POE 2 loses it's identity/face on end-game

"

morbo#1824 wrote:

I like how the game plays in the campaign. But for the endgame to be also toned down in speed, GGG would need to cut the atlas node density in half, shrink all the maps, buff the drop rates of everything by 500% and severely re-design league content.

Or they could add a branch to the Atlas that converts Increased Pack Size to Reduced Pack Size, and has nodes behind that to allow end game to play more like the campaign. This would open up builds variety quite a bit. Sure, it might mess with one or two of the League mechanics, but they could always add in 1-2 Leagues that are more tailored towards less AoE-oriented builds, such as combining Anarchy, Nemesis and Bestiary into a single League tree.

I made a more lengthy post about it here https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3696085, but it was during off hours and fell off the front page.

"

morbo#1824 wrote:

I like how the game plays in the campaign. But for the endgame to be also toned down in speed, GGG would need to cut the atlas node density in half, shrink all the maps, buff the drop rates of everything by 500% and severely re-design league content.

Or they could add a branch to the Atlas that converts Increased Pack Size to Reduced Pack Size, and has nodes behind that to allow end game to play more like the campaign. This would open up builds variety quite a bit. Sure, it might mess with one or two of the League mechanics, but they could always add in 1-2 Leagues that are more tailored towards less AoE-oriented builds, such as combining Anarchy, Nemesis and Bestiary into a single League tree.

I made a more lengthy post about it here https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3696085, but it was during off hours and fell off the front page.

"

IonSugeRau1#1069 wrote:

Cast-on meta gems and a complete rework to minions. Anything that leads to braindead gameplay needs to be reworked really.... and there's a long list of things sadly.

+1 overall.

"Cast-On" Gems really promotes more of the "zoom zoom 1-shot" in a way that makes it more ridiculous/OP -- not a bad suggestion to just flat-out Remove it lol (just like XP loss on death for mapping/end-game [among other things...lol]). I remember it in D3 (yes, I did actually play that horrid game a while back, for a bit..lol)...felt the same there lol (just broken lol)

Minion/Witch got to lvl 21 for that. From what I gathered, I was just looking for +Level Skills gear, and +Spirit gear, some +Recoup stuff, and +ES/Life (+Resis [more for later]). The minion passive nodes of course. Just nodes for ES. Add a couple of support Gems to the Minion Gems. Oh, and perhaps adding Ghostwrithe/CoF if you got 1 lol. Oh ya, don't forget that Fortress Supp Gem for the Flame Wall to make it a circle, right? Voila done lol...I mean sure there are some more optimizations later on perhaps...but like...eh. To each their own I guess...lol

Oh wait...there was something good about Minion/Witch...oh yes, the fact that you can actually technically TANK stuff...that's right....(*Re-Rolls/Re-Specs Warrior Again to equip above gear/Scepter/path all the way up/mirrors all above gems/config* -- I can TANK finally!!! -- Lol.)

"

KuroSFF wrote:

Best at mid.

Yup -- Jungle Mains FTW (Ewwww, Mid...*shudders*). :P

The endgame is trash. I played 4 chars to maps and now I'm waiting for the rest of the campaign and classes/ascendancies so I can run the campaign some more.

"

CycloneJack#6077 wrote:

"

morbo#1824 wrote:

I like how the game plays in the campaign. But for the endgame to be also toned down in speed, GGG would need to cut the atlas node density in half, shrink all the maps, buff the drop rates of everything by 500% and severely re-design league content.

Or they could add a branch to the Atlas that converts Increased Pack Size to Reduced Pack Size, and has nodes behind that to allow end game to play more like the campaign. This would open up builds variety quite a bit. Sure, it might mess with one or two of the League mechanics, but they could always add in 1-2 Leagues that are more tailored towards less AoE-oriented builds, such as combining Anarchy, Nemesis and Bestiary into a single League tree.

I made a more lengthy post about it here https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3696085, but it was during off hours and fell off the front page.

actually a great idea.. or a just boss maps. Without mobs.

Sure playing through the story line is engaging. You have goals to reach, and it's rewardign to feel your character grow in power. Skills also feel more meaningful.

That said, it was clear to me already from POE1 closed beta, that POE is its own game, it is NOT a Diablo 2 successor.

The fact that is is based on a MTX/F2P model from the get go means that it is designed from the grounds up in a different way. All the itemisation has to account for it.

But even at heart, it is after all nicknamed "Path of Excel". There are few just overall good uniques that you can use on many characters. The devs really like the idea of "theory crafting" builds and exploiting the mechanics.

I accept that POE is its own game. GOing by that line of thinking, I find POE2 indeed is POE1 improved.

The game is much more dynamic, especially with the addition of dodge roll, active blocking, and WASD movement. Those are awesome changes.

The endgame does feel like a let down. I don't think it's just a lack of content. I'm not sure simply adding tutorials to ease in the players as they described during 0.1.1 podcast, is enough.

I wish POE2 made compromises and veered more the way of Diablo II. Make uniques more cool and usable instead of being "build defining". Make it fun to just find uniques.

Bosses are awesome but for me the endgame is let down by the fact that maps are far too dense visually. The art style works for the campaign, but for the relentless/onslaught map-clearing style gameplay the art style becomes a hindrance, with a lot of noise and unclear obstacles, and very dark areas that make the game less playable and feel unfair especially when your FPS starts tanking due to all the shenanigans going on the screen.

Campaign is clearly not designed to act as the main "Farmable" area and it would be boring as well if it was as the maps are quite repetitive (take Azak Bog, Utzaal etc).

One issue I have also with the endgame atlas is the constant scrolling and trying to find where I was, where I want to go - since the game often recenters the map while I look at my inventory for waystones and such.

I am looking at an incredibly detailed atlas, which in the end doesnt do a whole lot. It seems over designed for what it is - essenially a web of connected nodes.

Anyway not sure where I"m going with this. Maybe there is just a class of players who come from Diablo 3/4 or maybe like me who were huge fans of Diablo 2 LoD , and for us the addcitive/gambling/mtx/f2p aspect of the game is not working and thats fine. The best time I've had playng POE was closed beta and 1-2 years after.

Its funny because the salty post from diablo dev about a "diablo like" term was not unwarranted. POE is really a "exile like" game. It is NOT a diablo 2 -alike game, only on the surface.

and now in end game - game is even MORE NULL and poe 1 copy. SPAM of mobs that makes only one button builds matter. 0 methodical play, 0 positioning, just holding the one button. Developers really created another game to just re-write engine and close poe 1 after time i guess.
Game feels more like Diablo 4 in end game more than poe 1. With my 10 years of experience in poe i clearly can say all that "meaningful" core gameplay of poe 2 have no existence in end-game.

The latest patch was a hit and miss for me. There were definitely some good adjustments on the annoying bits (off-screen zealot meteor casters, dynamite chuckers lobbing 30 grenades, CDR increased to those invisible ghosts), but some of the mob tuning was nerfed too much (Vile Vultures are toothless pushovers now, those Doedre mobs not using vomit skill at point blank) taking away some of the dread and caution while mapping.

Was looking forward to POE2 departing from the one-button screen clear nonsense that was in POE1 and having it's own identity that rewarded skillful play. But we're seeing the game reduced down to the same reductive zero-awareness POE1 gameplay unfortunately.

If that's what GGG wants, so be it, but I was told this would be a more interactive and compelling POE.

Also, I don't know why they didn't do a pass on the Heralds. Players are becoming conditioned to one-shotting screens and when the inevitable balance pass happens taking that away they are going to whine and scream.

If the entire game felt like it did on my first character going through campaign, I wouldn't mind. I'd probably play PoE1 more often, but at least this game would have a solid foundational style. I may even play it almost as much as PoE1.

However, as everyone in here is rightfully pointing out: It wants to be one thing for that first campaign playthrough, then turns into a crummy version of PoE1 afterwards.

Overall very good post.

"

all issuess from poe 1 returned here - they just simply copying defenses from POE 1. Which ends with over-complicated armor and very simple ES - should be inverted to match class fantasy.
We will end again with armor need fortify + 3x conversion of conversion to conversion + stance to have playable armor. HP + Armor should be simple - as warriors build muscles and towering above enemies. But it's mages that like to use "mind" and learning spells have simple ES.

As for the armour situation I have a post going into depth about the problems it has and how so resolve them, if anyone is interested enough:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3667538