Itemization suggestions and feedback, QoL, Freeze, Delirium

So... I am a long time ARPG player have about 10k D2 hours but only 300-400 in PoE 1 and I've put about 180 hours into PoE 2 EA and figured I would share my suggestions here. My main reasoning behind most of them are the same... to make things feel better for the player, as in less annoying more enjoyable more rewarding or to improve quality of life or overall gameplay experience in general:

-Remove advanced and expert gear, tier item affixes and requirements(this only to 75 as it is currently) to item level and make all unique weapons scale with item level as certain caster unique items do.

I put this at the top of the list because I feel it is the most important, having items scale their affix tiers up with item level would improve the progression upon reaching end game drastically. The current system has us finding items with stats that range so wildly that finding an upgrade for yourself borders on impossible and has us sifting through 99.999% of our items which are trash for maybe an item that is ok but still not an upgrade. Usually, when I or anyone I know finds a nice blue with a high tier affix they want... something like a T10, they add an affix and insta brick it with some T1 affix which even if its the correct affix it is still bricked. We need smaller roll ranges. I am a big supporter of the 40% rule, have the max roll be no more than 40% more than the minimum roll at endgame, so beginning at item lvl 70 gear.. all drops have a minimum tier to meet that rule. Obviously tweak the numbers to make it work, if you guys think 70 is to low then start it up at a higher level and scale it between there.. it does not matter as long as it feels good.
This would also have the added benefit of reducing clutter on the screen by shortening the item names and reducing the labor the player has to do sifting through drops. I think the unique item change explains itself, if it is set up that way for caster uniques why not the melees?

-More bosses, don't remove bosses on death, nerf exp penalty

2 out of 3 of these need to happen by launch, you either need to let us keep the map or keep our xp, it is just wayyyy too punishing. I think everyone agrees they want more bosses in maps too.

-Delirium mobs ABSOLUTELY MUST BE DAMAGEABLE ON SPAWN

This is absolutely critical, we can not be surrounded by invunlerable invisible mobs body blocking us with their hitboxes. Every time I start a delirium I get swarmed and cant hit the mobs for like 3 seconds as they push me around. They can't be hit and I'm getting boxed in, when they appear they all appear simultaenously and try to stunlock me. Need Fix bad bug.

-Increase base freeze threshold and nerf freeze build up on the player after frozen the same way you did for the mobs.

Freeze lasts an incredibly long time and because the freeze threshold is so low for the player added cold damage mod on maps for example is pretty much certain death. Players are getting repeatedly frozen. There are not enough ways to solve this problem for most builds, there is like one option for ES users. Along with on death effects this is probably the most BS frustrating way for a player to die, and on my second playthrough of the game it accounts for 9 out of 10 of my deaths. Cold res doesn't solve the problem, I take only 100 dmg from a pathetic little ice bolt shot off an eye of winter or something and get instafroze and then wacked to death over and over as I get frozen again. The solution might instead be fixing charms but I haven't thought about them very much, they just don't seem to do anything. One use and they are empty and I honestly can't tell if they even saved me from a freeze because I'm still frozen.

-Remove more on death effects.

On death effects are bad, and always have been bad, and always will be bad.
This game in particular though? There is just a visibility problem that makes them worse, so many cool effects on my screen but I just can't see any of these floor based attacks.

-Don't drop superior items or socket items ever, replace with shards scraps etchers and whetstones.

This will drastically reduce time spent going back to town, labor of sorting items, and visual clutter.

-Rarity for gear only.

Can't confirm since it is anecdotal but alot of others are saying the same, rarity appears to have a big impact on currency drops in my experience which makes the stat pretty much as mandatory as resistances are. After this nerf then increase currency drop rates globally.

-Make implicit mods on items static rolls.

We don't need the additional layer of RNG, it doesn't feel good, and 99 times out of 100 I feel worse for even reading my implicit roll vs the range.

-Make move speed implicit on all boots.

Move speed is just too mandatory, you need it to avoid enemy attacks and to travel in this game, opening up an affix slot would really help with players just getting to end game not being able to solve their resistances also.

-Make base resistances 0 at endgame not negative.

I like how you guys are trying to respect D2 with this, but it really doesn't add anything to the game. It just makes understanding what stats you do have slightly more confusing for new players. Also making it base 0 would really help people just reaching end game which is generally a big wall where the get slammed after the extremely easy act 3 cruel by comparison.. would smooth the progression out alot I think.

-Delete light radius stat from the game.
We have a hard enough time getting decent rolls, this is unnecessary.

-Delete accuracy from the game.
This stat is not interesting at all and tying a mainstat to it feels really bad vs life and mana. Give us like 1% AS per 10 dex or something, or evasion instead I don't really care.

-Let orb of annulment work like a chance orb on corrupted items or remove socketable items from the socket.

Would bring value to the currency, they also seem a bit too rare for being pretty much useless for most people.

-Add a tier of essences that adds an affix to a magic or change the lesser affix to add to magic instead of upgrade from normal.
-Make essences much more common.

I feel like 90 percent of players don't engage with this system because they are super rare and the more common lessers are pretty much just a slightly better blue orb that I will never use because I'll just eat blue orbs all day and keep them in my inventory instead of going for an essence because it is faster and easier. If they worked for magic items instead then they might be my go to for when I get a real nice single mod blue.

-Higher tier delirium drops need to be more common.

Do you guys want players to engage with this system or not? It is gonna be a seasonal game, how are we expected to anoint our amulet? I'm not gonna pay 500 ex to anoint my amulet which I would replace before paying that much, it is nuts.

-Delete temporalis or make it easier to access.

This might be a controversial opinion but I don't know. I really don't like this super cool unique item being tied to the most annoying task in the game tied to flawlessing it tied to a consumable that costs half the price of the item. Enigma was easy to access in D2. No normal player will get this item, especially not within seasons, why does this item exist? I thought you didn't want us flying across screens? But it's ok if the top 0.1% players and streamers get it? so they can show off your game and false advertise the fun stuff for you? Sorry, kinda just salty about this one.

-Explain expedition in game

Expedition needs a tutorial or something, didn't make sense to me at first and after 100 hours none of my friends even knew about it or how the vendors worked.

-Nerf breech tentacle monster

This weird monster like hits the floor or something and one shots you, can't tell what it is doing half the time because of all the stuff going on but it seems to be way overtuned. I feel like I just randomly die too because it snipes me off screen or something? anyways it has a lot of tentacles whatever it is reminds me of those things from D2 that shot the lightning.

-Add rune or soul core affinities to tabs

Big QoL for me.

-Add expedition currency to currency tab

Another big QoL buff for me.



Most of this stuff here is about items, because items are the main way players in your game are going to solve their problems. I have faith you guys are going to tweak the balance of skills and classes and make uniques a little bit more interesting so I don't feel the need to talk about that stuff here. If you just went with my first suggestion and fixed the main frustrating deaths by launch it would really improve the game and help player retention.