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

Constructive feedback should always be listened to, as i thought that's the point of forums like this.

Personally, i think the rare need to be sorted out better. I actually went from the start of act 2 to cruel without even seeing a single rare. I'm lvl 52 and i'm actually using a lvl 28 weapon and a lvl 12 ring because nothing is dropping. I know it's all about RNG, but no one is that bad for drops ( apart from me from the looks of it lol )

Overall sentiments I'd agree (Merc traditional lvl 63 [I finally finished a single map Tier-1 in the end-game/late-game w/ my Merc -- used Cloak of Flames so I could bypass most armor passive nodes, and just focus on fire resis -- re-spec'd quite a bit trying to get hyrid {Freeze} melee to work, but in the end, just went traditional Grenades {could path to Ranger for Bow/Poison perhaps but again no interest}]; Warrior melee lvl 54; and Witch minion lvl 21 -- no real interest in any of the other classes).

Though, I think when new classes are released I will still try them out (like Druid/Templar/Marauder [mainly melee-based]) also, so I cannot judge that yet at least.

Personally, I still have 1 more build to try on my list that I think is still worth exploring, i.e. trying Cloak of Flames for my Warrior (bypass armor nodes at least [yes, they can nerf CoF later, but it is what it is]) -- perhaps that may make enough of a difference for some improvement.

(Re. the 1 Tier-1 map I completed on my Merc, I echo the same [negatively mainly] things as many folks say about mapping/end-game basically -- no interest at all in mapping more to Tier-1+. Again, no need to echo the "rate 1-10 on end-game" threads [and general community/YT/Reddit/etc] general [negative] sentiments, but for brevity's sake, I rate end-game 1/10 [for that 1 map I completed] for the experience. I just have to agree w/ the majority here [I believe], unfortunately [again, just seems like poe1 clone end-game and very uncooked for it to be in poe2 -- folks can just play poe1 for that I feel {maybe breach/delerium/etc is diff but again no interest}].)

Personally I prefer the more slower pace, but some things are very unbalanced.

And slower pace doesn't mean low mob density, it just means less speed than 6 attacks per second.

-Doesn't mean you can't have 3 atacks per second :)

-They focused too much on skill combos which is good, but they forgt to add more nodes that allow for Melee+Summon, Melee+Bow, Melee+Cast, Bow+Cast playstyle.

-Hybrids in general.

-Maps need more frequent fun things like strongboxes, rituals, abysses, breaches, legions etc.
They just need to TONE DOWN THE POWER OF THESE MOBS. Breach ones are just too fast and deadly, spawn too fast.

- 6-links on all gems are good but pointless if I can't use multiple supports on them.

- Especially the ones that support spells.

- The Critical support gems are terrible. Too situational or you have to get 20% LESS crit chance for 100% damage bonus, making them inconsistent.

- The critical chance/bonus nodes on the left side are awful and too situational... or you trade crit for the downside of less %mana and increased mana costs, IF THOSE WEREN'T HUGE ALREADY...

- Pacing and mob density is just not good yet. The mobs aren't complicated enough and give too little reward for the time you spend walking to each pack.
They should increase the drops accordingly to the lower mob density.

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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

Donno, reading your post you just want exact copy of POE1 with updated graphics.

This is something I do not want at all, for example. Hence I'm here in POE2 and haven't touched POE 1 for like 5+ years.

Actually ARPGS can be slow. This is not something impossible and not something that "does not fit the genre". Rewards just must be balanced appropriately, in a different way if compared with classic speedy arpg zoomzooms, where only speed (of both movement and killing) is the only option to progress. Problem with POE 2 is that it made just a shy step towards that and then threw in all old systems and mechanics, most of which simply don't fit the new vision. But this is a question though, if this ever WAS a vision. Maybe not and GGG doesn't really want to change something fundamentally. If that's the case, then we'll get POE1 copypaste in the end and you will be happy (perhaps).

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Azimuthus#1135 wrote:

"

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

Donno, reading your post you just want exact copy of POE1 with updated graphics.

This is something I do not want at all, for example. Hence I'm here in POE2 and haven't touched POE 1 for like 5+ years.

Actually ARPGS can be slow. This is not something impossible and not something that "does not fit the genre". Rewards just must be balanced appropriately, in a different way if compared with classic speedy arpg zoomzooms, where only speed (of both movement and killing) is the only option to progress. Problem with POE 2 is that it made just a shy step towards that and then threw in all old systems and mechanics, most of which simply don't fit the new vision. But this is a question though, if this ever WAS a vision. Maybe not and GGG doesn't really want to change something fundamentally. If that's the case, then we'll get POE1 copypaste in the end and you will be happy (perhaps).

I would be genuinely shocked if a single Poe player wants poe2 to be a ‘copy’ of Poe.
What we want and afaik were promised was an equally fun and rewarding experience with a more mechanical set of bosses and less speed.
What we got is far too close to Poe, as fast, mechanics n bosses you barely see due to dmg output, and honestly less fun and nearly no reward.
Still playing? Yes…know why I am bothering? Not a clue.

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jollydiablo#0370 wrote:

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?

No, that doesn't mean that new players can't have an opinion.
It means that old players have already experienced all these ‘flaws’ in POE1 and know that the players who stay, don't stay for Ruthless.
It means that players who haven't played POE1 can't make a comparison at all, how could they?

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jollydiablo#0370 wrote:

You want a bigger skill tree

This sentence alone shows me that new players like you don't understand comparisons.
Nobody wants a ‘bigger tree’.
Read my text again.
I'm talking about the quality of the nodes. Lack of creative possibilities.
Read again

[Removed by Support]

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Kaukus1#7461 wrote:

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jollydiablo#0370 wrote:

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?

No, that doesn't mean that new players can't have an opinion.
It means that old players have already experienced all these ‘flaws’ in POE1 and know that the players who stay, don't stay for Ruthless.
It means that players who haven't played POE1 can't make a comparison at all, how could they?

"

jollydiablo#0370 wrote:

You want a bigger skill tree

This sentence alone shows me that new players like you don't understand comparisons.
Nobody wants a ‘bigger tree’.
Read my text again.
I'm talking about the quality of the nodes. Lack of creative possibilities.
Read again


It is mostly people with such accounts who shoot against and hate POE1

Truly baffles me that players (from that profile it’s clear, never even finished act 1 in 12 years) that disliked Poe that much would have even tried poe2 tbh
“Hate sci-fi so much I never finished original star wars but I’ll give phantom menace a go” lol

I think that in your post there is my whole experience in PoE.
I'm not a huge Arpg fan, and I've tried out PoE1 only recently as I always felt that it was "too much." There were too many mechanics, events, and stats, and there was no way for me to play without having to watch hours of guides or tens of threads about "how to do X, how to do Y".

With PoE 2 instead, there is much more handholding and far fewer mechanics so as a new player I'm not overwhelmed. But the price for introducing simplicity shouldn't be removing depth from everything.

1 - I'm absolutely in favor of adding Ms as an implicit to boots. You can have the most perfectly rolled boots, but without the MS they are just trash. GL having to run around maps without 30% MS, you'll spend much more backtracking than fighting.

2 - This I think is very much related to optimization and "crafting". How can you personalize your build if the itemization is basically gacha-gambling ever since act 1?

3 - The charms mechanic IMO has 2 problems: 1) is that +2 charms is a relatively rare fix that needs to be gambled, so most people won't ever have more than the initial slot (unlike Poe1 where you had all 5 slots unlocked by the time you reached endgame) 2) that it's a way for apologists to forgive the constant freezes/stuns in endgame. There is basically no other charm to use besides stun/freeze/rarity atm.

4 - There is no crafting atm in PoE 2, it's just gambling. Rolling a great piece of gear doesn't reward your knowledge of the game, it's just "oh yes, I pulled the Exalted/chaos lever enough times so that this slot machine rewarded me a good piece". In Poe1, you had to envision what a particular piece of equipment could become after crafting, giving you a lot of satisfaction when you fully realized it.

5 - Nothing more to add.

6 - The skill tree is basically as wide as the sea, but as deep as a pond. Out of the hundreds of nodes, there are about 15 build-defining ones. Everything else is just either +10 damage/+10 resist or the better +20 damage -5 atk speed.

7 - I don't mind the gem system in PoE2, I just wish there were ways to upgrade gems (like a recipe, similar to maps) or ways to revert them to uncut gems to incentivize trying out new skills even in the earlygame.

8 - I don't mind a moderate-length campaign, but I also don't have the experience of replaying it over and over again with each league.

9 - I laugh whenever I see that 80% of the trade chat messages are "pay me 1/2 divines so you can skip the trials and get all 8 ascension points". I firmly believe that your main build shouldn't be locked behind a boss that certain people will burst with their 2 billion dps builds. I'm more than ok with it being part of the game and having unique drops behind it - but being a stepping stone you need to surpass to finish your build? Feels like having to kill Alduin to unlock your shouts in Skyrim.

+1

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Timbo Zero#8289 wrote:

Truly baffles me that players (from that profile it’s clear, never even finished act 1 in 12 years) that disliked Poe that much would have even tried poe2 tbh
“Hate sci-fi so much I never finished original star wars but I’ll give phantom menace a go” lol

This was billed as a different game with a different design philosophy.