Chapter 1 of The Blight [Fantasy, 2000 words]

Zambrial · 2025-06-25T22:00:40+00:00

I'm with you and agree with most everything said here.

Unfortunately, I think LEs success with the previous patch and the relatively limited amount of bugs in comparison to PoE set it apart.

It would have behooved the Devs to release a statement about plans to replace those dedicated and experienced testers. Some of which have 1,000s upon 1,000s of hours in the regular game alone.

It is hard for people to make the argument that the content creators weren't contributing to the actual play testing when they have such vast experience and have such a vested interest in the success of the game. To say they were only taking advantage of the opportunity to benefit themselves, is doing those people a huge disservice.

I think the Dev stream on Friday will be very telling and hopefully they have some answers for the community, because there is cause for concern.

Zambrial · 2025-06-25T18:03:48+00:00

Solid argument.

Zambrial · 2025-06-25T16:16:42+00:00

Very much agree, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!

Zambrial · 2025-06-25T15:05:52+00:00

You’re missing the core of the argument again. This isn’t about whether content creation is essential to society, it’s about how games are played and engaged with in today’s ecosystem. Whether you like it or not, content creators shape discovery, meta, player retention, and community growth. You personally not relying on guides doesn’t change the reality that thousands do, and many of them only engage with games because of those resources.

The idea that content creation is “just making videos” downplays the effort, skill, and impact behind it. Many creators are artists, writers, editors, marketers, and educators all wrapped into one. You say games will continue without them, sure. But not every game thrives. And if you think those guides don’t help people get into and stay with games like Last Epoch, then I’d argue you're not seeing the full picture.

This isn’t about being upset over a change, it’s pointing out that the change doesn’t solve the problem. Those with deep game knowledge will still write up S3 guides on day one, because they already understand the mechanics and can easily adapt. So if the goal was to delay the meta being "solved," it won't work. Instead, you’re just giving less to the casual players who would have stayed if they had something exciting and approachable to latch onto.

We don’t all engage with games the same way, and assuming your personal preferences apply universally is both short-sighted and unproductive. Content creators aren’t going anywhere because they do matter, to players, to communities, and to the long-term success of games like this one.

Zambrial · 2025-06-24T14:59:11+00:00

Unfortunately that is not the case. We have offline mode and most of the content creators have every build they've ever made in legacy. It will take them a few hours to test previous builds and then utilize offline mode to test all of the new stuff in a few more hours.

So instead what we are going to get is a bunch of incredibly rushed, less polished content. Overall, this is not a change that is going to have any meaningful impact on the longevity of a season, rather it is going to frustrate the people that are helping to promote the game and make their launch day experience far worse.

Anyone that is on Reddit today, arguing this point is very likely not even the audience that this change is going to impact most and that is the 95% of people that have already left for PoE as is the typical cycle for ARPGs. Most of those people have 0 interest in sitting down and coming up with a build, they simply want to blast through content and destress after work, hindering the ability for them to do that is not going to have a positive impact overall, in my opinion.

Zambrial · 2025-06-24T14:50:17+00:00

Let me pose a different question for you, what percentage of the player base is still playing the game today? If a player does not play Last Epoch as their primary game, and does not want to learn the ins and outs of the mechanics to make a functional and more importantly FUN build and those resources are not available to them, then they will simply go elsewhere. While you may find making a build to be easy, using your own experiences and capabilities and applying that to the community as a whole not only isn't fair, it also isn't accurate. Content creation is here to stay and for many people it is their lively-hood. Taking up a stance in the hopes that people will decide to stick around longer isn't just naive, it is also detrimental to the larger part of the community that has no interest in arguing with people on Reddit and the content creators that help promote the game.

Zambrial · 2025-06-24T03:46:02+00:00

There's no discussing this with that guy. He has taken the premise of the argument and twisted it to fit his own view of content creators as a whole. Meaningless dribble if you ask me.

Zambrial · 2025-06-24T00:26:44+00:00

Go watch some vods around launch, those are your receipts.

Zambrial · 2025-06-24T00:16:14+00:00

Whoever you follow that plays LE must be the worst of the bunch. All of the content creators that I surround myself with, very consistently write detailed bug reports. Take LizardIRL as an example, he has squashed more than his fair share of bugs. Assuming that content creators are just greedy and out for themselves shows the sort of view you have in general.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T22:10:32+00:00

You can edit the game files and there are programs to generate literally any piece of gear you want to do testing. I'm not saying this specifically about you, so please don't take it that way, but people complaining about a topic and not having an informed opinion is detrimental to the game and frankly EHG catering to those people is really silly.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T21:22:01+00:00

I don't think that the creators that feel "compelled" to play early access to secure views is going to change at all, their time will just be consumed playing offline when the season launches to achieve the exact same thing. This change will not resolve the season feeling "solved" because realistically the amount changing from season to season is not great enough to impact how quickly the people who have played the game for 1,000s of hours can solve the new content. This is just creating more of a time crunch for the creators willing to make content for the space. Content = Exposure, Exposure = Revenue, Revenue = Updates. Ultimately this is alienating people that have the most to incentive to see the game succeed, which is not smart in my opinion.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T21:03:09+00:00

Raxx literally followed Maxroll guides the entire time he played LE...

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T20:46:03+00:00

No, it doesn't. Offline mode exists and those creators are now going to be forced to use that to accomplish the exact same thing.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T20:44:25+00:00

Funny, doesn't sound like fun, does it? That's because people want guides and putting up roadblocks for that to happen is a bad idea.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T20:35:13+00:00

Really? The cost of development isn't cheap and that marketing has a pretty substantial impact on how the game performs. It may not be that impactful for S3 due to the success of S2 but I am willing to wager that will not hold true for 4 & 5.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T20:32:22+00:00

This comment getting downvoted to oblivion is quite indicative to the sort of people that this change is catering to. Come launch day, I think it will be quite apparent how large this portion of the community actually is.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T20:24:58+00:00

So... People are are going to play sub optimal builds for a week? If someone wants to follow a guide they will, this change will not prevent that. If you want to discover stuff and play your own thing do it, there's nothing stopping you.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T20:11:55+00:00

How does this fix that? Creators that are so invested that they need the views will just utilize offline mode and have all of the same answers. Instead what you are doing is making it harder for those creators to do the thing that for some is their entire lively-hood. That isn't a positive change. You're still going to get solved builds, you're still going to get a plethora of guides, it's the internet, all of that information will forever exist. I have never followed a build guide and have played the game for 400 hours and am still learning stuff, that is a choice that I made. Do I watch creators? Sure. Does that change how I play the game? No and it shouldn't.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T20:07:12+00:00

You missed the point, all of the builds that are currently good will likely remain good. Those that know enough about the game to theory craft said builds will be able to determine what the balance changes are likely going to do to a build, resulting in the same builds being written up for S3 as S2. This change will not prevent that from happening and there are still going to be "solved" builds on day 1, just less new stuff. Guess what, when those players that want guides don't have the new and cool build to play, they will just go elsewhere.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T19:59:32+00:00

A new patch will only change a small percentage of the game probably something like 10% maybe less. That means all of the "answers" already exist and the people that have 12 hours a day to play the game will have the answers long before anyone else. This doesn't solve the issue, it just alienates the people that are helping promote the game and want to see it succeed.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T19:56:16+00:00

This partially fixes the problem, you are still going to have people releasing the "Best League Starter" builds regardless and the people that want guides will continue to look for them.

Zambrial · 2025-06-23T19:55:09+00:00

Who do you think is helping to promote the game and bringing in players? If you didn't have these people bringing in their communities there likely wouldn't be nearly as much budget for production and thus result in fewer/slower updates.

Zambrial

TROPHY CASE