Trial of Sehkemas (2) - Message to developer team.

Dear Developer/Team,

First of all, I want to express my appreciation for the work you’ve done on POE2. As a passionate fan of your aRPGs, I’ve spent countless hours enjoying the fluid combat and thrilling encounters your game offers. It’s clear that a lot of thought and care has gone into designing a game that rewards creativity, adaptability, and moment-to-moment decision-making.

However, I wanted to share some thoughts on the "no-hit" mechanic from Trial of Sehkemas, as I believe it introduces a challenge that conflicts with the core design philosophy of the game.

The hack-and-slash/aRPG genre thrives on frenetic, fast-paced action where players are encouraged to take risks, push their limits, and embrace the chaos of combat. The satisfaction comes from weaving through enemies, trading blows strategically, and recovering from mistakes in a high-pressure environment. By introducing a "no-hit" mechanic, the emphasis shifts from dynamic combat to perfectionism, penalizing players for engaging fully with the system you’ve built. This shift undermines the core appeal of the genre by discouraging experimentation and aggressive playstyles, which are often key to the game's identity.

Additionally, such a mechanic disproportionately favors evasive playstyles, limiting player agency and creativity. It forces players to prioritize avoidance over engagement, which can feel counterintuitive and frustrating in a game that otherwise encourages bold and inventive combat strategies. While challenge is an essential part of any good game, challenges should align with the spirit of the gameplay rather than introduce constraints that feel at odds with it.

I truly believe that feedback like this stems from a place of passion and admiration for your work. Perhaps this mechanic could be reimagined as an optional mode or a modifier for players seeking additional difficulty, rather than being integrated into core progression or mandatory challenges. This would preserve the spirit of the game while catering to players who enjoy this style of challenge.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this feedback. I have faith that your commitment to your community and your game’s design will lead to thoughtful adjustments that keep POE2 as enjoyable and engaging as POE.

My understanding is that Sekhema trial isn't meant for every playstyle and that's why we also have Chaos trial, which, last I played, is overtuned. Perhaps, Chaos trial is a viable alternative to the builds that require to be hit to function once it's retuned appropriately.

"It forces players to prioritize avoidance over engagement..."

I actually think you make a good point for the majority of players in that the style of the trial ends up detracting from the tactical combat they're encouraging since people end up playing scared which probably isn't ideal, however I think the recent patch change for +35% honour resistance at close range is intended to help with this.

I think ultimately this trial will benefit from continued development towards the meta-progression style of getting better relics that give you interesting and perhaps unique boons to help you complete the trial. Right now it's mostly just stacking honour resistance and max honour, but I think this could be more unique.

I actually like the honour system, and have even completed it on an auto-attack only Warrior in melee as a limit test.

The other thing that I think people keep forgetting is that eventually there will be 4 trials, all of which you can choose to do all your ascendancy points at --- so while right now you've got two options, later on you can just skip the honour trial entirely. We don't have to eliminate the honour system or nerf it into irrelevance, just because it's hard right now (but thats my opinion).