Sad about patch... current DIFFICULTY is GOOD AKA the TYRANNY of YOUTUBERS

tl;dr

GGG should, IMHO, leave difficultly like it is. At least for a few months (ideally forever since people will adapt rapidly anyway) while the large silent majority get to enjoy PoE2 as is. Instead of dumping it all in the waste bin because the few noisy internet whiners insist on having everything be easy.

This post should be shorter but I haven't the time for editing. And I expect to be shouted down by people who can't abide having to do anything challenging anyway.

For casual players (like me)

Loot filters suck
Easy campaigns with paper machete monsters suck
Easy gameplay where all you're doing is maximizing dps per round sucks

These things make PoE1 unattractive to casual players.

Catering to (caving into) YouTubers who play PoE1 and want everything to be super easy, to make quick content and then run to the next game, will turn PoE2, which is currently a really amazing game, into PoE1, which is honestly, unplayable for normal people.


My background

I'm a casual. I die a lot. I've played some PoE1 but I find it boring. The campaign is repetitive and each season you have to play 20 hours (probably more if you're bad like I am) to get to the "good part". The monsters are all like tissue paper and you're supposed to rush through them like some kind of psychotic gremlin with loot filters on because none of it matters.

I loved D2. I didn't like D3 (visually and story yes, gameplay sucked, you had to play like 40 hours to unlock interesting skills, it was rarely difficult).

I have a job and a family. I can normally play 5-10 hours a week. I want my time with a game (any game) to feel challenging and rewarding.

I'm the kind of person who buys the unique item tab, thinks it would be cool to have all of these and gets like 30 over the course of the game and is pretty proud anyway. (Maybe an idiot?)

My understanding about the new patch (as of Dec 12th)
It's going to make the game a lot easier, even though "we casuals" the massive unwashed masses, who have no YouTube channels but have jobs and families have had no chance to enjoy it.

Now dodging is going to let you pass through monsters*. There are going to be big increases in drops. Everything is going to become easier.

Because some people on YouTube need to be able to clear the thing in 10 hours and then make lots of the same video over and over again about the best build or how to maximize currency or whatever.

"It's tooooo hard." They say. "I died!" they say. "I don't want to put any defense into my skill tree" they say.

This seemed to happen a lot with new leagues. Like a league (like Kala-something the one with the mirror islands) would come out that would be kinda hard and kinda interesting and then the whole internet would lose its mind because it wasn't "as good as" the last league.

Each league would get easier and easier and it would be more and more boring. (Obviously I stopped playing)

*I was so happy the first time I got caught in a pack and died. Shocked but happy. Especially when I realized how you could sometimes use spells like frost nova to manipulate the horde to make a pathway out. Your positioning matters. You have to think; you have to use tools in unexpected ways. It's not rocket science but it's at least offering you some sort of problem to chew over and try to resolve.

My opinion

I understand PoE1 is a historical artifact and has a player base that likes the "paper machete" monsters that are loot piñatas and you travel around by holding your blink button and give yourself eyestrain trying to follow what happens.

That's fine. Streamers really like finishing the campaign in 10 hours and posting lots of builds about how to get x chaos (or whatever) per hour with their "mapper". I realize they have a business model for engagement and I don't begrudge them this. It's easier to make fun chatter with your twitch viewers when you're playing pachinko.

But I'm sad that every game has to be the same and cater to the same lowest common denominator.

I really really like how PoE2 is NOW. The game is difficult from the get go. You have to think about how you play the game. Good loot is rare. You're usually playing with (working around) suboptimal gear.

This game has the chance to be the next Dark Souls or Elden Ring. Something that's engaging and worth playing. I fail to understand why everyone wants it to be Diablo 3 instead?

Agreed. The roll change was unnecessary. I got to level 30 as warrior and it's fun but the clear is trash. Thought I'd reroll but every build I want to try has already been nerfed out of existence. At this point I'm starting to feel I'm better off waiting for the end of EA.

Well said, I enjoyed the difficulty. I found myself wondering though what happened to the D2 style lobbies? The game ends up feeling barren because it doesn't encourage you to group up with others. The game creation and battl.net lobby system in D2 is what made it great. If you wanted to play campaign you had to host a game and people were going to join in.

POE just feels dead in comparison. That being said I did really enjoy the campign but I find myself thinking where has the fun in games gone? It should be about thinking about the wildest and coolest scenarios and skills you can come up with. Not tediously worrying about 'balance'. Why can't you join lobbies and flag hostile any more? It's like games stopped being games at some point.