I’ve been playing Path of Exile since its beta days. My Steam account alone shows over
6000 hours, and with the standalone client, I’m well above
8500 hours.
I’ve seen every league, every major patch, and every meta shift. I
want POE2 to be different. I
want it to evolve beyond POE1. But it also needs to respect the core elements that made the original game successful. It feels like some fundamental missteps are being made, and they’re hard to ignore.
One of the most frustrating things I see lately is new players, many of them ex-D4 players or people who barely touched POE1, saying GGG shouldn’t listen to veterans who want POE2 to hold onto certain aspects of the original.
These players also argue that POE1 veterans "don’t understand Souls-like games" or "slower, more methodical gameplay." This is just laughable. Many of us have played and loved games like Elden Ring or Dark Souls. We fully understand what makes those games great.
But comparing them to an ARPG like POE2 is like comparing apples to oranges. Souls games are about tight, deliberate combat, exploration, and immersive design, whereas POE is about progression, loot, and player creativity. Slowing down POE2 doesn’t make it feel like Elden Ring—it just makes it feel tedious.
Here’s my Steam profile, just to put things in perspective:
We’ve been playing this game for years. We’re the players who’ve kept coming back, league after league, supporting GGG with time and money.
This isn’t about “clinging to the past.” It’s about wanting POE2 to succeed while still respecting the core of what makes Path of Exile such a beloved ARPG.
Let me break down some key issues:
1. Slow Doesn’t Mean Better
The combat in PoE2 can feel fluid and rewarding, with mechanics that encourage skillful play. But everything around the combat—like movement, preparation, and pacing—feels unnecessarily slow. Removing movement skills like Flame Dash or Leap Slam doesn’t make the game more challenging; it just makes exploration and backtracking tedious, especially in large maps.
Outside of fights, systems like refill wells and limited crafting flexibility add friction that slows progress without adding depth. While combat might shine in moments, the overall pacing around it feels like it’s working against the player, rather than enhancing the experience.
PoE2 doesn’t need to be as fast as PoE1 at its peak, but slowing down the game should make it more engaging—not more frustrating. Balancing fluid combat with better pacing outside of fights is key to maintaining the excitement that defines Path of Exile.
2. Difficulty Isn’t About Tedium
I keep hearing that PoE2 is “more difficult.” But is it really? True difficulty isn’t about inflating enemy health pools and dragging players into tedious, repetitive loops of poking, retreating, and waiting for enemies to finally die. That’s not engaging—it’s exhausting.
Difficulty should challenge players to think critically, rewarding them for smart decision-making and mastery of mechanics. It should test how well they adapt their build, manage their resources, and execute their strategy. In PoE2, however, much of the “difficulty” feels artificial—fights are longer, but not necessarily harder in a meaningful way. Instead of rewarding creativity and preparation, the game often feels like a slog, with inflated stats creating frustration rather than genuine challenge.
A better approach would have been to make preparation and build experimentation central to overcoming challenges. Systems like flasks, jewels, and crafting could have been expanded upon to reward players who adapt their strategies and fine-tune their builds for specific encounters. This kind of difficulty encourages thoughtful gameplay, where success feels earned—not through endurance, but through ingenuity and skill.
3. Flasks and the “Vision”
Yes, flasks now refill on kills, which is better than the original PoE2 reveal. But the addition of refill wells still feels unnecessary and redundant. The whole system feels like a solution to a problem that didn’t exist in PoE1. Instead of adding depth, it just slows down the pacing.
Utility flasks were something unique in PoE1, setting it apart from other ARPGs. They weren’t just about healing or resource management but offered strategic tools to adapt to different situations. While they weren’t always needed in every fight, they added depth and flexibility, letting players fine-tune their builds for specific challenges.
In PoE2, this potential seems to have been abandoned. Earlier reveals hinted at making flasks more situational and impactful, yet instead of refining the system, much of what made flasks engaging has been removed. It’s disappointing to see such a distinct and defining feature stripped back when it could have been evolved into something even better.
4. Crafting Is a Mess
No deterministic crafting is a joke. The devs say they want us to craft more, but how? Without reliable tools like crafting benches or alt rolls, crafting feels like throwing currency into the void and praying for a miracle. The lack of control isn’t engaging—it’s exhausting.
Crafting in PoE1 struck a good balance between randomness and control, offering tools like the crafting bench to guide progression. PoE2 could have expanded on this by introducing simpler, streamlined deterministic options—like locking specific mods or targeting affix pools—to make crafting more approachable without removing the excitement of RNG. Instead, the system feels stripped down, leaving players with fewer options and less satisfaction from the process.
5. Drops and Vendors
If you like the current loot drops, more power to you. But even if you do, they’re still poorly designed. Vendors have been given more power, but drops feel so sparse that crafting currency barely exists, especially in the early game.
Low-level progression suffers the most, with players struggling to find basic resources to make meaningful upgrades. The early game should feel rewarding and set a strong foundation, but instead, it feels barren. Later on, the problem shifts entirely, creating a different set of frustrations that make progression feel disconnected and unrewarding at all stages.
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 interesting, but in practice, it’s just another layer of grind.
The old system was one of PoE’s defining features, seamlessly tying skills to gear and rewarding experimentation with socket and support combinations. It offered both creativity and progression, something the new system fails to capture. Instead of building on this unique foundation, the new system discards much of what made it great. A refinement of the old mechanics would have preserved its depth and flexibility while addressing accessibility, without losing what made PoE stand out.
8. The Campaign Is Too Long
Some players praise the longer campaign, but for leagues, this is a disaster. Every league, we’ll have to slog through this overly long campaign multiple times. POE1’s campaign is already considered a chore by many veterans, and POE2’s is shaping up to be even worse. A longer campaign doesn’t mean better retention—it just means more burnout.
9. Ascendancies and Trials
Why can’t we change ascendancies anymore? Is this supposed to be a challenge? It’s just restrictive for no reason. And Trials… who thought combining Ultimatum and Sanctum mechanics was a good idea? Trials are tedious, clunky, and far from enjoyable. It feels like GGG took the least-loved mechanics and doubled down on them, which is baffling.
I Want to Love POE2, But It’s Hard
As a veteran, I want to see POE2 succeed. I want it to be different, but it also needs to respect the core systems that have kept players invested in POE1 for years. Right now, it feels like GGG is prioritizing their “vision” over what actually works.
To the newer players defending these changes without understanding their long-term impact: you’re not helping. Ignoring valid criticism isn’t supporting the game; it’s enabling bad design. Constructive feedback is what helps games improve. POE2 has the potential to be great, but it needs to address these issues before it alienates the very players who’ve been its foundation for years.
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An Additional Layer
All the issues I’ve outlined—slower gameplay, the length of the campaign, the lack of deterministic crafting, and more—become even more glaring when you consider that Path of Exile is a seasonal game. This isn’t a single-player experience where you play it once, enjoy the story, and move on. It’s a live-service game designed to be restarted every three to four months.
When criticizing PoE2’s slower gameplay, it’s important to clarify: this isn’t about demanding to clear entire screens instantly or finish maps in seconds. Those extremes are outliers in PoE1—seen only in highly specialized builds or as unintended anomalies—and are often corrected in balance patches. Most players strike a balance between efficiency, survival, and thoughtful navigation, and it’s that balance that makes gameplay rewarding.
The issue with PoE2’s slower pace is that it feels forced. Removing movement skills like Flame Dash or Leap Slam doesn’t just slow players down—it removes an essential layer of control and fluidity that made combat and traversal engaging. Instead, we’re left with rolls and other limited tools that feel restrictive. Similarly, sluggish fights with bloated enemy health aren’t a true challenge; they’re a test of patience. Add to this systems like refill wells and overly drawn-out combat mechanics, and the game starts to feel more tedious than rewarding.
But the problems don’t stop at pacing. The skill tree, for example, feels far more restrictive than its PoE1 counterpart. The inability to cross freely or experiment with unconventional builds stifles creativity, and the absence of masteries removes a layer of depth that allowed players to specialize and fine-tune their characters. Crafting, another cornerstone of PoE1’s depth, has also taken a hit. Without deterministic tools or clear methods to shape gear, crafting feels less like a rewarding system of progression and more like a chaotic gamble.
These changes might feel fine to players looking for a one-time experience, similar to what we saw with Diablo 4. When D4 launched, forums were filled with praise: “The loot system is great,” “Skills are balanced,” “The pacing is perfect.” Early criticism was dismissed, with many claiming the game “just needs time.” Yet within a season or two, the cracks showed. Players who initially defended the systems stopped engaging, leaving behind a core audience frustrated by shallow mechanics.
The same risks apply here. Many players advocating for slower gameplay or longer campaigns won’t stick around beyond one or two leagues. They want a single immersive experience before moving on, while veterans—those who engage with every seasonal reset—are left navigating systems that feel clunky and restrictive league after league. For a seasonal game, this is a critical problem: pacing, accessibility, and creative freedom must be prioritized to keep players engaged long-term. Without these, the excitement of PoE’s core loop risks being replaced by fatigue.
