A Path of Exile 2 Feedback post - from the perspective of a new player

Hello fellow exiles and GGG,

So after 500+ hours in Path of Exile 2, I feel like it would be a great time to give some feedback and share my thoughts about the game.

I'm a big fan of ARPGs, but can't really brag about having thousands of hours played in the genre. I have around a 100 hours in POE 1, 700 hours in Last Epoch and perhaps a couple of hundred hours in the Diablo series combined.

I have played POE 2 since launch, only skipping 0.2 after a few hours. I've tried SSF, HC SSF and trade league with the latter being my most played league.

I was completely and utterly sucked into the world of Wraeclast at launch. I can't recall the last time a game was able to captivate me this deeply. At this point, my game knowledge was very limited and I pretty much went into it blind and tried to put together my own build, a Witchhunter blasting grenades everywhere.

In this feedback post, I want to touch upon the main aspects and issues of the game. Feel free to discuss and comment on the topics brought up here.

Gameplay feel
First of all, the gameplay, as in combat and controlling your character, is very solid and feels amazing. Combat feels both responsive and fluid. I love that you are able to move while using abilities. The skill gem system is great and easy to learn and tinker with, although you need to do a lot of reading up on the gems and synergies. This is totally fine as it adds depth to the game.

Compared to PoE 1, the gameplay in PoE 2 is far superior in terms of mechanics and how the game "plays", in my opinion. This is because we have more options during combat, as we are able to dodge roll and use skills while moving. Animations feel more smooth too. Also, combat feels very tactile and resposnive - it has a good feel when using your skills and watching monsters explode and bosses succumb.

The pacing of the game is also in a good spot right now. There are some minor aspects, specifically refering to combo skill play, where combat can feel a little tedious. Difficulty wise it could perhaps be a bit harder in the campaign, but obviously not as hard as 0.2 was.

I also want to mention boss fights - they are amazing and so well put together. Some of them are extremely creative and engaging. Apart from some of them being really overtuned in the endgame, they are great. Arbiter can be a bit annoying too, but once you learn his mechanics it gets easier.

Skill gems, Support gems, Items and Passive skill tree
Although the skill and support gems feel great to use and look fantastic, this is an apsect where the game, in its current state, is a bit lacking. I am sure that this will sort itself once more weapon types and gems gets added, which we also saw with 0.4 and the Druid - but right now there simply is not enough different skill gems and weapons. In my opinion, this somewhat limits build variety and the options available, which in turn, pushes the player towards the more obvious and stronger choices, i.e. Spark CoC Comet for casters. In addition to the lack of more options, what really make this game great is the ability to create and explore builds, broken combos and fun interactions - to me this is essential in an ARPG. I hunger for more options and more things to try!

I would love to see at least one new skill gem and support gem being added each patch to already existing weapon types and categories. I have many cool ideas for what could be added and will also make a Wishlist post for 0.5 later with ideas for the devs to consider, and for the community to discuss.

In relation to the skill tree, I sincerely enjoy that it is so vast and offers many opportunities. However, having played a few hundred hours now, it is obvious that most of our power comes from the weapon being wielded.
Here, I would like to see a bit more power in the passive tree and even more options and niche nodes. Comparing to the passive tree in PoE 1, it would be great to get Maximum Life clusters and perhaps also mastery options in the PoE 2 passive tree.

Itemization, Loot and Trade
Ooh boy, this is a way more volatile topic. I want to start off by talking a bit about my trading experience this league. As we all know, playing trade this patch became arguably harder than any previous patches because of the rampant inflation and insane farm from running snake temples.
I've seen posts mentioning that it has been the most insane levels of inflation ever seen, overshadowing any PoE 1 league too.

To me, the temple mechanic seemed boring to begin with and I didnt pay much attention to it until videos started appearing with elaborate snake-like temples being build. From here, it didnt take long before prices started going up. I believe this was where many stopped playing, including myself.

Being a dad, and therefore a somewhat more casual player, playing at most 1-2 hours on evenings during the week, and a bit more during the weekends, it seemed just completely impossible to catch up at that point.
Sure, I would have been able to do the same strategies - I should have - but it just seemed so unreachable and extremely time consuming at the time.

Perhaps I felt this way because I'm still a newbie to the game - heck, I haven't even mastered crafting yet, so there is that. But the whole temple ordeal and crazy inflation initiated a weird kind of anxiety and tiredness in me and that just made me stop playing. I must admit it made me a bit sad, as I really love this game and would have loved to be playing still. For future patches, I want to focus more on trading and be more up to date with the "better" farming mechanics - and I hope to experience these tested a bit better before launch.

After quitting the trade league, I did try a bit of HC SSF. I really enjoyed the engaging and challenging aspects of it, but in terms of itemization and loot it turned out to be less enjoyable than I thought it would. It felt way too hard to find good items and much needed crafting materials, and as most of our power comes from whatever items our character is equipped with, it became too challenging at around end of Act 3 where my character perished. I also want to add that crafting overall can be too expensive with high inflation in a trade league, while also being hard and ambiguous for new players in SSF - this combined with too few crafting materials makes it way more time consuming than trade league. I will practice more crafting in the next patch, though.

I also want to try HC SSF again in the future and it would be amazing to see SSF being buffed in terms of loot, crafting and itemization. Maybe with a mechaninc similar to The Genisis Tree in PoE 1 or Last Epoch's Circle of Fortune guild, or just buffs in general to rarity? We will have to wait and let them cook - I am sure good things are coming here.

Overall, I feel like playing trade is more suitable for me as it is obviously less time consuming than SSF. But playing trade league with rampant inflation and against trade bots flipping items, and some very skilled players with too much time on their hands, has also proven to be very draining this patch. For the future of the game I hope to see lesser levels of inflation and guard rails against exploitable mechanics revolving trade.

Campaign, World design and Lore
In relation to the campaign, I want to put it out there that I sincerely enjoy it on every playthrough. I've seen many people complain about it being too long, but in my opinion the length is just right. I cant wait to see the next acts following act IV which was incredibly well done and well put together.

Overall the world of Wraeclast feels both confident and deliberate - less like a backdrop for combat and more like a living, decaying place shaped by history and consequence. Each region has a strong identity, not just visually but also thematically. The atmosphere and props in the different biomes are original and authentic with a somewhat dark and sinister vibe, which makes the mood in the game sensational. This is perhaps also why I really enjoy the campaign - I feel like there is almost always new details in the environment to experience playing through it again.

The story and characters feel genuine with both a tragic and mysterious vibe to them. I like that dialouge is not that deep and long, but instead concise and interesting. It would be great to see and experience more lore stuff in the endgame too. Again, I can't wait for the following acts and the last parts of the story to come.

Endgame
The endgame right now seems, in my opinion, 50 % finished. Essentially, most of the assets are there, but I cant help but feel that it could better put together. I understand that designing the endgame in an ARPG is hard, since it can be incredibly difficult to avoid the repetitiveness of endlessly farming maps and the same content, over and over and over..

However, I think most of the present issues could be solved with a less elaborate and lesser tangled up atlas map with the ability to zoom further out. In addition, if GGG is able to provide the player base with 2x or 3x the amount of different endgame content to play and farm, I think PoE 2 could end up as the ARPG with best endgame ever.

We will hopefully see a serious revamp of the endgame in 0.5 and I expect there to be new and exciting mechanics and endgame content to try.

Technical and Performance issues
With the performance update in 0.4 I did experience better performance overall. But sadly, the game is still poorly optimized.

I bought a brand new rig before launch of 0.1 (RTX 4080 SUPER, 7950 X3D, 64 GB RAM) and I still experience crashes and stutters once in a while. The game "runs" well most of the time and looks gorgeous, but every time I reach close to the endgame my GPU fans start spinning at max RPM. It helps if I limit the FPS to 144, but it still goes to max RPM in some areas.
Dont know if there is a fix for this - it should be mentioned though.

Closing remarks
Despite my criticisms and the frustrations I’ve experienced this patch, I want to be very clear: Path of Exile 2 is already an incredible game with an absurd amount of potential. Few games have managed to pull me in this deeply, and even fewer ARPGs have made me care this much about their systems, world, and future direction. The foundation here is exceptionally strong - from combat feel and boss design to worldbuilding and atmosphere - and most of the issues I’ve raised feel like growing pains rather than fundamental flaws. With more skill variety, better-balanced itemization and trade systems, a more cohesive endgame, and continued performance improvements, PoE 2 could easily become a genre-defining ARPG. I’m genuinely excited to see where the game goes from here, and I’ll be returning with every major update, eager to see how Wraeclast continues to evolve.

Feel free to comment and discuss on the topics here.
And if you enjoyed reading this review, stay tuned for my Wishlist for 0.5.

"

Gameplay feel
First of all, the gameplay, as in combat and controlling your character, is very solid and feels amazing. Combat feels both responsive and fluid. I love that you are able to move while using abilities. The skill gem system is great and easy to learn and tinker with, although you need to do a lot of reading up on the gems and synergies. This is totally fine as it adds depth to the game.

Compared to PoE 1, the gameplay in PoE 2 is far superior in terms of mechanics and how the game "plays", in my opinion. This is because we have more options during combat, as we are able to dodge roll and use skills while moving. Animations feel more smooth too. Also, combat feels very tactile and resposnive - it has a good feel when using your skills and watching monsters explode and bosses succumb.

I fully agree with this. It feels really good.

"

The pacing of the game is also in a good spot right now. There are some minor aspects, specifically refering to combo skill play, where combat can feel a little tedious. Difficulty wise it could perhaps be a bit harder in the campaign, but obviously not as hard as 0.2 was.

0.2 wasnt hard it was just tedious, because everything just had way more life. More Life doesnt make stuff harder.

"

I also want to mention boss fights - they are amazing and so well put together. Some of them are extremely creative and engaging. Apart from some of them being really overtuned in the endgame, they are great. Arbiter can be a bit annoying too, but once you learn his mechanics it gets easier.

I disagree with this. Some boy fights are good and creative, some are just not. But that would be too long for this Post. But one example is Rathbreaker. The introduction of the Boss itself is already pretty bad, then his attacks are just not good or creative and the area is just way too small. You cna make that magnitudes better.

Then you have the whole issue of phasing with many bosses.

"

Skill gems, Support gems, Items and Passive skill tree
Although the skill and support gems feel great to use and look fantastic, this is an apsect where the game, in its current state, is a bit lacking. I am sure that this will sort itself once more weapon types and gems gets added, which we also saw with 0.4 and the Druid - but right now there simply is not enough different skill gems and weapons. In my opinion, this somewhat limits build variety and the options available, which in turn, pushes the player towards the more obvious and stronger choices, i.e. Spark CoC Comet for casters. In addition to the lack of more options, what really make this game great is the ability to create and explore builds, broken combos and fun interactions - to me this is essential in an ARPG. I hunger for more options and more things to try!

I would love to see at least one new skill gem and support gem being added each patch to already existing weapon types and categories. I have many cool ideas for what could be added and will also make a Wishlist post for 0.5 later with ideas for the devs to consider, and for the community to discuss.

In relation to the skill tree, I sincerely enjoy that it is so vast and offers many opportunities. However, having played a few hundred hours now, it is obvious that most of our power comes from the weapon being wielded.
Here, I would like to see a bit more power in the passive tree and even more options and niche nodes. Comparing to the passive tree in PoE 1, it would be great to get Maximum Life clusters and perhaps also mastery options in the PoE 2 passive tree.

Mostly agree to this we cant judge this right now when a lot of things are missing. What makes spark so good is that you have a lot of range. This means you dont need mobility skills, you cna add to make it more absurd, but other builds dont have that ability making specific skills just way superior in efficiency. Game needs more mobility skills.

"

Itemization, Loot and Trade

GGG basically messed up this league. The inflation just overshadowed everything else good this league brought. It will be remembered as the league with the worst inflation ever seen. That normal mapping does not drop many raw currencies didnt really alleviate that.

"

Campaign, World design and Lore
In relation to the campaign, I want to put it out there that I sincerely enjoy it on every playthrough. I've seen many people complain about it being too long, but in my opinion the length is just right. I cant wait to see the next acts following act IV which was incredibly well done and well put together.

Im a big hater of the Campaign length. I palyed through the campaign a lot. And i cant see it anymore. Its just so long that every time i reach a new area i hate myself a bit more for doing that. But i wanna play endgame. Once you know everything Campaign is just boring. Its too long to paly through it every single league again.

"

Technical and Performance issues

0.4 got better performance, but everything else just got worse. technical Issues are plenty. From Deadlock to infinite loading to crashes.

And then you have all the bugs which are a lot.

Awesome. I agree loot and crafting are pretty lackluster right now.

Just a nitpick 0.2 nerfed everyone's damage. Mob life stayed the same or was lowered. 0.4 did increase mob life though via effectiveness.

So you love being able to move while using abilities huh. How to tell you are playing range without saying so.

"

I disagree with this. Some boy fights are good and creative, some are just not. But that would be too long for this Post. But one example is Rathbreaker. The introduction of the Boss itself is already pretty bad, then his attacks are just not good or creative and the area is just way too small. You cna make that magnitudes better.

I concur. The general visual designs and also ideas behind them are generally great. But several of them either have BS mechanics, too much health, not enough space for the player to move around etc.

I think there must be some adjustments in that regard.

Otherwise I think I can also largely agree with OP's sentiments. There's still a lot of work left for GGG, though.

"

So you love being able to move while using abilities huh. How to tell you are playing range without saying so.

Actually, I dit start a Titan bear this patch, but I guess it ends up becoming a ranged from all the aoe anyways.

And sure, I do like ranged builds but melee builds are cool too.