PoE Bounties Rework

[(NSW)0nuku]

The release of Deimos, a new open world with new bounties, has given us a new example of the gameplay and difficulty that DE expects of its open worlds. I think the bounties are fantastic (though not without fault either), showcasing new, unique methods of play mixed with Infested spins on the old. But they also show how dated the original missions on the Plains of Eidolon are.

A key difference between bounties on Deimos and PoE is that Deimos really requires very little defense, weighing abilities that can quickly dispatch hordes of enemies while also staying alive yourself. DPS frames like Mesa shine (personally I use Titania for that sweet evasion). While PoE has exterminate, the dreaded camps, capture, and static and mobile defense, all of which can be easily failed without the proper setup. I've found Zephyr works best for my solo missions, Turbulence makes defense a breeze (pardon the pun), her tornadoes can seek out enemies in camps and deal decent damage, while a Gaze kitgun and Diriga aid in killing enemies.

Here's where I struggle with that setup (again, in solo):

1. Camp bounties. Everyone knows 'em, everyone's always hated 'em. DE's made changes to how enemies are counted in the years since, and though that does help, it doesn't fix the true problem solo players face. The biggest problem, I feel, is the geometry of the plains itself. If you "luck out" with a mountainous area like the Ostwan Range camp, or Void forbid, the cave at the Seaside Ruin, it's basically an automatic failure. With a mix between blocked sight lines and difficulty navigating, it's simply impossible to kill enemies as they come down. Funny enough, Deimos has this exact bounty in a much better form. The area to defend is much smaller, strategically positioned in areas with good sight lines, and the enemies come to you. I'd like to see these changes adapted to the Plains.

2. Capture bounties. These weren't a problem until the Fortuna-style bonus objectives were added in. Suddenly, the objective is not to kill anyone, and the sentinel I geared up specifically to aid in killing camps works against me, where one stray shot will ruin the bonus. I've tried using archwing and Operator to keep them away from the fight, yet somehow it still finds something before I can take down the target. Not to mention doing it at night when Vomvalysts count toward ruining this goal. This bonus should just be changed entirely to something like "capture the target in 30 seconds."

3. Assassination bounties. Again, my problem is only with the bonus objective. 1 min to kill 15 enemies, even solo, seems generous, but again, the Plains geometry and low spawn rate works against you. And on the few occasions I've been able to do it, I still fail the bonus because the target takes like five seconds to spawn. Deimos' version is again far more generous, giving you a defense target with ample health instead. Something like this could work, though it'd be much simpler to simply give an additional 30-60 sec.

I know there's also a lot of complaints about caches, especially in caves, though personally I've always enjoyed figuring out where they are (except for the Mount Nang cave, the one under the water took me forever to find).

[Kaggelos]

Agreed, most bounty systems need a bit of a shake up to refine them

[Donfs]

While I didn't have problem with the capture bounties the camp bounties are the worst, Wanted to farm last part of revenant for Helminth and after two failed bounties where the camp was first stage I just left.

The assasination one also hurts as a solo player. Always lose the bonus.

I just hope DE will take the time to do some cleaning. Even if its just yearly spring cleaning like this year. Would be great.