Average Joe Feedback

What do I mean by “Average Joe”?

I tried playing a little bit of PoE1 but quickly realized I was too late to the party to fully understand all the systems and possibilities the game has to offer, so I never pursued it further. Still, I appreciated the depth the game offered and really enjoyed the lore and overall feel. When PoE2 was released, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to start fresh and learn from scratch. In short: I’m not someone who farms 200 Divs a day, blitzes through all the content in two days, or is mechanically gifted enough to compensate for bad gear – I’m just your regular, passionate player.
Before diving in, I want to give a huge compliment for your hard work. It’s obvious how much care and effort goes into the game, and I truly appreciate it – I think most of the community feels the same. Of course, gamers complain a lot, but that’s usually because we’re passionate. We invest so much time in your world that our emotions sometimes take over. Here’s my experience in 0.3 as an “Average Joe,” along with some suggestions to improve the game further.

1) Leveling

I really enjoyed the Acts – especially Act 4 – and the transitions felt very smooth. The story kept me hooked, and I’m excited to see where it goes next. The Interludes did their job well, and honestly, I was relieved not to repeat the first three Acts again.

Improvements:

- Some bosses feel slightly off. For example, the Siren in the Cave has too little uptime for damage, which felt frustrating. The slow walk to the Interlude 2 boss can get annoying after multiple runs. Skipping intro dialogues after the first attempt would keep the pacing tighter (though the voice lines are epic).

- Some reward markers on the map seem buggy, leaving you unsure if you picked them up.

- Campaign rewards for alts: I don’t mind replaying with strong gear, but repeating things like the Lightning Resistance quest in Act 2 or finding the Abyss entrance again feels more tedious than fun. Boss kills for passives and loot feel rewarding – but repeating resistance quests does not.

2) Endgame

The introduction to Expedition and Delirium in Act 4 felt great – I hope you do the same for Breach. Your changes to endgame progression gave me the confidence to try bosses without major punishment. The difficulty curve also felt fair, and I immediately knew whether I was strong enough for higher-tier bosses.

Suggestions:

- A “300 Shard” Uber variant of bosses would be an awesome challenge for players with great gear and would give shards more value.
- Some areas in the Delirium Event feel far too small, making dodging almost impossible. Chest placement is also awkward and should be improved.
- Fog visibility (e.g., on “Decay Map”) often makes it very hard to see ground effects, which leads to confusing deaths.
- Abyss is an amazing addition, both for feel and crafting options, but Invitation rewards feel underwhelming.
- Desecration of Waystones lacks clarity – better tooltips would help. It would be great to know how Desecration impacts Waystones in terms of Rarity, Pack Size, and other effects.
- Please remove the lying-on-the-floor animation when entering Depths, as it unnecessarily interrupts the flow.

3) Crafting

Crafting feels like it took a huge step forward. Omens combined with Essences and Abyss open up tons of possibilities. It gives average players new ways to improve gear and generate steady income, rather than relying on a lucky drop. This was one of my favorite changes – it feels great to progress without being “ultra-rich” or feeling inadequate for content that contains the main currency-generating items.

Tweaks:

- Some slots feel too deterministic to craft (e.g., boots with defensive mods, necks with +spell skills). For example adding hybrid mods on boots could help balance this.
- The Recombinator has potential but often feels like a coin flip. Maybe add more ways to influence outcomes, for example by allowing higher-value currency to improve success chances.
- Expedition NPCs are useful early but fall off later. Options like “bribing” for better rolls or a premium corner with higher ilvl items for “wealthy” players could give expedition currency more value.
- Exceptional items: sockets > quality. Finding a 22% quality item feels disappointing compared to a double-socket item. A balancing solution would be appreciated.

4) Trading

The new trading system is a game changer. Having so many items available, even for players with small budgets, makes the game feel more accessible. Being able to stash items, log out, and cash in later is a huge QoL boost – big thumbs up for this change. It also increased the total number of items on the market, which is a great addition. This makes testing new builds far easier and more affordable

Improvements:

- In-game search is a great feature, but filters disappear once you enter a hideout. Saving filters would be a big QoL improvement.
- An in-game log of the sold items would also be greatly appreciated

5) Mapping

The changes to Tablets and Towers feel like a step in the right direction. Clusters were fun, but your new approach looks more promising.
Suggestions:

- Consider map juicing via materials. For example, adding Breach shards to the device could buff Breach mobs (like the difference between 50 vs 100 shard Xesht) and increase the drop rate of Breach Rings or Catalysts. Ritual materials could increase chances for omens or spawn more rare monsters. Expedition materials could influence logbook drops or the number of runic monsters. This would give excess materials more value and let players either take on higher risk for greater rewards or exchange the materials for currency.

6) Quality of Life

- Atlas navigation: start location and realmgate buttons are too hidden. Floating buttons on the side would improve usability.
- Group channel: add filters to find the right group (e.g., Tier 10 maps).
- Inventory: a one-click auto-sort would be amazing.
- Group loot: maybe introduce specific group loot options for Pugs

7) Performance

- Party play suffers from visual clutter – disabling ally spell effects would improve visibility and performance.
- Faster corpse despawn would also help.

Conclusion

These are just my impressions as a regular player, but what really stood out to me was how much smoother this season felt compared to previous ones. I actually felt excited to explore, experiment, and make progress – without ever feeling punished or stuck. Personally, this was my most successful season so far, in terms of goals, gear, level, and overall progression. I’m genuinely looking forward to 0.4 and all the new changes it will bring!

good post.

+1 fantastic points