The campaign maps need more direction

D2 and PoE1 have some of the best designed maps for replaying in the genre. Some maps are worse than others, but most maps have clear directions, or otherwise readable layouts that you learn well.

I feel like PoE2 is trying to "solve" this problem by making maps be more random between leagues, and have more "exploration" aspects to them, and this is one of the most egregious design flaws of PoE2 currently.

"Exploration" beyond just exploring the game in your first playthrough is not really a good thing. PoE2 is a seasonal ARPG where people make multiple characters every season, and the campaign is becoming back breaking to be perfectly frank.

It's not about campaign length really, it's about its aimlessness. There are a few well designed maps. For example Clearfell is a good map with a trail you can follow to both the Grellwood and to the Worm area, and the Witch is always in a reliable spot. While the Grellwood is a horrible, awful map, where you have to just run along the edge like a roomba until you find an area so you can grab the waypoint, go back in, continue, until you've found both the vale, the way down to the mushroom area, and the grellwood WP, and then you can continue.

It's okay to have some temple or dungeon be a bit aimless but it's just constant, and it just gets worse as you continue through the game. Players need to feel like they have an aim and a goal as they are working their way through the maps. The second you feel aimless it becomes extremely grating.

What you need is : https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/guides/campaign-layout-act-1 (act 2 & 3 linked in the guide too)

In a way, we shouldn't need a layout guide to know the way to follow, but it's also the vision of dev to provide maps that are complicated to give the old diablo feeling of being lost, wich is understandable in a dark fantasy world full of demons.

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MykroPsykoz#6286 wrote:

What you need is : https://mobalytics.gg/poe-2/guides/campaign-layout-act-1 (act 2 & 3 linked in the guide too)

In a way, we shouldn't need a layout guide to know the way to follow, but it's also the vision of dev to provide maps that are complicated to give the old diablo feeling of being lost, wich is understandable in a dark fantasy world full of demons.

The reality is that "the old diablo feeling" was at most a thing in Diablo 1. Diablo 2 had overall very clear directions for 90% of the levels. And yes I already understand most of the layouts in PoE2 but they're still very bad.