Act 9.1 Beta Thoughts
Theholyplunger
Member Posts: 83 ★
My overall thoughts on 9.1 for those who care:
Fights were fine, path designs were ok to decent. Boss fights were fun except shocker. That is a dumb fight design. I see what they were aiming for, but they missed the mark. I hope they tweak it just a little to reduce his reaction timing. If he catches you you're basically insta dead. The difficulty was great for that fight though.
If they presented this as 8.5 I wouldn't have thought twice. The layout is identical, the theme nodes are mid at best and feel like a minor change from the weapon nodes of act 8. The larger health pools were tedious to work through, even fully boosted. It felt like it was a largely stale and uninspired approach to a brand new chapter of content.
I would like to have seen a new layout, new path design, new approach to boss fights, new chapter progression. Something to make it more exciting, make it feel brand new. Instead it was the same feeling as going to work and seeing they painted the break room pale yellow rather than the flat white it had been.
For example, make each chapter one long winding path (similar to para gauntlet) with choice nodes along the way. Rework the nodes to be a little more seamless and add in some buff nodes similar to incursions (but nothing wicked strong). This encourages more strategy, more champ usage, and creates a brand new, fun approach. Sprinkle the bosses throughout the path(s) with choice node(s) after a successful boss takedown. Create offshoot paths, similar to the Gauntlet to allow people to bail out if they are worried about getting road blocked. Tossing a heal or revive node along the way wouldn't hurt either 😉
I feel the Devs have an opportunity to reset how Act content is approached from a total top down approach. The difference between act 6 and act 7 was huge in a good way. Act 7 to 8, less so. 8 to 9 (beta) even less. I would love to see something radically different!
Fights were fine, path designs were ok to decent. Boss fights were fun except shocker. That is a dumb fight design. I see what they were aiming for, but they missed the mark. I hope they tweak it just a little to reduce his reaction timing. If he catches you you're basically insta dead. The difficulty was great for that fight though.
If they presented this as 8.5 I wouldn't have thought twice. The layout is identical, the theme nodes are mid at best and feel like a minor change from the weapon nodes of act 8. The larger health pools were tedious to work through, even fully boosted. It felt like it was a largely stale and uninspired approach to a brand new chapter of content.
I would like to have seen a new layout, new path design, new approach to boss fights, new chapter progression. Something to make it more exciting, make it feel brand new. Instead it was the same feeling as going to work and seeing they painted the break room pale yellow rather than the flat white it had been.
For example, make each chapter one long winding path (similar to para gauntlet) with choice nodes along the way. Rework the nodes to be a little more seamless and add in some buff nodes similar to incursions (but nothing wicked strong). This encourages more strategy, more champ usage, and creates a brand new, fun approach. Sprinkle the bosses throughout the path(s) with choice node(s) after a successful boss takedown. Create offshoot paths, similar to the Gauntlet to allow people to bail out if they are worried about getting road blocked. Tossing a heal or revive node along the way wouldn't hurt either 😉
I feel the Devs have an opportunity to reset how Act content is approached from a total top down approach. The difference between act 6 and act 7 was huge in a good way. Act 7 to 8, less so. 8 to 9 (beta) even less. I would love to see something radically different!
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