How are you PoE2 Newbies faring after basically one month?

Every time I'd come back to PoE1, so much had changed from the previous run that I felt like a perpetually new player lol

A month before EA, I played PoE1 up to Act 2 as prep for PoE2. I was on PS5 and the experience was janky but enjoyable. But when I heard all the good words about how the console experience was going to be a lot better for PoE2, I lost interest in PoE1.

I am now in Act 3 Cruel in PoE2. Running my own build SSF, improvising based on loot. I think it's relevant to mention that I am behind because of my daily playtime. You know the usual "40-year-old dad with a full-time job" excuse. But besides that, I am a pretty invested gamer. I typically prefer Souls and Soul-adjacent games, and play them till all achievements/trophies. I sensed that PoE2 might scratch that itch, and that's what brought me to the genre.

However, from what I am seeing, at least from the people who are louder on the internet, in the ARPG genre most people do very little "RPG" and try to find shortcuts to speedrun content, copy someone else's build, with a strange addiction for loot that I cannot relate to. I don't think I will ever resonate with that crowd, but it's great that I can play PoE2 as if it is a Souls-adjacent RPG, and I think by playing SSF I have been immune to a lot of the complaints that people are having with trading/economy/inflation etc. I think the game is pretty balanced around SSF, of course with room for improvement, but generally, I am experiencing the vibe that GGG envisioned - slower, methodical gameplay and meaningful progression.

So yeah, having a great time, but I think it's due to me playing my own SSF game, and also funnily enough, for being behind. I am always out of sync with the crowd. When I was eyeing Sorceress, people thought melee would be more fun. When I started playing Frost Sorceress, suddenly a frost meta exploded. But before I reached CoF or Comet, spirit got nerfed. But you know what, I am playing Frost Sorceress anyway because that was just my roleplay plan before the launch. And now when all Sorceresses have moved to Lightning, I am greatly enjoying manually casting Comet, just needed to get Arcane Tempo and some cast speed. Is it efficient at clearing the screen in a second? Not really. But I got Spell Echo, and Spell Cascade, and that booboom-boom-boom, rhythm of four Comet drops is truly satisfying.

And as for the end game, I am kinda glad that I am not there yet. By the time I face the issues, fingers crossed the fixes will start to drop.

In summary, it's a roleplaying game. It's in the name of the genre. It kinda sucks that a lot of people are not playing it that way. But to each his own. Nothing is stopping me from enjoying my roleplay, and so far my experience is a high 8 if not 9.

guess what some people arent interested in mapping because the game feels tedious not challenging and fun

i enjoyed the game playing a lot for the first week or 10 days, but once i got to cruel 1 and realized it was easier, i went back to playing with noobs thru act 1 and act 2 just to realize that everyones stuck and cant even beat the bosses like wolf boss and most of all the viper boss. some stuff just isnt fun , and it isnt hard to beat, its RNG til you win type crap.

movement speed is way too slow the games way too slow

new-ish. played PoE1 on 2 characters up to act 4 and stopped. basically was just waiting for PoE2 to come out because it caught my eye. I wanted to familiarize myself with PoE systems before 2 released. Played other ARPGs before, but not endlessly.

I'm on T6+ maps for the endgame quest on one character (Bloodmage), other character is in basegame act3.

After going through it twice, the most fun ive had in the game was Act1 and Act2 basegame (not cruel). The difficulty felt tailored/tuned compared to Act3, where it spiked really hard and it took a strategy adjustment here and there to succeed reliably. I dont think my second character will struggle in Act3 as much as my first one did.

Maps have been... conflicting. initially it was miserable because it just flat out wasn't a fun gameplay loop; my expectations were low because i had no idea what i was getting myself into, but the gameplay loop feels so drastically different from the campaign that it felt a little like a culture shock. My original build was heavily lacking so i refactored just about everything, including my characters playstyle. I feel like im succeeding slowly at this point, and i get to continue playing my character with a scaling combat system encouraging me to continue.

With all that in mind...

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Are you getting a taste of why vets were critical of the game?

I think my perspective/opinions and your perspective/opinions of what issues there are in the endgame are going to differ a lot simply because we probably want different things from the game itself. I really liked the slower, deliberate combat of the campaign from Act1 basegame - Act3 cruel. I dont know how they were supposed to translate that to endgame, but endgame straight up feels like a different game. Breaches and Rituals feel so out of place with swarms while map bosses melt like butter on a hot pan.

The minor details like drop rates, on death effects, crafting, or whatever the hot complaint of the hour is doesnt really bother me much. None of those things have really effected my enjoyment of the game as it is -- its the literal endgame gameplay loop that bugs me the most. A lot of playstyles are either impossibly difficult to pull off (such as damage-over-time centric builds) or otherwise complete unviable. Kill things fast, thats the game. I fear that as time goes on, many skill/support/spirit gems and weapon types will basically be considered useless in endgame. Since i didnt play PoE1, is that how that game ended up? How much of what was in PoE1 considered viable (do not conflate viable with optimal.)?

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are you now maybe more interested in PoE1 than you were before?

I may not be in the category of players you asked this question to, but from what i played of PoE1 vs PoE2, no. I have no interest in going back to PoE1.

- I like PoE2's gem system more. Gemming gear for your skills was an interesting concept, but i could take it or leave it.
- I like PoE2's boss fights more, and i think there's a lot of potential for improvement in endgame. Furthermore, dying in PoE2 campaign actually resets your instance. You cant just run back to boss room and continue where you left off, boss HP not reset. I thought that was really weird in PoE1.
- I like PoE2's spells more, they feel more fun to combo and cycle through as opposed to 1-button gameplay from basegame act1 all the way to the end (somewhat of an assumption on my part, but thats what happened to both of my characters in PoE1). Seems recently, Spark in PoE2 has brought that 1-button gameplay back to the successful forefront. More power to you, I'm glad youre having fun :)
- A bit shallow, but I like PoE2's visuals/sound effects more. PoE1 is showing its age after playing PoE2. This normally isnt an issue for me, but the sound effects in 2 are stellar.
- I like WASD control in PoE2. i never bothered to figure out how to set that up in PoE1, or if its even possible. The fact that its native in PoE2 is a huge boon.

PoE1 has the benefit of several years of development, balancing, tweaking, and mechanic additions to it. PoE2 will get there eventually. There's so much room for improvement.

I'm learning how the game works so I can race. They got a customer for life.

poe1 beta supporter here. Played the first league or two and lost interest. I thought poe1 made me spent too much time in trade chat and I hated that.

Anyway:

Loving poe2. I have my 4th character into maps, going pretty well. No glaring issues besides a few balance concerns. Would also like a method to "rush" or speed level.

Actually enjoyed the campaign. Was tearing it up in Maps, but unfortunately I got extremely bored @ lvl 90 due to the exp loss mechanic, cheesy off screen one shots, and delayed on death one shot mechanics.

Got 150% MF and loot/currency drops still suck unless your running massive quantity T15 maps with breech, and quantity juiced towers and loot still sucks. It seems Breech is the only thing worth doing in endgame.

I'm geared pretty good and any upgrade path from where I am now is unobtainable 30+ Devine gear, and I don't want to sit on the trade site for hours a day anyway. Pretty much the only thing I had to look forward to progress-wise while grinding maps was leveling and greater/perfect orbs for my skills, but those never drop, and the one shots will make sure my leveling progress is over.

You have to take risks in maps to get good drops, but those risks = cheesy one shots and make post level 90 leveling pointless and not worth the time so I uninstalled and will check back in a year or so see how the game is doing.

Maybe if maps weren't so disrespectful of my time, they make a "real" crafting system and not some Korean MMO RNG slop and redesign the SSF mode along the lines of Last Epochs amazing faction system so I don't have to sit on the trade site instead of actually playing the ARPG for loot drops. Trading gear for currency really cheapens the experience for me, because I never care about the gear dropping, currency drops are the real dopamine hits in this game.

All in all I did have fun getting to Maps, but this endgame needs time to cook that is for sure.

Check my thread on "Semi hardcore mechanics in engame need to go" That basically sums it up for me. Campaign was spectacular, wouldve rather they kept the team on that and release EA with a couple more acts, maybe another class or two and some other weapons. Have an undercooked, barebones endgame and expand on it throughout the year because what they have right now isnt fun at all anyways. Now they have themselves put in a situation where most players are struggling with Warrior, and others are able to apparently one shot pinnacle bosses with hammer of the gods? Good luck fixing that without completely pissing everyone off..If I see any Warrior nerfs in the next patch im definitely giving up on the game until its fully released and out of EA.

SSF Endgame balance is not even close to good, white mobs are more dangerous then bosses. Like those serpents that shoot poison beams at you? Yah my warrior cant engange with them.. they are insanely overtuned and do far to much damage. Chaos resistance, in my experience, is incredibly rare to find and I have yet to get a single piece of gear thats rolled it AND other worthwhile stats that would actually help my build. It usually goes something like this " oh sweet, boots with 20% chaos res..annnnd light radius" Then if I even DARE to be foolish enough to expect a decent modifier using a regal orb the game will give me + to intelligence, or like 3-5 fire damage or something absolutely unexciting. So im assuming the only option for me if I wanted to mitigate their damage would be to equip those trash items with shit modifiers just for the chaos resistance, and I just refuse to play that way. It just feels sooo shitty, i've literally never played a game before with such a jarring shift to gameplay after completing its story. It's like now that im at the "end" the game is actively trying to halt my progression and prevent me from engaging with endgame mechanics. I dont even know what breach or expedition really is because I cant even spend time engaging with those events. For whatever reason they decided if you die ONE TIME well then tough titties, there goes that map.. now its its just a plain, boring world with a couple rare monsters, have fun with the next breach! How bout no? I'll likely quit before continually being punished for trying.

Also, white mobs need to chill the fuck out. Slow them down, lessen their aggro, reduce their damage i duno. Giving the warrior much more baseline stun resistance and damage reduction while hes taking 3 seconds to wind up for 1 skill would be a start. Or maybe give total immunity to stun, freeze, attacks and other ailments when your lunging 20 feet thru the air with leap. Also, hags or whatever suck and need to have that insta death completely removed. Or at the very least have them not be able to slow you down by like 50% with ground effects everywhere and then insta kill you. Maybe on other ranged classes its a bit engaging but on warrior its dumb and isnt fun to play around. Honestly it feels like the campaign was SO well thought out and basically perfectly executed..and then they were like " Oh yeah so now that thats done, enjoy this one shot, one death, game over experience.. oh and we'll just take that 15% of your XP too, hope you like being punished for playing our game!"

Didn't play PoE 1 (tried, but one-button combat felt boring for me), I'm lvl 90 deadeye, made my own build, but it's too easy, so I almost don't play anymore, want lategame maps to become at least somewhat challenging. Hope GGG will do something about it.

Getting 4th ascendancy was fun, but it's like the only one challenge I can remember in the endgame.

Didn't find citadels, probably fighting pinnacle boss might be fun, but it doesn't matter, because 90+% of the gameplay is just maps, and maps are easy regardless of the tier. I honestly don't understand why just not to add some challenging content, like hard maps where mobs aren't made of the paper, it looks so easy to do.