Feeback: Overall thoughts on POE 2 Experience.

Hello GGG team,

Welcome back from the holidays! I’ve been reflecting on my experience with Path of Exile 2 and wanted to share some thoughts. There’s so much potential in what you’re building, but I feel the game struggles to maintain a clear identity throughout its progression.

PoE2’s Identity and Boss Fights as an Anchor

For me, PoE2’s distinct identity was clear in Act 1: slower, methodical gameplay with deliberate combat pacing. This drew me in and excited me about a different kind of ARPG experience. However, as I progressed through the campaign and into endgame, this identity seemed to fade. By the endgame, the experience felt much closer to PoE1, with fast-paced combat, high-damage enemies, and a reliance on overwhelming offence to succeed.

One of the key reasons I was excited about PoE2 was the potential for meaningful, drawn-out boss fights. I want bosses to feel like a culmination of the game’s mechanics—a 5-7 minute duel that tests skill, patience, and understanding of the fight. Count Geonor was a fantastic example of what this could look like, but I found myself disappointed later on as bosses with great mechanics were often obliterated in seconds.

This is such a massive shame, especially because PoE2 has the potential to create an experience that differentiates itself from PoE1 or any other aRPG. For me, boss fights like these could serve as the anchor point for the entire game’s design—a way to maintain the slower, methodical feel while rewarding players with intense, skillful encounters that stand apart from the chaos of the rest of the ARPG genre.

I understand this is a tough ask, but I believe it’s achievable. Boss fights like Count Geonor show what’s possible, and I think this approach could define PoE2 as something truly special.


Other Concerns from My Playthrough

Ascendancies Feel Underwhelming: Ascendancy nodes were challenging to unlock, particularly with trials tied to Sanctum and Ultimatum mechanics. However, the rewards didn’t feel worth the effort.
Suggestion: Consider rebalancing the power level of ascendancy nodes to make them feel impactful. Alternatively, simplify the trials or provide incremental rewards that make the process feel more rewarding.

Melee Struggles: Melee gameplay felt frustrating, with clunky targeting and punishing encounters. It felt disproportionately weaker than ranged options and lacked the tools to thrive in faster-paced scenarios.
Suggestion: Focus on improving melee targeting and mobility while tuning enemy mechanics to better support melee playstyles. This could include reducing reliance on excessive enemy movement speed and burst damage.

Defense Imbalances: Energy Shield felt far too strong compared to other defensive mechanics, which left many builds leaning on offence-first strategies, undermining the tactical gameplay I hoped for.
Suggestion: Revisit the power disparity between defensive mechanics to encourage diverse and viable build options. For example, bolster armour and evasion while adding engaging mechanics to balance their usability.

Crafting Accessibility: Crafting felt locked behind the endgame, leaving early and midgame progression overly reliant on RNG drops or trade. This lack of crafting options hurt my sense of agency and progression.
Suggestion: Introduce more accessible and deterministic crafting tools in the early and midgame to give players more control over their gear.

Visual Clarity Issues: The game’s incredible visuals sometimes worked against it. On-death effects and certain mechanics were hard to see or react to due to environmental camouflage.
Suggestion: Enhance the visual clarity of dangerous mechanics and telegraphs without sacrificing the game’s aesthetic. Clearer contrasts and improved animations for on-death effects could make all the difference.

Boss Fight Inconsistencies: While Count Geonor was a standout, fights like the Titan and Blackjaw felt unfair, with oversized hitboxes and buggy mechanics that made the experience frustrating rather than rewarding.
Suggestion: Review and polish problematic boss mechanics and hitboxes to ensure fights feel fair and rewarding. Bringing more encounters to Count Geonor’s level of quality could elevate the experience across the board.

Endgame Death Penalties: The current endgame penalty of losing the map and 10-15% experience feels overly punishing. For me, it completely undermined the endgame experience, discouraging experimentation and forcing a reliance on overpowered meta builds just to mitigate the risk of failure. The irony here is that GGG has expressed a desire for players to avoid picking skills solely because they feel “necessary,” yet this punishing penalty achieves the opposite effect. It funnels players into the strongest, safest builds and discourages creative or experimental choices.
Suggestion: Consider softening the death penalty. Losing something is fair, but the current punishment feels excessive and stifles creativity. A more balanced approach might encourage players to experiment with diverse builds and mechanics, rather than gravitating toward the strongest options.

Closing Thoughts
PoE2’s potential is immense, and I want it to succeed as a game that stands apart from PoE1. For me, the slower, deliberate gameplay and meaningful boss fights are the heart of what could make PoE2 unique.

I trust in the incredible dedication and talent of the GGG team, and I know you’re committed to delivering the best possible experience for players. I hope this feedback is helpful as you continue to refine the game—I’m excited to see how PoE2 evolves in the coming months.

Thank you for all your hard work and for your passion—it’s what makes Path of Exile such a remarkable series.

HappyZulu

Agree

I agree for the crafting mechanics. It needs a revision/overhaul and it absolutely needs to be unlocked much earlier.

I also miss early 4-5-6 link skills/spells

Agree 100%.
Comprehensive and thoughtfully well-written critical insights.

Grenor is a great example.

Endgame is a borefest of doing the same thing over and over. I am at level 82 and I am just kinda.. over it. Especially when you throw in tedious stuff like having to worry about getting high enough waystones or you have to run lower level maps for no reason.

I can already pretty consistently blow through T16 maps and leveling is slow enough, having to lower it just to mindlessly blow up mobs and get close to no experience is lame. The only time I die is due to the piss poor dodge mechanic. I love starting an altar or breach and things just spawn directly on me and I am not allowed to move or dodge through enemies.

I bought the game on Steam, it's been great but i wanted to upgrade/buy the upper DLC but it's not up for sale individually, and i don't want to upgrade from the site because the pricing is different, on steam it's MENA pricing


So Please GGG add MENA pricing on Steam for buying in-game Coins and the ability to buy higher DLC packs separately

Thank you for the great game

The currently broken builds and mechanics definitely needs to be nerfed & fixed. In upcoming bigger patch if not doing it now. If you playing a actual "normal" build, the gameplay definitely is slow and not killing boss with 1 hit.

If a game at early alpha/beta already broken by broken builds, imagine what happens in the next few years... Can't totally blame the dev in this case, the game is just having too much mechanics to check through, and sometime gamers are just being way too smart. I watch some video about those broken stuff and I had none of the brain-cell to even understand all the mathematics and shits. How are people even able to figure those things out...

Honestly, to not ruin your own experience and expectation, please refrain from using those broken mechanics.

I don't necessarily agree with everything, but I wanted to thank you for actually giving some proper feedback. You clearly thought about it, you didn't get personal towards the developers and you suggested solutions to the problems you experienced. All in short sections. If all feedback was like yours, the discussions on this forum would be so much more civil and the devs would get way more valuable feedback.

Without a doubt the best feedback post on this forum to date.