We actually have a crafting bench equivalent in Path Of Exile 2; Socketable items

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POEGuy007#2677 wrote:

Sockets in PoE 2 are a form of deterministic crafting. You can swap attributes, resistances, and special effects. Now, if you're playing a physical-based build, you're almost certainly going to put an IRON rune in your weapon—that’s pretty much a given. But you also need to consider the other item slots, which offer a noticeable degree of customization. Jonathan Rogers also mentioned that they’ll be adding even more options beyond what we currently have.


I also want to copy and paste one of my comments from this video (just in case we have an angry mirror-tier crafter around here):

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The only people who can reasonably complain about not having an exact crafting bench like in Path of Exile 1 are those doing mirror-tier crafting. But players at that level are a small minority ; most of the player base will never reach that point. Also, POE 1 and POE 2 are meant to offer slightly different experiences. // So again, we do have a system that's similar to POE1's crafting bench and that is the SOCKETABLE ITEM system. This system doesn't exist in POE 1
And to also address the lack of Artificer’s Orb and Rune drops ; That's totally true, but only for LEAGUE START SCENARIOS ( when you're progressing your first character inside a league ). GGG can tweak the drops or add a socket quest in the early acts, that's not the end of the world!

With how the elemental attack skills work, you are going to put iron rune in a elemental build like my Gathering storm Monk. The 25%increased phys is more like an upgrade rather than a craft.

It's simply not and no I'm not gonna give your video engagement for a take obviously false on its face.

Blocking affixes for slamming has already been mentioned.
Meta Crafting as well, which Omens are working towards but certainly do not replace imo.
Then because sockets aren't affixes, it actually reduces the viable options. With PoE1 affix crafting, I will never want to craft flat phys onto a weapon outside of making something good enough to make it through the campaign. The T1 flat phys roll is so much better than the craft. However on the PoE2 socket system, runes don't compete with affixes, so you always want flat phys runes on your weapon. Same goes for armor, I'll never use anything other than Iron runes on my ES gear. Overall, with few exceptions there's basically one socket everyone uses, and it adds 0 interesting depth to crafting. The thing sockets do well is helping with resistances and sort term problems during the campaign; however the crafting bench did that and more.

Is socketing inherently bad? Nah. I don't strictly hate it. But saying it's a direct replacement of the crafting bench is false enough that even Mark in the interview with Ziz clearly agreed that the crafting bench offered more power.

Honestly I disagree with your take that only mirror crafters disagree. RF is always one of the most popular skills even when it's bad, and there's a crafting guide that basically every beginner I know followed to use meta crafts to make gear.

But sure I agree that for campaign Andy's it doesn't make a big difference. But then again, those aren't the people complaining about the system. So I'm not actually sure who the target of the video is. :P

GGG has tried to introduce new systems in PoE 2. For example, we don’t have socketable items inside Path Of Exile 1. I really think people should stop comparing Path of Exile 2 to Path of Exile 1 at every step.

Most of the people talking about things like "prefixes/suffixes cannot be changed" or "cannot roll attack modifiers" are coming from PoE 1 / and they’re usually the first to complain. I know that it will be really hard to make them see the game with fresh eyes after playing for so long POE 1; and that is ok, because we cannot please everyone.

So you're saying they flooded the loot pool with some terrible band aid drop to replace a simple solution just for the sake of being different? Sounds like something this new team would do alright. Their motto should be "Overthink It"

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POEGuy007#2677 wrote:

GGG has tried to introduce new systems in PoE 2. For example, we don’t have socketable items inside Path Of Exile 1. I really think people should stop comparing Path of Exile 2 to Path of Exile 1 at every step.

Most of the people talking about things like "prefixes/suffixes cannot be changed" or "cannot roll attack modifiers" are coming from PoE 1 / and they’re usually the first to complain. I know that it will be really hard to make them see the game with fresh eyes after playing for so long POE 1; and that is ok, because we cannot please everyone.

Comparing a game to is sequel is like the most reasonable thing in the world. You're even the one that posted a video doing that exact comparison, not me. Lmao.

It's also EA where they explicitly want this feedback. I know that I enjoy in PoE1 and what I'm not enjoying in 2. Sockets are a very minor complaint for me personally, I'm just engaging your statements with counter points.

I'll stop complaining and let PoE2 be whatever game it wants to be, whether I enjoy it or not, when it stops cannibalizing the game I actually enjoy.

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KaosuRyoko#1633 wrote:

Comparing a game to is sequel is like the most reasonable thing in the world. You're even the one that posted a video song that exact comparison, not me. Lmao.

It's also EA where they explicitly want this feedback. I know that I enjoy in PoE1 and what I'm not enjoying in 2. Sockets are a very minor complaint for me personally, I'm just engaging your statements with counter points.

I'll stop complaining and let PoE2 be whatever game it wants to be, whether I enjoy it or not, when it stops cannibalizing the game I actually enjoy.

I had to make that comparison simply because I got tired of people yelling that Path of Exile 2 doesn’t have a crafting bench mechanic similar to what we have in PoE 1.
The initial plan for Path of Exile 2 was to create something revolutionary, with new systems and a fresh combat feel—but they eventually diverted from that original idea because of lack of time and deadlines.

Yeah but hear me out, just 1:1 put the crafting bench back in.

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POEGuy007#2677 wrote:

The initial plan for Path of Exile 2 was to create something revolutionary, with new systems and a fresh combat feel—but they eventually diverted from that original idea because of lack of time and deadlines.

No, the initial plan was to update poe1's character rigs and add an alternate campaign to poe1. Not sure where you got that info from

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POEGuy007#2677 wrote:

I had to make that comparison simply because I got tired of people yelling that Path of Exile 2 doesn’t have a crafting bench mechanic similar to what we have in PoE 1.
The initial plan for Path of Exile 2 was to create something revolutionary, with new systems and a fresh combat feel—but they eventually diverted from that original idea because of lack of time and deadlines.

I'm not upset at all about them trying new things. I think they absolutely should be doing that. My feedback on the socket system is that it feels like a downgrade from the crafting bench in every way. Whether they solve that by switching back to the crafting bench, or doing something with sockets to make them actuality interesting is up to them.

Even trying to view it without the heavy PoE1 bias, it just doesn't feel like an interesting system. Early game it can fix some resists, but resists aren't even a problem in the campaign honestly. The new stat ones are a nice addition for these early game temporary solutions. But by the end game you've solved those things more effectively with great affixes, and it pretty much just means Iron Runes on everything, with a handful of exceptions that are equally BiS. So by end game it doesn't feel like it's adding any interesting choices to items, it's just functionally all my body armor has baseline 50% increased defences. Which is somewhat true of the crafting bench system except for all the other benefits the crafting bench adds.


The only thing I'm a bit mad at GGG about is sacrificing PoE1 on the alter and taking PoE2 in the direction that 1 players are less into. They can make Path of Dark Souls, and I may even enjoy it, but I love 1 and this doesn't feel like it is with the sacrifice and the direction 2 is heading makes me think it may never be worth the sacrifice from my perspective. That and the identity crisis of PoE2 trying to be different and meaningful but then typing PoE1 systems and making combat swarmy and meaningless.