To people who are struggling in the campaign

Ive played through the campaign on nearly every single class and used & tested every single weapon. Here are some answers to a lot of the complaints im hearing in 0.3.

"My build doesnt do damage"
Yeah, some skills arent suited to the campaign but every weapon has something that works. You dont need to play meta deadeye or whatever it is content creators are advertising this time around. A lot of things are pretty strong. Test different skills out. Plan out what passives you want/need. Respec if you need to, its pretty affordable.

"The campaign difficulty is too hard"
Its definitely a challenge but that is the point of the game. Its a power fantasy and it gives you all the tools you need to overcome everything with reasonable effort. Farm some rare chests for rare drops. Craft some better gear. Dont expect to crush act bosses on a character you have spent an hour playing.For the act 1 and 2 bosses get proper resistances, armour, life regen/recovery

Pay attention to your defences, evasion/ES is somewhat of a noob trap until you get around 75%+ evade chance and a good ES buffer. Armour is great early on. CC like freeze/stun is incredibly strong. Good positioning will let you avoid the majority of damage.

"The campaign is too long"
This might be hard to get used to if you come from PoE1 or D3/D4 but the campaign is meant to be a significant part of the game. Its not meant to be an extended tutorial you grind through before starting the "real game" in maps. It might not be the kind of game that you play half a dozen builds each league. But that being said you can definitely still practice it and get good at rushing through it if thats what you want to do.

"Skills and combos feel too slow"
This is just personal preference, but thats the way PoE2 is. Its a slower paced ARPG. But I havent found anything that is "too slow" to be usable, not even Rolling Slam with reduced attack speed. In most cases if you understand how the skill works and how to scale it then it can do fine.

"Basic attacks deal more damage than skills, support gem negatives are bad"
This has been the case since the start. You can argue that its boring, but yeah. Simple single target skills will tend to have better single target dps. Its not flashy but its pretty well balanced.

"Endgame is still boring"
Honestly I havent really played much endgame at all, but I still have 100s of hours in PoE2. There are a lot of gameplay hours you can get out of the campaign. A lot of people just try the patch by copying someone elses build and then quit. PoE2 is an amazing game to theorycraft for yourself. Give it a try and you will find there is a whole lot more to do.

"Im not having fun"
That is perfectly fine. PoE2 is a difficult game and it takes a lot of mental effort to get into and stick with. Its an older "Diablo 2" style of ARPG. Not everyone wants that and thats ok.

"some skills arent suited to the campaign"
Why does the game offers those skills in the campaign? How is the player supposed to know which skills are suited and which aren't?

"A lot of things are pretty strong"
PoEdotninja seems to suggest otherwise. Don't even have to go in a deep analysis, just a quick glance at "Main skills" menu is enough.

"Test different skills out"
How is the player supposed to test new skills, if the game drops skill gems once every 3-5 zones and support skills are even more rare early on?

"Respec if you need to, its pretty affordable."
Are you suggesting for players to keep spending gold respeccing points instead of buying new gear?

"Farm some rare chests for rare drops."
Anecdotal evidence, but I haven't seen a single yellow chest in the Act 1.

"Craft some better gear."
Currency for said crafting is too rare early on. And if I keep "trying new things", I keep spending that currency on gear I have to replace for the next skill.

"For the act 1 and 2 bosses get proper resistances, armour, life regen/recovery"
How does the player know what kind of damage Act2 boss does, if the game doesn't have a death log? How is the player supposed to get frost resistances for Act1 boss, if said player plays for the first time and doesn't know the first boss skillset? And when the game doesn't offer too much of resistance gear in Act1 at all: no vendor recipe (if a new player even knows about that mechanic, lol), no rings for sale, terrible dropchance for runes and socketable gear, terrible lowtier resistance rolls, not being able to upgrade tiers with exalts easily etc.

"evasion/ES is somewhat of a noob trap until you get around 75%+ evade chance and a good ES buffer. Armour is great early on."
Why does the game has 50+ early game dex, int and hybrid itembases, if they are not supposed to be used by good players? Why does the game have "noob traps"? Is it supposed to? If it is, why?

"In most cases if you understand how the skill works"
Can't agree more. In most cases you understand the skill works like crap and quit the game.

" You can argue that its boring, but yeah. Simple single target skills will tend to have better single target dps. Its not flashy but its pretty well balanced."
Until you get overwhelmed by 20 mobs in Act1 as a melee "simple single target" build. You can argue that you are not supposed to be surrounded (even though it's supposed to be a power fantasy, per your earlier statement), and it's a skill issue, but how is the player supposed to get past that abyss in a narrow corridor? Mind you, the game doesn't even tell that players can reset instances.

"PoE2 is an amazing game to theorycraft for yourself."
Another contradiction. Earlier you said that some of the skills aren't viable in the campaign, and any playstyle with evasion and ES is a noob trap. So, evidently, the game is not amazing to come up with your own builds at all.

"Give it a try and you will find there is a whole lot more to do."
Earlier you suggested that players are supposed to farm same lowlevel locations/bosses for a chance of better gear, or to farm currency to respec etc, doesn't seem to be a whole lot more to do.

"PoE2 is a difficult game"
Unless you play LA or ED/C.

"Its an older "Diablo 2" style of ARPG."
I played Diablo 2 an it wasn't that terrible.

+1

Good advice but when i am stuck on interludes and i don't have the currency to pivot my gear/talent tree what do you advice? I have tried every ability i have access to, limited jewelers (3 socks) and no currency to craft with.

Good posts aren't allowed here. Take this to Medium.

The trial and error dark souls playstyle (git gud) is not enjoyable for everybody. Perhaps GGG should had ask the players whether they want to see Path of Exile evolving into another Soulslike. I mean it is a nice idea, I was surprised how good it works, but it is not the relaxing playstyle i'm looking for in this time of game. after beating the game i felt fatique from this bossing campaign especially playing a glass cannon deadeye with no defenses.

and ggg need to do something about azmadi. in the second phase he prepares his attack often offscreen leading to an ultra fast one hit kill. never saw such a bs boss in the whole soulsborne genre.

this game isnt fun wth you saying?they make it harder just for those die hard fans who love this.
i wonder how many people can do the trials without paying for it just an example..

Tried the game for the first time during this free weekend and yes I was struggling in the campaign.

I wasted 3 hours trying, but at least I'm not waiting for the F2P release any longer.

The game doesn't suit me. I had 0 fun, it is slow, boring and unnecessary hard (why act 1 boss already have multiple phases with tons of HP & damage ?).

On PoE1 you can run the campaign without following any guide, you will struggle during mapping. Looks like here, it is even worse, you HAVE to follow a guide right from lvl 1, pray for some loot for not getting killed by trash mobs and never use the running feature otherwise you'll be stun 3s and dead for sure.

Really hope the PoE 1 dev team will keep upgrading it, I have soooooo much fun on it !

game don't need to tailored to fit everybody,
there already tons of those type of games.

frankly I'm tired of seeing complaint everywhere people want the game to be faster, easier, screen clear with trash gear and setup... Boss nerfed multiple times and still they cannot handle it...

I don't want to bring out that cliche but - this is still beta....
Ya'know every other RPG games' character often starts with a sword, right?
News flash, Poe2 don't even have sword yet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We are still so far away from a complete products.

"

Samadhi1989#7586 wrote:

The trial and error dark souls playstyle (git gud) is not enjoyable for everybody. Perhaps GGG should had ask the players whether they want to see Path of Exile evolving into another Soulslike. I mean it is a nice idea, I was surprised how good it works, but it is not the relaxing playstyle i'm looking for in this time of game. after beating the game i felt fatique from this bossing campaign especially playing a glass cannon deadeye with no defenses.

and ggg need to do something about azmadi. in the second phase he prepares his attack often offscreen leading to an ultra fast one hit kill. never saw such a bs boss in the whole soulsborne genre.

To be fair, if you want a relaxing RPG, this is where D4 excels, but once you reach the endgame that's probably where your disappoint will happen. I guess it depends on your priorities. I play both btw.