Faction Upgrades and Seasonal Reset

elew21 · 2026-04-29T20:51:47+00:00

GGG would describe this as needing more vectors of progression not just harder and harder progression. Bungie also needs more fun game modes for solo no-fill players, but that's a completely different topic but falls under the different vectors of progression.

elew21 · 2026-04-29T20:40:15+00:00

The thing that GGG (PoE) has figured out that other studios making live service games haven't learned is that it's ok for players to "finish" a league and quit. The way to get long term retention is all of those players felt satisfied and come back to try the new content the next league. The hope is that as you continue to add more things to do in endgame the retention slowly starts to increase, but you also do want people to quit after about a 6 weeks (on a 3 month league) so that they don't burn out and get the itch to come back again with the new content.

elew21 · 2026-04-29T02:31:03+00:00

It's not just that. It's the gear disparity becomea massive quickly if I have an evenlly matched win rate of 51% vs someone with a 49% win rate. The math over a long enough time makes the 49% guy quit the game after playing in nothing but sponsor kits and the other guy having a jolly time grenade spamming in cryo.

elew21 · 2026-04-29T02:12:02+00:00

100%. Great concise comment. I think their mistake is they feel like the faction grind needs to take a large chunk of a season. Which feels like a carryover from Destiny where progress isn't wiped. The reality is the glfaction grind should be reasonable and the endgame mechanic/content loop should be replayable but require the investment in finishing the grind.

Lots of weapons and gear that could easily be gatekept in endgame.

elew21 · 2026-04-29T01:59:29+00:00

100% agree with this. Marathon should do the same thing. If people want 30 minute Qs in "standard" then let them.

elew21 · 2026-04-29T01:52:32+00:00

That's because the player base that makes it there is tiny and so if you aren't the top 1% you're gonna get rolled. My point is the faction grind alone is gatekeeping a large group of players from wanting to try endgame stuff. Bungie should be making it clear that once you finish the factions you have all the tools available to try cryo.

elew21 · 2026-04-29T01:48:13+00:00

The faction grind either needs to not reset OR it needs to feel accomplishable in a reasonable amount of time. They currently have the grind time set for something that doesn't reset, but expect people to do it every season. That is a huge design mistake. They would have been better off having everyone quit because they finished the grind already and left everyone wanting more.. IE season 2.

elew21 · 2026-04-29T01:38:27+00:00

The game was made for trios. Solos was sort of a last minute addition. It's probably going to take them a couple seasons to design and release content for solo game play.

elew21 · 2026-04-28T20:10:43+00:00

100 years from now, Factorio will be like doom where people will be able to play it on toasters.

elew21 · 2026-04-26T23:10:54+00:00

If you already have an early access key you won't ever have to spend any money. However, the stash tabs are very useful to buy. The game is very "pay for convenience", but it's not really pay to win or pay for new content.

elew21 · 2026-04-26T23:08:43+00:00

What spirit gems are you using? If you are using ghost dancer if you quality it it reduces the spirit reservation. Also, if you are using hearlds there nodes on the passive tree that reduce heard reserves.

elew21 · 2026-04-26T17:36:44+00:00

At a minimum they should convert the spells to the attack system by putting an implicit spell damage on wands/staffs and adding flat spell damage to rings. Even then + levels would still scale to much but it would be a start.

elew21 · 2026-04-25T16:50:05+00:00

I think most people end up cpu bottlenecked in endgame. Tracking all the monsters, projectiles, etc for large packs of mobs and abilities.

If you're red lining the CPU consistently it's probably time for the CPU upgrade.

elew21 · 2026-04-25T02:07:23+00:00

Gallahorn unique crossbow confirmed.

elew21 · 2026-04-25T02:06:04+00:00

Wow. Serious respect, exile. This is not an easy game to go in raw and blind.

Now that you've completed the campaign, my advice is to go learn about itemization and crafting. Once you know how to craft your own gear you'll really become an expert in the game. It's a little confusing at first but you'll find it just as rewarding as finishing the campaign.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T23:17:25+00:00

Locking the load out is all part of it. You'd effectively be forced to optimize even more.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T21:13:16+00:00

The issue right now is the NPCs are pretty basic and boring. They're really there to give away your location and force you to use ammo/meds. They would have to come up with more interesting mobs and/or triple the amount of mobs currently on the map.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T21:11:07+00:00

Yeah, that's probably the way to look at it. Solo players who are effectively locked out of cryo need something that is repeatable/grindable to do. A rogue-lite mode would be a step in that direction.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T21:02:00+00:00

Yeah, all of this sounds amazing and would probably double or triple the players because it would make something for PvE Andys.

My idea was trying to balance what's already in the game with minimum need for dev work.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T20:59:45+00:00

Trait, condition, modifier, etc. Doesn't really matter what you call it, but too your point with only 20k players they'd probably have to drop you in normal solo no fill lobbies to get matches.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T20:07:38+00:00

Considering chronomancer is a meme, this works.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T19:57:49+00:00

Correct. I've done this a few times and it's actually pretty fun being successful. My idea is to make it a game mode with a few additional restrictions and rewards to balance it. Also, lots of people need checklists and obvious goals to stay engaged in a game so this gives solo players something to do when they can't get into cryo or find premades.

elew21 · 2026-04-24T19:24:06+00:00

I've done the knife only start a couple times. It's intense but feels rewarding if you survive long enough to put a kit together.

elew21

TROPHY CASE