GGG - Stand true to what you said about player feedback

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of the OP, I disagree with some of the conclusions.

The campaign is not the game. The campaign serves as a story driven tutorial for the the actual game, which is the endgame. This is the case for both PoE1 and PoE2. The PoE2 campaign is pretty fun, at least for the first few playthroughs. How much fun is it going to be the fifth time? How about the tenth time? The twentieth? I'm fairly sure most people would agree that it won't be much fun at that point because now it's just a barrier between you and the actual game. If it's too long, which I think it is at the moment, it could potentially drive people away in future leagues.

I think the current difficulty of PoE2 is fine. It could be tuned a bit in the campaign for a better curve, and the endgame bosses probably need tuning up, but generally it's fine. PoE2 should be challenging because challenging is fun.

Personally, the biggest issue I have, and I think many others may have, is that systems in the current iteration of PoE2 are bad. They are tedious, shallow and unrewarding. By unrewarding I'm not talking about loot, i'm talking about how fun they are to interact with.

The Atlas, mapping (specifically layouts) and crafting are examples of core systems that are particularly frustrating. Which is worrying.

With that said, PoE2 is a fine game, maybe even 2nd best in the market after PoE1. I have no doubt PoE2 will be a great game in a few years, but it will take significant time and effort to correct the current issues, in my opinion.
"
Z3Ngg#1832 wrote:
Whilst I agree with the sentiment of the OP, I disagree with some of the conclusions.

The campaign is not the game. The campaign serves as a story driven tutorial for the the actual game, which is the endgame. This is the case for both PoE1 and PoE2. The PoE2 campaign is pretty fun, at least for the first few playthroughs. How much fun is it going to be the fifth time? How about the tenth time? The twentieth? I'm fairly sure most people would agree that it won't be much fun at that point because now it's just a barrier between you and the actual game. If it's too long, which I think it is at the moment, it could potentially drive people away in future leagues.

I think the current difficulty of PoE2 is fine. It could be tuned a bit in the campaign for a better curve, and the endgame bosses probably need tuning up, but generally it's fine. PoE2 should be challenging because challenging is fun.

Personally, the biggest issue I have, and I think many others may have, is that systems in the current iteration of PoE2 are bad. They are tedious, shallow and unrewarding. By unrewarding I'm not talking about loot, i'm talking about how fun they are to interact with.

The Atlas, mapping (specifically layouts) and crafting are examples of core systems that are particularly frustrating. Which is worrying.

With that said, PoE2 is a fine game, maybe even 2nd best in the market after PoE1. I have no doubt PoE2 will be a great game in a few years, but it will take significant time and effort to correct the current issues, in my opinion.


What I find frustrating about the endgame is that it actually just devolves into a PoE1 style zoom fiesta.
I would like power creep and speed creep reined in, for both players AND monsters. So much of the well crafted combat in the campaign is lost by the time you hit your major power spikes in cruel mode and it just feels like I'm playing a PoE1 re-skin, which is NOT what I want.

The things everyone complains about have not bothered me in the past 300+ hours, its the feeling like "ugh this is just mind numbing, time to roll a new character" to have fun in the campaign again, because THAT feels like a departure from PoE1 to me. I hope they do something about the zoomy endgame.
Last edited by Kaboinglefop#0955 on Jan 3, 2025, 6:03:19 PM
"
Focus on problems, not suggestions.

Then remember that some problems are non issues.

When Diablo 2 came out before hell mode was solved, if the developers listened to what people would have said we would not have a game still having lobbies immediately fill up weeks into ladder reset 20 years later. It seemed impossible, it seemed like the developers released a troll game mode that was never meant to be beat. It was solved.

You said 100 on ruthless PoE1 would not be reached, we reached it last league.

When PoE came out, you guys had the right idea. Starting perandus/prophecy, league after league after league you kept giving too much power and speed creep by addressing the problem of "we feel weak" in the wrong way.

Stand true to your vision, there is a happy middle ground here (such as tutorials on how to get resistances, and tweaks to positioning/nodes on the tree)

This game may seem hard, but it absolutely gives you the tools you need to succeed. People want to skip the campaign, the campaign is bloody brilliant, the ascendancy trials are brilliant, nothing but glowing feedback across my guild (who is nothing but D2 and PoE vets having zero issues with the game that are non-technical like crashes, all level 60+ or in maps/waystones).



We are all long time supporters and believe you have a chance to make a game that targets us hardcore ARPG players without needing to make a Ruthless GSF like you did for PoE1.

PoE1 has the extreme zoom power fantasy skip-the-campaign style game. Nerfing Malachai on release made me really upset, I don't even wear my Awakening shirt anymore.

The new ascendancies are very well done, only small rebalances needed on some underwhelming ones and nerfs to overperforming ones. Again, player power being earned is extremely gratifying. Some are a small adjustment from feeling good.

Keep the combat engaging and challenging, and add small rebalances to skills/trees.

One of the things my guild is most worried about is the extreme fun we had reaching the limited endgame will be lost after waves of buffs and power creep like PoE1. Campaign is a rite of passage, and it's earned not given. It was this way in D2, it used to be this way in PoE1, and it is the way to keep us ARPG players engaged PoE2. Frankly, if the game released in its current state, we would still play it over anything else.

You made a fantastic campaign and game, stay true to the vision. There are many players who aren't making forum posts and instead actually playing the game.

PoE2 is amazing. Many of our guild mates who are far in the game are loving it. This is a good middle ground between what Ruthless wanted to be and a true ARPG. Please don't gut and kill PoE2 to cater to the base you are ALREADY pleasing with PoE1, that you alienated for 5-6 years of powercreep.

It would be an absolute shame for you to double back on your wise decision to make a different game then just make it a reskinned PoE1. I have already clocked in 300 hours on PoE2 -- keep it slow and deliberate, adjust the endgame zoom.

Signed, guild and social circle of longtime lifetime supporters of PoE, D2, and other awesome ARPGs.


Agree, knowledge is power, poe has always had this nature. what might seem hard now it will seem trivial in months with knowledge and no other change.
already seen that in act bosses, first time i did act 1 boss it took 10 minutes,
do it again on a new character in a different league (no previous acquistion, just the knewledge) and it was done in 2 mins, he almost didnt do the shrouding phase, game did not seem to like it though on a side note lol
I don't know what you mean by difficulty. I think that the difficulty was rough when I knew nothing. Like Xypha mentioned, the second character had the knowledge of how to increase damage, knowledge of boss fights, etc. Things went much smoother.

But things like XP penalties, maps with 1 portal, etc. Those are not "difficulties" but they are frustrations. Discouragements to players pushing them away from the game. Even small things like the well in town.

They can keep their vision, but it feels like they just rewashed some PoE1 things and threw them in regardless of how they fit with the vision. IMO, scrap endgame entirely and start over. Maybe you still have that atlas map but how the player traverses it changes, etc. All the ways of reaching endgame are bad. Breaches/delirium shards, etc. It's just a wall of tediousness.
"
I don't know what you mean by difficulty. I think that the difficulty was rough when I knew nothing. Like Xypha mentioned, the second character had the knowledge of how to increase damage, knowledge of boss fights, etc. Things went much smoother.

But things like XP penalties, maps with 1 portal, etc. Those are not "difficulties" but they are frustrations. Discouragements to players pushing them away from the game. Even small things like the well in town.

They can keep their vision, but it feels like they just rewashed some PoE1 things and threw them in regardless of how they fit with the vision. IMO, scrap endgame entirely and start over. Maybe you still have that atlas map but how the player traverses it changes, etc. All the ways of reaching endgame are bad. Breaches/delirium shards, etc. It's just a wall of tediousness.


The endgame is way too zoomy. I like the tedium, but the campaign is better done than the endgame. Too much power and speed creep for both players and monsters so damn early, game isn't even out. GGG needs to release a PoE1 league so poe1 players can play that, and focus on poe2's deliberate combat systems.
The problem with poe2 isn't difficulty AT ALL. It's simply tedium and artifical difficulty. Every game system and the way they were implemented feels like a direct "fuck you" to many players and it shows that GGG does not respect our time at all. The 1 portal maps are absolutely insane when you can get one shot off screen through 20k es and not know wtf hit you. There is no crafting in the game to speak of it, it feels like a slot machine and the house always wins unless you're raxx apparently. The maps are pointlessly huge and empty for no reason. Take count geoanors manor it's like they designed one room and then let Ai copy and paste the same room with slight variations over and over some of the worst map designs I've ever seen in any arpg. The RNG for citadel in the end game is absolutely disgusting. Loot acquisition without rarity is an absolute joke . There's just so many problems with the game that you are not mentioning. I genuinely love poe2 and how it feels as a foundation but there's so many issues and it feels like a major step back from poe 1
"
The problem with poe2 isn't difficulty AT ALL. It's simply tedium and artifical difficulty. Every game system and the way they were implemented feels like a direct "fuck you" to many players and it shows that GGG does not respect our time at all. The 1 portal maps are absolutely insane when you can get one shot off screen through 20k es and not know wtf hit you. There is no crafting in the game to speak of it, it feels like a slot machine and the house always wins unless you're raxx apparently. The maps are pointlessly huge and empty for no reason. Take count geoanors manor it's like they designed one room and then let Ai copy and paste the same room with slight variations over and over some of the worst map designs I've ever seen in any arpg. The RNG for citadel in the end game is absolutely disgusting. Loot acquisition without rarity is an absolute joke . There's just so many problems with the game that you are not mentioning. I genuinely love poe2 and how it feels as a foundation but there's so many issues and it feels like a major step back from poe 1


As someone who enjoys ruthless, I think it's better to not have deterministic crafting in the game. Or they could just give us ruthless in poe2.
I agree with the this post, and the tone is spot on. Kudos to the author.
In Jonathon we trust
Man o man your lvl 60? You finished the tutorial. Let us know if your opinion changes on your 3rd and 4th ascension trials, but at your current rate the season will be over before you fight you find your first citadel and get the pleasure of dieing on it only to find out you get 1 try. If they want the same campaign pace the entire endgame loot, drop rate and mechanics will all need to be massively rebalance. Im not against it. But if it is going to be slower we need the items that drop to be rare and actually have good stats. Right now 99% of the item's that drop are all trash and any upgrade for me costs several divine and im just talking about non uniques like rares with 4 decently rolled high stats. The trials are also not tuned in a way that makes you feel like you strategized and overcame some big obstacle's. They all feel like the biggest determining factor is luck and then later it is based off killing everything before it touches you.

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info