GGG, Wake Up! Meta Tyranny is Killing POE2. Non-Meta Builds are Trash and Trade's a Nightmare!

I've been grinding POE2 since 0.3 dropped, and while I love the core gameplay, this league has some serious issues that are sucking the life out of it for me. The main one? Way too few viable builds outside the meta, which is straight-up murdering the economy and trade. If you're not running one of the top-tier setups, you're either struggling to progress or watching your gear rot in stash because no one wants it. Let me break it down, backed by what I've seen.
First off, build diversity is practically non-existent right now. Over 60% of players are spamming Lightning Arrow or similar lightning-based builds because they're miles ahead in scaling and clear speed. Deadeye with Lightning Arrow is dominating endgame – like 30% of top players are on it, and 70% of those are pure LA. Everything else feels weak by comparison. Warrior, for example, is in a rough spot – from what I see in the community, people are calling it "weak as shit" and forcing you into specific skills just to make it work. And those who play off-meta are mainly professional creators on YT who have knowledge far exceeding that of a casual player – they optimize every detail, but for the average player it's just not feasible. Meanwhile, meta builds like Deadeye bows or crossbows are insanely expensive to gear – good Gemini Bows or lightning infusions are going for absurd prices because everyone's chasing the same stuff.
And it's not just builds – trade and economy are suffering because of this. Non-meta items don't sell, leading to a stagnant market where only meta gear has value. Asynchronous trade is cool, but when 90% of listings are for the same bow or lightning gems, it feels pointless. I spent 40 minutes on the first boss before I beat him, but the next ones were almost one-shot.

Balance Woes: Nerfs from 0.2 carried over, making non-meta even weaker. Spellcasters underperform early, minion buffs are okay but not enough, and tags/scaling feel too narrow (e.g., fire/cold lag behind lightning).

GGG said 0.3 was about fixing everything, but it feels like we're still in that "Dawn of the Hunt depression era." Buff underperformers, loosen tags, and make trade less meta-dependent. What do you all think? Anyone else stuck selling Warrior maces for peanuts while Deadeye bows cost a fortune?

Oh, and speaking of the campaign – I gotta give props to Act 4's story. It's seriously top-notch, with all that deep lore about Doryani and hunting for an ancient weapon in the Karui Islands. The way it ties into the Kalguurans and builds on the world feels epic, and the details in areas like Kingsmarch make it immersive as hell. It's like a full-blown expansion in terms of quality and storytelling.

Another thing that bugs me is the campaign difficulty – you really need to nerf it a bit, especially Act 1 Boss, to make it more accessible. In the previous patch 0.2, playing as an Amazon, I straight-up rage quit in Act 3 because I couldn't beat the boss due to lack of DPS, and what finally killed me was running out of flask charges that I couldn't refill no matter what. In 0.3, everything seems mostly okay when playing LA (which is meta), but I have no idea how other classes are holding up, especially non-meta ones.

And honestly, why does all this take so damn long? From a development standpoint, GGG's a relatively small team compared to giants like Blizzard, and they're juggling POE1 updates alongside POE2's early access – that splits resources and slows things down. A big chunk of time goes into polishing the campaign and overhauling ancient systems, like the animation rigs from 2006 that forced them to make this a full sequel instead of just expanding POE1.They're keeping costs under $100M, which means no massive outsourcing, and they're obsessed with quality to avoid the pitfalls other ARPGs like Diablo 4 (failure) faced with rushed releases that led to buggy messes and player backlash. They're keeping costs under $100M, which means no massive outsourcing, and they're obsessed with quality to avoid the pitfalls other ARPGs like Diablo 4 faced with rushed releases that led to buggy messes and player backlash. Still, with the game not even leaving early access in 2025 potentially, they need to ramp up or communicate better about timelines.

I started with a Warrior on SSF with my own build. ARPGs tend to be easier than most video games in my experience in terms of gameplay. I think you should branch out and play some more games like Nioh 2 which has ARPG and Soulslike qualities. Act I's boss was a nice change of pace but I don't believe there is anything remotely difficult about this campaign. I am a proponent of buffing these bosses.

I also have a SSF Witch Infernalist minion build in 0.3 and it is just automated gameplay at this point. I'm really not sure what issue people are having unless they think having to press more than 1 button makes a build not worth playing. All I do is use the abilities that buff minion damage and let them do everything. I don't attack enemies nor have to aim. If anything, LA Deadeye should be nerfed. I don't want to see this game go in the direction of PoE1. ARPGs should innovate and evolve, not die as the Diablo dad gamers die out. There is no action in PoE. Maybe it should be labeled and idle sim? I am hoping GGG is making changes to tap into the market of people who like making builds but also don't want to be grinding while pressing only 1 button.

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SoFaux#7759 wrote:

I started with a Warrior on SSF with my own build. ARPGs tend to be easier than most video games in my experience in terms of gameplay. I think you should branch out and play some more games like Nioh 2 which has ARPG and Soulslike qualities. Act I's boss was a nice change of pace but I don't believe there is anything remotely difficult about this campaign. I am a proponent of buffing these bosses.

I also have a SSF Witch Infernalist minion build in 0.3 and it is just automated gameplay at this point. I'm really not sure what issue people are having unless they think having to press more than 1 button makes a build not worth playing. All I do is use the abilities that buff minion damage and let them do everything. I don't attack enemies nor have to aim. If anything, LA Deadeye should be nerfed. I don't want to see this game go in the direction of PoE1. ARPGs should innovate and evolve, not die as the Diablo dad gamers die out. There is no action in PoE. Maybe it should be labeled and idle sim? I am hoping GGG is making changes to tap into the market of people who like making builds but also don't want to be grinding while pressing only 1 button.

the action part is having 1 button to press and dying anyway

50% of truth 50% of none
a lot of builds underperforming early-mid game, thats a problem, but starting from lvl 80 and above they are exponebtially gain strength. My bloodmage frost spark build just amazing since 90 without heavy investments (can provide poeninja if you ask)
divines are not 300 ex anymore so you can easy afford gear, new crafting system overflows market with cheap full-t1/t2 mod items.

yes there are problems with overhyped builds like la deadeye and so on, but dude, there is a week from league start, and community has changed, from "wow lets try this" to "i need to be efficient". Maybe i'll swap to meta build when they nerf to ground (again) my non-meta caster class that actually works with some tricks, but not before that happens

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Meanwhile, meta builds like Deadeye bows or crossbows are insanely expensive to gear – good Gemini Bows or lightning infusions are going for absurd prices because everyone's chasing the same stuff.

Dude i crafted my crossbow it was cheap. And no one force you to play "off meta". I struggled the first 2 league by not following a guide, this time i did, i won't put the fault on dev if i wasn't able to clear all end game content last league or having bad times because of my build.

I rolled a random Ascendancy and am playing a Witch-Hunter with a Artillery Ballista/Grenades Immo-Culling Strike build.

There is diversity. You can play and build what you want to play and build but a lot of player are afraid of the passive skill trees and the time you need to spend on a build planner to put some ideas down.

That's easier to follow a build guide and even easier to take the most popular one.

NOTHING will ever change that, NOTHING. That's part of the game and an inner working of the Seasonnal play. PLay as you want, just don't look what other people do. This is not a MMO, it's a single player shared experience.

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RedCorsair#2371 wrote:

50% of truth 50% of none
a lot of builds underperforming early-mid game, thats a problem

Which can be mitigated by starting with a meta build first to farm some currency and better starting gear to allow the less meta builds a better start.

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SoFaux#7759 wrote:

I started with a Warrior on SSF with my own build. ARPGs tend to be easier than most video games in my experience in terms of gameplay. I think you should branch out and play some more games like Nioh 2 which has ARPG and Soulslike qualities. Act I's boss was a nice change of pace but I don't believe there is anything remotely difficult about this campaign. I am a proponent of buffing these bosses.

I also have a SSF Witch Infernalist minion build in 0.3 and it is just automated gameplay at this point. I'm really not sure what issue people are having unless they think having to press more than 1 button makes a build not worth playing. All I do is use the abilities that buff minion damage and let them do everything. I don't attack enemies nor have to aim. If anything, LA Deadeye should be nerfed. I don't want to see this game go in the direction of PoE1. ARPGs should innovate and evolve, not die as the Diablo dad gamers die out. There is no action in PoE. Maybe it should be labeled and idle sim? I am hoping GGG is making changes to tap into the market of people who like making builds but also don't want to be grinding while pressing only 1 button.

A bit unfair comparisson. Nioh2 is 10 times deeper and more complex (and 10 times more loot pinata than any ARPG). Pity they are not going to make Nioh 3 :(

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Which can be mitigated by starting with a meta build first to farm some currency and better starting gear to allow the less meta builds a better start.

Are you really going to defend game balance this way? This is exactly the proof that it sucks, because there should NEVER be such situation where you need a "league starter" before you can actually play how you wanted in the first place.

You pretty much said "just do 20h campaign twice bro, just grind your arms off, it's not GGG fault that you would like to have a life beside grinding".

The dumbest possible line of defense. You could at least say that it's PvE game and it doesn't need to be perfectly balanced - this way it at least makes some sense.

Creating alts is something you do when you still want to play, but your main is finished / you got bored, not sad necessity because of shitty game design lol.

It's GGG responsibility to fix the game so people can play however they want and still have fun. They somehow managed to do it in PoE1.

I swear people lost touch on how to play ARPG, instead they whine and call for nerfs. A lot of builds are viable, they are simply underrated/underplayed. People dont wanna do research, they prefer to copy builds, players are part of the problem and tourists make it worst.