the campaign) have a 90% chance to clearing a T1 map so they still feel like they can play while teaching them to shape up.

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BedlessSleeper#0856 wrote:

But I like it how it is.

Yes, there is a vocal minority that seems to enjoy this. That is a minority opinion. Unless you want to be playing this game with a drastically reduced player base, then this approach will have to change.

I guarantee you GGG wants to have a successful game with good player retention. This is a surefire way to make that much more difficult, and turn this into just another niche arpg. Seems like bad business to me.

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Hardcaliber19#6651 wrote:

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BedlessSleeper#0856 wrote:

But I like it how it is.

Yes, there is a vocal minority that seems to enjoy this. That is a minority opinion. Unless you want to be playing this game with a drastically reduced player base, then this approach will have to change.

I guarantee you GGG wants to have a successful game with good player retention. This is a surefire way to make that much more difficult, and turn this into just another niche arpg. Seems like bad business to me.

No, the minority are the people complaining about it. That's the human nature. It's called a vocal minority.

The silent majority ? They are playing the as is and don't complain about it. And if they really dislike it ? They move on and play something else while still accepting that PoE2 is what it is, with its rules and designs, and that's not a game for them.

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Hardcaliber19#6651 wrote:

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BedlessSleeper#0856 wrote:

But I like it how it is.

Yes, there is a vocal minority that seems to enjoy this. That is a minority opinion. Unless you want to be playing this game with a drastically reduced player base, then this approach will have to change.

I guarantee you GGG wants to have a successful game with good player retention. This is a surefire way to make that much more difficult, and turn this into just another niche arpg. Seems like bad business to me.

Sorry sweetie, but the general consensus in the playerbase is that we want one death per map. I know you vocal minority folks want to have own way but the majority has decided.

I think keep the XP loss, keep the one death loses waystone. But the node remains the same. Still has mechanics(boss/breach/delirium) and the player can craft a new waystone that is easier. Lower tier, less mods, whatever.

Citadels being lost...well, I'm conflicted on that. I think they should be different from other nodes so having just the one attempt is ok. Maybe allow more deaths like arbiter? Or continue fixing unfair one-shots.

And there is ZERO reasons for you to play a challenging and punitive game like PoE2 if you don't like a challenging and punitive game.

And there is ZERO reasons for you to ask PoE2 to change to catter to your needs while so many others ARPGs already exist and do that.

And yet, you do, somehow.[/quote]

It's spelled "cater."

You keep raging bro. Looks good on you.

There is a reason "other arpgs do that." It's called player retention. You want to be playing this game with a handful of other cool guys, while 90% of the playerbase has moved on to other things? Well keep banging that drum.

Adding in a couple of attempts before your map is wiped does nothing to stop this from being a "challenging, punitive game." You still have xp loss, and if you are really so bad that it is a skill issue and not just bad luck, then those players will still be losing maps anyway, right? So really, this is just about you wanting to tell people to "git gud" while you are playing a meta build, probably a spark mage running multiple heralds. There are huge class balance, economy, and gameplay issues with this game that do not make it conducive to one-strike-and-you're out gameplay.

But keep telling yourself it's just because "me awesum, everyone else bad."