How POE1 felt after coming back from POE2

i came back for the mtx rewards. i dont follow builds and i usually "rough it out" during campaign. normally i only fix my build only after end of campaign.

it is very common for me and my guildies to finish act 10 with shitty gear that we picked up and at times its "normal rarity" because we want the piece because of the sockets/colours.

typically if i m hyped, i'd take 2 days to get to maps. my personal best is 2 days to even hit red maps. but this time i really lacked motivation. despite "league start" on Friday morning, i only got to maps on sunday. 3 days.

the more i played poe1 the more i remembered why i told myself that i wont play it anymore.

for starters.

as a shadow i m given viperstrike. it's an a very weird position where you are NOT expected to continue using viper strike. but YOU ARE NOT TOLD so. if you do continue using viper strike you will have a very rough time especially since you dont even have access to ancestral call which is crucial for single target strike skills. like what the flying fuck. the game sets you up for failure at such an early point.

when you get to town, you immediately get choices for a new skill. with so much experience in the game i now analyze this from the eyes of a new player. all i have is the ability to READ the skill descriptions. i cannot get to test or feel em. theres no video demo (thanks poe2). if i take one, i cannot take another unless i drop currency to buy em.

at such an early stage, the game is already "punishing" newer players. if they dont like a skill.

also, speaking of punishing. i just realized. we start off with only 1 weapon with a 2L.

the choices you have are Blight, Freezing Pulse, Stormblast mine, Explosive Trap, Ethereal Knives AND Cobra Lash

the first 3 are blue gems so unless you knowingly/by luck picked up an item with a blue socket. you're fucked as you cant even use it.

then the other issue is REGARDLESS of whatever skill you choose, the "real" correct choice is cobra lash. Why? because the first support you get is poison chance/chaos damage. cobra lash pairs up with it magnificently.

you only get your second support gem naturally by doing mercy mission. so if you're new. you're kinda gimped. not to mention EVEN if you had the foresight/knowledge. to use a different skill required you to buy or get lucky with your drops to get the links and colors that you need.

speaking of that. i am quickly reminded of why i hated the leveling experience in POE1 so much. links and colours. its all RNG. i have the knowledge on what i need but was limited by my RNG. it feels... bad to be limited in this way. i've experienced this every single league. being forced to choose between stats or sockets. AND this is coming from a place of knowledge. i know the value of sockets and links/colors. but for newer players, its a barrier in many levels.

just act 1 in itself is a huge barrier for players to learn the game. i would also say the monster mods can be stupid early on in the game too. like regen mod at low levels? seriously? so you're teaching players to NOT KILL monsters?

also many people dont realize how merveil is actually one of the toughest bosses in the game for newbies. you need cold resists or else u get chilled/frozen to no end. also as tru melee, how are you supposed to deal with her? she summons a ice rains from above directly on herself at times. trying to make her move out of it is such a chore and even if shes out of the area denial, if you want to engage her via melee she'll be happy to throw an ice barrage to your face.

tbh, i didnt melee her. cobra lash is simply MUCH better at that point. i find it very weird where its FASTER to throw poison knives compared to SWINGING a poison dagger at melee range. the damage is lower but you make up for that by being able to do more attacks than melee. also, on top of that, your attacks bounce so it has good clear.

viper strike is such a SHIT skill at early levels. it really feels so bad to use. and when push comes to shove, its still better to just kite using cobra lash. its easier to avoid everything using ranged attacks.

which reminds me of what johnathan said about how poe2 was designed from ground up with melee in mind. in poe2 i could use a slow mace, and still kill an enemy undergeared. i learned to appreciate dodge rolling a huge lot. where in poe1 my best "dodge" is dash, with usually made me overshoot and have me run to the enemy again to deal damage in melee range.

i also almost instantly appreciated poe2's melee "attack from any angle" approach. in poe1 if the enemy is directly behind you, you actually have to turn around to face them. turning around TAKES TIME. its very possible for your attack animation to complete before you face the enemy properly causing the attack to whiff.

poe2 does not have this problem. whereever your mouse is at, your character will face it.

and the bosses. sometimes its just BS. theres huge ass aoes and area denials that you just have no opportunities to deal damage as trumelee. i m talking from a mechanical pov. in poe2, usually most bosses have a window where you can sneak in a hit, and roll away before the boss can react. you can go hitless somewhat. but in poe2 its more of a gear check. you have shit gear, you cant supplement your lack of gear by good skill.

By the end of campaign i had amassed roughly 9 pure chaos orb drops

a lot of poe1 lovers would talk about how great the crafting system is. but at the early levels. poe1 crafting is SHIT. i have roughly 50 alterations and the likelihood of hitting something i want is actually quite low.

admittedly poe2 isnt too much better too but at the very least in poe2 we have items with sockets and the ability to easily "craft" by slapping stuff into sockets.

the king would still be LE where players can craft during the campaign. we get enough crafting materials that we dont even need to worry about "failed crafts".

im now level 74 ish. i ll rough it out. and just stop at 80.

i remember convincing myself how "i just need to hit 80" as my motivation. but in reality theres so many times i felt like just uninstalling and not caring about it. it is WORK.

oh and when i bitched about viperstrike. one thing that i quickly took note is this is how viperstrike feels NOW. NOW is after the melee buff. its already bad now but it used to be worse for over 10 years.

lol. in a way its a good way to remind myself why i "quit" poe1 to begin with. so many issues from what many laud as a "better" game.

oh and i really do not miss porcupine monsters.

i wonder if i ll rough it out or just uninstall later. its just 6 more easy levels but i m sick of it already.

I'm confused why you're playing a game you dislike so much. Life is short. Play something fun and meaningful.

I'm having a blast. Take care.

I can definitely see your point. If playing as a Shadow I now dump off viper strike ASAP. I'm playing Witch in the event as I just couldn't resist ascending as a Bog Shaman :v

Some things in POE 2 definitely make levelling easier, especially for new players. I do like the new gem/socket system - no more worrying about socket colours and links. In fact, POE 2 grew on me the more I played it. I still like POE 1 :)

So your arguments are:

1. You weren't to know not to continue using viper strike, despite having got 40 challenges in the last league and thus clearly not being new;
2. Crafting sucks in early game, even though it sucks even more in PoE2.. to wit, it actually exists in PoE1.
3. Um... that seems to be it? Bad new user experience (but easily fixed with a google search or two), and bad crafting (but only at the start). So.. yeah... good argument?

Even if we accept the argument that the experience is bad for new players (which is true insofar only as it is for bad new players who don't want to use external resources), the only argument for you specifically to use that as a justification is through solidarity with said bad new players?

I'm never sure if people realise that they can actually damage their argument more by making a post than by just saying nothing. Like, if you say something that is clearly stupid and irrational, it makes people less inclined to agree with you, not more?

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Pathological#1188 wrote:

So your arguments are:

1. You weren't to know not to continue using viper strike, despite having got 40 challenges in the last league and thus clearly not being new;
2. Crafting sucks in early game, even though it sucks even more in PoE2.. to wit, it actually exists in PoE1.
3. Um... that seems to be it? Bad new user experience (but easily fixed with a google search or two), and bad crafting (but only at the start). So.. yeah... good argument?

Even if we accept the argument that the experience is bad for new players (which is true insofar only as it is for bad new players who don't want to use external resources), the only argument for you specifically to use that as a justification is through solidarity with said bad new players?

I'm never sure if people realise that they can actually damage their argument more by making a post than by just saying nothing. Like, if you say something that is clearly stupid and irrational, it makes people less inclined to agree with you, not more?

yeah the entire post stinks tbh, guy has 40 challenges which requires more than a little commitment and knowledge and then comes and complains about simple mechanics and drags up gripes about systems they clearly know improve later in the progression. Its a thinly veiled pseudo intellectual shit post on poe1..

I'm surprised by how great PoE1 feels, after playing PoE2. I love PoE2, don't get me wrong. But here's what I liked about revisiting PoE1 for the Phrecia league:

1) PoE1 has a stronger campaign than PoE2. I find it a lot more emotionally engaging, like the woman trying to save her children in act 2, or what happens to Lady Dallia in act 9. Peter and Anya being so joined at the hip, that they're a single clickable entity is really cute. I can't really remember anything like that from PoE2.

2) PoE1 is very generous with content. Even during the campaign, I came across multiple strongboxes in the same instance, and they often had satisfying loot. I used an essence on an item, and then used that item! I took longer to finish the campaign, just because I was having fun doing heist and delve. Good stuff.

3) The passive skill tree in PoE1 feels more daring. Like, the mastery nodes and a lot of the notables just seem a lot more game changing than stuff in PoE2. For example, I can just make myself immune to bleed and corrupting blood. Or, I can make myself avoid all elemental ailments. Maybe I want +2 projectiles and pierce 3 targets with a bow? It's fun to think about.

There are a few thing from PoE2 that I miss:

1) WASD control and Esc to Pause are great.

2) I like crafting in PoE2 better. There is a sense of finality, while in PoE1, you feel like you can always make an item a little better, so it never reaches a satisfying conclusion. In PoE2, the item is done, even if it's not perfect or even if it's not an upgrade. I like that.

3) I really like the PoE2 atlas map. I hope PoE1 gets something like that. I'm not big on "juicing", although I optimize a little bit. The PoE2 atlas system is great if you are like me and just want to color in all the dots, lol.

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TempestMind#6309 wrote:

I'm confused why you're playing a game you dislike so much. Life is short. Play something fun and meaningful.

I'm having a blast. Take care.

you're absolutely right on that. and i shall do that, it wont be poe1.

as for the rest. who want to say my post is trash. say what you will.

i honestly am too sick of poe1 to defend it or even myself in relation to it anymore.

but i would say i do appreciate that you guys actually did read thru somewhat. so thats that.

cheers.

"

ac429#4687 wrote:

I'm surprised by how great PoE1 feels, after playing PoE2. I love PoE2, don't get me wrong.

no worries, i love it when people share their opinions full heartedly

"

1) PoE1 has a stronger campaign than PoE2. I find it a lot more emotionally engaging, like the woman trying to save her children in act 2, or what happens to Lady Dallia in act 9. Peter and Anya being so joined at the hip, that they're a single clickable entity is really cute. I can't really remember anything like that from PoE2.

lol theyre a very cute couple. and i always envied peter for their relationship.

lady dallia, omg yea, thats really sad. so is peity actually. the later parts of poe1 definitely has better content in the campaign.

personally i prefer poe2's campaign as theres more urgency. you see a reason for moving forward. you want to chase the beast. poe1 is more of "i need to keep moving forward". tho poe1 has a lot more depth in its side content, like what you mentioned. nessa is kinda tragic.

"

2) PoE1 is very generous with content. Even during the campaign, I came across multiple strongboxes in the same instance, and they often had satisfying loot. I used an essence on an item, and then used that item! I took longer to finish the campaign, just because I was having fun doing heist and delve. Good stuff.

agreed. tho its natural as poe1 has had 10 years worth of extra content. heist has so much potential. its a waste that they dont allow us to have heist members as permanent followers.

"

3) The passive skill tree in PoE1 feels more daring. Like, the mastery nodes and a lot of the notables just seem a lot more game changing than stuff in PoE2. For example, I can just make myself immune to bleed and corrupting blood. Or, I can make myself avoid all elemental ailments. Maybe I want +2 projectiles and pierce 3 targets with a bow? It's fun to think about.

agreed but theres a catch. poe1 enemy powerscaling goes way high. we can see in poe1 a lot of player power was tightly controlled. this allows the devs to ensure that the game can be more roundly balanced. for example, since we dont have life nodes on the tree, players are expected to have 2.5-3.5k hp at endgame. ggg could make things hit around that number.

the reason why things hit for huge numbers in poe1 is because players with 10-20k hp exist and ggg has to balance the game with their existence in consideration.

on the flipside, ggg let ES go crazy in poe2 and we do have some skills that just screen wipe so whatever i said just fizzled. lol

"

There are a few thing from PoE2 that I miss:

1) WASD control and Esc to Pause are great.

100%. i think i can kite enemies or do bullet hell IF i had WASD. but sadly i do not.

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2) I like crafting in PoE2 better. There is a sense of finality, while in PoE1, you feel like you can always make an item a little better, so it never reaches a satisfying conclusion. In PoE2, the item is done, even if it's not perfect or even if it's not an upgrade. I like that.

i like your take on it. coz a lot of people seem to prefer poe1's crafting. personally the way i see it, poe2 is balanced around players having 2-3 good mods and the rest being rng. the closer we get to mirror tier gear the more ggg has to make enemies deadlier.

"

3) I really like the PoE2 atlas map. I hope PoE1 gets something like that. I'm not big on "juicing", although I optimize a little bit. The PoE2 atlas system is great if you are like me and just want to color in all the dots, lol.

i m 50/50 on this. i hate juicing too. but i have OCD. when i see a circle not green i will do what i can to make it not green. also i dont like micro managing precursor tablets.

also i am paralyzed. i know i need to keep moving thru the atlas but i have an intense compulsion to clear an area. and as you know poe2 is "infinite" so fml.

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xjjanie#4242 wrote:

I can definitely see your point. If playing as a Shadow I now dump off viper strike ASAP. I'm playing Witch in the event as I just couldn't resist ascending as a Bog Shaman :v

Some things in POE 2 definitely make levelling easier, especially for new players. I do like the new gem/socket system - no more worrying about socket colours and links. In fact, POE 2 grew on me the more I played it. I still like POE 1 :)

yea, the new gem socket system is soooooo damn good, it may feel bad in poe2 when you cant seem to drop the greater jewellers. but you dont feel like you need it too badly either.

the leveling experience in poe2 is much more enjoyable to me.

anyway hope you enjoy your bog shaman.

i personally liked the blind seer. being able to get 12% base crit chance is bonkers. at the cost of being blind? blind can be overcome by increased accuracy.

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exsea#1724 wrote:

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ac429#4687 wrote:

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Thanks, I agree with what you say, too. Nissa is quite tragic. After beating the boss, the Ranger says, "Nissa, I'm sorry... I was too late." I really felt it.

Also, am I weird? I feel really, really sad for Merveil. D: Basically, she was like, "I dolled myself up for you. Don't you love me now, Fiance?" Then, Daresso was all, "Yesh, I forgot, I left something in the car.", and then drives off to Sarn. Yeah... I get why she's upset!

You have a good point about the monster power scaling, though. I think a lot of things are 2 sides of a coin. When people say, "Why is this mechanic like this? It's so frustrating!", it's usually because we want the other side of that coin. I like the scaling in PoE2 a lot more than in PoE1. The monsters in PoE1 can get bonkers hard. If that means a toned down skill tree, then I'm okay with that.

In regards to the atlas in PoE2. I feel pretty OCD about it as well. I often just do the greens like you, just fill in the area. I think a change I would like a lot is if a cluster of map nodes in PoE2 was actually explicitly circled together and had a common background color and a common name.

Like, Imagine if there was a place called "Kraken Hills", which had 16 maps, 4 of them were Savannahs, and 1 of them was a unique location. The whole area had a light purple background. Instead of towers, there is just 1 village in the center of the place called "Kraken Village". By doing that map, you can install your own mayors or guild leaders (objects like precursors, with names and personalities) to that village, and now all of Kraken Hills gets their bonuses. Wouldn't that be memorable? I would feel satisfied when Kraken Hills was 16/16 complete.

Also, no more figuring out what fits into what circle. Then lastly, there are 3 or 4 bridges from Kraken Hills to other areas, named "Desolate Ruins", "Haunting Wayshire", which each have around 16 nodes and a central village. This can bundle into the end game story quite well. It could be you going around and re-uniting the people around the home base, under your/Doryani's leadership, to oppose The Beast when you have enough people under your banner.

I think the atlas system has legs, but it needs to be a little friendlier and more fleshed out.