Would Any Endgame Gearcheck Content Be Truly Satisfying?

PC General Discussion
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Every looter ARGP hits a point where there’s nothing new to do. Depending on the content to that point and the individual player, how much they continue to interact is going to vary.

One of the key questions is, if the endgame loop is about getting stronger, what are you getting stronger for, exactly?

D3 had highly scaled grifts, and D4 has pits, but of course not everyone is going to enjoy just seeing how high they push that number. It seems unlikely that Diablo’s devs would introduce any new activities that specifically require a very high gearing point; it’s likely that even if they did, it would be something scalable and not unique. Even the current pinnacle content, Lilith, is a skill check, not a gear check.

That being said - whether it was scalable to lower gearing or unique to high gearing, what would you like to see as content to reward highly geared characters?

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T4 is entirely too easy. Endgame content has to be balanced closer together so that one activity doesn’t feel like the only relevent endgame (pits). Uber bosses should never be 1 shot.

Things that would have kept me playing longer:

Add the ability back to craft your nmd sigil level. This time it scales to pit 100/125 or where ever the general pit level is aimed for a balance point. Or heck, just let you create sigils equal to max pit level in game.

Same with infernal hordes it needs to go higher.

If you’re gonna copy raid ideas from wow, and since t4 is easy, then add mythic dark citadel. As much as some don’t want to group, I think dark citadel is a good addition to the game. I’d like to see another raid that rewards good cosmetics.

D3 had a good thing going with Altar of Rites. Some kind of progression tree that is part of an activity. For instance if Undercity was much more difficult but had an altar of rites type progression to help players through it. A progression system of sorts gives you choice and deterministic outcomes that don’t solely rely on rng. When you only have rng, then people who don’t like rng want so much loot to the point that rng is not a factor.

The big thing is probably leaderboards. Have leaderboards for pits, have a separate leaderboard for every possible nmd (given my idea above about crafting higher level sigils). I can click on my profile and it lists all the nmd I’m listed for on the leaderboards. From there I can choose to hit up a nmd i’m not listed for, or try to improve my standing one that I am listed for.

edit: regarding leaderboards, I don’t think you could do a true “solo self found” version of the game. I think you could do a “self found” though, meaning your character isn’t eligble for trading or picking up loot that was previously looted by someone else. That would still mean carries would be in play. But at least it would be something more you could filter leaderboards on.

Create an uber boss gauntlet mode with tiers scaled much higher, more mechanics. Pass one boss to get to the next, die and whole gauntlet fails. boss 1->boss 2->boss 3->boss x. Maybe boss rotation changes per season. Why? for leaderboards and earnable cosmetics.

Bring back mindcages.

Bring back gauntlet challenge rift scaled higher.

I don’t think they should give up on pvp either. Add more cosmetics there. Create some pvp events. Power creep is getting a little out of hand, so how about twink level weekly events where no more than say level 25 can enter the pvp zones?

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Realized I forgot to give my thoughts on it - I’d like to see something like

I really like this.

I’d like to see something similar to launch NMDs, combined with Borderlands 3’s mayhem mode, with a lot more options (including wacky ones,) where you could generate a dungeon with either a random or chosen set of modifiers out of a large list (where you can choose how many, difficulty range, or manually etc) and then try and complete it for some sort of award. So you can scale the difficulty yourself.

Numeric boosts are a given, but also different things, like:

  • All enemy attacks chill.
  • All enemies have an elite ability.
  • Elites have 5 (or more) abilities.
  • Player characters have friendly fire turned on.
  • An unkillable Butcher follows you through the dungeon.
  • Duration-based AOE attacks explode when they expire and can hurt players.
  • You are afflicted by burning the entire time.
  • Every elite you kill makes you slower.

And maybe some trade off-stuff:

  • Non-critical hits deal 50% [ x ] more damage, but all enemies explode when killed.
  • Goblins spawn frequently but defend themselves with Shadow Lilith attacks.
  • All player damage-over-time effects deal 500% [ x ] damage and don’t expire, but non-DOT attacks heal enemies.
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After you typed this you should have deleted the post.

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IMO D3 grifts work for a couple of reasons

1 - You can find upgrades doing it. More importantly finding an upgrade doesn’t mean retempering, remasterworking, etc. so you actually slot the upgrade rather than just vendoring it.

2 - You progress your character and higher levels increase that progression. You have glyphs and paragon in D4 but their progression drops off quickly.

For me it’s all about progressing my character. I could careless about the measuring contest. As long as I am making reasonable progression I will keep playing. Once I hit the wall and progression slows to a crawl it’s time for an alt or a different game.

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I would like a new endgame where it can help me target masterwork, rather than farming for rawhide, veil crystals which is boring I’d prefer an endgame that gives me a scroll that will let me masterwork my gear the way I want, or even let me add a bonus GA to every item I want via enchantment. A true endgame that challenges you, and opens your way to a real min-max.