Should definitely have Groble ambushes in areas with high Groble populations. What’s not to love about a pack of Grobles piling out of a chest like a clown car? Also Grobles randomly spawning in barrels like the beavers seems fairly on brand.
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Now that is an honest and human response I can only appreciate and truly support - really Thank you for that and for all the amazing thousands of hours of fun you and the team have created for us!
I share your perception of humanity in general in the last years slowly regressing to some primitive form which i fear might in new decades become the new wendigos (if something survives a potential nuclear holocaust on the planet).
Everyone i know of with some vestige of sanity remaining have adopted living in their small bubble and just pray they outlive everything else, i know I am as well in that group.
My gaming desktop and the handful of games (GD being one of them) i spend most of my very little available free time in my 45th year old life is the bulk of the escapism, breath of air which allows me to continue day after day not physical but mostly psychological and spiritual existence (or i just become yet another drone from the 8 billion on the planet).
So again - your creation is one of the very few things really making my daily life quite a bit more acceptable - you and the team should really feel proud as in the end
We only want MOAR GD - i dearly hope you re-consider (like with last 2 expansions) and add maybe another paid dlc (less than expansion but bigger than content patch).
Also please allow Asc affixes to be transferred from item to item.
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Didn’t think I would be posting this (or anything) but due to some recent conversations, I had to show some threads/posts with those asking questions.
I think it’s worth risking more firestorms on my head to respond to somethings in here.
I don’t agree with the overall sentiment from the original post. The souring of my opinion to the game came from 2 fronts and some of the issues correlated to them:
First the reflect dmg change: way before it was even an issue I posted that I couldn’t wait to see how people were going to have a huge issue with this once FoA launches. You can check my post history, it’s in there somewhere.
Then it happened and when it did there were further issues. The first is that Crate placed development time to make measures to counter this in the form of augments plus you already had a component which reduced it by a huge 33%…then devotions on top of this. From my perspective this did two things. It allowed for power creep via augments and a better, optimized devotion path and component usage.
From -my- perspective this looks like a return to “status quo” which is to say it’s already, seemingly going back to how it was pre FoA. Now this correlation/causation argument is to counter this is delusional. Human minds are wired that way…it’s a lizard brain survival mechanism.
See a dark ally, might be a bad idea to go down so go around. But in reality nothing was in the ally.
Having no other information to go by, you can only make an educated guess. That’s what people are doing.
Labeling people as “entitled” or pointing out that “Crate owes us nothing,” like it or not is part of the problem.
^
See this. This is an opinion. I bet it’s also a genuine one from their perspective. I’ve done no less. Regardless of it being +/- it has always been genuine in regards to how I see the game.
Furthermore:
This is the part of the problem right here. Someone gave their opinion, one that was not popular and they are being warned not to give an opinion because they may get the hammer?
I’m sorry but starting posts to opinions you don’t agree with by saying “The stupid. It burns .” Is far more ban worthy. Now you can go around and tell everyone “kids have water thin skin” but it smacks of you just trying to justify shit behavior.
Secondly:
Are any of mavericks points correct? Or have been? I bet there is merit to some of them and based upon your heartfelt response further down, the balance they are speaking off, to your point, hasn’t reached the “sweet” spot yet, and as such, they have an issue with finding fun with something they love. Normal human behavior.
Leads me to the second point at which I got soured:
When sunder was first introduced I full wiped my saves and played the PTR. That character survived sunder at its hardest difficulty in GD history and had well over 300 hrs of playtime on it in HC. FoA rolls in, finish everything on the initial playthrough on asc, personal win.
Knowing the altar was above SR 31, I didn’t bother using it at the beginning until I learned more about the changes. I was in BoC, Dread spawns and I back track to kill trash to make space as I didn’t fully know the fight yet (3rd time it spawn, 2 kills already). It was aggro’d. Once I did, I started dragging it to a non corridor area. As I did, it was off screen and I just died.
I do not record my game play and showing a screen shot of a dead body with nothing around doesn’t tell anyone, anything. I sat there in stunned disbelief, even jumped in my chair from the shock of the death.
What is there to report? My first initial reaction was why bother. Based upon the response(s) I seen.
You can point at the player base being overly angry…sure but 
someone’s response to hand waving away a player’s genuine feelings of the state of the game is literally the same thing. See what I am saying? As I am typing this 17 people agreed (basically) with the hand waving of mav. It’s just adding to an already festering wound.
I implore anyone here to stop and think what it would feel like to throw 300+ hrs of hard work, regardless of it being a hobby or a job. If you programmed your new GD engine for 8 weeks and some random person, or by your own mistake, removed that work with no possibility of recovery, would you not be crushed? I remember doing my final paper for my degree and having everything get deleted from a computer crashed and having only 16 hrs left for a paper I worked on for 2 weeks. I literally cried in my chair. This was the same without the crying.
Had I died to my own errors, I would never have brought this up.
So being critical of things =/= entitlement. Wanting to know what direction things are going ain’t either. It is a normal day to day question people confront. Something goes sideways at work, you start questioning which way things are gonna go. If you are met with silence or people referring to your questioning as being entitled or not owed to you, what do you think the response would be? More anger of course.
People are trying to gauge things, like whether or not they are going to keep playing, move on, etc. Most just want to enjoy what they are doing and not waste their time. Thats a fair point of view.
As I told you directly, I am (from the bottom of my heart) very sorry you feel this way.
But we do. The issue is that there are berating voices that are in the way. I really wanted to have a discussion about the asc mod drop rates with data. I asked for it. My tone shifted when I was met with by people who not only called you “slow” (which boggles my mind) but called my opinion delusional, all without data. Then to be assume quoted by others. I’m sorry you simply can’t have constructive feedback when met with that. It goes for all topics on all platforms:
If someone has an issue and thinks about going to a forum they already have to deal with the voices of negativity even when their plight comes from a place of genuine thought. It is a hard barrier to jump. Like it or not.
Z you didn’t destroy yourself for nothing. You destroyed yourself to make, what I still see - no matter how angry you are at me, as the greatest triumph in the ARPG world. No amount of trolls or anger can ever take that away from you and Crate.
Not everyone is here to hate on Crate. It certainly was not my intention. Frustration affects us all. My questions and pointing out things were built on love and frustration. Not malice. I can’t take back anything nor would I. It’s was how I felt. Can’t reverse that. But what I can do is assure you that it wasn’t from a place that lacked justification in my eyes.
Airport time. Best wishes. I’ll do my best to keep the flight one way.
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Bro, read the room.
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I give some tough responses and I can take them also. That is just the internet… 
And everyone should be used to it by now.
I already gave in the last two months many critiques, ideas and very specific things to improve. I will just check in few months where the game has gone. So far I will just stand with what I said. It was better pre FoA than it is now for me.
“That is just the internet” is not an excuse to be abrasive and give the developers (or anyone, really) attitude. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: what your opinion is isn’t nearly as important as how you choose to present it.
There is no reason for anyone to be getting “used to it” that the internet is a shitty place sometimes. We can choose to be better, instead of adding to the dung pile.
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/siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh
Re-read things, read more of _m’s posts, think, then re-analyse what you’ve trying to get at. Then you’ll understand why I said what I said and also Zantai’s understandable annoyance at them. Because _m’s not “criticising” they’re constantly bitching negatively about much of FoA and providing no constructive feedback on top. For it’s rather obvious if one but reads and thinks.
Also, kindly fuck off with the false civility bullshit, because with everything that’s going on it’s about as useless as pissing on raging forest fire to put it out. Also, stupidity should be called out, coddling it as “a personal opinion” is part of how we got into this current era of entitled Gamers™ in the first fucking place.
Lastly, devs are well with in their rights to moderate within reason and Zantai’s made very clear his feelings about the abuse he’s been getting over FoA and sunder in the past. Which I concur 100% with because that shit should not be happening. Which you recognise, yet somehow ignored this aspect completely.
Fortunately for you I’ve gotten enough sleep for once, else I’d drill in more. Because I am unimpressed to wake up and find this wank and false civility bs awaiting me T_T
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/all-the-facepalms
Hint, this is the dev’s forum, and being an internet shitwad thus risks you getting banned. And while, yes, snark is sometimes ethical, constantly piling it on a dev for doing their job because you refuse to adapt to the changes is the height of asking-to-be-banned. And you’re old enough to be at least partly aware of forum 101 etiquette so this should have never had to be explained to you ffs 
And while I’m a snarky bastard myself, I understand fully there’s a time and place for it and ethical obligations therein in it’s use. Never mind that this is all occurring because you don’t like the new FoA mechanisms and balance and refuse to learn them. Rather than any actual rational critique based on empirical evidence. And think using Zantai as a human punching bag is somehow a the right thing to do.
Really doesn’t help either Z’s made it very clear his thoughts on that and yet here you are going “it just the internets lololololololol”. Which is a rather big wad of utter chutzpah you’ve shat out.
The sort that get’s you banned very easily. Even on reddit.
Maybe everyone should refresh their memories of what the FAQ says.
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/faq
That Zantai has reached the point where he feels he may stop interacting with the community is a very sad thing. For me it’s been a major plus that he has been here talking with the player base all these years and to think that would not longer happen … 
Yes, initially FoA did feel a bit empty in places, but that’s being addressed. Yes, things were overtuned or undercooked as in previous expansions and yes, that’s also being addressed. This is not unique to FoA.
Be thankful that Crate do listen to the player base; they could have been like some other gaming companies and just dropped the expansion and that was it. No more patches to correct bugs, etc, you just have to live with those folks. Thankfully that isn’t the way Crate rocks.
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Exactly, it’s really a privilege rather than a right, to have a direct line to the devs for your feedback. Hopefully it doesn’t take Z’s departure for people to realise that. Honestly I have no idea how he’s put up with it for 15 years, not just here but on reddit and steam too.
Back in the day games would come out and you’d have no say whatsoever in how it was balanced or updated, there was no official discord or feedback forum, but still nobody died because their own personal changes weren’t implemented. No matter how much you like a game, it’s never appropriate to be condescending or toxic towards the devs when giving feedback. The fact that your suggestions even have a chance of being implemented after posting here is fucking cool. Would be a huge shame to lose that.
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Yes, zero constructive feedback in the last two months. Exactly that… That is just straight out false.
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I don’t think claiming the devs don’t know what they want with the expansion is exactly constructive feedback.
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On the subject of why people are increasingly angry, it’s a combination of things imo.
General anonymity and lack of real consequences for online behavior has been a problem since the internet’s inception and it’s just grown incrementally worse over time. I think we’ve all grown accustomed to a certain way of dismissively speaking to each other online and I know I’ve been guilty of it too at times. Hyperbole is a big one too. Some folks have a hard time just making a simple statement or suggestion. Everything has to be a diva-like declaration of “this is the worst thing ever” and when you also take into consideration that tone never translates well in text, it’s hard to gauge how serious someone is at any given moment.
I’d also have to agree with @The_Mess that politics plays a big role now too. I can’t speak for everyone but from a USA perspective, our political and media landscape is almost entirely grifters and unserious bad actors all the way down. Real issues aren’t actually being dealt with because it’s far more profitable to push culture war crap and the masses just keep falling for it over and over again. Then they get frustrated and lash out at the wrong folks instead of realizing that their pockets are being picked. This filters over into other industries and gaming has been a primary target of this fuckery.
I think you take all that plus all the general bad news beamed directly into our brains everyday via all manner of devices and apps, throw it together in a pot and you get a lot of people ready to be abrasive and pissy about what should be an otherwise fun hobby.
Anyways, I hope things settle down and Z continues to engage with us because as Medea said, I don’t think we’d like the alternative.
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Take it one step further. Victimhood. The prevailing environment is the glorification of victimhood. Everyone is a victim. And the more victim you are the more you are allowed to act out. Because it is expected of you and is your right and is normal to act out because of victimhood. ‘The game is exploiting my time – victim’. ‘Such and such person is disagreeing with me – victim’. Etc. etc.
Once we get past this victimhood mentality and go back to a ‘can do’ ‘obstacles are to be overcome’ mentality then maybe a lot of the vitriol will melt away. IF we EVER get beyond the victimhood mentality that has taken root in virtually everything these days.
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Blaming politics and media for someone’s aggressive behaviour in a gaming forum is wild not gonna lie . Games can be associated close to most sports , some people look for provocation because they are over competitive and some people look for fair play , I don’t think there is some deep meaning behind some players pinchy comments or salty behaviour. Sometimes I am obnoxious but that’s not because I watch the news at 8 pm
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/all-the-sighs
Takes like this is why university level education or equivalent is so damn useful, because it helps reduce the chance you make sweeping irrational generalisations like this that throw the baby out with the bath water. Because this take fails to recognise it’s very easy to split this into two (or more, because rational analysis is always messy) areas, namely propaganda-derived victimhood and victimhood that comes from actual suffering. One’s a legitimate response to trauma and getting fucked over. The other is, well, Gamers™ is the best option here, the sort who get pissy over people of colour in vidya gaems or LGBT+ stuff etc etc etc.
Furthermore, it buys into the utter stupidity that ignoring your pain and the crimes done you will totes work. We have decades of research showing it doesn’t work that well, never mind all the personal stories concerning it. Which I speak from personal fucking experience. And sure, some may take it too damn far, but that ignores everyone else and also frankly gives an excuse to ignore structural issues that cause problems. Like racism and sexism, which can not be drilled into here for what should be extremely obvious reasons T_T
Suffice to say, ignoring these because some are over the top on them does not deal with the fucking problems. In fact, the primary use of such a take I’ve seen over the last decade is to use this to ignore issues like those, counter to any of the empirical evidence that says fucking otherwise.
This stuff is also part of the whole “don’t use Labels!111!!1!” derp, that I see stemming from the inability of some to see both the forest and the trees in it with ease. Or for those who struggle with metaphors, to see the “labels” are just parts of the “person” that make them up. Though I find it more annoying due to being able to see the forest, the trees and the whole ecosystem etc across geological time at the same time 
But that’s autistic splinter skills for you…
So TL:DR - maybe, just maybe, take the time to think and question shit? Along with reading more and using empathy. Then, maybe, you wont proceed to throw yourself into a hole marked “derp”. Not matter who the derp is stemming from.
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Note - I am also very aware university education etc does not give universal protection from stupidity, after all the Nobel’s Disease is a thing, as is engineers etc thinking evolution is wrong, or climate change and all the other inanity that stems from wilful arrogance and ignorance. But usually it does equip one with a good tool kit for thinking critically, though mine was more sharpened by depression unfun, which I do not recommend. At all.
Idk, the state of the world has definitely made me more of a salty fuck in general. I’m trying to reign it in, post-Z’s post.
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1 word - Gamergate.
Seriously, it was used to propagandise a lot of gamers into believing utter bs for political reasons, and it’s bs is still pushed today in the form of anti-LGBT+ etc shit. Rationalwiki actually has a pretty good write up, but there’s a ton of other content etc on the politics of Gamergate and it’s effects. So it’s not wild at all if you’re aware of the bigger picture.
Along with knowing “trickle down” unfortunately works really well with bigotry etc and likewise real world events that trigger stress can have knock on effects on behaviour online, because that’s how people work. Case in point, steam’s gotten considerably worse over the last couple of years, partly due to steam’s shitty moderation, but also due to external factors driving shitty behaviour. Not helped by twitter turning into a total cesspit unless you ruthlessly avoid that and don’t read the comments…
But then I like staring into the void and having been doing so since 9/11 so this shit is very much stuff I know all to damn well. Even if I can’t pay full attention some areas because it’s bad for my mental health. I suspect in your case you haven’t been paying similar attention, which you’re allowed to, even if leads to suboptimal takes like yours.
Kind of don’t blame you though, but I prefer knowledge over comfortable ignorance. Even if I get the brain-pain consequences of watching the tech bros make the torment nexus/cyberpunk dystopia in real time 
Never mind all the other [ Shit ].
/tired-sigh
Anyhow, the gamer entitlement stuff is partly tied into this, though I’m not as aware of the big picture as I’d like to be, because the politics side is of greater interest. I do have a sneaking suspicion youtube and social media have helped create this shitty situation, for the sake of making money through lies of course. But then I have the black heart of a cynic stashed somewhere, so take my take with a big grain of salt
The moment politics and similar topics are brought to a gaming community I have this urge to delete my account ,just saying
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aka the “Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory”:
Alas that got disproven via facebook, where people with their real names, and often places of work, proceeded to be total fuckwads. So I view it more as a lack of moderation cracking down on shitty behaviour and bigotry as the problem. As online spaces lack body language cues most people end up unconsciously to consciously picking on to moderate their behaviour. Which is why you don’t usually see people in public proceeding to be total fuckwards.
Add in stronk moderation though and people are less likely to be fuckwads. Alas, that costs money, so facebook decided in their infinite greed to do fuck all. Because why stop something you can make money from and even pay people to promote? And twitter, well, it fell into the hands of the vile muskrat…
But yeah, as the differences between 4chan and Something Awful show, moderation makes a massive difference, for ones a weird, cliche-y place and the other is a flaming garbage heap that makes fb look nice in comparison. That also leaks fantastic bigotry everywhere on everything.
Shit like that is why I’m rather “unpleased” with steam for the last 4 years and don’t want to use it’s discussion boards unless they’re heavily moderated by the devs. Otherwise if there’s even the hint of LGBT+ it’s going to be a total shitshow. That I will be the one to be punished for if I try and counter the bigotry… Which is also why, while I might have own issues with Zantai, I otherwise support them 100% in otherwise dealing with the shit. Because it keeps the GD steam stuff otherwise more useable for everyone else.
Oh and a fun fact from the steam moderation files - if you politely counter bad takes about trans stuff, you’ll get potentially warned for being “off-topic” or “argumentative” and your post deleted. Because we can’t ever have such things on steam 
Meanwhile posts calling trans people “mentally ill” get left untouched.