PoE 2 feedback

This feedback isn't coming from someone who has made it very far yet but I do believe for there to be at least some worth in reading what my thoughts are.

First I'd like to start with the idea of of PoE 2 being fit to purpose. That is, what was the purpose with which it was being made and whether it has archived it.

As stated multiple times during it's development (and yes I understand it still is under development), the main reason to make PoE 2 was to grab the audience that gave PoE 1 a try but quit and never gave it a second chance. Now has PoE 2 managed to do that? Lets forget current number of players and try to look a bit into the future as a newly anticipated game is expected to have a peek (even Palworld had a huge peek and thought it's a good game, it now has nowhere near the same number of players as it once enjoyed).

I'd have to say that no, PoE 2 will not hold the targeted audience and this is because in my opinion GGG failed to indentify this audience's motives to quit and never give PoE 1 a second chance. What made many players quit and never come back was 3 things one of them above the others. The first and foremost was how hard the game was back in 1.0 (PoE only became easier after ascendency came in), then it was boredom, how many hits mobs took to die which lead to a very slow and very boring playstyle (understand that most of these player would full clear maps because only veteran diablo 2 players at the time knew that you weren't supposed to do that) and the last being the scary skill tree.

PoE 2 is much harder than PoE 1 at launch, so much so it is called the dark souls of ARPGs. Killing mobs is still slow, maybe slightly better than poE 1 but not significantly so and the scary tree is still there. So again, no, PoE 2 couldn't have failed harder at hitting it's stated objective of garnering the attention of the audience that never gave PoE 1 a second chance. These people when and if they try PoE 2 will quit just as fast.

With that out of the way I think we need to address the actual balance of the game rather than just addressing the goals because I have doubts that GGG is still trying to archive that goal given than they completely missunderstood the reasons why people quit and never came back along with that they do not have any intentions of making PoE 2 easier than PoE 1.

So let's start with gearing. Gearing in PoE 1 is already a massive problem. It is a problem that only rears it's ugly head at end game because the campaign drops gear that allows you to get through it unless you need to get some uniques for a specific build. PoE 2 however doesn't even gives the players the gear they need for the campaign. The players stay mostly on blues due to how rare yellows are and those don't offer enough power but even more importantly, it contributes to the lack of value in loot. In my opinion GGG worked under the assumption that if loot is rare it is exciting to get a good drop but it's a balancing act really. Too much loot and it's not exciting, but too little and players just feel like they have nothing to look forwards to. They just feels that nothing they do matters because they aren't getting a reward for what they do. Even when the yellow drops not only it can be an items that the player can't use but also it may not be an upgrade or may be for a rare slot that the player already was lucky to get a yellow so the upgrade is likely marginal at best. There is no joy to be had in PoE 2 loot and worse is that the players are too weak due to having very bad gear.

Secondly it's difficulty. I understand that PoE 2 is meant to be harder, a puzzling choice at best given it's stated targeted audience and the fact that poE 1 is (or was) already the hardest ARPG in the market by an extremely large margin, but sure, let's go with it being harder. There is a difference between it being harder and the first act boss already being equivalent to a pinacle boss in PoE 1 which again, is (or was) the hardest ARPG on the market. I believe most things need a serious tune down or we might only see a tiny portion of the PoE 1 players stick with it while everyone else gives it up.

Third and last is the idea that players should be using more combo skills, more skill rotations and more skills that are sloted to archive specific jobs at specific times that essencially enters the rotation of skills occasionally. This is a big issue. A skill issue for sure but an issue none the less. You see, there is a limit to how many different skills a person can reliably use at the correct time. This varies from person to person but on average, most people can't do much. There is a reason why most PoE 1 players didn't do the piano flask playing style. Reason is, they can't (talking prior to the automation). The reason why people in PoE 1 do right click and go is not because they don't desire a more active playstyle (granted number of skills does not equate to passivity in gameplay in my opinion) but rather because they can't handle much more. Sure it also happens to be more confortable IF you can handle more, but that's is quite often a very big if.

Lastly, the game needs more optimisation. the ammount of resources the game consumes is insane. The fact that Stalker 2 can be played with a stream open no problem but PoE 2 will constantly freeze the image because there is not enough resources available for it (even after I specifically made the browser not be in economy mode to give more resources to games) just speaks to how badly optimised it is.

Regarding the skill rotation i totally agree. Well i know it's definitively my fault because i choose to use cold skills from the beginning of my sorceress but being in a situation i had to call for help to kill the boss of act 2 in normal is a big premiere.

I ended up in this because my skill rotation is as follow:

1) place Solar orb
2) place orb of storm
3) apply hypothermia
4) fire some frostbolts
5) apply frost novas on frostbolts to build up freezer
6) when boss is Frozen reapply hypothermia
7) use frostbombs to deal some Damages.

Guess what? That kind of chain on a boss is unsustainable and thus after hetting wrecked always at the 25% life left stage when Jamalla really enraged, i decided to stop the shitshow. Called for help, get someone lvl 65 to come kill that stupid twat be able to continue my way into act 3 normal.

And guess what? Yeah i know "skill issue" "you suck" "gît gud" etc. Still we need more possibilities early to be able to avoir being stuck in such a mess...

(havent played poe2 yet, not planning to any time soon - but enjoyed seeing some streamers trying to keep a happy face - their (job) life literally depends on this game being good and at least some of them have BIG reservations but hesitate to speak. body tells tho)


from what i have seen:

the difficulty is mostly BS and comes from a) extremely scarce drops b) everything being designed around dodge roll c) limited innate mobility of players and very good mobility on mobs and bosses

the 'BS' part comes from a simple case of one rare item making or breaking a build early on. people that were unlucky face Noita-level of challenge, while people who lucked into a rare weapon or pair of triple res ms boots - dont understand what it is all about and mock the unlucky ones with 'git gud' or whatever


then there are the 'combos' - there is nothing 'combo-like' in a forced rotation that was pre-made and is pretty much set in stone. it is mechanical, not build-defining.

as someone described it - half of the game plays like Detonate Dead build. 'place something' -> 'detonate something'. gas grenades / lightning arrow / warcry / bell - it is all the same one-two setup with occasional flavour or two

there is nothing tactical about it. what matters is 'can your build fit all the necessary steps in that damage windows or not'. if it can - congrats, game is a breeze.

i know that the game is fresh and missing 1/3rd of the content but.. there is something weird knowing that if someone says 'i play X' you can (even without playing the game yourself) tell what skills he has slotted and at least half of used supports

there is very little difference between RMB-to-victory and 'the same rota every 6 seconds to victory' - it looks nicer and give some people reason to brag about skill or whatever. but it is the same thing. in POE you have your clear and single target setups (sometimes being the same due to obscene damage output) - in POE2 you have your single and multi target rotation. the same thing, more buttons

idk if people find it fine after 200 hours or they simply degrade to one button playstyle even at the price of 50% damage. novelty of 'finding' the cool interactions should wear down by then



passive tree is bland as f.. it navigates like some MMO with 2000 passives that each grant you .5% more of something. i think this is long-term the worst part of this game. POE's passive tree is a masterpiece (with some unavoidable flaws) - but it took YEARS to fix it and it fits the gearing, classes, skills - it ALL clicks

POE2 skill tree looks like AI generated stuff

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

there is very little difference between RMB-to-victory and 'the same rota every 6 seconds to victory' - it looks nicer and give some people reason to brag about skill or whatever. but it is the same thing.

You see, it really isn't the same thing. You could say it's the same thing in a void where everything is the same, but not everything is the same, people are not the same and the rotation filters a ton of people out of the game because of mechanical inability alone.

That being said you do have to change rotations in some classes because of the way they work since a lot of their abilities are situationally dependent which makes it much more difficult.

The mechanics of monsters respawning and loot disappearing upon player death can create significant frustration, as they undermine the sense of accomplishment in defeating challenging foes or securing rare items. This issue is particularly problematic when loot is lost due to unavoidable circumstances, such as being defeated by secondary threats after a boss is slain. The system feels punitive rather than challenging, detracting from the gameplay experience and leaving players with a sense of unfairness rather than a desire to improve their strategy.

Addressing these drawbacks could involve implementing quality-of-life adjustments, such as persistent loot drops that remain accessible after player death or improved mechanics that balance difficulty without penalizing progress. Games should strive to reward perseverance and skill while minimizing unnecessary setbacks. Such changes would likely enhance player satisfaction and engagement.