New to PoE2, Warrior feedback from interview today

Picked up PoE2 EA at launch to give it a try since I've not really played any ARPG since Grim Dawn years back. Even that was around 80h so not exactly a lot.

Currently L95 Titan Warrior. Doing fine for the most part. Maps aren't generally much of an issue unless I do something stupid; so this isn't about 1-portal or even XP loss, etc. 300+ hours played, so clearly I'm having fun.

My take away was that Jonathan seemed to believe that Warrior Mace was fine. No planned changes at this time, and its performing how they like. He really seemed to dislike the idea of big bleed HotG, but more on this later. Mark seemed to grasp that Warrior was towards the bottom overall which was good to hear at least.

However, it seems any big balancing happens only during a new league. Which makes sense if you are going to nerf something, but less so if you are going to buff something? So, if I am understanding this right, attack animations being so slow we have to mace strike so we can actually dodge stuff is OK, wind-up speeds being unaffected by attack/skill speed is OK, and overall being just generally weaker than the rest is OK for now. Because a handful of people can get lucky with a big bleed HotG on end bosses things are...fine. Based on the tone of Jonathan's comments on HoTG I'm fully expecting a nerf here, which leaves us with perfect strike I guess as our only option for any ability that does meaningful damage?

When the next league drops, most people will be playing there. So time to roll a new character. Why would I pick Warrior again? Devs seem entirely fine with the state of things, so it will be...fine...again?

Is the "correct" way of playing PoE to just wait a week or so after a league drops to see what classes can do endgame stuff with an average amount of skill? Or play a bit but don't over commit since you may have to re-roll if you picked something weak for that league?

Just seems wild to me that apparently no real tuning will happen mid-league outside of clear exploits. So weak choices will remain week for the entire time of it and overly strong stuff will remain broken the entire time.

Again, relatively new to the game. Maybe this is all "PoE things" that I'm just learning. Really enjoying the core parts of it and the stuff in the new patch looks good. Just have some concerns that when the next league drops, I shouldn't over-commit until the meta settles down so I don't end up devoting hundreds of hours in something that won't see any fixes or tuning for the entire life of the league.

TLDR: Devs didn't seem to think Mace Warrior had much to be tackled. Came across somewhat dismissive of the question entirely. Concerns from a new player who picked Warrior. :)

That "yeah, I guess it is the worst at literally everything" comment felt painful to hear. Like it was news to him. How?

Is bleed HoTG really that big of an outlier compared to any of the other boss-killers anyway? It seemed like it was one of the few strong things they had first hand experience with. Not enough to know that bleed won't apply against ES.

"

Spelt3r#0020 wrote:

Is bleed HoTG really that big of an outlier compared to any of the other boss-killers anyway? It seemed like it was one of the few strong things they had first hand experience with. Not enough to know that bleed won't apply against ES.

no. but it's a warrior/mace skill so must get nerfed. everything else working as intended

If you reached L95, then you pretty much "beat the game", so to speak. Those 5 extra passive points aren't going to make any real impact on your character, and at this point you're just playing the crafting game (or trading game if you're into that). You can still strive for L100, but most characters are considered "complete" anywhere from L80-90, and at that point you're just grinding to grind; that's not a bad thing, some builds are just inherently fun and entertaining. :)

As for Leagues, rolling the same character could allow you to try a different build, especially if new weapon types are released, like swords or axes; I imagine swapping between maces and axes could open up an entirely different flow to combat. Or you could pick a different Ascendancy. Or you just really enjoyed the character and you want to do it all over again (I run Claw Rangers all the time in PoE1, for example).

As for the "correct" way to play, if you're all about the meta, then it may be best to wait a few days after the release of a new league to see what the top performers are; though I'd be careful if the meta involves a new class/weapon/skill gem, as there could be unintended performance issues with those, and they'll probably be nerfed as we saw with a few combos already. To me, the "correct" way to play is to come up with a build idea and see it through, the crazier the better. :p Sometimes, they don't pan out, but as long as I'm having fun, then I'm playing the "correct" way. :D

In the end, it sounds like you're having fun, and that's all that really matters. And, generally speaking, GGG tries not to do any major balance changes in the middle of a league (buff or nerf) unless they deem it necessary. However, even though the Warrior may not get any direct buffs, if they make adjustments to armor and nerf the damage of some of the normal mobs that are dealing boss-like damage, then the Warrior is still getting buffed. ;)

To me the warrior feels incomplete, playing it to almost 90. I think maces were just put out and not much work was done on warrior - it doesn't feel as fluid as ranger, mages, or minions. We'll have to wait too on the other weapons like swords/axes to see the various arsenals that come from it. Likely they focused on 'slams' and 'aftershocks' ideas but it's pretty slow and clunky. There were a bit of bugs too with this(slams/aftershock) and I'm just rocking the bonk mace strike build - which likely going to get nerf on the weapon that does splash damage.