Why PoE2 is not PoE, and that is sad.

I have played PoE since ~2013, some times pretty much, but not as of recently. I liked the open nature, the idea you can combine stuff, find new builds. Everything was modular and could be tweaked. Getting the right sockets and links on equipment was nasty, but genuinely felt rewarding when you got it. And if you wanted to skip this part you could craft the links, for a price of course. Boss fights were in larger areas and you could maneuver and use tactics. It was possible to just roll over your enemies when your character was advanced enough, and that felt rewarding. For me this was a big part of the fun, feeling fast and powerful after some time.

The expansion with 10 acts already spoiled parts of the game for me. ALL the boss fights were converted into cage fights. You and the boss, on 3x3m, no way to exit (except a quick town portal). The tactical aspect had been severely reduced, it felt like speed dating a monster that had an abusing relationship with you in mind. Most leagues started totally unbalanced, with content that was too hard, but eventually they nerfed it and it was ok. Overall, I always liked the complexity and possibilities and most of the new stuff they tought up.

Yesterday, I had the chance to play 5 hours into PoE2:

GGG removed most of the stuff that I liked about PoE, and now it is slow progress, strong monsters from the start, cage fights with overpowered bosses everywhere. No sockets on items, no experience on gems. It just feels like a dumbed down, empty and meaningless version of PoE, with all complexity removed, to care for the "modern audience" that has an attention span of a rabbit on opium.

Yes, maybe PoE was too complex for the average gamer that prefers Diablo or Dark Souls. Maybe GGG wanted to expand the potential player base by removing everything that was special about PoE from PoE to make it mainstream. But not being mainstream was their selling point! Now they have created another game that essentially is Diablo. To me that makes no sense since if I wanted to play Diablo, I would play Diablo.

I understand this is an early access release, but I seriously do not think that the core mechanics will change. They will remove bugs, maybe chance balancing a little. But essentially all changes will be here to stay, so I have little hope that this game will develop anything that makes it special. Special in a way like PoE was.

so because there arent skill gems used on items the game is somehow dumbed down? Sounds like you are getting dominated and that makes you upset.

Game is better than POE in every single way for me. We dont need two of the same exact game that sounds like what you are after. You are all good though bud cause as of this moment there is a fix for you're grievances!

Step 1. Boot up Path of Exile 1

Done

+

Thank god is not poe1, poe2 is superior in every single way.

Every other arpgs before this are all about stat sticks, now the "action" is finally here in poe2. No more mindless 1 button zoom that is in every single outdated arpgs.

If anything else, poe1 is still there.

PoE1 is not PoE from what it originally was supposed to be. It was formed by constant complains and moans from community to make it easier and faster.

And now when they release game that is way more through full and requires more attention, dude says that it is "dumbed down" version.

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No sockets on items, no experience on gems. It just feels like a dumbed down, empty and meaningless version of PoE, with all complexity removed, to care for the "modern audience" that has an attention span of a rabbit on opium.

Sockets on items were one of the most annoying things in PoE1 to date. It made every item swap a chore because now you had to also mess with sockets. You also had access to way more support gems that you should, making it way harder to balance anything.

Exp on gems is just clicking "Level up" every time something AUTOMATICALLY level up, because you don't decide where the "gem exp" goes - it goes everywhere. There is no thought, there are no complex systems here.
You're still leveling up gems, now you simply have to actually chose and pay some attention.

And PoE2 is way, WAY more complex than PoE1 will ever be. Copying builds from forums and then clicking twice to remove whole screen of enemies is not complexity.
Moaning about Normal Lab being too hard and asking GGG to make it easier is not complexity.
Asking for easier ways to craft God-tier items is not complexity.

Comparing all of this to Diablo is insult at best and proof that you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about.

There are many people who are disappointed in POE2 at this time. But no matter how thoughtful they are about their critiques the forum trolls will be there to say; "you don't know what you are talking about". If those forum trolls truly think it is the best game ever, why are they wasting time in the forums? I guess for a forum troll it is more fun to tell anyone who is disappointed in POE2 (in its current state) that they are dense than actually playing the game is.

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orionsky#5542 wrote:

There are many people who are disappointed like in POE2 at this time. But no matter how thoughtful they are about their critiques praise the forum trolls will be there to say; "you don't know what you are talking about". If those forum trolls truly think it is the best worst game ever, why are they wasting time in the forums? I guess for a forum troll it is more fun to tell anyone who is disappointed in POE2 (in its current state) that they are dense than actually playing the game is. they're trolls because they disagree with you.

You know where you can stick that line of "arguments"?

We let you shit all over the first game and you ruined it to a point that most of us don't want to play it anymore because it became boring slop. Now you're after the second one, trying to make it into slop again.
Call us trolls but we'll call your BS out.

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orionsky#5542 wrote:

But no matter how thoughtful they are about their critiques

But I didn't see any thoughtful critique from people who wants PoE 2 to be just re-skin of PoE 1. All what they are saying is "I can't zoom here, hence it's not fun and stupid".

Yea, this games a wannabe souls game but doesn't do that very well either. I may as well replay Dark Souls or Elden Ring or Monster Hunter if I want a much better designed dodge focused combat system. Fact it takes to around lv 40 to get any fun skill combinations is also pretty dire. Games just a slow slog and a chore without the rewards of the games it so desperately wants to be.

It's harder.

It can be annoying to die a lot on hard fights.

It's slower paced.

Loot sucks.

It's still fun and a nice change of pace. I most definitely like it better than PoE.