How Could You!? The POE2 Skill Tree is Broken—A Step Towards Activision Design

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Frankenhooker#0737 wrote:

I am incredibly frustrated with the direction Path of Exile 2 is taking regarding the Passive Skill Tree, and I need to air this major concern.

The foundation of Path of Exile is that the Skill Tree is sacred and universal—it's the same structure for every single class, with your starting choice only determining your initial position. This design philosophy is what guarantees maximum build diversity.

However, now in POE2, if I roll a Druid, the tree is laid out one way, but if I roll a Warrior or another class, the entire structure is fundamentally different!

This is a massive restriction on player choice. It dictates where your build can go based solely on your initial class selection, effectively replacing the endless possibilities of a universal tree with pre-defined, class-specific paths. It creates the illusion of choice while forcing you into specific archetypes.

This design philosophy—controlling the player experience and limiting freedom—smells like the restrictive design of an Activision title, not the deep, complex freedom we expect from Grinding Gear Games. GGG needs to revert to the universal Passive Tree structure that is core to the identity of Path of Exile!

I am genuinely terrified by the direction this is headed in.

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EdwardReynolds#6959 wrote:

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Frankenhooker#0737 wrote:

I am incredibly frustrated with the direction Path of Exile 2 is taking regarding the Passive Skill Tree, and I need to air this major concern.

The foundation of Path of Exile is that the Skill Tree is sacred and universal—it's the same structure for every single class, with your starting choice only determining your initial position. This design philosophy is what guarantees maximum build diversity.

However, now in POE2, if I roll a Druid, the tree is laid out one way, but if I roll a Warrior or another class, the entire structure is fundamentally different!

This is a massive restriction on player choice. It dictates where your build can go based solely on your initial class selection, effectively replacing the endless possibilities of a universal tree with pre-defined, class-specific paths. It creates the illusion of choice while forcing you into specific archetypes.

This design philosophy—controlling the player experience and limiting freedom—smells like the restrictive design of an Activision title, not the deep, complex freedom we expect from Grinding Gear Games. GGG needs to revert to the universal Passive Tree structure that is core to the identity of Path of Exile!

I am genuinely terrified by the direction this is headed in.

Its only different around the start areas as far as ive seen. Like the witch and sorc start in the same place. Like it doesnt make sense for the sorc to have minion buffs there, right? Like the first 10 nodes or so. Its really not much.

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Selexx2000#5717 wrote:

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EdwardReynolds#6959 wrote:

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Frankenhooker#0737 wrote:

I am incredibly frustrated with the direction Path of Exile 2 is taking regarding the Passive Skill Tree, and I need to air this major concern.

The foundation of Path of Exile is that the Skill Tree is sacred and universal—it's the same structure for every single class, with your starting choice only determining your initial position. This design philosophy is what guarantees maximum build diversity.

However, now in POE2, if I roll a Druid, the tree is laid out one way, but if I roll a Warrior or another class, the entire structure is fundamentally different!

This is a massive restriction on player choice. It dictates where your build can go based solely on your initial class selection, effectively replacing the endless possibilities of a universal tree with pre-defined, class-specific paths. It creates the illusion of choice while forcing you into specific archetypes.

This design philosophy—controlling the player experience and limiting freedom—smells like the restrictive design of an Activision title, not the deep, complex freedom we expect from Grinding Gear Games. GGG needs to revert to the universal Passive Tree structure that is core to the identity of Path of Exile!

I am genuinely terrified by the direction this is headed in.

Its only different around the start areas as far as ive seen. Like the witch and sorc start in the same place. Like it doesnt make sense for the sorc to have minion buffs there, right? Like the first 10 nodes or so. Its really not much.

He is talking about the new druid ascendacy

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ahearn#5968 wrote:

The only reason i can think of them trying to go to this insane balance is that they plan to put in pvp and are using AI to balance stuff for this. I bet they have a ton of crazy stuff planned, it looked like they wanted swords in this patch and a number of other things but it fell short.