PoE2: One death in map and its bricked.

The "pressure" that the design decisions are driving the game towards certainly aren't necessarily to my liking:

1. You need to perma-CC the boss.

2. If your "perma-CC" isn't actually permanent you need to nuke the boss fast before they can do something dangerous.

3. You need to do screenwide kills [or CCs] to keep mobs from killing you


While there are some rewards for being tanky the focus of the game, given how punishing failure is combined with high map tier bosses being quite lethal, sure seems to effectively be "kill everything before they can kill you" which while it can be fun doesn't strike me as the depth that I assume (?) the Devs were going for.

"

ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate#2605 wrote:

I'm in maps and I love it. The days of shutting your brain off and just grinding away while watching an entire series of Taskmaster on my second screen are gone, and good riddance; I feel actively engaged at all times in this endgame.

I honestly don't think I'm ever playing PoE1 again.

I will agree PoE 1 with a solid build can be boring, however this game with a near perfect build is demoralising.
They have an infinite amount of work to do imo, starting with giving us the 6 portal mechanic we are used to.
Followed by balancing characters to be able to reach endgame without 1000+ deaths (no exaggeration I did on my merc before giving up on him in act 4, and I have 6+ years of PoE1 experience).

Here is a take:

I don't mind XP loss or one and done portal playstyle by itself and are not IMO the main problems. Giving the sense of potential loss and risk is all well and good. However not in a game that PoE 2 currently is. It feels like the game is still ballanced arround 6 portals playstyle.

- Monsters are too damaging. Both bosses and normal monsters for this to work. That is mostly due to how limited defences currently are. I am playing a good build. ES based. And even at t6 and t7 maps it feels bad, with 4k ES. I don't think removing life on passive tree was a good choice.

- There are too many "cheap" and "unfair" deaths. With 6 portals that's not so bad. But with one - I feel there shouldn't be any. I'm talking on death effects, poorly visible ground effects and one-shot boss attacks etc. Those shouldn't exist in one-life gameplay.

- Too few waystones drop IMO. I think losing a waystone with good affixes is punishement enough. But I don't know what the purpuse is to limit the ability of players to play more maps. If I run out of t11 and t12 maps, I feel like quiting the game. Because there's no more maps to do. How can I continue to play if there's no maps to do?

- I think a good solution would also be to introduce a new item into the game. Like "portal stabilazer" or something. Which you could put into your map besides waystones - 3 in total. And each of them would give you one more attempt at the map. But each one you put in would reduce the quantity and rarity of drops. Because I still feel it should be rewarding more if you can do the map in one attempt. So this would give risk vs reward incentive.

I haven't reached maps yet, but it doesn't seem very new player friendly. Maybe it's not intended to be?

I would prefer to have a less punishing option, but with less rewards. At least there would be a choice then.

Even 6portals was not enough, now its 1. CMOn

I am a new player and I was somehow promised that PoE2 will be friendly for people like me (I consider myself a casual++, I am someone who plays everyday, grind, learn and document myself about games mechanics and strategies").

I reached TIER 3 maps, finally maxed out my res and decided to try my first boss.
I died to a small mistake (the Hyenas who throws small spears from the hill, i completely forgot about them).

The fact that i could not try again, because I believe I did very well in my first and only attempt, made me quit POE2.

I will only comeback if i see that next patch really listen to the community and made it more casual friendly as it was intended for and much more forgiving.

I spend time on this game and I would like to see my time respected.

^
Yep exactly, PoE 2 was advertised as more new-player and casual friendly. Turns out that was a total lie. The game indeed doesn't respect your time at all. This "lose map on death" is just forcing a hardcore playstyle onto softcore players and casuals, and that's utterly disgusting game design. Let people play the game how they want and have fun with it, or they will simply quit.

I like 1 portal, I would be okay if they gave you a second chance to enter portals, but no more than 2. It would make dieing feel like it doesn't matter just like on POE1 you just slam yourself into map after map

Feels frustrating, but it is what it is. Gotta work on my defenses and dodge timings.

As a new player, my experience so far:

First of all, I think the game has a phenomenal foundation. I really like the challenging bosses in the game. Also, the challanging start of your journey and the feeling of your character getting stronger while progressing and overcoming the challenges the game throws in your way was really awesome.

But that being said, I think the one-death mechanic on maps feels just frustrating and annoying.

Why do I think so?
Because it’s so punishing, I feel forced into meta builds instead of going on with my own build and experimenting with it to improve it. The most fun I’ve had so far was with the boss fights, but in maps, you are locked out with one death. This leads me toward builds that can kill them fast and basically ignore their mechanics. This, of course, should still be possible, but not easy to achieve, if you’ve got the gear and the build to do that. Trivializing the game at some point, at least for me, is a big part of an ARPG.
Another point is that you have to pay full attention all the time. Not saying that paying attention is a bad thing, but getting locked out for one failed dodge roll without the opportunity to try again feels quite annoying.

I think you should have at least a few tries to finish a map. During the campaign, especially in the beginning, I failed a lot at bosses and trash mobs. But there, you could just try again and overcome the challenge, and that kept me really engaged with the game. In maps, I can’t do that, and for me, that kills a lot of the fun.

On the other hand, I think finishing a map in only one try gives the player a bigger challenge that should give them better rewards in comparison to maps with more deaths allowed. Maybe it’s not a bad idea to add this mechanic as an affix for your waystones and allow at least some deaths per map.