Thanks for the Massive QoL Improvements — Now We Need Some Balance

💬 Feedback: QoL Progress & Major Balance Issues in PoE2

First of all, I think a lot of feedback and reports tend to overlook some important aspects of quality of life (QoL).

When I think back to the early days of Path of Exile, it’s clear that PoE2 has made huge QoL improvements. The overall experience feels smoother, more modern, and much more respectful of players’ time — and that gives me real hope for the future of the game.

⚙️ Quality of Life Improvements

Of course, the new trade system is the star of the show — it’s easily one of the biggest upgrades PoE has ever received. But it’s not the only improvement.
As a regular (though not hardcore) player, I can confidently say that my overall gaming experience keeps getting better with each update. The direction feels right.

⚖️ The Core Issue: Balance

However, the biggest problem right now is balance — not just in character power, but across the entire game ecosystem: loot systems, content value, difficulty scaling, and progression pacing.

Character & Difficulty Balance

Character power and game difficulty need to be considered together — they’re two halves of the same design problem.
The fact that some ascendancies can brute-force every single piece of content in the game, at every difficulty level, while also benefiting from high item rarity and unmatched speed, just doesn’t make sense.

The entire Wind Ward line for Deadeyes is an extreme example — as is the Roah mount, and the way projectile stacking can spiral out of control.
Similarly, Bloodmage builds that scale massive damage through life and then gain near-infinite regeneration end up stacking both offense and defense to absurd levels. That’s not balanced by any reasonable metric.

Honestly, I can’t understand how these completely broken setups can still exist in a live game in 2025. It feels like a design oversight — as if someone just cranked up numbers for fun and left them there.
There’s no reason such outliers should survive an entire league when they could be hotfixed or heavily nerfed within days.

💎 Content & Reward Balance

Another major issue is content disparity — some mechanics feel mandatory while others are completely irrelevant.

Delirium has basically become a requirement for meaningful loot, to the point that every map feels the same: same fog, same music, same aesthetic fatigue.

Strongboxes are a joke right now — outside of early Research boxes, there’s almost no point in investing in them.

Spirits are another example: an entire league mechanic that’s 90% useless outside of extremely rare, high-value talismans.

This kind of imbalance kills diversity and makes the endgame feel repetitive.

💰 Loot & Atlas System

On the bright side, the new Atlas system feels much smoother and more intuitive than before — definitely a win for QoL.
However, reward balance still feels off. Even with better structure, the values themselves often don’t match the effort required, leaving players struggling to find satisfying rewards.

🔨 Crafting System – Caution Ahead

Crafting seems to be moving in the right direction, especially with less RNG involved. That’s great progress.
But there’s a major red flag: we already need external tools like poe2db to understand mod systems and outcomes.

In software design, if something requires an external tool to function properly, it means the in-game design is lacking.
Crafting should be powerful and deep — but also self-explanatory and intuitive within the game client.

🧭 Final Thoughts

Overall, PoE2 is absolutely heading in a promising direction. The QoL upgrades are undeniable and appreciated.
But the core balance issues — in character power, content value, loot, and crafting clarity — urgently need attention if the game wants to sustain its progress and avoid frustration among regular players.