You're making an ARPG in 2025, but you're stuck in 1999
" Look closely at the game and you can see its boarding path of diablo. The gem and support system is so restrictive it may as well be skills and runes from d3. Skill combos are basically modern diablo as well. GGG created builds and basically give you a checklist in how and what to take to use it - very modern diablo. |
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I went away from the internet for a month to have ''my own'' experience with this game. After getting absolutely frustrated a couple of days ago, decided to take a look to see if it was just me, but no. All those questions came to my mind while playing. All those are problems that simply shouldn't be happening.
I still don't know how they dare to say that this is the best ARPG ever made. Jesus Christ, this is far from being even top 5, and there are not a lot of ARPGs, so that's saying a lot. They started this as a PoE 1 DLC or update and should've kept it that way. |
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" Exactly. they changed from expansion to new game far too late in its dev cycle. I've never seen a supposed sequel with so many copy and pasted mechanics from the original. What new has poe2 brought thats unique and fresh? Nothing that I can see. They threw all the old poe1 systems into the game with zero explanation as to what they are to new players. Only things new that poe2 has that poe1 doesn't is the dodge roll and wasd. |
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" It's really not like a 1990s game, though. 1990s games were arguably more forgiving, because you were often given multiple lives to attempt a level or boss. If you ran out of lives, you'd get sent back to the beginning. But at least you'd know how long it would take to get to where you left off. Sure, arcade games (Capcom beat-em-ups, CAVE shmups, etc.) are mechanically more difficult than a modern ARPG, often to the point where you need to exploit game systems and enemy patterns to 1cc these games. But in these games, you had clear goals to strive for: get past this boss, get past a certain screen, and so on. And when you overcame these challenges, you'd feel rewarded for your efforts. Meanwhile, traditional Action RPGs from this time period - like the Ys series - are notorious for being crushingly difficult. But Ys lets you practice hard bosses over and over until you get it right. And if you really can't beat the boss? You can go grind the surrounding area to outlevel the boss. PoE2's campaign is actually a little like a Ys game, in this regard. PoE2 doesn't do any of that once you hit maps. Die once to a pinnacle boss, you don't get another chance. You'll need to buy another key - or in the case of citadels, you need to find the citadel all over again. You don't know when that next citadel will show up. As far as we know, there's no clear way to influence one showing up. You just have to keep bumbling along, clearing trash nodes and farming more waystones at bosses, until you bump into another citadel. When you don't have clear goals other than "keep crawling your way through the mist until you get lucky," new players get discouraged. If you do find another citadel, you dread the possibility of losing it again. And once you do kill the citadel boss, you don't really feel rewarded. You just feel relieved that you didn't die. Then it's back into the Atlas meatgrinder. For the record, I've found 4 citadels in roughly 100 hours of mapping. I've killed three of them; the one death was due to a server desync. Also, don't forget that a big reason why 1980s-90s games felt so hard at the time was because many of us had little time to play them. Most kids rented console games from the video store, and only had a weekend to grind away at a game we picked off the shelf. When it came to arcades, you were limited by your coins and the other kids behind you who got to play next while you shuffled to the back of the line. In the current era, we have much more time to practice these games along with savestates that let us play specific sections of these games via emulation or official collections. Many of these games aren't THAT hard, in retrospect. PoE2 is less of a 1990s game and more of a mid-2000s KMMO. That's not a good thing, in my opinion. Last edited by Gwonam#5505 on Jan 12, 2025, 8:18:49 AM
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" Crafting in poe2 may as well be a korean mmo upgrade system without the eventual fail safes. Last edited by Karishin#7986 on Jan 12, 2025, 9:00:42 AM
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Added more.
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" 📣 It’s clear that a lot of the issues you’re mentioning are rooted in friction that ultimately detracts from the core fun of the game. I agree that Path of Exile 2 feels like it’s holding onto some outdated systems that are doing more harm than good. Let’s dive into some of these frustrations: Item Identification & Loot Overload: 🎮 I totally understand why you'd be frustrated with identifying items and having to sift through an overload of loot. The idea of having the Hooded One / Doryani for a one-click ID is neat, but it doesn’t really solve the root problem. It’s a chore that feels like a step backwards, especially when there’s already so much loot flying around. Maybe an auto-identify option or a loot filter could make things feel smoother? 🤔 Inventory Size & Management: 🛒 The small inventory is definitely a major pain. Having to constantly leave maps to clear space is tedious, and when you add the lack of item drops that feel impactful, it just compounds the frustration. We need better loot quality with inventory management that doesn't feel like a chore, not just "more stuff to carry." Crafting & RNG: 🔮 Crafting should feel like a rewarding part of the game, not just a luck-based gamble. Sure, RNG can make for some thrilling moments, but it often feels like the reward isn’t worth the effort in PoE 2. Crafting could use a revamp to make it feel less like a grind and more like a rewarding challenge. Uniques & Drop System: 💎 When you’re seeing 500 useless uniques, it feels deflating. Uniques should feel special and worth celebrating when they drop, not just something to scrap. The drop rates for the truly game-changing items are way too low, making it feel like a grind without much payoff. Waystones & Map Tier Drops: 🗺️ I’ve also noticed the drop of lower-tier waystones in higher-level content. It’s an odd design choice and makes the map system feel inefficient. The solution of spending points in the Atlas passive tree to "fix" this feels more like a band-aid than a real fix. Mana Costs & Attributes: 💰 Mana costs can definitely feel punishing, especially with high-cost skills that require constant potion use or gear tweaks. It’s not fun having to worry about mana every few seconds, and the insane attribute requirements for certain classes and gems don’t make the game feel strategic, it just feels restrictive. Map Size, Backtracking, & Other QoL: 🏃♂️ Maps do feel huge and need more thoughtful design to reduce pointless backtracking. There’s also no clarity on citadel locations, which is just another example of poor navigation design. And don’t get me started on how many inventory slots a single item can take up – it’s frustrating! Quality of Life & Crafting Fixes: 🌟 A lot of the issues you raised are related to quality of life, and I wholeheartedly agree that adding more quality-of-life features doesn’t make the game easier – it just makes it more enjoyable. Movement speed, implicit charm slots, gem leveling, and making certain orbs more accessible would go a long way toward making the game more fluid. Trade System & Auction House: 💸 I also feel the pain with trading – there are a lot of hurdles that make it feel like a chore instead of a smooth part of the game. An auction house system or easier ways to buy directly from the trade site would be a huge improvement. I think a lot of players want a system that promotes ease of access but doesn't break the immersion. I get the feeling that GGG is trying to make a hardcore ARPG, but sometimes it just feels like it’s pushing difficulty for the sake of difficulty rather than creating challenges that are engaging and rewarding. I hope they take some of this feedback seriously and start making quality-of-life improvements that enhance the fun without sacrificing challenge. Making the game enjoyable to play is just as important as making it difficult. 😤 |
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" Tell me, how is it fun to have to leave every single map multiple times to go see an NPC? Is that fun? Or would it be more fun to just keep killing monsters? We're playing Rangers and Monks that drink potions to heal themselves while shooting lightning out of their weapons and you're concerned with how realistic it is for them to carry a few crossbows. Look at a game like Elden Ring. The inventory management in that game is fucking lightyears ahead of PoE, and it doesn't detract from the roleplaying experience at all. The inventory management in PoE is not a feature that adds immersion or fun. It's just an obnoxious chore that detracts from the enjoyment of the game. Last edited by Blasphemous84#2190 on Jan 12, 2025, 12:17:19 PM
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" Incorrect. You missed the part where I said "rpg or arpg games". There were NO (zero, zilch, nada) arpgs in the 90s with a "lives" mechanic. Very often, what we now call "Hardcore" was the default. If it wasn't that, it was severe penalties such a durability damage or loss of resources, levels, progress, or all of those. Very often you could completely brick a character if you died too much, simply because you run out of resources to fix the damage. You are speaking about an entirely different genre of game when you talk about "lives". Not only that, but everything you described about the "y" system of practicing bosses or whatever....is exactly how PoE 2 functions. With only ONE exception, the highest pinnacle boss. And I agree with you, and I have in many other threads, this is the WORST design flaw of the game right now. Functionally, in PoE 2, you have INFINITE lives to try bosses an infinite number of times to get used to them and learn their mechanics. This is easy in the campaign when you have a checkpoint by the bosses. It's a little harder in general mapping when you see the boss less frequently. It's AWFUL for the pinnacle boss. But no matter what, you have infinite lives. You'll never de-level. You'll never brick a character. You'll never get "weaker" in any way if you lose a fight. Even with all the penalties you incur on death, NONE make you weaker. Starting anew....with PoE 2 Last edited by cowmoo275#3095 on Jan 12, 2025, 12:40:12 PM
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" I think I agree 80% of what you said. I have reservations for some of your comments. But 80% agree I believe. Rampage IGN : Cool_Hamster
Standard IGN : Hamsterbaby Standard IGN : HamsterMfer Please do not hesitate to contact me in game if you have posted or offered on my items. Regards |
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