New player here.

dawn of the hunt seemed pretty hard for casuals or maybe I’m just that bad. It felt like if you weren’t following a leveling guide or knew exactly what to build into then you would get punished for it down the road. My first play through I got stuck at second act boss and haven’t played it since. With the new season coming, will it be easier for casuals or beginners to not screw up the leveling process until reaching end game content?

Couple of things, first off this is the PoE1 forum you’re looking for the Early Access Feedback forum for PoE2.

Regarding dawn of the hunt, did you play it like right away after it launched? It launched with some serious balance issues, especially early in the campaign. They made some massive changes shortly after launch, rebalancing monster health (reducing it) across the campaign, substantially increasing drops, etc.

Overall dawn of the hunt launch was seen as quite the mess due to it being poorly balanced at launch and it took them a little bit to sort it all out.

We expect this new patch not to have those exact same issues, so if we’re comparing 0.2 day 1 and 0.3 day 1 I’d say yes, it is expected to be easier.

"

pattw555#0071 wrote:

Couple of things, first off this is the PoE1 forum you’re looking for the Early Access Feedback forum for PoE2.

Regarding dawn of the hunt, did you play it like right away after it launched? It launched with some serious balance issues, especially early in the campaign. They made some massive changes shortly after launch, rebalancing monster health (reducing it) across the campaign, substantially increasing drops, etc.

Overall dawn of the hunt launch was seen as quite the mess due to it being poorly balanced at launch and it took them a little bit to sort it all out.

We expect this new patch not to have those exact same issues, so if we’re comparing 0.2 day 1 and 0.3 day 1 I’d say yes, it is expected to be easier.

Good points here. With 0.3, we'll also get a reworked skill UI and (presumably) much better suggestions for your support skills, which will hopefully help newer players quite a bit.

If you've enjoyed your time with PoE 2 (at least until Act 2 boss), I'd suggest giving it another go. As you probably know, as games grow over time, it's much easier to familiarize yourself with all the systems early on in the game's lifecycle. Once you know the basics, you'll (more or less) naturally absorb all the new stuff that gets added as leagues come and go.

Patch was brutal on release. It's gotten better after that. Everyone who started PoE in early 0.2 was in for a surprise.

You can hook me up in-game, I'm basically online 10h/day for weeks on new leagues. There are a lot of bad advices and trolls.

Progressing through the campaign is hard until you unlock the secret to make it easy.

Thanks!
Apologies for posting in the wrong forum. I did end up starting again with a monk and having a way better time this time around. All the bosses seem way easier now as Gregor took quite awhile on my first roll. Can’t wait for the new patch to start though so I’m trying not to overplay it until then ;)

Make sure you are following a reputable guide. Many guides out there are absolute trash.

A few things to look for:
♦ Discard any guide that advertises mirror gear for sale.
♦ Check the comments. Does the creator and/or have others playing the build answer questions? Streamers do not necessarily fall into this category since they often post dozens of builds.
♦ Is it a "starter" build or an "end game" build. Starter builds are designed to be played at league launch and may or may not progress into end game. End game builds might require dozens or hundreds of divines just to function.

Thankfully, the guides in PoE 1 are more consistently good than in PoE 2. It's not necessarily an integrity issue, but content creators for PoE 1 usually have years of experience to draw from. Whereas PoE 2 has a significant amount of players who have never tried PoE 1.

My recommendation as a new player is to check out Zizaran's university or full playthrough videos. He is the best streamer, imo, for new players.

"

Wolfgangseed#5326 wrote:

dawn of the hunt seemed pretty hard for casuals or maybe I’m just that bad. It felt like if you weren’t following a leveling guide or knew exactly what to build into then you would get punished for it down the road. My first play through I got stuck at second act boss and haven’t played it since. With the new season coming, will it be easier for casuals or beginners to not screw up the leveling process until reaching end game content?

well you got stuck at the hardest part of the campaign.. so not so bad. You do not need to follow a guide.. but you need to stop and think a bit about how to maximize your pwoer

"

Wolfgangseed#5326 wrote:

dawn of the hunt seemed pretty hard for casuals or maybe I’m just that bad. It felt like if you weren’t following a leveling guide or knew exactly what to build into then you would get punished for it down the road. My first play through I got stuck at second act boss and haven’t played it since. With the new season coming, will it be easier for casuals or beginners to not screw up the leveling process until reaching end game content?

Everyone who thinks following a leveling and build guide is a MUST for new players is pure BS. Now if you are recommending, that's fine but to claim it's a MUST is dumb.

I started my PoE 2 journey last July 27th. I have one league experience in PoE 1 so I can prep up for PoE 2 release in December but didn't get the chance to play. I am more of a D2 and D4 hardcore player (not the hardcore mode--meaning I played those games a lot).

My initial playthrough with PoE 2 I almost quit at Act 1. It was tough because I didn't know how get more power. But through trial and error I finally found the key ingredient for myself. I had to spend a day outleveling Act 1 and farming racers to upgrade my gear. Eventually it get to the point where Act 1 boss was easy.

As soon as I hit Act 2, the rest was easy. I didn't die even once to Doryani even in Cruel mode.No, I didn't follow any build guide or leveling guide because I wanna approach the game with a fresh perspective. There were folks in in game chat even accusing me of lying on how the heck I reached endgame maps if I didn't follow any guide. Believe me you don't but it's easier if someone is guiding you. No doubt on that.

My second playthrough, second char, Act 1 was too easy because I was using uniques from my first char. I felt I was cheating. So I decided SSF for the first time. Same thing. It was easier this time because I learned the tricks. I learned how to dodge and timing.

I would say the best thing you can do based on what you said is follow a guide and PERSEVERE with the challenge. Eventually it will become easy once you get used to the mechanics. I get it. Some folks need guidance. Some don't.

I still stand firm with my belief that to claim new players MUST follow a guide is dumb.