PoE2 Early Access Buzzkill

I was certainly looking forward to this early access until the latest update;

- Confirmed only 3 acts and 6 classes (no Druid or Huntress) starting in Early access
- Mark can finish 3 acts within 5 hours
- Flask system rework
- Act 3 brings a corruption mechanic to the game

I'm still excited to check them game out, just slightly bummed to learn there is arguably half the game still being held back.

I don't even care
It's going to be different enough to play

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Volcomstone21 wrote:

I was certainly looking forward to this early access until the latest update;

- Confirmed only 3 acts and 6 classes (no Druid or Huntress) starting in Early access

This does indeed suck. I was looking forward to a Huntress start. It's not the end of the world for Early Access, though I'll admit it's definitely disheartening.

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Volcomstone21 wrote:

- Mark can finish 3 acts within 5 hours

Mark can finish AN act within five hours. Not all three acts. Average players with no prior PoE2 experience take an average of nine to ten hours per act. Depending on how one takes the acts and whether they prioritize speed or exploration, I'm guessing an average of twenty to thirty hours First Blush playtime for a PoE1 player trying PoE2 for the first time. I'd honestly recommend trying for closer to thirty, myself. Sure, you COULD blow through the acts as fast as possible and try to beat Mark, but why? You only get a first playthrough once - stretch it out. Savor it. Enjoy it.

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Volcomstone21 wrote:

- Flask system rework

Honestly super jazzed even with the scant details available thus far. Started a thread about it, though few people have bitten. I think this will be a fantastic move for the game overall, allow them to make health and mana flasks more useful and interesting while opening up a ton of new design space for 'trinkets' since they don't have to piggyback weirdly on the flask system anymore.

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Volcomstone21 wrote:

- Act 3 brings a corruption mechanic to the game

The PC Gamer guy really screwed the pooch on that blurb. Language is very precise in Path of Exile; the word 'gems' has a very specific meaning. As does 'corruption'. I suspect, from the vague hints given, that the system will work vaguely more like Abyssal jewels, in that the sockets you can gain from corruption will be home to a specific type of buff item that monkeys with the core item's stats. Abyssal jewels are a popular mechanic even given their overall simplicity, it would make sense for GGG to tinker with similar systems in PoE2.

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Volcomstone21 wrote:

I'm still excited to check them game out, just slightly bummed to learn there is arguably half the game still being held back.

Eh. It does suck, but we were never going to get the entire game. Even if we got all five-point-five acts, we were going to be short at least four classes and also almost all of the Ascendancies. Frankly I'm no longer certain we're getting Ascendancies at all on initial EA, which majorly bites. But how could they hand us Ascendancies when we're all gonna be maybe level 45 or so by the time we hit the end of the available content?

But it'll still be enough to be a quantum leap forward from PoE2. And hey - I guess we get to look forward to consistent new content drops during the EA period when they finally get the rest of this crap ready. It's not like they have three complete acts and two and a half acts they haven't even started on - all the acts, all the Ascendancies, all the endgame stuff, all the classes, they're definitely in progress and being actively worked on, with much of it probably close to completion. They're simply being cagey with their releases and ensuring everything they put out into the public playerbase's hands is as close to final as it can reasonably get for Early Access. That's fine by me.

So, early access is just a few acts and no end game?

Cringe.

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superbomb1967 wrote:

So, early access is just a few acts and no end game?

Cringe.

You must not remember when PoE 1 released then

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superbomb1967 wrote:

So, early access is just a few acts and no end game?

Cringe.

As I currently understand it, the endgame will actually be accessible. That's considered a critical test component for Early Access. How they intend to test endgame with characters only halfway through their level progression, no Ascendancies, and none of the build resources available in what are supposed to be Acts 4 through 6, I have no idea. But that's the plan regardless. Whether it's a heavily downscaled version of The Endgame or a substitute endgame built specifically for mid-level characters, no idea. We'll find out in about three weeks when they run their Reveal Livestream.

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Thraesh wrote:

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superbomb1967 wrote:

So, early access is just a few acts and no end game?

Cringe.

You must not remember when PoE 1 released then

Whether I do or don't remember is irrelevant.

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Thraesh wrote:

You must not remember when PoE 1 released then

What does that got to do with anything? They started out from scratch, with cash trickling in from supporters. To even remotely compare these two situations is rather silly. They have a comparatively massive budget now, multiple teams and have been working on this for years.

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BaumisMagicalWorld wrote:

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Thraesh wrote:

You must not remember when PoE 1 released then

What does that got to do with anything? They started out from scratch, with cash trickling in from supporters. To even remotely compare these two situations is rather silly. They have a comparatively massive budget now, multiple teams and have been working on this for years.

And? Game development takes time. A lot of it. It isn't something you can rush by throwing more people and money at it. Certain processes don't scale like that. Not if you want to make a truly good game anyway.

For a early access release this is a very decent amount of content. Us getting just that initially doesn't mean this is all they have for now.

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Thraesh wrote:

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superbomb1967 wrote:

So, early access is just a few acts and no end game?

Cringe.

You must not remember when PoE 1 released then

in closed beta there is a loop of FOUR difficulties and map is introduced in the mid of closed beta


While EA is similar to open beta, so that no way POE 2 only able to allow player to loop on one difficulty and no end game