The problems I see that will definitely stop PoE's enjoyment in future, if not fixed

1. The devs intend to do big balance changes quite rarely, which significantly impairs the entire purpose of the early access. There are obvious issues that need fixing ASAP and the devs waiting
1.1. Mana scaling for ALL skills;
1.2. End-game scalign is just horrendous and completely off
1.2.1. Archmage and HOWA (+ pillar or without it) absolutely dominating the meta. Stat stacking is obviously the choise always and this is horrible;
1.2.2. Damage balance of spells (other than commet);
1.2.3. Other attacks barely scale without the support of what mentioned above.

Solution:
* Make significant changes on a monthly basis without concern whther builds willb e destroyed, this is early access and it is fine if we suffer and have to respec;
* Offer free respecs after every major changes patch;
* ASAP fix unintentional interactions and bugs leading to gabe-breaking builds;

2. The Atlas is very very bad state compared to the PoE1
2.1. No choice of map layouts;
2.2. Slow - Travel time between maps (other not-profitable maps and towers);
2.3. Not enough control what mechanic you can put on what map.
2.4. Cannot cross obstacles
Solution:
If this mechanic is not completely scrapped we need some way to:
* Run layouts (or at least large selection of layouts) that we like – e.g. maybe waystones can drop with enchant that changes the layout or maybe you can block specific layouts that you do not like to be randomly generated.
* The traveling using maps without mechancis should be sped up in some way (e.g. there should be a shortened version of the map, if it contains no mechanics, you could use some new currency to teleport to map on your screen, etc. ).
* We should be able to cross obstacles in the atlas;

3. Getting the first boss fights and specific mechanics tree points is extremely slow.
3.1. Not enough new and interesting boss fights after you finish the campaigh until you reach ubers and this feels like a void.
3.2. Slow – very slow gathering of materials for boss fights, if you have to purchase the first boss fights it feels not right
Solution:
* There should be some support added on the atlas tree or other mechanics to help you get your first points of the specific trees. Maybe, just like in POE1 with Exarcha and Eather, there should be a beginner versions of the fights that give you some points.


4. Too many skills and 6 links remove the feel we have to sacrifice something in order to use something else
Solution:
* There should be a limit for skills and links, e.g. 1 6-link and 2- 5-links or something similar.

5. Too large cost of traveling on the skill tree (without any life points)
Solution:
*If life will not be added back in the tree, there should be some kind of extra incentives to travel to different sections from your tree’s starting section. E.g. you may get 1 extra point for crossing each separate section of the tree or you may get an extra jewel socket.

6. MF is still absolutely horrible and restrictive, just remove from gear and add it to atlas and dificult content.

I'll second points 1-3 and 5.

Early access changes should be made more often, not just as 'seasons'. Respecing has already gotten pretty cheap, so with millions of gold sitting around I'm not too worried about free respecs.

The atlas and atlas passive tree are 0/10's for me. I highly prefer a system like POE1's where you can run a specific map that you want, juiced with whatever content you want every single map. The extra content trees are too prohibitive unless you play a ton, but that could also be buffed by increasing the boss availability for each mechanic (more splinter drops, etc).

The passive tree is also a little underwhelming. The 'no life on tree' thing is awkward, and I disagree about the problem claimed in the first place that they were mandatory - it was mandatory to take one life wheel in poe1, but usually that was it. Life stackers would take more wheels. Having the loss in freedom over increasing life feels pretty bad to me.

MF has been heavily overblown; it doesn't have nearly the impact that many are claiming it does.

"

XxFasterBlasterxX#5138 wrote:

MF has been heavily overblown; it doesn't have nearly the impact that many are claiming it does.

Wrong, it does have a major impact because it is effectively a 'win more' stat for builds who have less affix pressure. This inherently makes any build with heavy affix pressure significantly worse.

Endgame progression feels completely backwards imo.


You gotta spend a really long time farming extremely inefficient mechanics to then have one attempt at the pinnacle boss, so you can earn two points. Most mechanics require at least 4 points to start doing anything meaningful.

Then, after you are 8/8, you might start actually making some meaningful currency when engaging with it.

If my character can clap difficulty 4 Xesht it could have been farming juiced breaches way, way before. The same applies for every other mechanic. It makes no sense.


The fact that theres no essence tree also annoys me a bit, cause it definitely feels like a 0/8 mechanic right now.

I understand that poe 1 atlas tree was massive and provided hundreds of points cause of the sheer amount of content bloat accumulated over the years, and i agree that it was necessary. However the atlas point acquisition pacing was much better than whathever we have right now.

"

fouquet#0993 wrote:

"

XxFasterBlasterxX#5138 wrote:

MF has been heavily overblown; it doesn't have nearly the impact that many are claiming it does.

Wrong, it does have a major impact because it is effectively a 'win more' stat for builds who have less affix pressure. This inherently makes any build with heavy affix pressure significantly worse.

I See MF as movement speed currently.

Some people run QOTF and move very fast, others rely on their 30% ms boots and wouldn't trade them for any other item no matter how much better it was.

MF currently feels mandatory up to a certain % (id say 100% mf) and although nearly everyone can attain these levels, the cost is different for each build and it doesn't feel creative, enjoyable or engaging at all.

"its another axis to work around when building your character" is questionable, the process goes like:

"do i use a unique on that slot?" yes > no mf, gg
no > roll mf

Does that seem engaging to anyone? I just dropped a good shield in exchange of a mahu, thats it.

"

fouquet#0993 wrote:

"

XxFasterBlasterxX#5138 wrote:

MF has been heavily overblown; it doesn't have nearly the impact that many are claiming it does.

Wrong, it does have a major impact because it is effectively a 'win more' stat for builds who have less affix pressure. This inherently makes any build with heavy affix pressure significantly worse.

Item rarity is central to the game design, and that can also be fixed by increasing affix pressure for archetypes that currently don't require much. Imo that would be a much better solution.

"

XxFasterBlasterxX#5138 wrote:

"

fouquet#0993 wrote:

"

XxFasterBlasterxX#5138 wrote:

MF has been heavily overblown; it doesn't have nearly the impact that many are claiming it does.

Wrong, it does have a major impact because it is effectively a 'win more' stat for builds who have less affix pressure. This inherently makes any build with heavy affix pressure significantly worse.

Item rarity is central to the game design, and that can also be fixed by increasing affix pressure for archetypes that currently don't require much. Imo that would be a much better solution.

You have no idea what you are asking.

Removing rarity from affixes is infinitely easier than forcing affix pressure on builds that are by definition low affix pressure high power combinations. Even if you tried to force more affix dependency on those builds, the ones with the most power and least affix requirements will still dominate everything.

I am not saying remove rarity entirely, just remove it from gear. It should be only available on waystones and precursor tablets.

500hrs in 2 97 toons couple others ranging from 80 to 90. Around 800 div invested in builds. Still having a blast. Never get one shots, no issues with trade, no issues with drops(could be lower imo to easy to get rich). Love the atlas, being able to customize and juice areas howni want. Have areas for groups breach farms and areas for solo rituals farm. Easily make 20 to 100 div a day depending how had I want to farm. Games fun and easy.

Hope they make it harder gameplay wise and harder to progress honestly.

"

MF has been heavily overblown; it doesn't have nearly the impact that many are claiming it does.

Can you explain that a bit more? You don't need 400% MF but up to roughly ~150% is impactful based the testing I've seen. This is what the majority of "hardcore" players I've seen are running. Without Ingenuity, 150% is 30% MF on 5 pieces of gear. If you aren't running that much MF you are absolutely in a suboptimal state for farming. The impact of MF is very real and meaningful. It is fair to say quantity is also important. However, this isn't a one or the other situation. You want ~150% rarity, THEN additionally you want as much quantity as possible.

MF is just another "hoop" players need to jump through. The extreme slot machine nature of gambling (crafting) in this game doesn't help make getting this magic number any easier, not to mention it really disincentivizes playing other characters once you do reach that goal on a single character. Hypothetically, it adds some extra depth to the endgame but the double edge sword is that until you get that magic number, every second playing your character feels like shit because you are not efficient. This game is literally all about being efficient with your farming. I'd really love to hear actual arguments about why MF makes the game more meaningfully fun. The only defenses I see for MF are 1 brain cell response - "it's overblown" or "git gud". In my opinion, Rarity and Quantity should simply be reflected in the difficulty of the content. Do more difficult content, get better rewards.

Side note - If you have 400-600 hours played, it means you have been playing this game 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week, since release. This is more than most people spend working their full time jobs. You are absolutely in the hardcore category which does not apply to 80-90% of the potential player base. You viewpoint is valid but it is not representative of the vast majority of players experience. Do you think GGG should prioritize making the game better for 80-90% of players or making the game better for the 10-20% of players who put in 600-1000+ hours? Don't you already have PoE 1?

"

aervans#6375 wrote:

"

MF has been heavily overblown; it doesn't have nearly the impact that many are claiming it does.

Can you explain that a bit more? You don't need 400% MF but up to roughly ~150% is impactful based the testing I've seen. This is what the majority of "hardcore" players I've seen are running. Without Ingenuity, 150% is 30% MF on 5 pieces of gear. If you aren't running that much MF you are absolutely in a suboptimal state for farming. The impact of MF is very real and meaningful. It is fair to say quantity is also important. However, this isn't a one or the other situation. You want ~150% rarity, THEN additionally you want as much quantity as possible.

MF is just another "hoop" players need to jump through. The extreme slot machine nature of gambling (crafting) in this game doesn't help make getting this magic number any easier, not to mention it really disincentivizes playing other characters once you do reach that goal on a single character. Hypothetically, it adds some extra depth to the endgame but the double edge sword is that until you get that magic number, every second playing your character feels like shit because you are not efficient. This game is literally all about being efficient with your farming. I'd really love to hear actual arguments about why MF makes the game more meaningfully fun. The only defenses I see for MF are 1 brain cell response - "it's overblown" or "git gud". In my opinion, Rarity and Quantity should simply be reflected in the difficulty of the content. Do more difficult content, get better rewards.

Side note - If you have 400-600 hours played, it means you have been playing this game 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week, since release. This is more than most people spend working their full time jobs. You are absolutely in the hardcore category which does not apply to 80-90% of the potential player base. You viewpoint is valid but it is not representative of the vast majority of players experience. Do you think GGG should prioritize making the game better for 80-90% of players or making the game better for the 10-20% of players who put in 600-1000+ hours? Don't you already have PoE 1?

Quantity and density is far better then rarity.