Why POE2’s Direction Is Worrying for Veterans and Newcomers Alike

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Kaukus1#7461 wrote:

3. Flasks and the “Vision”

im so glad flask piano was removed, it was attrocious to play unless you had mageblood. charms are the way to go. having it automated anyways was a good decision

tbh I agree with everything u said OP, but u forget to mention some vestigial mechanics they still haven't moved on from like no interface customization

Disagree with almost everything. Put in 300 hours into poe2 already, it will easily beat the past 10 years of poe1 for me.

I am a fan of the vision, and I like ruthless' direction.
I despise speed / power creep. I like things being impossible. I love trial of sekhemas.

But you and I are different. I have as much time you spent in elden ring and DS3 instead in Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin challenge runs. I hated the casualization of the souls games. So obviously GGG is not targetting the same audience, but I am an old player and the slow direction of PoE2 is for me, just like ruthless was for me.

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Kaukus1#7461 wrote:

Utility flasks were something unique in PoE1, setting it apart from other ARPGs. They weren’t just about healing or resource management but offered strategic tools to adapt to different situations. While they weren’t always needed in every fight, they added depth and flexibility, letting players fine-tune their builds for specific challenges.

Late to the conversation, but flasks definitely needed changing. They boiled down to:

*Life flask IF you needed it
*Quicksilver flask
*Defensive flasks (armour/evasion/resistance)
*1-2 actual utility flasks (phasing, onslaught, freeze immune, etc).

And all of these you wanted automated anyway. That's why Mageblood was the best item in the game, and nearly every build wanted one (improved flask effect AND 100% uptime). Even without it, you usually had flask automation, because rolling them manually was terrible, and added unnecessary key presses for buffs you wanted up 100% of the time anyway. With PoE2 trying to have character press more keys instead of being 1-skill ponies, having these buffs automated by default is a no-brainer.

Charms need to remain as they are, as conditional buffs you spec into, with some improvements:

1) 3-slots at endgame, always.
2) Variety and more interesting options, but that will come with time and development. This is still early access, after all.
3) CLARITY. I find this to be a MAJOR issue. The game doesn't tell you when your charm is out of charges or when it's full, so suddenly you get surprise frozen because you didn't realize your thawing charm was expended before.
4) We can discuss whether the point of them should be to have weaker but constantly acting buffs like flasks used to provide, or stronger limited use options. Personally, I think they ARE more interesting as the latter, but I am also a consumables aficionado in games.


Also on gems, the new system is MILES better, though acquiring 6-socket IS kinda hard. The old system completely restricted gear flexibility, and rolling orbs is painstakingly unenjoyable. You only do it because the game drops so much currency you can afford to get that many. What's the difference between looting 1000 orbs and having to roll them all, or looting 1 that does the exact same thing, once and forever on that specific gem? However, I will say that at the very least the game should reward you with a single Lesser, Greater and Perfect Orb at certain levels.

+1 OP

yeah, mostly agree with OP

OP wants another ezy hack and slash like PoE1 or D4. I don't see the need for another one, there are plenty of those.
This game is "Souls-like", according to the Steam profile. The devs should fully commit to that vision. It should be much harder than it's now. The ezy mode where you buy your items has no place in a souls-like game. Also analyze all builds that easily one-shot every non-rare mob in T15 and nerf them, hard. Each fight should be meaningful, even with a trash mob. Also eliminate magic find and reduce the drop rate for the good items.

+1, thoughtful and well written feedback...

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ClockworkShrew#7536 wrote:

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Kaukus1#7461 wrote:

Utility flasks were something unique in PoE1, setting it apart from other ARPGs. They weren’t just about healing or resource management but offered strategic tools to adapt to different situations. While they weren’t always needed in every fight, they added depth and flexibility, letting players fine-tune their builds for specific challenges.

Late to the conversation, but flasks definitely needed changing. They boiled down to:

*Life flask IF you needed it
*Quicksilver flask
*Defensive flasks (armour/evasion/resistance)
*1-2 actual utility flasks (phasing, onslaught, freeze immune, etc).

And all of these you wanted automated anyway. That's why Mageblood was the best item in the game, and nearly every build wanted one (improved flask effect AND 100% uptime). Even without it, you usually had flask automation, because rolling them manually was terrible, and added unnecessary key presses for buffs you wanted up 100% of the time anyway. With PoE2 trying to have character press more keys instead of being 1-skill ponies, having these buffs automated by default is a no-brainer.

Charms need to remain as they are, as conditional buffs you spec into, with some improvements:

1) 3-slots at endgame, always.
2) Variety and more interesting options, but that will come with time and development. This is still early access, after all.
3) CLARITY. I find this to be a MAJOR issue. The game doesn't tell you when your charm is out of charges or when it's full, so suddenly you get surprise frozen because you didn't realize your thawing charm was expended before.
4) We can discuss whether the point of them should be to have weaker but constantly acting buffs like flasks used to provide, or stronger limited use options. Personally, I think they ARE more interesting as the latter, but I am also a consumables aficionado in games.

💯

I disagree with not all, but most of what you said. Also, you don't speak for everyone so maybe change your dramatic title.

Lots of people did not like POE1 and for that reason I don't think its a useful benchmark especially since for both games to coexist, differentiation is needed.

Pacing - That's a hard disagree from me. Everything is on adhd twitchmode now a days and its become utterly boring. When I experienced the slower more methodical combat I immediately thought "about effn time". If they change this it will be a major disappointment. Judging by the concurrent count, there's a lot of us that feel this way.


Difficulty. I don't think this game is difficult. Once I learned my character and abilities difficulty dropped significantly. At first I found it frustrating, but I was being impatient and in the end I appreciated the steep curve. Its easy to swap out skill and sup gems or to farm necessary resistance. I do not want 1 build face-rolls. I want to find my own solutions to challenging problems. In D4 the only reason I tried a different build was to stave off boredom.

POE1 gem and skill tree was a complete turn off. I do not want to need a study guide to play a game.

Conversely, I went into POE2 cold and figured everything out with relative ease. No guides,no youtube, no forums. I was able to figure out which resistances I needed, what abilities work and when.

Crafting and drops needs improvement. Full stop. Agreed

Don't touch the campaigns. Its a good story and the world is interesting. I don;t know how having a long campaign stop you from having fun. You're still progressing.

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I Want to Love POE2, But It’s Hard
As a veteran, I want to see POE2 succeed. I want it to be different, but it also needs to respect the core systems that have kept players invested in POE1 for years. Right now, it feels like GGG is prioritizing their “vision” over what actually works.

To the newer players defending these changes without understanding their long-term impact: you’re not helping. Ignoring valid criticism isn’t supporting the game; it’s enabling bad design. Constructive feedback is what helps games improve. POE2 has the potential to be great, but it needs to address these issues before it alienates the very players who’ve been its foundation for years.

Its bad design for you. POE2 is my GOTY. The challenge could be increased actually.

You want a bigger skill tree, faster combat, a shorter campaigns, easier bosses and an easier game. You have that essentially, its POE1. You do realize that's what you're asking for, right?

And new players can't express themselves because ...we're contributing to a bad design? Maybe this game is for new players.The market is already inundated with 1 click facerolls. I want them to dig into difficulty. I want to be challenged. If you're having to back up and poke then build differently. I've played war and merc and the only time I was forced to run and poke is when I forgot that POE2 is not a Diablo clone and that I have to meet the challenge. That challenge is part and parcel to the depth for whole demo of players and its been sorely lacking in ARPG.