I’ve read some people (not a lot), majority still seems to align with fun = min/max. But some people don’t seem to like referencing guide, theory-crafting, min/maxxing , max efficiency type of game play.
So, I challenge these people and ask - Is it really fun for you knowing that your character isn’t as powerful as it can be ? and you are not erasing bosses, mobs as fast as you can ?
Why choose to play aRPG such as Diablo or PoE for that matter. I understand these are different games but, essentially isn’t the whole purpose of playing is to TRYING to be the as most powerful, efficient in utilizing resources as you can ?
I know for sure I ain’t having fun when the character I am playing is weak, can’t progress further, or hitting a stone wall. With Min/Max you won’t run into that problem. At least TRY to Min/Max when you can.
No one will judge you to referencing guide or other experts if you cannot theory craft or make the best out of skills/ builds/ etc… I just can’t seem to see how it is FUN without trying to min/max everything in these type of games…
Who cares what either people like to do. Do your own thing and focus on that?
I’m also someone who will be playing at a high level, maximizing every aspect of my character, but what others do has zero effect on me, nor do I care.
I’ll probably stop playing when I reach a point where the game becomes a huge endless loop where D3 has become in the end about running GR dungeons lol.
But even to get to that point, it’ll take a long time. D4 seems to have improved on that aspect so I am looking forward to be playing this game a lot longer than I did in D3
I like to play around and come up with something that I think is fun for me. If that means it is not a cut and paste of some streamers perfect build I do not care. I am not in a competition with others, so I generally just do my own thing. If it is not a perfect build too bad if it works for me, I am happy. I also mostly run solo, so I am not concerned with what others are doing. I hope D4 does not turn into another D3 in which most people just use the same gear, same skills, and same build. If you do not fit into the most holy meta, they just kick you out of the group.
In other Diablo’s, mainly 2R and 3 I read Icy Veins, Maxroll et all for information on builds, synergies, breakpoints etc.
This time around on my first character I’m trying to be different - I want to create my own build based on the various site information.
I will max/min up to a point. The point is based on my play-style. I won’t go against that to max/min.
Example is the Double Swing skill, that could be the hottest skill since sliced bread but I won’t use it. The animation shows the Barbarian not using his lower body. You can’t get any leverage on that! Same as swing a baseball bat to hit a home run, you have to use your lower body to get true power in the swing.
your personal perception of animation seems to out-weight your decision on choosing potentially more powerful skill. - Again interesting, because I am very different than your point of view. I don’t care how the character is animated to perform certain skill, as long as the skill does the most damage, I will use it.
There are three types of people in the group that you described. One, is as stated by Macknum. They only care about the story. So, these people will play seasons because of the story content. However, they are not worried about End Game because, as of now, it is not story driven. Two, as stated by Keystones, they just do what they feel like doing. If they can’t defeat a boss, they go over to the forums. They find out that some bosses are immune to CC. Also, these people are more than capable of meta analysis in their head. So, mostly, they do not need someone telling them what to do. Also, mostly, these players have played many, many games. As such, they have a general idea of what works. Three, people who hate research, math, science. These people just want to play the game, use the tooltips (and complain when they are not simple to understand). These people will go on forums and complain when they cannot make quick, easy snap decisions. Usually, these people play the game once and the move on.
I personally understand your point of view but you should know that the intended gameplay is seasonal. Tons of players will make characters, won’t completely flesh them out or even level them up all the way, and just restart again with a new character in a new season.
No, min/maxing isn’t fun for me. Same as speed running a game isn’t fun for me. Time trial racing isn’t fun for me.
I could care less if I was efficient or fast or whatever. I’d rather play using something that looked badass rather than what was “best”. Would rather do an entire race going backwards just because I could. Try to see if I could crash my friend through the map then finish the race at all. Because it’s more fun.
One of the most fun things I enjoyed about Diablo 2 was creating new characters, leveling them up, finding gear for them to wear. I was quite proud of my “Emo’din” Which was a Paladin that just used the sacrifice skill, hurting himself in order to hurt enemies… made me laugh. Great fun. And not something hardly anyone else ever did.
The way I look at season is adding re-play value to the game. As new legendary and gear found in season will carry over to eternal realm. I see it as a way to start another character (alt) for that matter. Season doesn’t change the fact that I would still min/max seasonal character as well because gears transfer to eternal realm. Your progress isn’t wiped in the end.
I play POE (just started recently) and I have not looked at any guides.
I was having fun just fine.
But then I realized the game is too easy, I one shot almost everything. This makes it less fun than not knowing if my character is as strong as they can be. I think I am around lvl 30ish.
They fall under the category of Passive min/max - meaning that they let others do most of the work for them (there may be a tweak or two because X item or Y aspect is not available) - or Theory Crafters - meaning they try something that appears new (it may be covered by a streamer you do not like or may be part of another video that hasn’t come out yet).
For me, I have trouble wrapping my head around the idea that someone will play a build that they don’t find as much fun as another build just because it is 3.24% more powerful. I mean, I can intellectually understand that for some people that being the most powerful is the fun, but that is just not me.
But I also think it’s wrong to imply that everyone who doesn’t min-max also avoids the guides and theorycrafting. (Playing something underpowered can actually require more knowledge of game mechanics to succeed.) Or, perhaps it’s better to think of it like min-maxing for a different outcome. You min-max for optimal power. I min-max to find the most enjoyable playstyle that can meet my in game goals. Power is not the only endgame.
It is pretty cool to see different players mindset when playing certain games to be honest, and compare that to my own.
For example, if I decide to invest in a character, and the meta build isn’t exactly my play style or liking, and I can’t find any other option to somehow max my character other than utilizing the meta build or whatever, I’d actually force myself to learn and like the meta build and play it that way just so I can reach to the top lol…I find that fun by the way, I find it unfun when I cannot progress.
Sure, but that’s what you would do. I would bet money there’s way more players who just leave characters unleveled and decide to make a new character in the new season just to play whatever new content is out.