How are you PoE2 Newbies faring after basically one month?

Interesting. Pretty much what I expected.
Most of the responses are people who did get to endgame maps despite being new, and most of you seem to be criticising the same things as us vets.

Pretty much confirms that the very vocal and hostile people early on were just bad and mad about it.


I do hope people will keep enjoying PoE2 (I definitely am sticking with it for now). I'm not as fond of it as I am of the first game but I do think it has potential. I just hate how the company decided to reinvent the wheel and reintroduce problems that were already solved because of their shitty vision.

Campaign and leveling is largely fun. I'm on my third character now. Gameplay is solid and fun, aside from some nitpicks like the RNG "crafting" system.

On the other hand, the forced out-of-game trading stuff combined with the totally busted economy is garbage and needs to be overhauled. I usually prefer to play SSF, but it's incredibly painful in POE2 because the whole loot system seems to be designed with the assumption that everyone needs to be buying items and spending hours playing the poetrade.com game instead of POE2. As a result once you finish the campaign it very quickly becomes un-fun when you hit a progression wall due to your loot with no real way to find good items yourself. Hence why I usually stop playing or roll a new character soon after hitting maps.

They need to do two things to address this I think.

First, there needs to be an in-game AH or whatever they want to call their automated trading feature. People should not have to leave the game to a web site and then whisper people. You should be able to click a listed item and buy it without leaving the game, and voilla it's in your stash.

Second, SSF mode needs to be permanent/unswitchable, and it needs to have boosts of some sort to make loot acquisition feasible. Something like what Last Epoch did.

Or, just make loot drops incredibly more rewarding/practical across the board so people aren't forced to engage with "the economy" and SSF buffs aren't as necessary. Overhauling crafting to be much more deterministic and less reliant on rare currency drops that nobody wants to actually craft with would also be helpful.

I'm new, I installed PoE 1 back in '22 I think but due to life situations I managed to play it like maybe 4-5 hours maximum and then I kind of forgot about it to be honest and left it aside, no issues with the game itself though.

Fast-forward to now, half-way level 92, I've been mapping for over 2 weeks I believe, happy Monk doing his monkey business ( 4th char reaching the endgame overall ), Xesht is already dead, I haven't found citadels though, nor any expedition/ritual bosses, so I just keep at it day in day out as much as possible for something new.

Not a "vet"*1*2 here for sure, but a vet in general ( I've been playing rpgs since atari and mud :) ), so I do understand you guys from the overall context sometimes ( whenever someone compares and explains things against PoE 1 at least ).

As for sticking around, if I don't kill Arbiter I'm not going anywhere. I'll consider my gameplay "done" at that point but most likely I'll just roll a different character ( hopefully with patches in the meantime for better days ).

*1: sorry I don't really like the wording veterans, if I consider my nephew who's been playing WoW for 13 years now and he's 24 with still a brain comparable to a pickle a "veteran", I'm doomed. Haha. ( no offense to anyone, well apart from my nephew I guess :) ).

*2: also in a non-US English context ( usually ), vet/vets are the veterinarians which is always funny to me when I read sentences with it... sorry!

p.s.: I don't consider PoE 2 hard at all, and thanks for asking how new people feel :) .

"

PrimordialDarkness#3913 wrote:

Interesting. Pretty much what I expected.
Most of the responses are people who did get to endgame maps despite being new, and most of you seem to be criticising the same things as us vets.

Pretty much confirms that the very vocal and hostile people early on were just bad and mad about it.


I do hope people will keep enjoying PoE2 (I definitely am sticking with it for now). I'm not as fond of it as I am of the first game but I do think it has potential. I just hate how the company decided to reinvent the wheel and reintroduce problems that were already solved because of their shitty vision.

Yep, reinventing the wheel is what disappoints me the most. I knew it may be the way like it was in PoE 1 so I hadnt unrealistic view, just hoped for more different game than PoE 1.

Its also funny that my url friend (4200 hours in PoE1) was so hyped about PoE 2 and when I was skeptical that it may be same as PoE 1 and super-grindy, to which he replied "you cant compare PoE2 to PoE1, they are completely different games. And PoE2 will be the best next-generation arpg you havent ever seen before".
Well, he played like 10 days and then joined Marvels Rivals hype-train :D

Also PoE 2 needs to find the balance between casual players and streamers. So far I dont see PoE 2 growing larger than PoE 1 in long run. The hype train caught some innocent souls along but they will probably quit after the campaign, if not sooner. This may also be intentional as growing larger brings new challenges too.
Its THE game for true arpg fans who dont really play other games and for streamers.

The game is still good but its not for casuals. The casual players who like to play other games too or have limited playtime per week.

I'm having a blast. Have two characters, one level 85 Titan on Tier 13+ maps, and a Stormweaver level 56.

The game have the right amount of challenge in my opinion - however I enjoy hard games. And it's a big playground for people who enjoy creating creative crazy builds like me. My warrior is a dual wielding 2-Handed Mace auto attack madman. Completely Glass Cannon. The issue is I cannot afford top tier defense equipment right now, and I have like the best that my moderate currency let me get my hands on. I loved the way my warrior build naturally evolved to a stunmacer+boneshatter area of attack to full auto attack focused on area of attack warrior. It seemed just a natural evolution from the playstyle I liked most. Huge props to GGG for this. However I definitely feel some changes are needed in Warrior survivability himself and the tedious end-game content. From level 83 onwards (and I can't really level up now because I'm kind of stuck - can't drop Waystone my current tier and I'm only clearing 4 out of 5 maps, making my XP bar stuck) the game lacked a general purpose that is not just a hard grind. I think I'll elaborate more on the feedback topic. And my Stomrweaver is going to a crazy all elementalist route that I'm trying to work with. Some kind of cast on everything that will make recursive magic overflow. By the way, the reason my warrior is not evolving anymore and is stuck is the reason I'm trying another class. I'm still traying to make it viable. Let's see. But overall, having lot of fun with the game.

POE2 was my 1st experience with the franchise. I have put in just under 300 hours and I am loving the difficulty.
I play the game as single player with no interest in trading.
Mapping is similar to mono's in LE so the 1 death thing is something I am use to. The Mapping is better with the modifiers.
Looking forward to GGG finishing the game and curious what direction they will take before full release.
A few things I have noticed is melee needs some love, some tool tips or pop ups to explain things like exp loss on death. Still not sure if it is level based or if it just starts in end game. The rarity of mats doesn't make sense to me when the item rarity is so high. Seems like overkill.
All in all it will be a nice addition to D4 and LE as seasons rotate.

I have about 10 hours in PoE1 from 8 years ago.

Currently 140 hours in POE2. Lvl 78 Witch Hunter, Lvl 79 Deadeye and level 85 Blood mage.

The game is beautiful and the combat is very engaging and addictive.

Just got to teir 15 maps, easily clearing them.

I don't have many big complaints about the game. I had to spend a lot of time outside the game looking at guides to figure out the endgame mechanics since they aren't really explained in game.

Currently loving Delerium and Breech. Ritual and Expedition feel like a waste of time.

"Crafting" is fun when it works. Today I traded for some 5 ex boots. Hit them with two more ex and a vaal and turned them into 1 div boots.

I'm really enjoying the game as a whole and will counting grinding to get to the pinnacle bosses. I wish they were less expensive to fight so becuase of that I can't go in blind like I would want to.

I don't have any interest in POE1. Think I'll just stick with 2.

Edit: oh yeah, trade sucks. Hate the whole system of using the trade site and whispering people.

Nearly, 12k hours in POE1 and 520 currently in POE2 lvl 97 Gemling playing my own custom build.. I reached mapping the 3rd day. I am currently 8/8 with all mechanics besides "Expedition" as I've always hated this mechanic.

I really enjoy the itemization in the game. I see people complaining about why items are not identified when they drop and why the drops are not good. GGG deliberately did this.
This is because Johnathan literally said Diablo 2 was their inspiration here.. If I could count hours on Diablo 2 + D2R; I would say probably double my POE1 time. Anyways, the current reason why we still have scrolls is because in Diablo 2 Magic Finding generally would carry a tome which held 20 scroll. During mapping it is vital that you identify items you know are wanted bases regardless of "Tier" being next to the bases name and even blues (e.x I have found blue items that I have sold for about 10-20d each) I've found rare that have sold for 50+divines and many more. It is absolutely vital that you're looking through loot as I suspect these people who say they are not finding anything means they are only picking up "Tier" items and not actually searching.. This isn't POE1 itemization drop table... this is almost identical to Diablo 2s.

Trails are good; Lab you had to do in order of difficulty.. here it makes sense it's hard you can get a carry from the 4th trail and earn all points in a single go.. this is vital.

Knowledge in Path of Exile is so vital it is mandatory if you want to be successful. You cannot and will not ever start the game (be a pro at some other ARPG) and instantly be successful here. I highly recommend for new players to learn the trade website, affixes on items and what bases are wanted if they wish to be successful with trading and earning currency and great gear. I recommend taking Wisdom scrolls and identifying rare as often as possible especially the highest/most sought after bases as I can guarantee if you're not.. you're walking over some amazing items. If you're new to loot filters I would say stay away from them until you learn how to make your own do not use someone else's as you're probably walking over so many items that could be worth a significant amount.

Never played PoE1. I played about 80h of Grim Dawn years back, D3 campaign, D2 and D1 back in the day.

I'm currently at 300h played in PoE2 so far. Obviously I wouldn't have that many hours if I didn't enjoy it. Or at least, mostly enjoy it. The core game itself is great. Campaign was fun, if a bit brutal to start. The game does an average job of telling you things, but it certainly could do more. I think resistances are the big one. Bosses were fun, but required multiple attempts for me. Which is fine (more on this to come...). Give it a go, learn some things, die, try again and change it up. Lot of tweaking build points, playing with stuff, etc. The fun learning part of a new game. I won't comment too much here because I think everybody agrees that the core campaign is great.

Endgame is for sure different. I realize this isn't THE endgame, but it is the endgame we have NOW.

I am currently playing a L94.5 Titan Warrior.

Mapping
I like the atlas map itself. Yes, it could be better. But having the map and exploring around on it is enjoyable for me. I couldn't imagine this getting me nearly as interested without the map.

I wish it had more map diversity. They maps exist, they are just less common and/or found only around citadels it feels like. Too many Vaal and Augury maps for it to really feel proper.

Towers are boring. Wish they had gone with something like a precursor device that you use on a high ground node or something. Would open up different tower types, mountains, etc. as "tower nodes". Right now I've changed to basically running whatever low map I have handy to get it done and move on.

One Death
Absolute garbage IMHO. Especially for bosses. Part of the fun of the campaign was learning from mistakes. That doesn't happen for maps. One death on the map, or the pinnacle boss (or whatever) and you learn nothing, are punished for it, and you move on. This is an odd design decision that, for me, is crucial for determining if I ultimately stick with the game long term.

XP Loss
Honestly I didn't do much research before buying the game. Some WoW guild friends were hyped for it and I decided to give it a go. Which worked in the games favor for sure. Had I known it had XP loss on death, I probably wouldn't have given it a shot. Which would have been unfortunate since obviously I'm enjoying the game.

That said, XP loss is an archaic game mechanic that should stay buried along with things like thaco in D&D. Punishing for no reason other than to be punishing. Probably my single biggest gripe with the game. This is amplified with the 1-death design. Once I hit end-game I didn't die all that often, but every time it made me want to quit for sure. I eventually looked at stacking health more which has helped, I don't die often. I don't seem to have much issue with the on-death things I see posted all the time.

On top of this, it generates a loop where you only really want to do certain things based on where your XP bar is. Ascension? Best to try that when you are at <5% XP or just wait. Pinnacle boss? Again, if you have any XP on that bar, best not to risk it. It actively discourages people from playing certain aspects of the game at certain times.

Maybe if we had 6 map attempts, and 6 boss attempts, etc. before we got punished it wouldn't feel so bad. But right now, the combination is a killer for sure.

Warrior
This is one I see a lot. Most likely I just don't know any better. But for me, Warrior is playing fine. The pace feels good, I clear maps without issue, I don't die often.

Now there are aspects of it that need attention for sure. Armor and speed being the big ones IMHO. Armor just looks like a mess all around. I guess it was in POE1 too, just not as bad. Either way, for some reason GGG seems to dislike the concept that armor protects you. Very strange. Speed wise, while I get the idea that heavy armor should slow you down, that only makes sense if there is a trade-off. Right now none exists. You are simply punished for wearing armor. Again, very strange design.

Trade
Pretty terrible. But I guess this is "a poe thing" for some reason. I sell stuff, I buy stuff, it works; it is just clumsy. Adds to the old-school feel of the game I suppose. It feels like it was something cobbled together for D2.

Comms
Holiday timing was unfortunate given breaks, but so far the communication seems a bit lacking. I realize it takes time to make changes, but I'd love some sort of weekly developer blog where they discuss the launch, how things are going, what they are aware of and are looking into, etc. Just something to keep the hype train going. Instead, we end up doom scrolling Reddit which doesn't help. :)

Some examples of how I'd like to see stuff:

"We are aware armour is underperforming to what we'd like, we aren't sure of the exact fix yet, but it is something we plan to address."

"ES is currently overperforming. Players shouldn't feel like this is the only option they have to be effective at end-game. We are planning on reducing the effectiveness of ES and are working on exactly what that will look like."

"Our core design for mace skills is to be slow and damaging. Currently this isn't working as well as we had intended, and are planning for changes. Note however that we do not plan to change animation speed."

- or -

"Our core design for mace skills was to be slow and damaging. Currently, this isn't working as well as we had intended. We are looking into attack animation speed, stun during wind-up, and other mechanics to determine how we want to address this."

Learning
The game has a steep learning curve for things like resistances, endgame map sustain, how certain math works, etc. None of it is super intuitive and the game doesn't tell you anything. You really have to read a lot of stuff outside of the game to actually play the game. Again, maybe just old-school design, but feels very strange in 2024/2025.

Summary
Enjoyed the game so far. Enjoying endgame even if it has problems. Game has potential, but could fizzle out for me depending on how the design decision goes from here.

Hi PimordialDarkness,

I played POE 1 for a few days, I got to level 84, ran out of maps and quit.

It was days before D4 came out and I wasn't keen to learn anything giving all anyone said was how complex it all was.

SOME New Players look at Time Investment like a players Stagger/Stun Bar.

How much fun can I have with the Time Investment I can give the game?

How much can I learn with the Time Investment I can give the game?

You may have the best game ever but if I am told it will take 1000 hours to learn it then my Personal Stun Bar gets triggered, and I quit the game.

Now lets move on to POE 2.

I have 378 hours of time invested in POE 2, what have I learned?

I am at level 88 on 2 characters but keep running out of high tier maps just like in POE1 and just like in POE 1 eventually that will force me to quit.

I don't try systems (Breaches, Rituals...) within the maps.

Why? I don't know what they do, their mechanics, I got jumped last time, I got 1 shot. I might die again, lose my exp, my map. I don't have many maps.

Each time I lose exp and a map, my Time Investment Bar gets closer to zero. I don't want to hit zero, that's like Perma Death, never coming back territory.

So Maps drops in Breaches, I never get. Think of how many Maps I left behind.

POINT 1: New players need all maps to drop in the normal maps. Take MAP drops OUT of things like Breaches and triple the drops in normal map play.

How does a new player learn (in game) that Breaches and other things drop crafting matts that can improve slightly the way you craft your gear?

How do I use it, where do I use it, on what, what are all my options?

For a new player the game gives you none of that, which is why I get the impression that all of this like POE 1 is going to end up too complex to explain in game which will affect new player retention at launch.

POINT 2: At 378 hours in I feal I have learned very little. The game needs to do a lot better at being EASIER for new players to learn all the systems within it. If not, they will quit before ever getting to see them all.

I have not talked about Mapping, the Citadels, the matts you need to summon the Bosses, how loot works, how trading works on a website, loot filters, you know I could go on and on.

You wanted a true perspective from a New Player.

There is no way (a New Player at launch) is going to learn all these systems in Season 1. Many will not have the Time Investment they are going to need.

So when Season 2 comes around they will not return. Retention will drop hard.

They need 3 difficulty levels. Easy, Normal, Hardcore.

Easy Mode has zero exp death penalty and no map lost. Season 1 they can just pick easy mode and just play and learn. Don't be worried about anything, try all the systems, make all the mistakes, there is no time investment penalty.

Season 2, knowing all the systems they may then try normal, or even hardcore.


Please think of ALL NEW PLAYERS from a Time Investment point of view.

The EXP BAR has 19 notches? To you each notch may take 1 hour at level 90. But if you only have 1 hour to play. That means it takes you 19 DAYS to hit 91. Now what if you get 1 shot from off screen, a few times? A month for 1 level?

Player 1: Has 12 hours a day to play, they will learn the systems eventually.

Player 2: Has 1 hour a day. If they die or run out of maps? If you tell them to go back to tier 1 maps and work back to T15? If they put all the matts it took them ALL SEASON to fight 1 Citadel Boss and get 1 shot in 5 seconds?

Will player 2 retune for Season 2? My bet is no. They will be angry they invested every second they had, and the game deleted their time investment.

Player 2 is never going to come back. GGG needs to find an answer for these players if they want to keep their high player retention numbers long-term.