Campaign vs. Endgame Interview Question Disappointment

After yesterdays interview (great dialogue all around) I was so glad that DM asked the question about Campaign vs. Endgame feel that players have discussed. I also feel like the devs totally misunderstood the question???

Mark seemed to believe that the problem was that the endgame progression wasn't as intuitive as the campaign but really the question was for players who were curious about the devs intentions about transitioning from slow and deliberate to blasting and zooming.

It was disappointing because Jonathan especially heavily promoted and showcased all the deliberate combat elements before the game and didn't really express any thoughts other than "ARPG's need to give players power over time".

I know they were running out of time and I appreciate that they even sat down to chat for 2 hours but I just feel a little disappointed because I was hoping for more of their insight on this and when the question was asked I feel like it was totally misunderstood.

I hope they get to dig into this properly in a future interview.

I feel I'm heavy coping in thinking they will refine end game and stat accumulation in a way that will further promote tactical and mechanical gameplay.

Will anything save the ARPG from the conclusive character state of "space shooter god".

Slow and deliberate gameplay is not caused by the campaign, its caused by having absolute bottom of the barrel gear.

Playing a second character through acts you start with 30% inc movement speed from lvl 1 uniques, stuff like goldrims unique weapons and rings that are all worth less than 1ex that you most likely found multiple copies of, unlimited amounts of gold for gambling, and this isnt even bringing up twink gear bought on trade.

Its a completely different feeling the second time around.

ya i did the camppaign like 4 time now and at this point with unique and trade i can do it in like 6 hours or even less its super fast.


little tips

Grab some unique specialy feet with 20%+ movement speed
Grab some nodes if you can that add move speed to your build
Skip the useless side quest that reward nothing but like belt/rings etc or even the gem reward.
Dont fully clear the map and turn every rock/open chest etc.I know there might be a a divine or something but too low of a chance to be worth if your going for fast level 65 for endgame.


this is of course for players that wanna do the endgame grind of map like me anyway.

All we heard for months before early access was ‘we better still be able to blast maps, I’m not gonna play if end game is slow as hell like the clips of campaign’ so I don’t really blame them for thinking that’s what people want/expect for endgame.

i ll echo myself

campaign is fun. harsh but fun. you try and try again. you die you try again.
you can farm. you always make progress and at most you lose time.

end game is harsh and frustrating. you do feel rewarded at times but whenever you die sometimes it feels REAL BAD. and it can also push players to just ragequit.

i havent had it happen to that point but i seriously cant remember how many times i alt f4'd out of poe2 after dying in maps.

i noped hard and just watched netflix or do something else. didnt feel like touching the game.

in fact rerolling a new character gave me more fun at times. especially with twink gear.

This is the questions I wanted the most to get answer from them, and looks like didn't even understand the question indeed, or they just don't want to touch this topic. Still hoping for the future interviews as well :) It can't be avoided forever.

In the other hand, I think they actually answered by saying that people will always be able to blast entire screen in endgame because this is a power fantasy. But I still want them to comment, are they really fine to make all those mechanics only for the early game and transform back to PoE 1 in the endgame, where players spend most of their playtime.

They said the bosses should be engaging the first time you fight them but after that it's ok if you one tap an entire map/uberboss with one herald of ice proc.

My questions is how in the hell are they going to stop people from doing that? Especially in trade league, people are going to scale their characters as savagely as possible and most people just look up guides.

I feel like the devs don't even know what they want. One day they say 'slow and delibrate' or 'warrior is fine' and 5 minutes later they say 'ofc people should crush the game easily, it's an arpg'.

Yes, the end-game/mapping now (yes, I did complete 1 map on my Merc, and just recently a few on my Warrior [finally])...well, then yes (breach/delerium/etc is diff a bit perhaps?) lol (aka "zoom zoom 1-shot").

To re-iterate (TLDR): post-interview, (personally) my current (until more data arrives from the community/YT/forums/Reddit/etc) bet will side on past history, i.e. "melee < ranged" and "zoom zoom 1-shot" -- so, no real changes from PoE1, essentially (with the main outlier of the campaign for the 1st ~60 lvls or so...lol --- and new melee classes like Druid/Templar/Marauder...lol [bye Warrior...lol {I don't count Monk...lol -- nor minion/Witch...lol}]) -- and timing-wise, I'll just say 2026+ (so, guessing 1 more year of gamedev until full Release post-this EA).