Why POE2’s Direction Is Worrying for Veterans and Newcomers Alike

Just noticed this post and I am so much with the OP. Oh dear, 'we' are in the same boat.

Game difficulty is massively subjective based on how you choose to play the game. Both games are hard if you've never googled streamer / op / meta builds and play SSFHC. If you spoil the game with build guides and trade they are very easy (Although noobs playing guides in PoE2 would probably also die a lot in the campaign). I actually think GGG are consciously designing the game to be much harsher for SC trade corpse cheesing players which is a good thing.


My problem with PoE 2 as a big ARPG fan there is a progression vs time commitment I'm willing to make. Diablo 2 I can hit end-game build in a weekend, PoE 1 I can hit end-game build in a weekend, PoE 2 I wont even be through the campaign in a weekend and for me that makes it a tedious and less rewarding to play.

I'm already playing my 7th or so Settlers build and having shitloads of fun with it. I tried build 2 in PoE2 with a previously dropped Quill Rain and Unique armour -> and it's just a slow as it was on my first blind playthrough / log out.

It's such a weird design, they now properly punish casual SC traders by wrecking their maps, XP penalty etc so they can't brute force get to the endgame. Yet tailored the experience against SSFHC players so they don't want to run multiple builds in the new game... seems like a pretty serious problem to me. Then maybe all the paying player-base are the former.

Good OP btw I agree with about 90% of it.

+1 WE DO NOT WANT POE2 LIKE THIS

"

6. The Skill Tree Is Disappointing
The new skill tree looks like POE1’s tree but feels hollow in comparison. The nodes are uninspired, and the restrictive layout makes it harder to create unique or unconventional builds. The inability to travel across the tree freely stifles creativity. And the absence of masteries? It’s a huge loss. Masteries gave builds flexibility and depth, allowing players to specialize and fine-tune their characters. Without them, the tree feels rigid and unexciting. Even basics like Life nodes, which helped define different defensive strategies, are missing, limiting creativity in ways that hurt the game.

"

7. The Gem System Isn’t Fun
The new gem system isn’t engaging. It’s clunky, and the fact that gems don’t stack just highlights how half-baked it feels. The uncut gem mechanic might seem like an interesting idea, but in practice, it’s just another layer of grind. Gems should feel like an integral part of progression, not a source of frustration.

Love most of your points and you hit majority of them correctly. The two above I have to semi-disagree with.

I beleive the new skill tree is meant to be restrictive. The focus was to keep players more in their designated starting points, giving more impact on your starting class vs how you play the game, this is probably to simplify character building a little more. It will most likely restrict build diversity but will also be far more new player friendly, ultimately a decision to get more players involved in the game at the cost a little less build diversity.

The gem system itself is actually a breath of fresh air, tying everything to the gem itself is a really good way of doing it, it also allows you to use the SAME gem on an alt, whereas before you could have a 6 link chest/weapon that was no good for your alt.

The idea of supports being unique to character has grown on me. I hated it at first but after playing through the campaign I understand the concept of what they are trying for and I like the idea.

From what I have read your biggest gripe with gems appears to be the storage of gems more so than the implementation of how skills work, and I happen to agree, gem storage is a joke and I still believe that gems should be purchasable once you have cleared the correct quest even if it is only up to level 14. This way I can get rid of a lot of my uncut gems that are filling up unwanted space and just keep the higher level ones.



The slower more impactful gameplay concept needs to be upheld. The problem right now is that endgame feels like PoE 1 all over again. We are already at the zoom zoom 1-2 button spam to blow three screens up at once era and we are still in Early Access.

This is exacerbated purely by the speed and damage of enemies. Enemies can jump on you and kill you before you can really do anything about it. Plenty of skills to use that crowed control but the character is far too slow and you are not given enough time to set these abilities in motion.

You don't really need to reduce the size of monster packs just reduce their speed and aggression, normal mobs should just be there to satisfy our need to slaughter hundreds of monsters in a mass murder spree.

You could fill the entire screen up with hundres of slow ambling zomebies for us to explode, even if they don't really drop anything it would be just for the pure fun and joy of it. You can also then throw in a giant magic pack every now and then that makes the player look twice.

The rares hidden amongst the packs should be the ones that make us almost dirty our underwear, in turn the rares should drop the significant loot and rewards for the achivement of beating them.

Then bosses are an even higher level than rares, the ultimate challenge that makes you use everything in your aresenal. I would like to actually stop to consider "Should I change this skill for the boss" "Do I need to wear a shield for this" before I begin a boss fight.

Ultimately most of what you are saying is 100% true and even the parts I am on the fence about I don't 100% disagree.

Great Post.

I prefer PoE1's gem system (tbh I think its ARPG masterpiece mechanic) as it led to more experimentation early and mid-game but I don't hate the new system. I think PoE1's socket system frustrated noob players that never understood the weighting of socket colours to armor, evasion and energy shield. Also getting a 6L is definitely one of the mandatory endgame challenges but it's not that hard.

What has disappointed me is seeing the exact same meta skills being used now in PoE2's endgame. No-one thought that with a clean slate they could fix some of the broken meta skills from PoE 1? how does DD not have charge consumption to limit how OP it is for example?

This then means that the endgame will be balanced for those skills, and it will basically just the same as PoE1's endgame except it take 30-50 hours to get there zzzZZZZ.

"

AmpegV4#2473 wrote:

My problem with PoE 2 as a big ARPG fan there is a progression vs time commitment I'm willing to make. Diablo 2 I can hit end-game build in a weekend, PoE 1 I can hit end-game build in a weekend, PoE 2 I wont even be through the campaign in a weekend and for me that makes it a tedious and less rewarding to play.

POE1's campaign is "solved", the general shape of each zone is known and the most efficient route is known. You know which quests to seek out and which to skip.

On a first play through in POE1 newbies take days or weeks to complete it.

Why do you think you can go into a brand new game and zoom zoom through the campaign like you've done it 50 times?

When you know the campaign in POE2 it will be down to around 1 hour per act, which is inline with most experienced players in POE2 (around 6 hours to complete campaign).

The whole game is utterly disappointing.
The basic premise of easing a player into the architecture of its methodology is flawed from the first section where you wake up.
The Miller should be easy to beat, almost too easy there (his act ‘4’ counterpart is fine how it is) so any player new or old can get into the game without failing dozens of times.
The loot is utterly useless, I have played 2 characters (a mercenary to act ‘4’ and a witch to ‘mapping’) and neither found a single item that was any use to them ever. Every item had to be bought from trade ( and giga-inflation there has occurred contradicting supply and demand. Most likely due to bots and farmers).
‘Mapping’ is a core necessity of endgame play yet the waystones drop far far far too rarely to sustain play.
The waystones should be dropping 3-5 per ‘map’ (with no 3 to 1 upgrade to next tier path) and the rarity should be the +1 tier which should be uncommon without high investment in the atlas passive tree.

All of these issues make the game unplayable without so much effort that I have been left feeling I should be getting a salary for the work I am being forced to do to engage with the game at all.

This from a game I was so excited to play that it is basically the only game left installed on my device.

Heartbreaking. Whom ever thought that this ruthless (which in poe1 which was so hated and had such low engagement) like experience was the correct model to place the new IP has made a colossal mistake.

This game HAS TO be easy to start playing, becoming harder as you progress unless you gear up to maintain damage and survivability.
This game HAS TO supply routes to gear up and become stronger.
This game HAS TO supply basic required to play (waystones for example) to maintain engagement.
IT IS DOING NONE OF THESE, I might be an outlier but using the (I am certain Gaussian with its infamous outlier flaws) pseudo rng the game will have plenty of us on both the too harsh and too generous ends of the bell curve.

I don’t care about how tough the game is, it’s rather fun. But a lot of classes can’t do the content mercenary was a nightmare from day one (walking backwards 40 times more than forwards), witch is fun, monk I can’t get passed the Miller after 15 tries (was easy on witch, tough but doable on merc).
Where is the balance to ease a player into the game and keep them there?

I would hate to see the concurrent player retention graph since day one, I bet it’s horrifying and it’s one of maybe 2 metrics shareholders care about.

Yes this is early and it’s a beta and yes GGG have made 2 manifestos so far both have been really good, but there are still some issues to clean up and the correction of the core beliefs that ruthless is fun and game should batter you like a damp tissue in a hurricane from the first boss (Miller).


For clarity I did 250% t17s in Settlers league which got the heart pumping but were easier than the Miller at start of poe2 with some classes

I like PoE2.

But don't know if I will come back for it.
I have faith in GGG though and think they will fix many problems in the endgame.
But some of my issues with it seems to be a core integral part of their new design philosophy: The complete and utter annihilation of player agency.

Nothing about the new Atlas feels like an improvement over PoE1s atlas.
It's prettier and cooler in a sense. But once you actually get down and dirty and start playing the game you really feel the difference in enjoyment and longevity. There's no vareity(could be due to lack of League mechanics) in PoE2 mapping and everyone just does the exact same thing. There's literally no strategies or doing what you think is more fun. You just throw shitter maps in blank nodes and towers to setup a 3-5 Tower Tablet combo for 30-60 minutes. Then do a 'juiced' map Session where you do all your juiced maps with 2-4 mechanics, pick up Exalted Orbs and ID rare items hoping for jackpots.

Due to the novelty and sense of 'discovery' the game is fun.
But damn, if I'm supposed to do this again during a PoE1 league downturn I'll just play a completely different non-ARPG game instead.

You know what's the most ridiculous thing? The endgame of Poe 2 plays EXACTLY the same as Poe 1, but slower, and with the same problems that Poe 1 had before. It looks exactly the same, but with fewer options. As the person above said, farming on Atlas currently has no choice - only clear decisions with no strategies.

I would understand if the gameplay was fundamentally different, and people like the author of this post were trying to turn one game into the other. But no, as of now, the endgame of Poe 2 is just a worse version of Poe 1, where you have fewer tools to deal with the speed and survivability issues.

"

theslavagame#6814 wrote:

You know what's the most ridiculous thing? The endgame of Poe 2 plays EXACTLY the same as Poe 1, but slower, and with the same problems that Poe 1 had before. It looks exactly the same, but with fewer options. As the person above said, farming on Atlas currently has no choice - only clear decisions with no strategies.

I would understand if the gameplay was fundamentally different, and people like the author of this post were trying to turn one game into the other. But no, as of now, the endgame of Poe 2 is just a worse version of Poe 1, where you have fewer tools to deal with the speed and survivability issues.

I think the core concept of the new atlas is fresh and exciting, the implementation of it does as you said feel lacklustre. I am hopeful this lustre will be added in time though, call it faith.