Why Does PoE2 Keep XP Loss on Death?

I'd say there was some sort of argument for having the exp loss penalty if the game A) wasn't in paid early access. B) Wasn't buggy as hell. C) We literally weren't the experiment subjects for them to test new mechanics and make balance changes off of.

It should be removed, in the very least, until full release.
i think xp loss must be an alternate mode, litterally, like hardcore mode....
let people decide if they want to use it or not...

people that want to use it will have it and the one that hate it will not use it.

simply give the choice for make everyone happy.

i think they are making the same mistake than wildstar, for the one that don't know it, wildstar was a mmorpg that was launch with a very interesting world and some interesting gameplay twist.... but the whole game was designed for only hardcore player... leading the game to fail because not everyone want is a hardcore player. (and we don't talk of the same hardcore than poe2 but that not the point here)
the point is by simply carter for one part of the community they had alienated the rest.... but if they have give the choice and offer an alternative for the non hardcore the game will probably still be up.

and poe2 have the same problem... they did wanted to make it slow and tactical, more based on combo of skill and such.... i can respect this, but behind this they have design the game for be extremely punishing... that something people have already said, if you want to make the game slow and tactical and hard.... don't punish player, let's them fail... it's throught failure and experimantation that player will grows.
that why soullike work... because if i fail a boss in a soul like, i loose nothing exept time... and i can try again and progress until i beat the challenge... here we have something that punish player for trying stuff, for simply try the challenge. it's not good...

i hope GGG realize that punishing player over and over and over is not making the game hard... it's creating a slogfest... death must not be a punishement, failure must not be a punishement.... they must be experience for growing...
GGG like hardcore stuff, and to make defenses mandatory. They prefer to starting things unbalancing, and wait for ppl to complain to get fine tune things. Some ppl enjoy, other complain.

I'm not a huge fan of this development strategy, since this force us to just build a full glass cannon that melts everything on screen to keep going.

My suggestion to any player having issues for this league:

1: Buy a Omen to reduce 75% exp loss. That's like a insurance against insanity.

2: Cap your chaos res at 75% at least. Chaos res is mandatory in this league.

3: Stay above 2.5k health or 5k ES, just to avoid non bosses one shots.

My suggestion for GGG (I know hardly GGG will read this or will just ignored it, and probably other players will just hate on this takes):

1: Study what is the average gamer input reaction. If you want a hard mechanic, make bosses attack window bellow that time. Want a easy mechanic to balance the hard ones, make bosses attack above that time. But please stop creating mechanics that camouflage in the scenario and makes more dps than a boss attack in 0.1 seconds.

2: Please test every attack you design. There is some shit that is just impossible to dodge (Want a example? Try to fight the boss Lythara, and stay still, without moving, and a little far from her. She's gonna do a jumping trust attack with her spear. I challenge you all to dodge that shit in the exactly moment she attacks, and make a clip of it doing 10 times in a row). On any game, there is a simple rule if the the game is a action game: If it's an attack is not avoidable, it's bad design (Unless the game is not a action game). All I ask is to GGG to try to dodge roll their shit 5 times in row without taking damage for each new attack mechanic they create. GGG you gonna see how the scenario off unfair deaths will change.

3: It costs nothing to have a triangle in mind when design a new mechanic. Just imagine on each conner of the triangle a some attributes like: Telegraphy, Damage, Reaction Time to Avoid. You should never have all 3 high, but at the same time, never one of them zero, and never one of them at 100%. Examples bellow:

-> You want a huge damage mechanic? Turn down the reaction to player, and add some good visibility.

-> You want a really fast attack? Turn down the damage, and add some good visibility.

-> You want a attack really hard to notice? Turn down damage, and turn down the required reaction time.

A classic unbalanced example that tries to go full on all 3 atributes is on sekhemas trial, second boss map level 80, where we have a projectile being shooted by the scenario that has Huge speed, Huge damage, very low visibility (On the triangle that's like 100% dmg, 80% speed, 80% lack of visibility). The scenario has more dmg than bosses, is very unpredictable to understand at fist hand, until you die and learn, and since it's a projectile, makes no sense to have low speed. And that's just one example of many.
Last edited by vittorcsj#7475 on Sep 7, 2025, 2:05:52 AM
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I'd say there was some sort of argument for having the exp loss penalty if the game A) wasn't in paid early access. B) Wasn't buggy as hell. C) We literally weren't the experiment subjects for them to test new mechanics and make balance changes off of.

It should be removed, in the very least, until full release.


also its an online game, wasnt their inspiration D2 offline?
If I was responsible for any one of my deaths past 85 I wouldn't care but in the state of the game every single death has come at the hands of white trash mobs because my game sticks for 30 seconds and then all actions catch up in a single moment.

If this is beta, and GGG knows it's going to break gameplay they should have the courtesy to remove penalty on death until such time the players are responsible for their death.
Well, get good?
Keep track of what mods your map have and dont fall into something that counters your build.
XP lose is a skill check. You can overcome it with better anticipation.
Last edited by Evergrey#7535 on Sep 7, 2025, 7:02:05 AM
I'm a brand new player and the exp loss is the only reason why I quit the game for now.

I love the game and the freedom we have in builds and progression, but xp loss would be ok if the game was already perfect (which is not the case right now obviously).
You can die from skill issue of course but also from bugs, lags, connection loss, any distraction or bad game design decisions.

I think that punish the player is like saying "you not good enough" without asking if the problem come from elsewhere.
The time we got to invest into the endgame just to hope progress as newplayers is just too much. I think endgame is purely designed to be enjoyable by POE veterans and this might be the biggest issue for newplayers.

At least, let an option (even definitive) to select if we want exp loss or not. I can't see how the game would be worse with that.
XP loss is quite a lame mechanic. What difference does it make that someone gets to 100 quicker in a league that is 3/4 months long. Not everyone can no life the game to grind to that level. Whoever wants the XP loss mechanic can go play HC.

Also, with so many random deaths, boss forced fights on everymap, random 3/4 second stuns, etc. it just drives players away. It puts you off playing.
Last edited by angyutzu#0077 on Oct 30, 2025, 1:33:42 PM
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rhorains#6760 wrote:
I am concerned for individuals who need/want a game that has no chance of losing anything. no permanent death, no loss of progress. do we need to add save states? what happened in your life, are you okay, what can we do to help.


Im concerned about you....


holy moly these people...
I really don't get this argument at all. Use the Experience loss Omen, and don't run maps with "Monsters have 1,000% more chance to bend you over" mods on them.

I mean if you play SSF in this game that's another story, but most that make this argument don't. I also think those that play SSF need help.
Last edited by Dnoble23#4456 on Oct 30, 2025, 1:50:13 PM

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