Spooky's Play Diary - Monk

It would not surprise me if GGG has completely given up on the forums ever providing useful feedback, given how the most popular threads are subjective screeching with the word "objective" and ad hominems sprinkled liberally.

In case they haven't, I thought I would document my feedback as a PoE player and a QA tester on PoE 2 early access. First I'll provide some context as to my playstyle and experience level, so my feedback can be weighted appropriately.

Experience
* ~ 1,100 hours in PoE
* Done all Pinnacle bosses at least once
* Never finished an Uber boss, got absolutely bodied by Uber Eater when I tried
* Never played Dark Souls, Elden Ring, or Bloodborne

Playstyle
* Full clear; enjoy fully exploring each area
* Alt-a-holic; Excited about alternate build ideas
* Scenic route; Enjoys playing combat rather than breezing past it

This post will be for an Elemental monk.

ACT I

Time: 7.5 hours

Play:
* Quarterstaff, upgraded every 7 levels or so
* Basic Attack is primary ability
* Killing Palm as gap closer and for Power Charges
* Falling Thunder to clear large groups
* Frozen Locus to get breathing room when swarmed

Commendations
+ Skill tutorials are fantastic
++++ Melee Splash on Basic Attack has cleared my skin and watered my crops
+ Soundtrack is jaw-dropping (Please put on Spotify so I can use it in my D&D games)
+ Combo abilities are super fun, feels way less monotonous than the encouraged playstyle of PoE
+ Gold feels much better than wisdom scraps

Suggestions
- Enemy clarity sometimes lacking, even in areas where that doesn't seem to be the goal
- Clicking 'Continue' on journals stops audio, while spacebar lets it keep going; it would be nice if either option allowed audio to keep playing
- Specular highlights in beginning areas are a little distracting
- Ground effects aren't super clear (Devourer fight)
- Devourer fight could use better telegraphing of one-shot abilities
- Character spinning to follow cursor looks pretty goofy
- "Man, fuck these bottles"; the character breaking jars/pots with their mind just by staring at them, breaks the immersion a little 😂
- It would be nice to have a keyboard shortcut to equip item at cursor (Shift Click, etc)
- Some boss abilities can't actually be dodged with the dodge roll (Lachlann's "My rage burns" double slam), which feels frustrating
- Disenchanting and Salvaging highlight valid items in different ways, which is confusing
- It would be nice if checkpoints were distributed a little more evenly throughout areas, so that we can get back to objectives after fully exploring

Possible Bugs
* Character model jitters when caught between enemies in terrain, especially noticeable in underground passage
* Player repeats "There's the obelisk!" line when returning to Red Vale via portal, even though there's no nearby obelisks or if all the obelisks are completed
* The "Hold Alt to Compare an Item to Equipped Counterpart" loading screen tip is incorrect, the default binding is Shift
* Prompting Una to sing a song after returning her lute closes the dialog, but no audio or chat happens to indicate that she's singing
* Monster replay death animation and sound when returning to Freythorn via portal
* Ground textures stretched over the raised walls in Freythorn disrupt immersion
* Enemies get stuck in corners behind dead farm animals in Ogham Farmlands
* Quest icon for Leitlis appears on the minimap at the gallows even after she's returned to the village
* Can't enter Manor from Ogham Village
* Finn can always be summoned to the Ritual Altar in Hunting Grounds, even after the Freythorn quest has been completed

Deaths
* Devourer: 4
* Draven: 1
* Lachlann: 3
* Hunting Grounds Rares: 5
* Executioner: 2
* Ogham Village Rares: 2
* Manor Ramparts Rares: 2
* Ogham Manor Rares: 1
* Geonor: 1

Keeping track of deaths seems like a good way of gauging difficulty relative to player level and skill, and GGG can use those data points to decide whether to make things harder/easier from there.

Unmentioned bosses/areas had no deaths.

On to Act 2