My thoughts after playing to 91 in SSF

Game definitely needs the endgame overhaul. I feel like there are no goals in the atlas, there is nothing interesting. Like sure you can run corruption then run the purification do a 200 rarity map and get a lvl 6 unique, but that's about it. This isn't really my biggest concern and I know the overhaul is coming, but it is why I wound up quitting.

Sprint. Remove knock down from sprinting. It needs to go. Add a stamina sprint bar or something if you have too. I have played poe 1 extensively and I can tell you there was a period where we played ls trickster not just because it was op, but because of action speed immunity. The worst feeling mechanic in poe is an action speed slow. Bosses just have them slapped on them, basically most uber bosses, and it's incredibly frustrating to deal with. It's not challenging, it's just not fun.

Energy shield and life. Please give us some life buffs. The only way to feel reasonably tank is to stack 10k es. Poe has had this problem for a very long time.

Level 100. This should be a reasonable goal for all mid tier players. People who play 4 to 6 hours a day should be able to accomplish this. It shouldn't be restricted to players who can play 16 hours a day for 3 weeks. Dying is way too punishing for how long it takes to get 100.

Those are my 4 big issues. Sprint and 100 are the biggest concerns of mine.
Once you hit a high level you can no longer sprint anymore. Otherwise a death is far too punishing. However, without sprint the game is too slow. This is almost a deal breaker for me, a 20k hour poe1 player that is ready to make the swap to poe 2 as my primary game.

Life is the biggest joke here. Imagine blood mage has more hp than tank druid or warrior xd

Life and armour needs buff.

You don't need level 100 for anything. Especially when you are playing SSF. You don't even get 1/4th of a complete challenge by reaching it.

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

You don't need level 100 for anything. Especially when you are playing SSF. You don't even get 1/4th of a complete challenge by reaching it.

100 gives players a psychological sense of closure and relief, it does wonders for retention and satisfaction.

Why? You'll play more if you have a level 100 character? Quite the opposite - the people who care about such things will play more if it is harder to achieve

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Why? You'll play more if you have a level 100 character? Quite the opposite - the people who care about such things will play more if it is harder to achieve

Yes, they play more. Some consider a rpg beat at max level + post game bosses beat. They then play on another character to try out uniques or whatever. If they never reach this closure they will not do this, instead quit because playing another char = no progress on your non max level. Combine that with xp penalty and people simply quit due to burnout, see the awful retention rates.

Also, this makes them more likely to return in future leagues as they had positive experiences. This is easily seen in movies and sales psychology, good endings that leave the watcher satisfied and happy result in a higher turnout and return than a bad one. It is common sense, people want to feel relief and relax, not stress. Give them a tangible, realistic goal that respects their time and you are good.

Lvl100 does not matter for a character too much, therefore it is also not a big deal to make it easy. You can easily add other prestige options which take a longer amount of time, as of now lvl 100 simply means you afk grind easy maps for weeks which impresses no one... unless HC ofc.

Action speed is there to solve like resistances. You want to give up the game instead of giving up single digit % of damage for solving it? There are many ways to solve it. If you can't dodge Temporal Chains or a patch of Chilled Ground, then you need some way to mitigate or nullify the effects. If you can't avoid something that procs Shock, then you get resistance. That is what this game is.

Getting stunned out of sprint is a skill issue. Perform an action to cancel out of sprint when you see a projectile or are about to be attacked. PoE1 is brain-dead. That's why some people like this EA game more.

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Why? You'll play more if you have a level 100 character? Quite the opposite - the people who care about such things will play more if it is harder to achieve

Only if it still feels attainable, or is not tied to a mechanic that disrespects your time put in by removing your efforts and possibly hours of progress. I had four friends I got into POE2 on previous seasons and not one of them ever got a character above 70s due to the combination of xp loss and xp gain drastically slowing.