Controversial Opinion: I like the endgame

To get right to it, I like the endgame. I like the endless mapping and discovery aspect of the system. I like clearing the fog of war and seeing some interesting node. I want to explore and interact with interesting content and this system has so much promise to allow for that. For instance, last night I uncovered a “Moment of Zen” node and “Untainted Paradise” and was excited about both. I want more of that please.

The endgame has so much potential for growth and is such a blank slate. I’d really love GGG to take that and run with it.

Suggestions would be:

I’d really like it if there were puzzles revolving around the towers. I spent several hours taking screen shots of corpses and my atlas to see if the bodies meant anything. I had a blast trying to sus out if there was something there or not. It would be great if this was a feature and was added to periodically so that there are still things to find even after the player base has figured out most of the secrets. (So far, it doesn’t look like the corpses indicate anything but there have been a few times I did wonder if I was onto something involving nodes.)

It would be great to have four towers on the map with a subtle clue indicating that there is something different about them and where their medians cross there is a node that does something unexpected. For instance, a kill arena that you have to survive in for so long and rewards you with a non-transferrable hideout trophy and you can collect x-many pieces for a totem or something.

I’d love to find more special nodes. Maybe a precursor encounter of some kind, or an ancient Vaal deity, or something lore related. They don’t even have to be aspirational bosses or drop fragments for anything. Although it might be nice if they did have the potential to drop something unique in them.

I’d love to see little stories told on the nodes, like finding the circus Tibbs belonged to and having to protect it. They don’t need to be a super frequent occurrence, just something that shows up and rewards you with an exciting experience for exploring the atlas.

I’m not presently concerned about the “blank” nodes of the atlas, it’s early access. My assumption is those nodes will eventually be filled with league content as time progresses and I’m fine with that. I’d rather have room for the POE 2 atlas to collect league content of its own than have a bunch of content from POE 1 put in right now. I’m also not concerned with drop rates, boss nodes, IIR, or how frequently citadels show up. Those are all things I think GGG will address as they continue to work on POE 2.