Im not playing Poe2

Well someone's on a forum any% speedrun. Is that a new record?

Edit: If you are going to quote an article, at least quote the original not the slop journalism that is reporting on another outlet's reporting. The original interview was held with IGN (source).

IGN is asking about Diablo IV's troubles and what separates PoE2 from D4. This is the relevant portion:

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"They certainly have a lot more around like cool down rotations and things like that, but also just the more open world design and that kind of thing," Rogers said. "Whereas we're going more in the kind of like Elden Ring sort of direction. It's much more action-focused, but with a sort of hardcore bent."

So not only did you cite the wrong source, you also misquoted (intentionally?) what the article says. He's talking about how D4 is open world design and skills being designed around cooldowns, and because they are comparing games between each other he's referencing the action-based comabt in a game like Elden Ring. He doesn't say "we looked at that and we wanted that for our game" he's using it for comparison's sake.

The development of PoE2 began around 2018, 4 years before Elden Ring was even released. Your timelines don't even match up.

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nagisanzeninzz#2697 wrote:

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ArtCrusade#4438 wrote:

The ARPG genre name is deceptive and indescriptive. Hell, even RPG as a genre name is misleading in a lot of cases, or at least used inflationary.

I went through this with @nagisanzeninzz before and he received a ton of ridicule from others for the "PoE2 = Dark Souls" assertion. Let's end this debate once and for all because it's getting annoying:

Soulslike games have high difficulty and punishing deaths. You are not able to overcome enemies and bosses unless you use clear knowledge of their movesets and abilities. Until you master these encounters, death is frequent and setbacks happen until you learn from your mistakes.

Combat is slow and methodical, and always stamina-based. Other resources like health or mana / energy are limited and only reset upon reaching a checkpoint, or naturally through further progression (see Elden Ring and the way how flasks recharge through defeating an entire group of enemies in the overworld).

That means resource-management is mandatory and just mashing buttons leads to defeat.

Soulslikes also put heavy emphasis on exploration and world design, with many secrets and pathways being hidden away. You find none of these elements in PoE.

Even if you only focus on the combat aspects of Dark Souls and other games from the Soulslike genre, the only overlap you can find and point to is the dodge roll, and that one wasn't even invented by Dark Souls. It's a ridiculous statement that can only be made if you make the shallowest of observations while ignoring all the other elements of the game.

*Yawn*

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In an interview with IGN, Path of Exile 2's director, Jonathan Rogers, explained that the game deliberately avoids an MMO structure reminiscent of the solutions from Diablo IV. Instead, it will follow the path of Elden Ring and will bet on a more "hardcore flair" .

"It [Diablo - ed. note] certainly has a lot of advantages, such as cooldowns, rotations and the like, but also just more open world design and that kind of thing. We, on the other hand, are going more in the direction of Elden Ring. We're much more action-focused, but with some hardcore flair," the developer explained.

Source: https://www.gamepressure.com/newsroom/path-of-exile-2-more-like-elden-ring-than-diablo-4/ze5c42

Exactly what I said already. Elden Ring was the worst what could happen to the development of PoE2. It drawed so many tourists into souls, who never played them before and acted like veterans after their spirits carried them through the game.

Anyways, Elden Ring is indefinitely better than PoE2, like in any kind of measurable metric

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

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ArtCrusade#4438 wrote:

The reason why I am refuting it so vehemently is that assertions like that create false expectations who want a skill-first, loot-light experience. Those people will have a bad time with PoE2.

I don't think most people will come to those specific forum threads to build their expectations. More realistically, they will watch somebody else showcase it on YouTube/Twitch/whatever, watch the trailer, maybe read a few reddit posts and Steam reviews, then hop into the game and have their face pushed in. Then they either stay or leave.

What I don't understand is why GGG decided to double down on PoE 2's complexity, making it even more obfuscated than PoE 1, a game already notorious for its "complexity", and then again doubling down by changing mechanics that were already established in the first game. Not only does it make it more difficult for newcomers to google the mechanics or remember them when they play vice versa, but it also makes it annoying for a long time player like me to have to re-learn the mechanics and not get them confused with either game.

That's a topic that could use some of that energy you are spending on someone who will have no relevant impact on a new player's experience. Let them preach, who cares, people will never read those threads because they won't even pop up on Google for them.

The funniest thing about this whole broad line of argumentation that most people post as "PoE2 isn't a PoE game" is, it's only PoE players who are struggling. Literally every single person I know who plays PoE2 but not PoE1 had zero trouble clearing the campaign, even in the first EA release, they're already in maps after the first weekend of 0.4, etc; they're having a great time.

It's only this community, the players numbed by a decade of PoE1 getting easier and easier and easier with every single league, who talk about how impossible it is to finish the Trial of the Sekhemas, beat the act 2 boss, and so forth.

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate#2605 wrote:

It's only this community, the players numbed by a decade of PoE1 getting easier and easier and easier with every single league, who talk about how impossible it is to finish the Trial of the Sekhemas, beat the act 2 boss, and so forth.

Awful take. The early game is terribly balanced, it largely depends on what skill and class you pick and what items you get early on, and enemies all hit like a truck. Massive difference between a lvl 1 spell with no damage on your wand and a wand that flat out gives a sizeable chunk of Spell Damage and some form of Mana recovery. If RNG screws you over here (unless there's a vendor recipe I'm unaware of), you will have a much worse time. And there's a big gap in skill performance overall. Unless this was nerfed since I last played it, SRS was unironically faster to level with on a Warrior than actual Warrior skills, despite no Minion scaling on the tree, up until like early to mid Act 2, lmao.

Not to mention that skills cost a lot of Mana early on, and for some ungodly reason, you are better off using weapon skills to kill things because it's more effective and efficient. Boneblast being one of them. Why waste time with Rolling Slam in the tutorial area when you can just mace attack the boss to death (and faster)? The fact that this is even a thing should tell you that the design approach failed at the most basic level.

Trials of Sekhema is more annoying than essentially difficult, as you will most likely get chunked by stray hits rather than failing the mechanics. That is what makes it "difficult". Such peak design, filling trap rooms with mobs that shoot at you from range, constantly forcing you to dodge projectiles and AoE spam galore. And basing it all on a completely separate defense mechanic you have to scale first before you can even properly engage with it. Unironically, I find Ultimatum easier to deal with. And I never touch that in PoE 1.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

Awful take. The early game is terribly balanced... (edited for length)

No, the game just isn't balanced around zero skill gameplay like we have in PoE1. Your mobility options are FAR superior to those in the first game; it's hard to overstate how powerful the ability to attack while moving is as a defensive tool in every character's kit. You aren't SUPPOSED to stand still getting hit, that's why enemies deal more damage compared to their PoE1 counterparts. It's a deliberate balance choice, and a necessary one; if we had PoE2 style movement in the first game, there is literally no content in the game that would not be laughably easy.

And re: rolling slam vs basic attacks in the first area as warrior... did it just never occur to you that you're supposed to be using BOTH skills?

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate#2605 wrote:

And re: rolling slam vs basic attacks in the first area as warrior... did it just never occur to you that you're supposed to be using BOTH skills?

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Your "point" misses the mark so badly you accidentally shot the neighbour 3 blocks down.

There's no point in using both, as there's no synergy between them. Literally just use any other Slam skill and you won't die to mobs pummeling you while you charge up your skill. It's ironic how you try to piss on everyone else but completely failed to consider the alternative.

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate#2605 wrote:

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Totally agree. Some players, especially newer ones, are just spoiled by the current stage of PoE1, which lets you trivialize everything without trying thanks to a decade of player power bloat.

Naturally, PoE2, despite being fairly new player friendly and easier to pick up, feels “unbalanced” to those players who only experienced PoE1 during its bloated days. Things like the Affliction League and the overall power creep in PoE1 make them assume that anything less trivial must be unbalanced. In reality, PoE1 is the game that is unbalanced, but in the sense of being bloated with too much player power. Early PoE1 had a similar feeling to the PoE2 campaign, but newer players won’t realize that because they simply lack the experience.

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate#2605 wrote:

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Totally agree.

I second that.

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Celestriad#0304 wrote:

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate#2605 wrote:

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Totally agree.

I second that.

I'll add just my 2 cents ("just" but to some 2 seems to be "many") - that is 100% case here.

I think what's important with these PoE2 debates is that there's a difference between opinion and fact, and some of us would do well to remember that what we feel might be different from what others feel.

It's totally fair to not like Trials of the Sekhema, or not be a fan of slower paced combat, or not liking builds that require more than 1 button to play. Not okay to decree that the standard that other people or even the game ought to adhere to.