Path of Exile - Thoughts on the Delirium Development Manifesto
87Howdy exile, this is a long one! Set it to 1.25x speed and go clear some maps if you want, it's podcast format rather than a video you need to be watching to follow.
Delirium Manifesto
This has come out of Reddit responses to the Delirium launch.
Reddit is a dicey place for feedback as downvoting gives any vocal minority (or vocal majority) the ability to censor opposing viewpoints.
I ran a poll of my subscribers and of the people who felt Delirium was hard, many thought this was a good thing - but those people aren't angry and so don't post on Reddit, and don't upvote 20 posts they agree with and downvote 20 they disagree with. They keep playing the game.
I don't generally agree with most of the Reddit complaints but I'll try to put their positions fairly. (And I'm not asserting that they are a minority either. I don't know.)
- One position is that Delirium is the hardest challenge league since Invasion League.
- Another common one is that the soft timer is wrecking the league.
- Another (this one I agree with) is that it's too hard to see what is going on.
- Finally people assert that the rewards are bad.
CHALLENGE FIRST
Fresh Economy:
- High end gear often has 2000 more HP than early endgame gear but that severely understates the difference.
- High end gear will also have other defensive layers.
- Then there's damage. Among the 14121 characters level 89+ in Delirium, there's only 16 Headhunters compared to the 3000+ you'd have late league. Only 2 Eternity Shrouds equipped and only 5 more for trade. Almost no nutty Awakener Orb crafts, etc.
- Then there's how durability constrains damage - squishier characters have to actively dodge (ie stop attacking) during things tankier characters can endure.
- Essentially, we've had two months of POE on easy mode at the end of Metamorph. If you were farming 8 mod tier 16s at the end of that league, you should expect to be slower at tier 16s now if you can beat them at all.
- Delirium content should be judged through this prism. Tier 16 Delirium content should be something we fail badly at now.
Unfamiliar Mechanics:
- Get a player to go into the Shaper blind. No advance knowledge. They won't win the fight even if their character is objectively powerful enough.
- There's a slam that's dodge or die.
- The bullet hell is pretty intuitive if you anticipate it - but you need to know in advance not to explode a Void Anomoly there, and you also need to know that you can't 'outskill' and dodge the bullets, it's not like Innocence because the bullets aren't in sync with where they look on screen
- So all in all, there's mechanics you don't know at first.
- This has happened with other effects, like Bestiary's Tiger Prey mechanic, Aul's 'make all six projectiles go into different holes' or Uber Elder's slow.
- Or on an easier version, the slam attack of Abyss bats or the mechanics of Proximity Shield.
- Each of these mechanics requires players to learn how to counter it. We haven't done this for Delirium yet.
- Monster death effects come up here. These I'll address in visibility.
TL:DR - We can't really say much about how hard Deliriums are, unless you are one of the very very small number of people who are already farming Elder Guardians, Shaper Guardians, etc.
REWARDS SECOND
I compare Delirium to an Abyss.
Both mandate movement throughout the zone. Both spawn lots of monsters that give XP and loot, although Delirium gives much more control over where you go.
And both drop a disappointing 'loot crate' at the end - the Abyssal Trove or the Delirium counter.
In Breaches, the loot is similar - mostly from monsters, some from chests. But it is localized and so feels impactful.
In Abyss or Delirium, it's delocalized and so feels less significant.
You then need to do a second pickup run.
My attitude has been to treat Delirium map clearing like running through the darkness off the paths in the Delve mines - I'll only pick up good stuff. Alterations and even fusings get ignored, but a chaos or prime sextant will justify running to it.
Ultimately here the content merits adjusting filters to be stricter, cutting low value items, picking up what you can and if something great drops (e.g. Divine Orb) that you can't safely get to, ONLY THEN returning for it. This is anathema to how a lot of people play the game, however.
Some have suggested a loot vacuum. I'm not sure where I stand here.
SOFT TIMER THIRD
This issue will dissipate over the league as we kill faster. The timer is really soft, it's just that our damage is terrible.
I do think that if you tag a Breach, Abyss, or map boss (tag = deal the first point of damage) the timer should pause while you remain near that encounter.
The changes proposed should solve these issues in part, but really it will be us getting into endgame gear that makes them go away.
VISIBILITY 4th
Yeah this is bad. ESPECIALLY with the lethal monster death effects. I agree entirely with people wanting change here.
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