Sorry for the late answer, was in my lunch break, and then in a meeting. ^^
As for your second point, people "drowning" in EL were probably the ones that tackled 34 and 35 PoE week 1 while underleveled, with the goal of getting characters to 34 to farm out even more ELs. I don't think that just because the "hardcore player needs are taken care of already" justifies giving casual players more for less work 2 weeks into expansion. Gear progression between casuals and hardcore has always been a difference of time and willingness to do stuff undergeared and this game is no exception. I guess I just find it amusing that people are complaining about not having max item level gear 2 weeks in.
I am not so much "complaining" about not having max level as finding the balance a bit too extreme between
casuals and
hardcores. I totally agree that people who spend more time on the game should be rewarded more, but my point is that as of now they are rewarded a bit too much. In the first week we already had people in here with all their characters at 34, and it became the majority of the regulars in here on the second week. No wonder some of them talk about being burned and feeling like this extension is already over and done with...
If it were me, I would have been more strict to how you can get etheric lights, and made it so you could only get one or two per week, per player. Make it three with ToO, say...
To be fair, your friend would have been stuck below max level before anyways since he wouldn't be able to Raid if he doesn't look for groups. Finding a PoE group is even easier since it's only 3 people.
As for being under leveled with modifiers...again, it's just "Hard Mode". The first 5 rounds of PoE 35 aren't bad at all as 34s, totally doable with few or zero wipes. Skolas was a bitch though, totally with you on that
Void burn is our friend !
Well, my friend's point was that before HoW he enjoyed just getting new weapons and levelling them up, raising their attack value. It's not how I play the game, for sure, and I was a bit surprised because I really do like the upgrade system they put in place this time around, but I can kind of see where he's coming from.
For the "hard mode" thing, well, I suppose I just don't agree with their vision on this. But I'm ok with that, I don't have anything against a difficulty mode I don't like being in the game. I'm just saying I would rather they find a better way to create "difficult" content than this one level below thing.
Sorry about the tone man. I guess I'm just tired of reading constant complaints about how Bungie needs to change this "because I can't do it, it's too hard" or Bungie needs to change that "because it doesn't fit my schedule, or play style or whatever". Don't get me wrong, I think Bungie has made a lot of mistakes in the life of this game. I also think they've made a few changes for the better over the last 6 months but making "the game" trivial and easier is not one I like nor want to see. The fact that I had all 3 of my characters to level 34 in 3 days was, honestly, a bit of a let down. The shitty parts of this game (the grind, RNG, difficult and frustrating encounters) are necessary evils. People may not like them and Bungie has obviously tried to tweak some of this but they are integral to an MMO like experience whether we like it or not. Personally, I think they went too far with this DLC in order to please the casuals.
No problem man, and I appreciate the apologies.
I don't think they really pleased the casuals, when they are the only ones having to follow the standard upgrade "route" designed by Bungie: play PoE 32 each week to collect light level 42 gear, and start doing the 34 on week 3 or 4. And you can see that I do agree with you that the game is too generous with etheric lights for the hardcores: we shouldn't see so many 34s in the first two weeks. I'm not asking for casuals to be given the same treatment, and I don't think I'm complaining much either (just voicing my opinion and ideas about changes that could be made ^^), but I would prefer to see the gap being reduced so that both casuals and hardcores could enjoy a regular flow of etheric lights, without it being extreme in one way or the other. All the while rewarding the most dedicated players more, but without making them max level in just two weeks.
I find it sad that the "what should I upgrade next?" choices were reduced to a few days instead of a few weeks / months for the people running all their PoE / ToO, while the ones who are following the standard "route" have yet to upgrade one item yet.
Seeing as how you guys are seeing my previous posts as "complaints", I realize I probably voiced it in the wrong way. I am doing these critics because I really like the etheric light system, but feel it's either too harsh or too lenient depending on how much time and frustration you're willing to put into the game.
That won't prevent me from loving running 32s with gaffers, and soon 34s, though.
