0.3 looks very promising!

"Bufffs to every class" is worrying, the game was already a 1 button cookie clicker for most builds.

Guess this genre will never evolve.
Thanks streamers and reddit you did it, you made POE2 a D4-like just as Rod Ferguson wanted.

0.3 feels like a win for all the "WE HATE PoE2 SO MUCH WE JUST WANT IT TO BE COMPLETELY EXACTLY AND UTTERLY IDENTICAL TO PoE1 IN EVERY LAST POSSIBLE SINGLE RESPECT FOREVER" jackanapes.

Which is an absolute loss for literally everyone else.

The game is getting much faster, blastier, and screen-explodier when it did not need to be, and the amazing original vision Jonathan Rogers sold most of us on prior to the original 0.1 launch is already almost entirely abandoned. This game is eighty percent of the way to just being a vaguely prettier PoE1, and if the 0.1 release did nothing else? it proved that PoE1 is a broken, cranky, ugly mess that's only still going on sheer inertia alone.

Lame. Which is a shame, because there's a lot of great ideas in 0.3. It's just a real shame they're all in service to the Boomer Zoomer Blaster Master Must-Go-Faster Religion-Of-Speed types that absolutely cannot tolerate being unable to explode fifty thousand monsters per second on a screen that is entirely unreadable due to being literally nothing but explosions, particle effects, and exploding particle effects 100% of the time.

"

1453R#7804 wrote:

0.3 feels like a win for all the "WE HATE PoE2 SO MUCH WE JUST WANT IT TO BE COMPLETELY EXACTLY AND UTTERLY IDENTICAL TO PoE1 IN EVERY LAST POSSIBLE SINGLE RESPECT FOREVER" jackanapes.

Which is an absolute loss for literally everyone else.

We have better crafting and easier ways to make us tankier through the sacrifice of other stats as well as clearly a lot more versatility in builds which I feel will satisfy everyone...

but ofc I'm feeling your vibes somewhat and I would of personally loved to have experienced the game remain a slog fest, gameplay and build wise and it being balanced around that as opposed to buffing everything so now probably post 0.3 there's no build mistakes and the only challenge is through t16+ maps and bosses and yea, I'm not personally thrilled about over particles and Warrior having more nuclear than an angry Gandalf.

Ultimately I think GGG could of done so much better with melee but you look at Monk and now the 0.3 Warrior and you think most of their successful gameplay is casting and I actually think the only potential of melee is from Huntress if you miraculously ignore silly builds like 20+ whirlwinds quickly bouncing around and ridiculously op spear throws.

"

TrunktenUK#3407 wrote:

Ultimately I think GGG could of done so much better with melee but you look at Monk and now the 0.3 Warrior and you think most of their successful gameplay is casting and I actually think the only potential of melee is from Huntress if you miraculously ignore silly builds like 20+ whirlwinds quickly bouncing around and ridiculously op spear throws.

What is confusing to me (visual cancer aside) is why add active block/focus on combos if you give up on true melee and shift to the pseudo melee from poe1. perfect strike changes are a great example of it

I guess the campaign is back. The endgame and thus the game, not so much.
I’d rather contract the most painful STD than labor through towerpocalypse. So, 4 acts + interludes is as far as I go and that’s if, a big if, the game is even playable the first day(unlike 0.2, where I lasted maybe 2 hours before bailing).

"

1453R#7804 wrote:

0.3 feels like a win for all the "WE HATE PoE2 SO MUCH WE JUST WANT IT TO BE COMPLETELY EXACTLY AND UTTERLY IDENTICAL TO PoE1 IN EVERY LAST POSSIBLE SINGLE RESPECT FOREVER" jackanapes.

Which is an absolute loss for literally everyone else.

The game is getting much faster, blastier, and screen-explodier when it did not need to be, and the amazing original vision Jonathan Rogers sold most of us on prior to the original 0.1 launch is already almost entirely abandoned. This game is eighty percent of the way to just being a vaguely prettier PoE1, and if the 0.1 release did nothing else? it proved that PoE1 is a broken, cranky, ugly mess that's only still going on sheer inertia alone.

Lame. Which is a shame, because there's a lot of great ideas in 0.3. It's just a real shame they're all in service to the Boomer Zoomer Blaster Master Must-Go-Faster Religion-Of-Speed types that absolutely cannot tolerate being unable to explode fifty thousand monsters per second on a screen that is entirely unreadable due to being literally nothing but explosions, particle effects, and exploding particle effects 100% of the time.

I was very surprised GGG was changing the campaign because people were calling it a slog. I'm equally surprised this is the kind of feedback are taking to heart. I feel I'm wasting my time talking about roleplaying elements in the game when the developers themselves are using brain rot terms themselves like "slog". If that's the audience they want to double down on then that's fine I guess but that's a niche within a niche that's already being served by Diablo, LE, and even the original POE.

Then there's the gameplay they showed and it seemed cheap to me. Fast, noisy and spammy. I wonder what kind of meaningful combat Jonathan is saying he wants to preserve here. We haven't even mentioned all the outrageous powercreep they're brining with this update without saying anything about monster power.

I will try it out but the vibe is completely off for me. I feel the game is regressing fast and in very substantial ways that I think GGG will never be able to recover from.

I loved how methodical the campaign felt at the start. When 0.2 landed with harder tuning, it finally clicked for me - the game demanded strategy, positioning, and deliberate choices. That was the moment I felt PoE2’s promise: an endgame that would play like the best parts of the campaign, where your actions and gear actually matter.

My ideal PoE2 endgame was always that same strategic feel - not one-click clears, but engaging fights where progression feels meaningful, and equipment improves your options instead of just inflating numbers.

The problem gets worse at endgame because gear progression has huge spikes - early upgrades give steady, incremental power, and then the next meaningful improvement becomes exponentially more costly while delivering a massive power jump. That creates cliff-like progression instead of smooth growth, turning advancement into occasional breakthroughs rather than continuous, satisfying improvement.

The campaign starts slow and tactical, and that felt special. By the end the game is asking you to play in a different way, so it ends up feeling like two separate games stitched together. That kills momentum, instead of building on what you learned, it becomes a wasted time and experience, and the payoff stops feeling earned. I wanted a steady climb that rewarded skill and choice, not a calm opening that suddenly turns into a cliff.

If GGG was going to choose a direction, PoE1-style pacing is at least familiar and proven. But abandoning the slower, tactical identity PoE2 briefly showed is a missed opportunity. This could have been a true reinvention - instead it’s shrinking toward what’s safe and known. After all it is just a copy, Path of Exile 2 ends after campaign.

"

1453R#7804 wrote:

0.3 feels like a win for all the "WE HATE PoE2 SO MUCH WE JUST WANT IT TO BE COMPLETELY EXACTLY AND UTTERLY IDENTICAL TO PoE1 IN EVERY LAST POSSIBLE SINGLE RESPECT FOREVER" jackanapes.

Which is an absolute loss for literally everyone else.

The question is, which is the bigger group?

Camp 1
people who want PoE2 be more a more shiny PoE1 with better QoL and improvements over time

Camp 2

Or "Everyone else" who wanted a more slow pace, darksoul-lite gameplay?

I put my $ more people are camp 1.

"

KiadawP#5072 wrote:

"

1453R#7804 wrote:

0.3 feels like a win for all the "WE HATE PoE2 SO MUCH WE JUST WANT IT TO BE COMPLETELY EXACTLY AND UTTERLY IDENTICAL TO PoE1 IN EVERY LAST POSSIBLE SINGLE RESPECT FOREVER" jackanapes.

Which is an absolute loss for literally everyone else.

The question is, which is the bigger group?

Camp 1
people who want PoE2 be more a more shiny PoE1 with better QoL and improvements over time

Camp 2

Or "Everyone else" who wanted a more slow pace, darksoul-lite gameplay?

I put my $ more people are camp 1.

good strategy if you want to compete with Diablo 4, and go back on the promises to deliver meaningful combat rather than than another mass slop.

"

AintCare#6513 wrote:

"

KiadawP#5072 wrote:

"

1453R#7804 wrote:

0.3 feels like a win for all the "WE HATE PoE2 SO MUCH WE JUST WANT IT TO BE COMPLETELY EXACTLY AND UTTERLY IDENTICAL TO PoE1 IN EVERY LAST POSSIBLE SINGLE RESPECT FOREVER" jackanapes.

Which is an absolute loss for literally everyone else.

The question is, which is the bigger group?

Camp 1
people who want PoE2 be more a more shiny PoE1 with better QoL and improvements over time

Camp 2

Or "Everyone else" who wanted a more slow pace, darksoul-lite gameplay?

I put my $ more people are camp 1.

good strategy if you want to compete with Diablo 4, and go back on the promises to deliver meaningful combat rather than than another mass slop.

Many people play arpg to avoid "Meaningful" combat. The selling point for many about arpg is simple accessible combat. click on mobs until they died, with occasionally dodging.

I do Applause GGG effort (originally) to want to make the game more comabt/tectical driven, but you cannot do that while have end game screen clearing with massive amount of mobs with big AOE skills.

Pick a lane and stick to it. They want to be both, but it end up now with this weird situation middle ground that please no one.

If they want "wider" audience, the game will be made easier and towards poe1 zoom zoom big aoe, then it will be Competition with likes of D4,or they stand their ground and made a game challenging from start to end game, no big massive mobs, not big screen wide AOE, to please the arog players looking for challenge, but sacrifice player numbers. You cannot have both.