POE 2 EA Feedback Thus Far

First, I have only about 30-40 hours in POE1. Honestly, wasn’t a big fan of the first game. It was fine for what it was but nothing about it blew me away. However, I will admit since I never made it to endgame, I probably don’t have a lot of ground to stand on with that opinion.

POE 2 on the other hand, I have 130 hours between the PS5 and the PC version (I first got it on the PS5 but the performance was so bad my eyes were hurting playing it, so I bought it on the PC so I can get stable 120 FPS on my LG OLED). I currently have a level 77 monk, along with one of each other class between levels 4 and level 20.

I feel that even in EA, this is the best ARPG that I’ve ever played. I love the more deliberate combat that gives it more depth and challenge, while still allowing you to fulfill your power fantasy of nuking everything on the screen. I think the graphics are really good (not quite D4 level, but still great). By the way, I also have about 150 hours in D4 on the base game and the DLC. I believe the sense of progression is really strong (at least through the campaign), and I am officially addicted to the game. I appreciate the relative ease of partying up with others (although party finder and the party system is a buggy mess at this point), but still it’s not bad.

The things we need to look at for improvement, in my opinion, include:

-Bosses. Some of the best and most infuriating bosses in an isometric ARPG ever. I love the bosses, how many there are, and the unique mechanics. I hate some of the absolutely unfair AOE attacks that take up almost the whole screen, making it almost impossible to roll out of. I hate the bosses that have huge packs of mobs that swarm you forcing you to spam the roll button because you keep getting interrupted when trying to get off a spell. Some of the bosses are over-tuned and have unfair AOE mechanics. Reviving other players is too long in these boss fights as you are constantly interrupted while trying to do so, forcing you to start the revive timer over again. (I did learn that revive is faster when multiple people try to revive a downed player, so hope that you get in a good group with people who know to rush over and help).

-Uniques. I know I’ve not found every unique, but man, it seems every single unique I’ve had dropped is only good for lower level characters. Why can’t my level 77 monk wear a unique? Either have the unique scale to your level when it drops or add more uniques geared towards endgame players (I’m sure this will happen).

-Loot. It’s not terrible, but I do think improvements can be made here to drop more loot that is relevant to my character. Still too much junk loot that I’ll never do anything with. I don’t mind looting quality and socketed items to salvage, but that’s really all I’m seeing now. ARPG’s thrive on strong loot systems, so this needs to be addressed.

-Crafting. This is too much of a gamble. I may be spoiled by D4’s excellent crafting and upgrade system where I can be very specific about what I’m building, but in POE2, it’s just a crap shoot at this time. I’m hoping to see improvements here where we can at least gamble for a specific stat that we need, and hope the roll is good on that stat.

-Endgame. Nope, not a fan at this time. I don’t mind the map or the Atlas skill board. I like dropping into maps with large mobs of enemies. What I don’t like is AOE effects that instantly kill you and not knowing what the heck just killed me. I don’t like automatically failing a map and losing progress, loot on the ground, and EXP for dying to something I could not see or react to. I don’t know why you don’t give at least 1 revive when playing with another player since difficulty exponentially increases with more players. I’m also not a fan of the way stone system where you keep getting lower tier waystones that drop and you can’t progress your “complete tier x waystones” quests. I think there is massive potential here and the issues are not enough to stop me from playing, so hoping to see improvements.

Overall, excellent game, and easily in my top 10 favorites all time. I’m really looking forward to the improvements going through EA and into official release.

Great job GGG team!

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SqwishyZombie#9597 wrote:

I feel that even in EA, this is the best ARPG that I’ve ever played. I love the more deliberate combat that gives it more depth and challenge, while still allowing you to fulfill your power fantasy of nuking everything on the screen.

Just be prepared because if you think that Heralds will be in the same spot what now you will be disappointed.

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Dxt44#4050 wrote:

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SqwishyZombie#9597 wrote:

I feel that even in EA, this is the best ARPG that I’ve ever played. I love the more deliberate combat that gives it more depth and challenge, while still allowing you to fulfill your power fantasy of nuking everything on the screen.

Just be prepared because if you think that Heralds will be in the same spot what now you will be disappointed.

It’s OK, it’s EA so I expect things to change and get nerfed. I’m sure we’ll find a way to overcome those nerfs, like many players already have done after the first round of nerfs.

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SqwishyZombie#9597 wrote:

It’s OK, it’s EA so I expect things to change and get nerfed. I’m sure we’ll find a way to overcome those nerfs, like many players already have done after the first round of nerfs.

It won't be nerfed. It will be deleted from the game.

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Dxt44#4050 wrote:

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SqwishyZombie#9597 wrote:

It’s OK, it’s EA so I expect things to change and get nerfed. I’m sure we’ll find a way to overcome those nerfs, like many players already have done after the first round of nerfs.

It won't be nerfed. It will be deleted from the game.

Not sure why you think that, but let’s say that’s true. It’s still EA. I fully expect things to change, even morph into something completely different before official release. That’s what EA is.

If it turns into something I don’t like, I’ll stop playing and move onto something else. Simple as that.