My thoughts on the game's current state

I will keep this short because I think right now the biggest problem that isn't being addressed is a core one, and until it's dealt with, I do not see anything else as even relevant. We had the devs saying multiple times that they wanted what I would call a "harder game", but everything in the game right now goes completely against it.

My problem is that it's not one thing or the other, it's a bad mix of both right now. Their initial design intention got butchered because poe1 players complained, and now we have this thing.

I would still be fine if they went the poe1 route, even if the promise of a "harder game" ended up being a lie, because at the very least it wouldn't feel like everything was thrown together with barely any thought and patched with a bandaid as we go.

But nope

The game ended up being too easy overall, there's essentially no challenge and with a lot of junk inherited from poe1 to stop powercreep that shouldn't even exist in the first place if powercreep to this level didn't exist.

But it does since the beginning, because the entire endgame right now wants you to oneshot everything on screen as quickly as possible and stuff like LS have to exist by design.

A bunch of mechanics got inherited from poe1, which I assume people liked, so the thought was probably "let's just throw it there".

The problem is that those mechanics work completely different on poe2, they have a completely different meaning for the game design as opposed to when used on a game that already wanted them.

Ritual? A claustrophobic mess of exploding nonsense. What's easier, tanking the exploding nonsense or one shotting everything before it can trigger and get out as quickly as possible?

Breach? One shot everything before it even appears on screen properly and get better rewards than whoever does not. The game is pretty much throwing on your face that you should play LS.

Delirium? Not very different when it's not a juiced map but the mechanic itself. Also, please remove the fog.

Wisp? Guess the easiest way to follow the wisp, and guess the only way to properly choose where you want it to go.


Anyway, the game needs to be rebuilt from the ground up in terms of stats, mechanics, etc... A clear design choice has to be made, either going the poe1 route or not I do not care as long as it's not this bad mix.

This attitude of wanting to please everyone is in the end making everyone unhappy instead.

I agree, trying to please the whiners from poe1 is what has caused most of the issues.

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Frankenhooker#0737 wrote:

I agree, trying to please the whiners from poe1 is what has caused most of the issues.

I do not think they're wrong for expressing what they want, they have the right to do it, and I'm sure many think this is what's best for the game itself and not just a personal taste.

What is wrong in my opinion is the devs taking those feedbacks and then throwing in the game without seeing how it actually plays or feels, discarding their initial idea and ending up with this bad mix that just doesn't feel right.

But then again, it has been a bad mix since the beginning because of stuff like breach, it's just that now it's even worse

+1

+1

The game needs to be redesigned from the core. You can't copy PoE1 content, designed be zoomed on, and expect different results here.

Every build ends up being the same. Move and attack as fast as possible, max resists, stack energy shield.

Almost every build ends up looking for the same items with the same stats for the most part. Flat damage, attack/cast speed, resists.

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iHiems#0168 wrote:

so the thought was probably "let's just throw it there".

This pretty much sums up the entire feel of the game since the start.

Trying to do anything, you are presented with a dozen different unfinished, buggy and incoherent mechanics. Nothing flows, half of them contradict the "vision" of the other.

Blaming "poe1 whiners" for their inability to provide balanced content that WOULD allow the promised "meaningful combat" is just an excuse. It's has never been there, the skills and mechanics combined with the monster/boss mechanics/speed/damage simply did/does not work. They are a complete contradiction.

You are left with the same old 1 shot or be 1 shot, convoluted 15 layers of screen effects rubbish that PoE1 ended up as.

The only part of PoE that actually feels like they put proper thought and time into, is the 3 acts, for the most part. The 15 layers of 'stuff' added on is just a mess, not even close to what they showed/told us back in the previews. Certainly feeling like they just threw it all in to get something out and make some money.

And people still blame the players for leaving.

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Chalace2#1463 wrote:

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iHiems#0168 wrote:

so the thought was probably "let's just throw it there".

Blaming "poe1 whiners" for their inability to provide balanced content that WOULD allow the promised "meaningful combat" is just an excuse. It's has never been there, the skills and mechanics combined with the monster/boss mechanics/speed/damage simply did/does not work. They are a complete contradiction.

You are left with the same old 1 shot or be 1 shot, convoluted 15 layers of screen effects rubbish that PoE1 ended up as.

Yea I don't completely disagree with you there

It's very evident that the endgame mechanics are geared towards zoomy builds, particularly breaches.

I've been playing warrior w/ heavy armor and shield from the start, so my movement speed isn't the fastest. Even with leap slam massive AOE clear and the atlas node that slows down opening/closing of breaches, I still can't seem to keep them open long enough. Having to path over and around terrain slows me down even more. I'm sure the zoomy LS players have a lot more fun during breaches than I do.

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LargeHairyMan#4219 wrote:

It's very evident that the endgame mechanics are geared towards zoomy builds, particularly breaches.

The claim is, that they wanted to create something different here. The reality is, that much is the same as POE1 aside from far more heavy handed 'drawbacks' / 'punishments', the decimation of any uniques related to POE1, 'our' characters, the animations that drive them (speed), and a little bit of the skill working together with all of that. And sure, they have mucked around with skills supports etc, but all in all other than dumbing things down, its mostly the same @ 1/4 the pace (maybe less?).

Breach, Delirium, Ritual, all literally copy and pasted out of POE1 zoom zoom. Ummm... how does that work in this 'vision', that 'apparently' is supposed to be so different? It just cant all work together well...

But my real point is, it feels as if they truly just wanted to cash in on some new visual upgrades and not much else as fast as they could (and ofc, using the POE Name. That part is important). And they did.

People wanted an 'endgame' and GGG had nothing new in the pocket. This is what we got. For now... hopefully it changes. Soon*TM. Things like the digression in progression , crafting. Many have said it before, and again, perhaps GGG should not have named this game POE(2). Because everything about it is a step back , not forward, from POE1 except the visuals.

EDIT : To be fair though, there IS something, about the combat as a warrior that is far more enjoyable than a marauder in POE1, at least to me. Maybe its the impacts, i dunno. Something itches me that they got something right. Just not much.

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JoannaDark#6252 wrote:

EDIT : To be fair though, there IS something, about the combat as a warrior that is far more enjoyable than a marauder in POE1, at least to me. Maybe its the impacts, i dunno. Something itches me that they got something right. Just not much.

I love my warrior, I have hardly any interest in trying another class until I've gotten him to 100. But yea, sometimes I have amazing breaches, and other times, I can't seem to move around quick enough to keep them going. If I ever see a zoomy shrine buff, I always save it til right before I start my breaches. It's a night and day difference.