After playing 200h PoE2 and beating Arbiter on the highest difficulty possible, I really believe that the “1 kill per attempt” idea brings more harm to the game than good.

But instead of just saying “I hated it, change it GGG”, I'd really like to make a thoughtful analysis, trying to understand the positive sides it brings to the game (trying to understand the devs' sides), but at the same time I'll be saying why some of these points don't work so well.

First of all, I'd like to say that, although I don't think “1 kill per attempt” works very well for Citadels and End-game/mechanics challenges, I don't think it's really a problem for Maps.

So first let's talk about maps.

Ah yes, 4 things in one map, the pinacle of difficulty.

The “1 death per attempt” idea keeps me on my toes, and although it's frustrating to die on the map, the punishment isn't that severe.

In addition, in Maps I have a good handle on the difficulty of what I'm going to face via the Waystones. I feel that 80% of my deaths were due to my own inattention, or because I made the Waystone more difficult than it should have been, or because I left a suffix that hurts my build too much; so I feel that I can tolerate this challenge that the game puts me through.

Yes, the other 20% of deaths will be bullshit. But in these cases, I think it's more important for the game to fix the problem of these deaths (like telegraphing better on-death effects, or removing them).

So, as most of my deaths on Maps I feel could be avoided. I think it's coherent to only have 1 life per map, as it prevents us from playing the game anyway to complete those maps. If you put 3~6 lives per map, I'll really disconnect from the game, and maybe when I die 3~4x, then I'll pay attention to the map.

Now... let's talk about the end-game mechanics.

You just have to get GOOD.

Now when we talk about mechanics where keys cost 40~700ex or citadels (where you lose valuable keys). The scale of punishment changes and how we play the game also changes.

So first, as I said earlier, I'm going to try to take into account the positive sides that I believe the devs thought of when bringing the idea of 1 kill per attempt into the game. The positive sides I can think of are;

1. Difficulty; It's important for players to experience difficulties so that they are always willing to improve.
2. Testing the limits of your build; Faced with a big challenge, which gets harder each time, the player can further refine their build to be able to overcome a big challenge.
3. Extend the duration of the game; After all, if you die you lose keys, which will require you to play for hours (or weeks) before you can try again.
4. Satisfaction; The idea that when you overcome a great challenge, you have the satisfaction of victory.

But now let's talk about the negative... simply unpacking all their positive points and why they don't work so well.

0. Doesn't feel like PoE

At this point, 6 portals is more like psychological torture

Yes, I'm going to add an extra negative point that I think is important to emphasize. The idea of 1 kill per attempt doesn't feel like PoE, we've been used to having 6 attempts in our end-game mechanics for a decade.

And maybe some will say here, “hey, but PoE2 is another game, the devs are trying something different”. Okay, the funny thing is... this idea doesn't seem to be PoE2 either.

What I mean by this, is that during the 25h~50h campaign, the game gives us an idea that is clearly inspired by other soulslikes games, where the big challenges are bosses full of mechanics and rich in gameplay. And in these challenges, players can face them as many times as they like, just as they can go back and farm more, and then try again.

Then we get to the endgame mechanics, and PoE2 tells you “oh forget it, now you only have 1 chance. Do you want to try again? Sorry, it'll be 400ex exile”

1. Difficulty

Whatch out! He's preparing the lases cannon... Oops, didn't you notice the eletric aura on the ground? Better pay more attention next time... a mean next week

Souls-like games prefer an approach in which you can predict your problems and bring the player the satisfaction of improving their gameplay to better anticipate the blows that will bring them victory. So you can overcome your challenges with;

a) Be good; managing to dodge everything with quick reflexes since the bosses' movements are telegraphed

b) Get good; simply by memorizing the blows better and improving your gameplay.

This is the formula that made SoulsLike franchises successful, and clearly PoE2 was inspired to bring this same style of challenge. The difference is that in PoE2, in addition to memorizing moves and improving your gameplay. You can;

c) Get items; to improve your equipment.

d) Be cleaver; improve your build and enhance your character.

Obviously factors c) and d) exist in Souls-like franchises, but they certainly don't impact in the same way that a game with PoE2 does.

So during the campaign, we have bosses that mark us out and we have this pleasure of overcoming difficulties, no matter what approach a, b, c or d takes.

Now, at the end of the game, we come to the question of 1 life. When you add 1 life to the equation, you change how the difficulty is presented to the player. The equation changes. The player will behave differently. Do you think Elden Ring would be the same game if you only had 1 life and started again?

Option b)get gud, is completely annihilated. If you die, you'll have to grind again, which will take hours, or even days if you're a citadel and try again. And for many players, they may even forget the mechanics they died with the first time.

Or you have to be very rich in the game to get several entries in a row and try several times in a row. But if you're very rich in PoE, it probably means that A)be good has also been rendered useless (I'll explain in a moment). And in the end, even for the poorest, factor A) will also be useless (I'll explain that too).

So that leaves us with options c) and d). And since PoE players like to feel clever, they usually go to the extreme of option d), which will turn the “challenging” game into a much easier one, and here we come to negative point no. 2

2. Testing the limits of your build

This is the pinnacle of PoE 2

It would certainly be nice if the end-game bosses were something to test our builds so that we could polish them to the maximum.

But the reality is that the overwhelming majority of PoE players like to be efficient and intelligent... You know what's not efficient or intelligent? Seeing the potential of your mediocre build in a boss that costs 4divs to try once.

So instead of taking risks, we prepare ourselves TO THE MAXIMUM to face this great challenge.

So the biggest challenge in the game, a boss meticulously created by GGG, with many different and challenging mechanics... will be reduced to seconds by most players.

That's why I said earlier that “get gud don't matter”. And that's why I said that get gud won't impact rich players, because they (with the exception of traders) will be using meta builds. And even the poorest player, at that point, most of them will pick up a meta build to overcome these challenges. After all, how many casual players who play 2 hours a day are going to dare face the game's biggest challenges that cost Divs with mediocre builds?

And I know that some here will still say “but that's what PoE is, meta builds”

PoE2 in its campaign is not that, and PoE2 could simply be more than that. Why offer players 1000 options, if you force them to choose only 10 possibilities because of how you challenge them?

And that's why I said before “the player will turn the ‘challenging’ game into a much easier game”, because this challenge of only 1 life actually makes the game much easier. Because players will be more influenced to follow meta builds, to do what is most appealing in the game, so as not to be frustrated by these challenges.

3. Extend the duration of the game

This little maneuver is gonna cost us 51 years

This certainly happens, and I can't argue with that.

The question always remains, if you make it too long, there will be more people giving up along the way. I'm sure there will be some people who, after 200 hours on their SSF, will try his first Arbitrer, die to a hitkill, and never touch their character again (just +150h to find the three citadels).

Just as I'm sure there will be people who simply sell their Keys and don't even try these end-game challenges, because they feel intimidated or because they don't have the time in the game to risk it. Hell, nowadays it seems that at least half the players pay other players to kill bosses for them.

But this would only be speculative on my part, I have no idea how many of these people there are in the world, it's up to GGG to analyze their data.

4. Satisfaction

You've learned a new mechanic! Don't forget to try it again in a few weeks!

I've played Elden ring, all the bosses I've struggled with and then overcome, all of them, I've felt good, I've felt that I've overcome a challenge.

In PoE2, maybe it's something more personal on my part but I... I don't feel pleasure, I don't feel good when I finish a citadel, I feel relieved that I didn't die in some stupid way while I was trying to do that challenge.

So, as I said before, a well-done challenge is important for player satisfaction. And if the challenge is practically erased from the moment you get a meta build, when you do it normally when you die, it will be for things that will simply frustrate you. (see some images I posted in this thread)

Conclusion

It's certainly difficult to weigh up what's perfect for the game. Could infinite lives per key work for PoE2 just as it does in soulslike? PoE2 isn't exactly souls-like, so it certainly has to have something different, but at the same time, the time to test these things would be now in Early Access.

But if you don't want to test anything abrupt like this, just give us the 6 portals back. I think all the points I brought up in this thread would improve with 6 portals, with at most the negative aspect that the game wouldn't be as long (it would still be long).

tl;dr Give us back the 6 portals.