Last Epoch - time travel action-RPG

[Lacrymas]

Where the devs went wrong imo is trying to copy PoE's zoom zoom gameplay while having 1/100th of the manpower and resources. If the game was much slower paced (like PoE2 is purported to be, but I have my doubts), the endgame and balance issues and lack of atmosphere wouldn't be as pronounced before they have an opportunity to reiterate on/add more (endgame) content. Itemization, however, is a different beast. It's both too rigid/symmetrical and chaotic at the same time. It's rigid in the sense the items are as if designed on a conveyor belt and every item is literally the same as any other with the numbers changed around. It's also chaotic due to too many useless attributes/stats that boil down to +health/resistances/damage good, +everything else bad. Much like PoE funnily enough. Item crafting makes this even worse because it's hilariously easy to craft good gear and then have to grind a stupid amount of time for trivial stat boosts. They can theoretically fix this, but it would require a complete overhaul of the itemization and severe limitations put on the crafting (if not outright removing that feature entirely, which I'm actually for). I can see it happening, though.

 

[Damned Registrations]

My paladin I played 2 years ago was an absolute beast, healing to full every 2 seconds and slapping bosses for ~20% of their health at a time. No idea if the build I used is still viable though, my passives were reset and the trees changed a bit, I can't be bothered to theory craft it back out.

I find the itemization in this pretty good. Most uniques do something, well, unique. Instead of PoE shit where the 'unique' part is having a stat on an item it doesn't normally have, uniques here do stuff like give you a buff that makes you deal 10-80% more fire damage over time, then -80%-0% over time after it ends when you cast a fire spell, and a cold version too, so you need to alternate between cold and fire skills in a rhythm. Lots of stuff like that I'd like to make a build around.

 

[ArchAngel]

Where the devs went wrong imo is trying to copy PoE's zoom zoom gameplay while having 1/100th of the manpower and resources. If the game was much slower paced (like PoE2 is purported to be, but I have my doubts), the endgame and balance issues and lack of atmosphere wouldn't be as pronounced before they have an opportunity to reiterate on/add more (endgame) content. Itemization, however, is a different beast. It's both too rigid/symmetrical and chaotic at the same time. It's rigid in the sense the items are as if designed on a conveyor belt and every item is literally the same as any other with the numbers changed around. It's also chaotic due to too many useless attributes/stats that boil down to +health/resistances/damage good, +everything else bad. Much like PoE funnily enough. Item crafting makes this even worse because it's hilariously easy to craft good gear and then have to grind a stupid amount of time for trivial stat boosts. They can theoretically fix this, but it would require a complete overhaul of the itemization and severe limitations put on the crafting (if not outright removing that feature entirely, which I'm actually for). I can see it happening, though.

I found crafting to be one good part of the game. I hate PoE crafting.

 

[Lacrymas]

The problem with crafting in general is that if it's combined with loot drops then crafting is either overpowered or useless. The problem in LE in specific is it's both overpowered, which means you'll get good enough gear very fast, and that it turns every dropped item into a vessel to be reiterated upon. Getting a cool item to drop is negative dopamine because you now have to battle the RNG and tedium of making it actually usable due to your generic stat stick item you cobbled together 20 levels ago actually being far better. It's pure insanity and the systems are constantly in tension with each other.

 

[ArchAngel]

The problem with crafting in general is that if it's combined with loot drops then crafting is either overpowered or useless. The problem in LE in specific is it's both overpowered, which means you'll get good enough gear very fast, and that it turns every dropped item into a vessel to be reiterated upon. Getting a cool item to drop is negative dopamine because you now have to battle the RNG and tedium of making it actually usable due to your generic stat stick item you cobbled together 20 levels ago actually being far better. It's pure insanity and the systems are constantly in tension with each other.

Sure but I still prefer than to RNG crafting of PoE. I did a bunch of crafting on my melee weapon in last PoE league and I got maybe 2 useful weapons (of similar power) out of way too many attempts. And I've tried multiple way to craft it (like both alt and chaos spamming and harvest and lesser with Essences). Sure I could have also done Delving and shit but the whole game revolves around grinding shit so you can waste it all in RNG crafting..

 

[Lacrymas]

High level crafting in LE is extremely RNG dependent too.

 

[ArchAngel]

High level crafting in LE is extremely RNG dependent too.

Maybe, but I was able to craft decent gear and start doing endgame with much less pain than in PoE and with zero trading. If endgame was actually interesting and my character didn't get to max level soon after with no more points to get maybe I would have reached this RNG dependent phase too (and probably quit there instead).

 

[Peachcurl]

I don't think Melee is terrible, though it may have a harder time starting up. Which isn't a huge problem in an admittedly rather easy campaign.

Forge Guards struggle to do 300 corruption while Falconers do 3k+ f.e. From what I can gather, melee being terrible is the consensus.

The Falconer, most annoying of all classes, is wildly overpowered.

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't think Melee is terrible, though it may have a harder time starting up. Which isn't a huge problem in an admittedly rather easy campaign.

Forge Guards struggle to do 300 corruption while Falconers do 3k+ f.e. From what I can gather, melee being terrible is the consensus.

The Falconer, most annoying of all classes, is wildly overpowered.

The most recent subclasses (and not only Warlock, Runemaster, Falconer) are all severely overpowered while some of the oldest subclasses are crippled and nearly unplayable. That's part of the balance issues this game has. I know the devs are working on a massive balance patch for q1 next year, so we'll see how that goes. This game needed at least 1 more year in early access, I don't know why they decided to release in such a state. It's not like all the problems weren't reported and widely known beforehand.

 

[Lacrymas]

Welp, I got the cosmetic, I guess. It's pretty awful, though, lol.

 

[Perkel]

High level crafting in LE is extremely RNG dependent too.

Imho for non top crafter who doesn't chase toppest gear:

Instead of waiting for WOW loot on ground you take mediacore pieces and RNG them into better gear than those WOW pieces that drop rarely. Simply put more chances = better gear in this system in same amount of time. So i'd rather improve 5 mediacore pieces than 1 amazing piece because crafting relies on those crt roles too much for outcomes.

Either way, i'm thinking about giving it another go.

Did something change for better since release ?

 

[Lacrymas]

Did something change for better since release ?

No. I wouldn't bother playing before the "big" patch that's coming out early next year. There are just too many issues that have piled up and made it essentially unplayable. The game needs serious work in virtually every single aspect. From the "big" contemporary hack and slashers, Last Epoch is the worst one by far and I'm including Diablo 4 in this. D4 is disgusting slop from a repulsive company, but at least the campaign can hold your attention and it has ok aesthetics. LE has nothing going for it atm and I honestly don't see it being satisfactorily improved with the next patch either. Maybe in a few years if the devs haven't gone bankrupt by then and continue to steadily improve it.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Best crafting ever was in Evil Islands

 

[Lacrymas]

Next season coming April (!) next year.

Hello Travelers,

Today, we’re sharing our updated Roadmap, letting you take your first look at what’s coming for Last Epoch, including what big features to look forward to in Season 2. Let’s look at what’s on the board with an updated Roadmap graphic before jumping into more information about Season 2.

As mentioned in our last update concerning the Season 2 timeline (previously referred to as “Patch 1.2” - https://forum.lastepoch.com/t/patch-1-2-timeline-1-1-event-updates-and-cycle-poll/73654 ), we’ve restructured the features we’ve been working on for Season 2 to specifically address the greatest areas of feedback: expanding endgame content, better new player experience, and improved Dungeons, performance, and balance.

While The Weaver’s presence has been previously known through namesake items, Season 2 will begin to truly bring her influence into the world of Eterra.

Season 2​

As we continue to close in on Season 2, we’ll be diving into more in-depth posts on each of these key features and additions as we have in past Dev Blog posts, but we’ll give a quick overview here of what these features are looking to add to the game (let the theories begin on how they work!).

Monolith of Fate Upgrades​

Season 2 will further build on the Monolith of Fate by introducing a host of new Echo objectives, new enemies, and reworks of old objective types to help provide more variety and fresh experiences.

Woven Echoes​

A new Echo type that presents a glimpse into the Weaver's design and contain new exciting rewards you have never seen before.

Weaver Faction Tree​

This new Faction (Weaver) expands the endgame experience by providing the power to augment your monolith timelines during endgame progression. This new faction will be available to all players regardless of their other Factions alignments.

Dungeon Improvements​

Upgrading the Dungeon experience with many community requested improvements, and an enhanced new player experience making dungeons more accessible for their unique reward mechanics.

Sentinel Overhaul​

Sentinel is getting a large number of changes to Passive Trees, and Skills, including a completely re-created Volatile Reversal skill. We’ve already started teasing many of the changes coming through our weekly Dev stream, and Eterra monthly newsletter, with more information on the way!

Tombs and Cemeteries​

All-new side zones randomly encountered within Monolith Echoes, helping to bring even greater variety and unique experiences to gameplay. These side zones continue to add more mid-gameplay decision making, and rewards to the endgame experience.

Champion Enemies​

A more formidable class of rare enemies are stepping onto the battlefield, bringing with them opportunities for greater rewards by overcoming challenging combat with moment-to-moment action and active decision making.

Endgame Crafting additions​

Further building upon our crafting system with all new options to refine your items, continuing to build upon itemization and loot opportunities through giving more items value with powerful crafting opportunities.

New Endgame Bosses​

While Aberroth may be the Pinnacle boss currently, we’re expanding the roster of bosses found throughout Eterra, to give players a greater amount of variety at end game.

And more…​

In addition to the “headlining” features above, we’re significantly focusing on fixing bugs throughout the game for Season 2, both recent and long-standing, to provide a more stable and performant experience. We’re also introducing many ‘smaller’ features such as UI improvements, Quality of Life features, changes to keys and other pseudo-items storage, new Unique items, improved sounds for many skills, improvements to controller functionality with a new targeting system, and much more.

To address the most significant areas of feedback we’ve received since our Launch in February; we’ve locked in these features for Season 2: expanding the endgame, providing more experience variation, and offering continued opportunities for decision-making and progression. With this new list of feedback-focused features locked in, we’ve also been able to better scope out the timeline to introduce these features while addressing many bugs, ensuring Season 2 offers a better overall experience for everyone. With these considerations, we have just finalized our launch window for Season 2 and wanted to share the window immediately Last Epoch Season 2 launches April of 2025!

This is a bit further out than our original scope estimates, and this is not a decision we made lightly. We have come to this date believing in making a successful second Season, providing the best experience possible; meaning not only introducing the features to address feedback, but also ensuring it’s as solid a release as possible, alongside efforts to catch up on previous “bug debt”.

We’ll continue exploring the new and exciting features coming in Season 2 over the coming months via dedicated feature Blog Posts, Eterra Monthly wrap-ups, and Making Last Epoch behind-the-scenes blogs. These will provide breakdowns of how the features work and insight into the design behind the features. We’re incredibly excited to start sharing in-depth details of all the great things coming and can’t wait for you to join us in Season 2.

While there are still a few weeks to go, we know this will be a popular post in December, so we want to take this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Holidays for the coming season!

While most of this sounds good, there's also the issue of the campaign being a waste of time and the game being too easy overall. Don't get me started on crafting too.

 

[Lacrymas]

The game just got an engine upgrade. It's supposed to look better and play smoother. I tried it for a bit and that's probably true.