Do you think POE 2 has the build variety in classes that you imagined prior to EA?

I think we only have a third of game.
Maybe after we get out of beta and see the full game.
😉

We still have more ascendancies to come so let's wait for them as there is one suspicion that would be my preferred choice if it works how I think it would.

There's only so much you can do with half the weapons and skills missing

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Wormabutter#4288 wrote:

I think we only have a third of game.
Maybe after we get out of beta and see the full game.
😉

Exactly, and based on that we need to be patient with the changes they will make. Once they hit balancing on the first third of the game, people will hopefully have some fun builds that we will want to enjoy.

Then again, maybe people will wait that long until they feel the game is stable enough (by that I mean no big changes) to pour time into pushing out new and different builds.

We only have half the "active skills" from release, and even there, there might be some more. I hope.

Right now, you're funneled into using a few very strong skills per weapon type... and you're bound to that weapon type. That feels very limitative. There always will be meta/better skills, it's always been the case, always will be, but some options are just plain bad or feels too clunky to use.

The only non limited skills are the spells, which you can use with any weapon. However, all martial skills (which most probably 9 skill types out of 12 will use) are tied to a particular weapon. It makes it easier to balance (as you only have to balance the damage of one skill or one weapon as a whole), but it limits build diversity by a lot.

You can't use quarterstaves and start slaming the ground for massive volcanoes. You'll have to use a mace, or transform into bear form (when Druid is released). You want to play poison? It's mostly bow skills. It's okay considering Pathfinder is kind of meant for that, but what if you wanted to play a Burning arrow ranger? You can't, the skill doesn't exist and the closest thing requires a Crossbow instead.

So no, I don't think PoE2 has the build variety I was expecting, and unless they make changes to weapon skills being useable with more than one weapon type, it will never be.

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Motherpigeon#1697 wrote:

We still have more ascendancies to come so let's wait for them as there is one suspicion that would be my preferred choice if it works how I think it would.

Good to see you already have an idea to try out. Seeing what people come up with is an exciting part of this game.

The balancing headaches could be colossal, so those already upset with nerfs honestly haven't seen anything yet. Looking at all the combinations now gives me a headache thinking about how they will balance this, and then what you said about more to come is just mind-boggling.

I am in the camp of severely lowering the cost of respecs, so that people will be free to experiment more with their class instead of farming for gold. This seems like a no-brainer win-win for everyone. By having the respecs to try new things, people will be able to unlock these new builds at a faster pace.

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xpose#1651 wrote:

There's only so much you can do with half the weapons and skills missing

This is true, and I'm just hoping enough is there currently to provide for some creative builds. My expectations are not high, but they say invention is the mother of necessity. If people have their builds nerfed, needing a new/adjusted build could bring out the best in the community.

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pyrocyborg#0256 wrote:

You can't use quarterstaves and start slaming the ground for massive volcanoes. You'll have to use a mace, or transform into bear form (when Druid is released). You want to play poison? It's mostly bow skills. It's okay considering Pathfinder is kind of meant for that, but what if you wanted to play a Burning arrow ranger? You can't, the skill doesn't exist and the closest thing requires a Crossbow instead.

So no, I don't think PoE2 has the build variety I was expecting, and unless they make changes to weapon skills being useable with more than one weapon type, it will never be.

You make a lot of good points, and I appreciate the thorough input.

Your point about the weapon type is important, and someone earlier pointed that out as well. One of the main reasons the game is limiting, from what I read today, is due to the animations of one weapon looking awkward/bad with the skills of another weapon. It's a shame that's a roadblock, and I hope that can be adjusted, but it appears that would take a huge amount of animation work.

So, regarding your last example with the burning arrow ranger, could that become a "thing" if GGG crafted a unique for it? I guess I'm just trying to come up with a future workaround on the fly. What can they do to fix this? And yes, I want to smash my quarterstaff on the ground to make volcanoes! I also want to grow as big as a mountain and end Asgard with my quarterstaff. :)

The build variety sucks and anything that works right now has or will get nerfed into the ground. You are suppose to suffer and not have fun in PoE 2.

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Idle-Race#9384 wrote:

The build variety sucks and anything that works right now has or will get nerfed into the ground. You are suppose to suffer and not have fun in PoE 2.

My support for allowing respecs with these types of changes is 100% for it. We should all want people to have the freedom to switch to something else if they get nerfed/roadblocked by changes, and I hope GGG takes the respecs to heart.

Having said that, from my standpoint, I'm willing to see how they change things without undo criticism because they are going to work like no other company out there to balance things. If I didn't believe that, I would walk away from this game until release.

My personality is geared to empathy, and, while I didn't get hit with the sorc changes, it still feels bad to me since that was a lot of work people put into their characters. The lesson is to be careful with any new OP builds, and just be ready to see them take a hit. Yes, that in the short run is not fun, but again, people have to either trust GGG or walk away, IMHO.

When POE 1 was in beta, people were literally begging GGG to let them buy a key as they were almost impossible to acquire. They finally agreed to allow people to buy a key. Those people were unbelievably grateful to GGG for the chance to play it. That is the attitude I have with POE 2, and hopefully people will stop feeling entitlement and be happy they have the opportunity.