Hot take, this game wasn’t originally designed as a D4/POE/POE2/LE clone. It’s not just about the loot drops which is the primary function of those games because they rapidly become a one click clear screen game where all you do is look for loot.
This game is more about combat mechanics. Call it ‘meaningful combat’ to steal a term from Jonathan at Grinding Gear Games which is funny because POE2 doesn’t have meaningful combat, sadly. This game is trying to blend multiple genres into a new genre. If all you care about is loot, this game probably won’t fulfill your needs. That’s not a negative towards you or this game, it’s just reality.
The purpose of the difficulty wasn’t related to loot drops at all. It was because some players really struggled to get past the first boss. They nerfed him and now he is a shell of himself even at the hardest difficulty. The game was initially made easier without difficulty options. Many of the veteran players wanted that difficulty added back and we partially got it. They plan to have more realm modifiers and I can’t wait.
This is probably my favorite game currently in the fantasy space. I’d hardly call it dogshit game design. And as much as I dislike how some other ARPGs have gone, I’m not going to go on their forums and call it dogshit game design. It may be bad, IMO, but lots of people enjoy brain rot clicking on groups of enemies, doing billions of damage and picking up loot.-I do not. That’s NOT what this game is. So just because it doesn’t fall in your vision of what a ‘good game design’ should be, doesn’t mean it’s dogshit game design. It’s just not your cup of tea.
With all that said, if this game becomes more like POE2/D4 I will move on. I’m not going to call it dogshit game design, even though, IMO it will be massively disappointing.
I’m late to the party, but I feel the need to say that I’m a little concerned about losing the flexibility and freedom we currently have in the build crafting system.
As a lover of Final Fantasy Tactics, I’m hopeful, but I’m not sure I’m optimistic. One of the reasons FFT’s class system worked was because we could bring up to five customized characters into our battles; we didn’t necessarily have to choose between having a Monk or having a Mage, we could bring both Monks and Mages with us into the battlefield.
Meanwhile, I can currently make just about any class I want in NRftW; I can make a plate wearing Mage, or a cloth wearing Monk, or a mesh wearing Brawler; I can mix and match Runes to my heart’s content, I can spread my stat points around however I see fit, hell, I can make a fast dashing Plate user if I want to.
I hope the class system will go live before 1.0, or that more of us will be welcomed into the Beta branch for testing. I’m hopeful, I loved the classes from FFT, but I also love the freedom and flexibility in NRftW; I don’t want to lose the freedom and flexibility we already have.
What works for a tactical RPG might not work as well in a single-character action game, y’know?
I wonder if the devs have a more team multiplayer oriented vision for the game?
In the current state of the game I’d argue that 2 player is the optimal player count, with single player being a very close second. If classes, and other systems in the game, were designed with a vision of teams of four instead of two or single player . . .
I do love the freedom and flexibility. It’s interesting being able to make anything work. I just sort of hope there’s more of a tilt into specialization, and synergy. I want good reasons to be a member of a party. Better reasons than just limiting my flexibility, more like specialized incentives. The elemental synergy system is a good step in that direction.