Act 1 Boss: Overdoing It, or Intended?

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Kelvynn#6607 wrote:

PoE 2 Act 1 Boss has more phases and different skills than Uber Sirus. A number of which are either going to instantly kill a new player (i.e. not a twink) or get you freeze/stun locked and then you die anyway. This feels a lot more like Dark Souls than Path of Exile.

I remember an old interview with Chris where he said that most of the new players in PoE 1 quit before completing Act 1, typically around the time they met Brutus. Well, compared to this new guy, Brutus is a toddler.

Multiple GGG people also mentioned how important were the first impressions. So, is this the first impression you are going for with PoE 2? There is absolutely no way a new player is going to beat this boss unless they are pretty damn good. Are you trying to cull the influx of new players that way? If that's the case - good job. Otherwise you might want to reconsider a boss more complex than Sirus serving as a gatekeeper.

overdone.
GGG has a chance to bring in a LOAD of new players but they are going to burn a load of good faith with some of these fights.

Yeah. I'm mixed on this. I really enjoy the difficulty, but these fights are hard to the point they're going to be a complete blockade to new players. I've already seen a lot of people in chat bouncing off of the final boss of Act 1. I just beat the boss of Act 2 tonight and I genuinely can't fathom how GGG thought that level of nonsense was acceptable for a new player.

I know at least a portion of it is people just not understanding how to deal damage in 2, especially people coming from 1 who are insistent that they're going to be able to be one-button-andys like was the norm in 1. And I've already seen at least one build that absolutely TRIVIALIZES the first boss, so its not like its anywhere near impossible.

But for just, the average player? Coming in for the first time, having to digest the skill tree, the mobility and precision that is completely alien to this genre, AND deal with bosses as demanding as these act closers?

I just don't see it happening. Launch night there was a dude in general complaining that Act 1's finale boss was overtuned. I beat it in two tries, and my build is far from optimized (Just jumped in without a plan, just to see how it goes that way), so I protested the notion. After seeing the finale of Act 2 though, now I'm second-guessing myself. I'm a soulsborne vet, so maybe I'm just more attuned to this level of demanding gameplay.

As of right now I can say for certain though: If Act 1's boss ISN'T overdoing it, Act 2's 100% is. I'd be willing to say that 70% of the players who get that far will bounce off of him. And that's just not acceptable. That's the kind of difficulty that we should be expecting from endgame content... and then you remember that maps are going to be single-try affairs and I'm left scratching my head as to how hardcore GGG thinks the millions of joe average PoE players really are, much less the gaming masses who are going to be getting jumping into it with no experience in 1.

Mind you, I don't think the problem is the phases or the volume of mechanics. Just the scaling of health and damage. If the fight weren't so exceedingly punishing, it wouldn't feel as overwhelming. Like I said, soulsborne vet, I don't mind punishing. But for crying out loud, this is the BASE CAMPAIGN. It shouldn't be demanding your all right from the offset.

great take.

Good at what? Build or skill? Act 1 boss is not very hard if you learn his patterns and position yourself correctly, and lots of people play Elden Ring with much harder than this boss.

For me it is near perfect, I died a few times one time super close before changing tactics and winning it. It felt incredibly rewarding and exhilarating. I think this sense of reward fighting an act boss is very important.

I don't think new players will struggle if they are decent gamers, but players who are not good gamers in general will struggle... but if we make it easier for everyone the game might as well be a Disney sims game.

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Kelvynn#6607 wrote:

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WalterWhite#0170 wrote:

What's the point of making the same game as POE 1? New game, new mechanics, souls mechanics are popular, not that much for me, but it is what it is. At least there is some challenge here, not just soloing the game with left click.

You mean PoE 2 should be a different TYPE of a game? We already know that's not the direction GGG were taking. If they wanted to make a completely different game, they would do that. But PoE 2 was intended as the next evolution of PoE 1. Until last year, it was officially a sequel. Then they decided to make it more independent from PoE 1, but it's still the next Path of Exile.

Hence my feedback above. The boss of Act 1 is going to make a lot more new players quit than Brutus ever did in PoE 1. If that's the intention, it's fine with me. But I suspect that it's not. And I'd rather make GGG aware of this issue early than after the official release.

Making a game with a different feel was the stated intent of the PoE2 team. It's meant to be a different game, that's why support for PoE1 is not ending.

It's meant to be more methodical, you're meant to actually play boss mechanics more. You're not meant to just obliterate them before they can cycle through all their phases at least once and you're not supposed to just ignore half their abilities.

Hi,

New player to POE/2 here, I've little to no experience in the souls-like genre, but have a fair bit of experience with ARPG's in general. I went with a Witch (minion focused).

I agree with the OP. When I got to the Act 1 Final Boss I was shocked how many phases there were, nothing up to that point had prepared me for the slog that was to come.

Don't get me wrong though I enjoyed the fight, died maybe 3-4 times, each time learning how to avoid some of his mechanics.

The problem with that fight is the length, it was a marathon. You're going probably an entire 5minutes chipping away at his health while avoiding all the mechanics.

Currently I'm in Act 2 and none of the bosses there so far have posed a challenge like that, so I'd say he's definitely gate-keeping.

I'm imaging Act2's final boss will be where I have to stop and grind for hours to get some better gear and perhaps follow a build guide.

The moment I'm cornered into having to follow a build guide, I'm out! I didn't like that about POE1 and nothings changed.

The Act 1 boss fight is so beyond ridiculous that I don't even feel the need to describe why. I almost feel like GGG is playing some kind of prank on us or something.

Have you tried to actually res a friend while in a boss fight????? It's way too long so you both end up dying - by the end of the night, likely friends yelling at each other if one keeps dying and the other dies trying to do the 5+ second res.

He has 5 second long tells, he's easy as hell. What on earth are y'all talking about? Look at the screen

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Andromansis#4714 wrote:

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Kelvynn#6607 wrote:

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Andromansis#4714 wrote:

have you tried playing with a friend?

Is this question somehow relevant to my post?

Yep. You should try playing with a friend.

You should try playing with 4 friends. Some bosses break then and are constantly teleporting - Like dijin in act 2

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murdouken#6360 wrote:

He has 5 second long tells, he's easy as hell. What on earth are y'all talking about? Look at the screen

His wolf slam which takes more than half HP has 1 sec window before starting animation and dealing damage. I've checked it on youtube. The moment he starts animation you cannot be in attack animation and you have start running with perfect roll around the edge to dodge it. Rolling to interrupt attack animation will slow you down at the end of the roll so you will not get out. Executing double roll will do the same between rolls and you will still get caught.
Cold beams have bigger hitbox than tell shows.
His Veritania phase gives you split second warning when he is jumping while you fight adds.

It's a good fight but not for new people. I've finished many souls and souls-like games recently so i did it first try. My brother never played a soul game and he struggled a lot. From 7 deaths in campaign to 20 just on him. He ragequit even though he's been playing PoE since 2019 and has been playing LoL for over 10 years.