Game Feedback Season 0.3 (especially 0.3.1)

Hello!

I've been playing this season right from the start, almost every day until today. I played a few hundred hours, brought my LA Deadeye to level 95 and had gear worth about 200–250 div. Got all my Atlas points except Expedition and killed EZ Arbiter last week.

I want to say that this season was the best so far. I love Abyss. I love the new crafting, and I love that more and more builds became endgame viable and that lots of different classes and ascendancies are being played in endgame. Obviously, there are still “best” ascendancies and stronger classes than others, but this season there was a real choice in what to play, and I liked that. Even the “not finished” endgame is actually not that bad, and I played a few hundred maps, having a blast and farming tons of currency. It was the first time that I was able to use some of the more expensive currencies and actually juice my maps to the max and play all of endgame.

Last week was Patch 0.3.1, and when booting the game up I instantly noticed a difference.

My previously unkillable Deadeye, that one-shots everything in its way and was a blast to play, has changed. I die every second map now for no obvious reason. Some white mob shoots me with a bow, I get perma-stunned for 5+ seconds, and then die. Every second map boss feels unkillable or has so many different buffs and mechanics that there’s nothing you can do to dodge them without 100% evasion and pure luck. I was seriously considering making POE2 my main game, but if this feeling does not change, I’m not sure I’ll even start next season again. If this is the endgame GGG wants – where you need to invest 1 mirror just to get a semi-good build that can farm all endgame – I’m out for good and will resort back to POE1 where the power creep still exists.

Yes, I want challenge. Yes, I want mechanics. But I can’t see myself playing this game if it requires playing the most optimal meta build and investing hundreds of hours and divines just to get to the point where I was two weeks ago with a 20 div starter build. The only upgrades I can find for my build require 100+ div per piece of gear and are completely unreachable, even if I played until the end of the league. Lots of the endgame mechanics went from “Nice, there’s XY on this map” to “Oh no, please not another Breach – I’m gonna start it, get perma-stunned, and die again like every time.”

Before anyone says “skill issue” or something like that: I not only played hundreds of hours this month but also watched hundreds of hours of videos about game theory and builds. I learned a lot and still see no way of getting my character back to where it was. I tried changing my tree and items to get more evasion and energy shield, to be more tanky, but it feels like nothing changes. I can have 75% evasion and 4k health and still get stunned and one-shot by the first pack in every second map.

Patch 0.3.1 killed all the fun for me, and this was the first season where I can honestly say it was almost only fun until now. I hope GGG reconsiders their choices and thinks about players who don’t invest hundreds of divines into their character every season.

Just a quick example: I started this league with three of my friends.

The first farmed about 80–100 div this season and still can’t get his character to a point where he can farm all of endgame.

The second played way less due to work and private life, invested about 15 div, and didn’t even reach T15 maps.

The last one, who is also my boss, started one week into the league. He has four children and works a lot – he didn’t even finish the campaign yet. I don’t think he’ll reach T15 maps or maybe even maps at all this season.

These are just normal people who want to enjoy the game, but in its current state it feels 100% required to play every day for hours, follow a detailed build guide, and invest hundreds of hours to even see parts of the endgame. That’s not a game most people are even able to play.

That’s everything I wanted to say. Maybe I’ll be back next season, maybe not. We’ll see what happens until Patch 0.4.

Best regards!

The problem with the difficulty in the current game is that its mostly not skill related. With personal skill you cant overcome certain obstacles.

In many rpgs you can play through the whole game completely naked. Not that i want that in POE, but if you want more tactical skill based combat, then personal combat skills should be more relevant.

It matters in the campaign to some extend, not so much in the endgame.

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Alzucard#2422 wrote:

The problem with the difficulty in the current game is that its mostly not skill related. With personal skill you cant overcome certain obstacles.

Indeed. I have had both experiences (blasting through without resistance and crawling along, getting ganked left and right). With a tiny number of very specific exceptions, every problem was fixable with gear. It was never a problem with skills or the passive tree. With a bit of understanding and common sense you can make your own builds, and those builds can usually work (and yes, of course you can gimp yourself if you don't apply those two). (I count that as a success, as I found that to be harder in PoE1.)

What actually happens depends on the gear you get to 95+ percent. If you don't trade (I hate trading, for example), chances are high that you will have a miserable experience. And I really mean miserable, not 'less fun' or something. The gap between 'crap' gear and 'great' gear is insane. It should really start in a narrower corridor and widen the further you go. Of course you'll want to take lid off once the endgame starts.

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Zork#7081 wrote:

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Alzucard#2422 wrote:

The problem with the difficulty in the current game is that its mostly not skill related. With personal skill you cant overcome certain obstacles.

Indeed. I have had both experiences (blasting through without resistance and crawling along, getting ganked left and right). With a tiny number of very specific exceptions, every problem was fixable with gear. It was never a problem with skills or the passive tree. With a bit of understanding and common sense you can make your own builds, and those builds can usually work (and yes, of course you can gimp yourself if you don't apply those two). (I count that as a success, as I found that to be harder in PoE1.)

What actually happens depends on the gear you get to 95+ percent. If you don't trade (I hate trading, for example), chances are high that you will have a miserable experience. And I really mean miserable, not 'less fun' or something. The gap between 'crap' gear and 'great' gear is insane. It should really start in a narrower corridor and widen the further you go. Of course you'll want to take lid off once the endgame starts.

With the new offline trade it's the first time I've actually bought a lot of gear from the market and it definitely makes a massive difference. I'm doing an Arc Stormweaver in endgame right now and the entire build would not have been possible without some key items from trade.

IMO it sucks you have to trade, but at least now I can do it with instant buyout.

I 100% agree with your thoughtful observations and i am very sure a lot of players right now experiencing the same!

I habe 5 days playtime in 0.3 and i am sure something massive is off in Terms of mob damage, i died before 0.3.1 maybe 1/25 maps, now every 2 maps - insta one shot or stun locked, i8K ES is not enough

Also LOOT is a massive issure right now - how can devs tolerate 500 rarity group play exploit?
Idk D4 introtuced pits - an amazing scalabe Challenge to test skill and damage, this atlas feels like a brainstorming made by two students :(

Sry but it is very uncreative imo and not rewarding, atlas passive: more %, one more rare, one more essence - seriously????

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ingoronen1#0890 wrote:

brought my LA Deadeye to level 95 and had gear worth about 200–250 div.

You should just faceroll everything with that budget.

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ingoronen1#0890 wrote:

My previously unkillable Deadeye, that one-shots everything in its way and was a blast to play, has changed. I die every second map now for no obvious reason.

The reason is obvious. You never learned how to play. You just clicked once.

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ingoronen1#0890 wrote:

Yes, I want challenge. Yes, I want mechanics. But I can’t see myself playing this game if it requires playing the most optimal meta build...

No you don't. That's what your getting now. You were already playing the most optimal "meta" build softcore and streamers could come up with.

It was just DPS. Now the bosses have time to hit back. Now you see what "meta" in poe softcore gets you.