Early Access Feedback - If the game is supposed to be played slower, it should reward playing slower - Forum

I can just repeat myself: If a key-feature of PoE2 is a slow tactical multi-skill-use approach when it comes to fights, then PoE2 needs to focus on that. Right now, dodging and parry do not make much sense since you constantly get swarmed by 50+ mobs and one-shotting the whole screen is way more effective then using multiple skills and parry and dodge to get through a map. My suggestion: increase life of mobs alot, give them more interesting movement patterns, lower the amount of monsters alot (so you don't get swarmed) and increase items rarity/quantity for compensation.	Posted by AceNightfire#0980 on May 13, 2026, 11:21:02 AM Quote this Post
" AceNightfire#0980 wrote: During campaign, the game plays like the "vision" for PoE2. Dodging, attacking and not one-shotting everything (unless you play and OP meta build). But in endgame, speed is everything. You need attacks/skills that can clear the whole screen in all directions. If possible, one-shot every rare you see before it can hit you. And then we have breach and delirium, that are time based and only really viable if you kill and walk fast. Talisman also forces you to fight in crowded space, so again: You need to kill fast, otherwise you get swarmed. Endgame is currently designed around speed, because the PoE1 league mechanics made it to PoE2. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy those, but slow combo play with dodge roles and good positioning is just not viable to clear this content effectively. Furthermore, since you need to clear the atlas worldmap in order to do the quests, you really need to focus on clearing one map after another in order to find citadels etc. This is very time consuming, so playing a fast build is - again - key to success. And having high walk and clear speed is also rewarded the most, because you will clear maps faster, resulting in more loot, which gives you an economic advantage. So right now there is literally no reason to play this game slow at all. I won't suggest anything other then saying, that the (end)game needs an overhaul and must reward playing slowly more then zooming through maps. Just wanted to point this out. Im not sold on all the MUST stuff here...maybe the game is going in a different direction than YOU wish is all that's happening here.	Posted by argoniashawks#7828 on May 13, 2026, 12:18:18 PM Quote this Post
" AceNightfire#0980 wrote: I can just repeat myself: If a key-feature of PoE2 is a slow tactical multi-skill-use approach when it comes to fights It is not, never has been outside of the early pre-nerf campaign zones. Many poe1 builds use more skills than any of the poe2 ones; the number of buttons you press has no relevance here. You've taken low lvl/gear character gameplay experience and transplanted it onto endgame, when in fact the latter has been a zoomfest from the very beginning. In order for what you're asking to have any chance of working, they'd need to not only 10x the health pools on everything, but also severely limit build customization. Otherwise you will still have top end builds one shotting the screen, whilst the remaining 99,9% of the player base will be tickling white mobs. Guess what? That's not very good for player retention, as countless whine threads from the present/past about difficulty attest.	Posted by arandan#3174 on May 13, 2026, 12:30:49 PM Quote this Post
" argoniashawks#7828 wrote: " AceNightfire#0980 wrote: During campaign, the game plays like the "vision" for PoE2. Dodging, attacking and not one-shotting everything (unless you play and OP meta build). But in endgame, speed is everything. You need attacks/skills that can clear the whole screen in all directions. If possible, one-shot every rare you see before it can hit you. And then we have breach and delirium, that are time based and only really viable if you kill and walk fast. Talisman also forces you to fight in crowded space, so again: You need to kill fast, otherwise you get swarmed. Endgame is currently designed around speed, because the PoE1 league mechanics made it to PoE2. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy those, but slow combo play with dodge roles and good positioning is just not viable to clear this content effectively. Furthermore, since you need to clear the atlas worldmap in order to do the quests, you really need to focus on clearing one map after another in order to find citadels etc. This is very time consuming, so playing a fast build is - again - key to success. And having high walk and clear speed is also rewarded the most, because you will clear maps faster, resulting in more loot, which gives you an economic advantage. So right now there is literally no reason to play this game slow at all. I won't suggest anything other then saying, that the (end)game needs an overhaul and must reward playing slowly more then zooming through maps. Just wanted to point this out. Im not sold on all the MUST stuff here...maybe the game is going in a different direction than YOU wish is all that's happening here. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind the zooming at all. I loved PoE1 for it and I also like it in PoE2. The problem is: It kinda feels like the game doesn't really know what it wants to be. Mechanics like parry and dodge work well in 1v1 situations or situations that are clear and readable. But being surrounded by 50 monsters or tons of effects makes that tedious to use - at best. Right now, the most efficient way to play this game is to ignore parry/block/dodge as much as you can and try to one-shot everything. And since the game allows you to do that, why should I decide for a slower way to play the game? I will have a huge economical disadvantage when playing slow right now, because others will farm divs and good gear faster then me. Ofc it doesnt matter if I would just play SSF, but still: Right now, the game doesnt encourage me to use certain mechanics because they are inefficient most of the game. Last edited by AceNightfire#0980 on May 13, 2026, 12:45:22 PM	Posted by AceNightfire#0980 on May 13, 2026, 12:43:56 PM Quote this Post
I play pretty slow and can generate any amount of currency I want so this whole idea of playing slow or fast having something to do with your rewards is pretty narrow and doesn’t hold much weight Spoiler Mash the clean	Posted by Mashgesture#2912 on May 13, 2026, 1:27:22 PM Quote this Post
" AceNightfire#0980 wrote: " AintCare#6513 wrote: bro, i just want to be able to engage with the game slower, i don't mind getting less loot or any other drawback. Spoiler Deli/Breach don't allow combo based play style to even engage with these mechanics. [feedback] https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3797494 I know, but that's because of how Deli and Breach are designed. They were designed for fast gameplay like in PoE1. PoE2 is supposed to be slower and more engaging, but gets lost when reaching endgame. That needs to change. First, they let everyone know POE2 was supposed to be a POE1 expansion/graphics update. Second clue was the immediate addition of Deli and Breach. The vast majority of what has been said AND done with the game shows it was never meant to be NRFTW or Dark Souls slow. I think a lot of the words describing the game have been twisted and or at the very least changed based on the majority of feedback and developer inputs.	Posted by Soulsniper1313#7576 on May 13, 2026, 2:03:34 PM Quote this Post
" Mashgesture#2912 wrote: I play pretty slow and can generate any amount of currency I want so this whole idea of playing slow or fast having something to do with your rewards is pretty narrow and doesn’t hold much weight Spoiler I commend your willingness to stomach the trials enough to bother farming those. I guess it's probably more bearable when you can potentially trade away the rewards for huge amounts of div. You must have some extremely well-kitted out characters this league lol. Who am I to say anything, I don't respect my time either. Last edited by karsey#2995 on May 13, 2026, 3:51:52 PM	Posted by karsey#2995 on May 13, 2026, 3:50:55 PM Quote this Post
" karsey#2995 wrote: " Mashgesture#2912 wrote: I play pretty slow and can generate any amount of currency I want so this whole idea of playing slow or fast having something to do with your rewards is pretty narrow and doesn’t hold much weight Spoiler I commend your willingness to stomach the trials enough to bother farming those. I guess it's probably more bearable when you can potentially trade away the rewards for huge amounts of div. You must have some extremely well-kitted out characters this league lol. Me love Sekhemas Just mostly as it’s a break from mapping over and over and over Just the armour guy and an armour/es sorc I tend not to go too crazy on gear power wise just dinking around for the most part I have like 5-6 sets of gear for things I tested on my titan Mash the clean Last edited by Mashgesture#2912 on May 13, 2026, 5:36:48 PM	Posted by Mashgesture#2912 on May 13, 2026, 5:35:31 PM Quote this Post
why are people still struggling with the slow meaningful combat theory. Everyone knows you one button clear mobs and maybe do a combo setup for bosses depending on what you're playing. It is what it is. Why do people want to torture themselves with this	Posted by yosheee89#3525 on May 13, 2026, 6:34:25 PM Quote this Post
I would really appreciate if the new atlas lets us scale monster effectiveness and shrink pack size in maps. I like the campaigns gameplay best. Endgame gameplay of run and gun or get popped gets boring very quickly for me. The rework looks really cool otherwise but I am worried we've seen nothing that shows we can tailor the endgame to suit our preferred platstyle of slower vs zoomy.	Posted by Aelin21#7976 on May 13, 2026, 10:14:14 PM Quote this Post