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Path of Exile 2 Campaign Skip, is GGG's stance really correct?This video questions GGG's stance on skipping the campaign in Path of Exile 2. It analyzes the impact of campaign skipping on ARPGs and how GGG's arguments clash with player reality.
1. 🎮 GGG's Opposition to Campaign Skipping vs. Player Reality
· GGG's Game Director, Jonathan Rogers, stated that campaign skipping is a 'big mistake' for ARPGs.
· This clarifies GGG's position that Path of Exile 2 will not have a campaign skip feature.
· However, for many players, the repetitive campaign playthrough required for each new character is a burden.
· The current campaign consists of four acts and additional zones, offering an experience that must be repeated before one can be confident in a character's build.
· GGG argues that this experience is 'essential' and 'foundational,' deeming campaign skipping 'inherently bad.'
· Yet, GGG later introduced an alternative campaign path called 'Interlude,' which offers different zones, stories, and progression methods, serving to alleviate the tedium of repeated playthroughs. This can be interpreted as a contradiction to GGG's initial stance.
· This clarifies GGG's position that Path of Exile 2 will not have a campaign skip feature.
· However, for many players, the repetitive campaign playthrough required for each new character is a burden.
· The current campaign consists of four acts and additional zones, offering an experience that must be repeated before one can be confident in a character's build.
· GGG argues that this experience is 'essential' and 'foundational,' deeming campaign skipping 'inherently bad.'
· Yet, GGG later introduced an alternative campaign path called 'Interlude,' which offers different zones, stories, and progression methods, serving to alleviate the tedium of repeated playthroughs. This can be interpreted as a contradiction to GGG's initial stance.
00:00 - 00:42
1. 🎮 GGG's Opposition to Campaign Skipping vs. Player Reality
· GGG's Game Director, Jonathan Rogers, stated that campaign skipping is a 'big mistake' for ARPGs.
· This clarifies GGG's position that Path of Exile 2 will not have a campaign skip feature.
· However, for many players, the repetitive campaign playthrough required for each new character is a burden.
· The current campaign consists of four acts and additional zones, offering an experience that must be repeated before one can be confident in a character's build.
· GGG argues that this experience is 'essential' and 'foundational,' deeming campaign skipping 'inherently bad.'
· Yet, GGG later introduced an alternative campaign path called 'Interlude,' which offers different zones, stories, and progression methods, serving to alleviate the tedium of repeated playthroughs. This can be interpreted as a contradiction to GGG's initial stance.
· This clarifies GGG's position that Path of Exile 2 will not have a campaign skip feature.
· However, for many players, the repetitive campaign playthrough required for each new character is a burden.
· The current campaign consists of four acts and additional zones, offering an experience that must be repeated before one can be confident in a character's build.
· GGG argues that this experience is 'essential' and 'foundational,' deeming campaign skipping 'inherently bad.'
· Yet, GGG later introduced an alternative campaign path called 'Interlude,' which offers different zones, stories, and progression methods, serving to alleviate the tedium of repeated playthroughs. This can be interpreted as a contradiction to GGG's initial stance.
00:43 - 01:34
2. 🤔 Analyzing GGG's Argument for Campaign Skipping: 'Game' or 'Product'?
· GGG's core argument is that the campaign is not merely a tutorial or loading screen but 'the game itself.'
· Path of Exile 2 is not an endgame-centric ARPG; the campaign is a handcrafted experience featuring cinematics, voice acting, boss fights, and narrative arcs.
· They argue it's a 'product' with significant development time and creative vision invested, and skipping it means bypassing this product.
· Furthermore, GGG believes the mere existence of a skip option changes how players perceive the campaign experience. If skipping is possible, the campaign feels less like a 'journey' and more like 'optional homework.'
· GGG aims to preserve the campaign's value by making it mandatory, a consistent design philosophy, but one that can clash with player reality.
· Path of Exile 2 is not an endgame-centric ARPG; the campaign is a handcrafted experience featuring cinematics, voice acting, boss fights, and narrative arcs.
· They argue it's a 'product' with significant development time and creative vision invested, and skipping it means bypassing this product.
· Furthermore, GGG believes the mere existence of a skip option changes how players perceive the campaign experience. If skipping is possible, the campaign feels less like a 'journey' and more like 'optional homework.'
· GGG aims to preserve the campaign's value by making it mandatory, a consistent design philosophy, but one that can clash with player reality.
01:35 - 03:12
3. ⏳ Opportunity Cost: Player Hesitation to Try New Builds
· When players want to try a new build, the thought of having to replay the campaign often prevents them from even starting.
· This leads to calculations that character leveling will take 6-8 hours, discouraging players from experimenting.
· The video creator mentions that despite leveling 14 characters in Patch 0.4, they still feel the burden of repetitive campaign play.
· This burden makes players hesitate to try new things, even if they love the game, and changes their approach to playing.
· This issue could affect hundreds of thousands of players and might be linked to a decrease in the game's player count.
· This leads to calculations that character leveling will take 6-8 hours, discouraging players from experimenting.
· The video creator mentions that despite leveling 14 characters in Patch 0.4, they still feel the burden of repetitive campaign play.
· This burden makes players hesitate to try new things, even if they love the game, and changes their approach to playing.
· This issue could affect hundreds of thousands of players and might be linked to a decrease in the game's player count.
03:13 - 04:10
4. 📈 Player Count Fluctuations and Community Feedback: The Impact of Campaign Repetition
· Path of Exile's player count typically surges with major patches and then declines.
· While campaign repetition isn't the sole cause of these player count drops, community feedback has consistently highlighted campaign repetition as a major complaint during these decline periods.
· GGG is aware of this feedback, and the introduction of 'Interlude' can be seen as a response to this issue.
· Players tired of repeating the campaign are likely to be veteran players with significant game knowledge and investment, not new players.
· Losing veteran players means not just losing one player, but also losing their potential influence in bringing other players into the game.
· While campaign repetition isn't the sole cause of these player count drops, community feedback has consistently highlighted campaign repetition as a major complaint during these decline periods.
· GGG is aware of this feedback, and the introduction of 'Interlude' can be seen as a response to this issue.
· Players tired of repeating the campaign are likely to be veteran players with significant game knowledge and investment, not new players.
· Losing veteran players means not just losing one player, but also losing their potential influence in bringing other players into the game.
04:11 - 05:34
5. ❓ Does the Campaign Effectively Serve as a Tutorial?
· Another argument from GGG is that the campaign teaches new players game mechanics, pacing, and difficulty curves.
· However, this claim is questionable in actual gameplay. For instance, the core movement mechanic, 'sprint,' isn't properly introduced during the campaign, leading many players to play without knowing about it.
· This demonstrates that the campaign isn't reliably fulfilling its role as a tutorial.
· If GGG were to improve the campaign tutorial experience, it could become another repetitive experience for veteran players who have already played through it multiple times.
· Therefore, solving the tutorial issue and improving the repetitive experience for veteran players are challenging goals to achieve simultaneously.
· However, this claim is questionable in actual gameplay. For instance, the core movement mechanic, 'sprint,' isn't properly introduced during the campaign, leading many players to play without knowing about it.
· This demonstrates that the campaign isn't reliably fulfilling its role as a tutorial.
· If GGG were to improve the campaign tutorial experience, it could become another repetitive experience for veteran players who have already played through it multiple times.
· Therefore, solving the tutorial issue and improving the repetitive experience for veteran players are challenging goals to achieve simultaneously.
05:35 - 07:25
6. 💡 The Spectrum of Campaign Skipping: The Importance of 'Choice'
· The debate around campaign skipping is often trapped in a binary frame of 'skip' or 'no skip.' However, there's actually a spectrum of skipping options.
· At the most conservative end are options like 'optional tutorial hints' or 'skipping cutscenes,' allowing players to get information or avoid unnecessary elements only when they choose.
· Moving further, there are features like 'act-based checkpoints' for accounts that have completed the campaign, or 'difficulty adjustments' to allow veteran players to streamline the campaign.
· These features can reduce the time burden of repeated playthroughs without compromising the core game experience.
· At the most conservative end are options like 'optional tutorial hints' or 'skipping cutscenes,' allowing players to get information or avoid unnecessary elements only when they choose.
· Moving further, there are features like 'act-based checkpoints' for accounts that have completed the campaign, or 'difficulty adjustments' to allow veteran players to streamline the campaign.
· These features can reduce the time burden of repeated playthroughs without compromising the core game experience.
07:26 - 08:58
7. ✅ GGG's Solution: The Reason for 'Interlude'
· GGG has already implemented a campaign skip mechanism in the form of 'Interlude.'
· Interlude was introduced to reduce player fatigue from repeated playthroughs and offers a different experience from the existing campaign.
· This proves that GGG understands the spectrum of campaign skipping and has the design capability to alleviate player fatigue.
· The existence of Interlude suggests that GGG's initial stance of 'campaign skipping is inherently bad' isn't the complete truth. If it were, Interlude wouldn't exist.
· GGG is already moving in a direction that respects player time while adhering to its design philosophy.
· Interlude was introduced to reduce player fatigue from repeated playthroughs and offers a different experience from the existing campaign.
· This proves that GGG understands the spectrum of campaign skipping and has the design capability to alleviate player fatigue.
· The existence of Interlude suggests that GGG's initial stance of 'campaign skipping is inherently bad' isn't the complete truth. If it were, Interlude wouldn't exist.
· GGG is already moving in a direction that respects player time while adhering to its design philosophy.
08:59 - 10:13
8. 🚀 A Suggestion for the Future: The Expandability of the Interlude System
· GGG views Interlude as a temporary solution, but imagine what could have happened if they had developed this system long-term.
· If new Interludes were added with every patch over 12 years, countless alternative campaign paths and stories would exist.
· This would allow veteran players to choose new experiences instead of repetitive campaigns, adding depth to the game.
· Such a system could satisfy all the design principles GGG values while also saving player time.
· If new Interludes were added with every patch over 12 years, countless alternative campaign paths and stories would exist.
· This would allow veteran players to choose new experiences instead of repetitive campaigns, adding depth to the game.
· Such a system could satisfy all the design principles GGG values while also saving player time.
10:14 - 11:08
9. 💡 Conclusion: Campaign Skipping is a Matter of 'How,' Dependent on GGG's Choices
· Campaign skipping isn't a 'yes/no' issue, but rather a question of 'how' and 'how far' to implement skipping features.
· GGG has already demonstrated the existence of a spectrum and their design capabilities through Interlude.
· The time players save can become the driving force for them to continue playing the game in the next league.
· It's crucial how much further GGG will turn the 'dial' on campaign skipping to reduce player fatigue and allow them to enjoy the game longer.
· GGG has already demonstrated the existence of a spectrum and their design capabilities through Interlude.
· The time players save can become the driving force for them to continue playing the game in the next league.
· It's crucial how much further GGG will turn the 'dial' on campaign skipping to reduce player fatigue and allow them to enjoy the game longer.