PoE 2 isn't difficult, it is a wake up call

I made it through the campaign as a squishy slow casting chain lightning chrono in mostly blue gear (ssf). Was in melee range for almost everything thanks to the lack of casting speed and me not wanting to farm much.

I think infinite dodge is causing the same psychological problem people had getting into Hades when Supergiant released it - people are panic dodging far more than they actually need to and its making them feel like they can't do anything.

You can stutter step & orbit even the fastest mobs without move speed boots - even when they are up inside your chin. Dodging is for wind-ups, bad circles on the ground, and maybe a repositioning hail mary if you walked somewhere you shouldn't have. With +movespeed, even some bosses can be waltzed on with less dodging.

This is definitely a MUCH more execution-heavy PoE experience. I'm really enjoying the rogue-like feel of the bosses. It feels like I'm rewarded for practicing and getting better. I still remember my early PoE 1 days getting into higher levels and dying as soon as I entered an area from something off-screen. This is a very nice flip to that. Always wished I could "react" to something instead of just luloutgear it.

I won't say people that disagree are wrong or insist everyone should just "git gud", since it's not my place to tell people what they should or shouldn't enjoy. Lots of people just don't want this kind of execution challenge and hey that's fair. I'll just say that learning boss and enemy attack patterns has been one of my favorite experiences in gaming in a long time!

As for criticisms, I'm sure a few things are going to need some tuning. The jump in difficulty from act 1 to acts 2 and 3 seems like multiple tiers up at once. Trial master ascendancy, especially the boss fight AI, seems like it could use some touch-ups. Some strange collision interactions mid-roll getting pushed around. Etc. It's not perfect and has some jank to it.

Excited to see where this goes.

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Ulsarek#7159 wrote:

PoE 2 can steer the genre towards something new, something truly innovative and PoE 1 will continue existing as is just fine. In fact, as already seen and proven several times, PoE 1 is actively benefitting from PoE 2 and some of its tech, features and assets. Both games have a bright future ahead of them and if the new one isn't for you hey, we're getting new PoE 1 stuff soon enough.

This is one of those once in a decade games and I'm very excited where this is going.

Indeed PoE 2 for me fixes many of the design issues in PoE 1. I've been waiting for PoE 2 and very happy they made it a genre changing game that will revolutionize ARPGs.

Most people try to "SKIP" the game and get too End game but the game starts at level 1. Fighting bosses at level 2 and so forth means you get to play the game the entire way. This is why people are having a bad time because they been conditioned that the campaign and early levels don't matter and the game doesn't start till End Game.(this mentality must end!)

It's so refreshing that the game gets you immersed at level 1 and your journey starts there. People need to stop rushing and feeling like they need to get too maps because the campaign should be relevant and feel like progression.

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Ulsarek#7159 wrote:

PoE 1, while complex, is a solved game.

I don't know shit about PoE 2 but you have, in precisely 8 words, perfectly stated why it had to be made.

Well fucking done.

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Foreverhappychan#4626 wrote:

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Ulsarek#7159 wrote:

PoE 1, while complex, is a solved game.

I don't know shit about PoE 2 but you have, in precisely 8 words, perfectly stated why it had to be made.

Well fucking done.

Realistically that is exactly what GGG had to do at this point and going forward. There just wasn't / isn't much design space left in PoE 1. Does that mean they can't come up with cool stuff for 1? Absolutely not. But it can't be vastly different from what people have been playing for the last decade, otherwise they will riot hard. We have seen this time and time again with Expedition being a prime example.

PoE 2 however? Clean slate. Two games, GGG gets to do what they want without affecting either title negatively. Whether people like PoE 2 or not, this is still a massive W for both the general playerbase and GGG.

Can I ask what new features PoE 2 has introduced, aside from the dodge roll that has existed in games longer than you’ve been alive?
PoE 2 is a watered-down PoE with crafting and build complexity removed so that people like you don’t find the game too hard to understand.
And what will you play in two weeks when PoB for PoE 2 is released? The game will be “solved” by then anyway.

Yeah, skill issue honestly.

Good point, but you see. If I wanted to play a souls game, I'd go play any of the souls games that do souls combat infinitely better than poe2. I came here to play an ARPG. The only thing playing PoE2 made me feel is that I should do another Elden Ring run. Not sure that is what they want.

Good point, but you see. If I wanted to play a souls game, I'd go play any of the souls games that do souls combat infinitely better than poe2. I came here to play an ARPG. The only thing playing PoE2 made me feel is that I should do another Elden Ring run. Not sure that is what they want.

Good point, but you see. If I wanted to play a souls game, I'd go play any of the souls games that do souls combat infinitely better than poe2. I came here to play an ARPG. The only thing playing PoE2 made me wake up to is that I should do another Elden Ring run. Not sure that is what they want. (Why did this post 3 times????)

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AbombThePeoplesChamp#1184 wrote:

Indeed PoE 2 for me fixes many of the design issues in PoE 1. I've been waiting for PoE 2 and very happy they made it a genre changing game that will revolutionize ARPGs.

Most people try to "SKIP" the game and get too End game but the game starts at level 1. Fighting bosses at level 2 and so forth means you get to play the game the entire way. This is why people are having a bad time because they been conditioned that the campaign and early levels don't matter and the game doesn't start till End Game.(this mentality must end!)

It's so refreshing that the game gets you immersed at level 1 and your journey starts there. People need to stop rushing and feeling like they need to get too maps because the campaign should be relevant and feel like progression.

You say people want to "skip" the game, but I think you seem to forget the campaign is a story, and stories are meant to be told at a reasonable pace. The current state feels like trying to watch a TV show and having to watch the same episode over 10 times before you can move on to the next. It just isn't fun and makes me less interested in moving on because I know I'll just run into the same roadblocks later

They did the same mistake a lot of other companies make when they try to do soulslike. Soulslikes are about struggle, but there's ways built in to ease the struggle through cleverness or hidden items. Wanna play elden ring the hard way and run through every monster one by one? Sure, do that. Wanna pick up a weapon at level 1 that'll carry you to endgame and make your struggle easier?(looking at you greatsword + lions claw) Wanna complete varre quest and shoot a bird off a cliff until you're level 150? Wanna do some weird trick that cheeses a boss rather than have to learn their mechanics the hard way? This game feels like they added the struggle of a soulslike without a path to circumvent the struggle.

Seriously, played a monk to level 18 yesterday and didn't get past act 1. Still using the same quarterstaff I picked up at level 5 because a better one hasn't dropped or become available at the vendor, leading to a state where I'm doing no damage and every monster feels like a chore to get through. If I go back to lower level areas to farm for a better one, I'm too over leveled to gain xp so it's literally just hours of grinding for an extra 10 points of damage that's just gonna get thrown in the trash at a later point. This game fails hard at rewarding you for time invested

Like, people complain a lot about the loot explosion of arpgs, and it can be a bit much at times, but an arpg at its core is a glorified gambling simulator. The gear is your jackpot and killing a monster is pulling the slot machine. Adding difficulty just slows down your pace to play slots, and takes away the core experience that most people want from this genre of game. And I'm not saying difficulty is the problem though, the core problem is I don't feel like I'm being rewarded for my time. Elden ring at least made it feel worth it to struggle through the hard bits