My complete feedback for 0.3

I've been playing POE2 since 0.1 and to this day, I haven't even once managed to finish a league with real satisfaction.

Leveling has improved significantly. The lack of repeating Acts has already made everything much better, and if GGG leaves it aside for a few versions to focus on other things, that's fine by me. However, the fact that we still don't have a way to create a secondary character and skip all that is a pain. GGG should consider creating Atlas waystones that scale with the character's level and incorporate certain rewards, such as access to Ascensions, Spirit, etc., into the Atlas for players during their own leveling within the Atlas.

Another problem, still related to scalability and maps, is the disparity that Delirium brings: while I can easily play a T16 map with my character, playing Delirium on a T15 can make it nearly impossible to play sometimes, because the health, damage, and speed of everything increase disproportionately, and this increase in difficulty isn't reflected in the map rewards. About that, I ran a test with 50 T15 maps, all of them with mixed buffs (none of them had more than 40% Rarity), where 25 has 3x Greed Delirium and 25 without, using the same type ot tablets (Irradiated +Item Quantity, 'Cruel Hegemony' and 'Season of the Hunt'). At those that didn't have Delirium, 7 of them, I managed to get at least 1 Div, in one of them an exceptional Unique drop that was sold for 60Div and got 2x Omen of Light; while with the ones that did had Delirium, I only got 2 Divs and no other remarcable stuff, where in some of them I barely could finish it because that boss normal hits was taking me 1/4 of my ES. In both cases, the vast majority of the items that dropped were trash (even some T5), and what I most can get were Uniques to add to my collection or currency I already have stocked up but can't use because I can't even drop base items with decent iLvl - even on T16 maps, it's practically impossible to drop anything worthwhile 81+.

About this: endgame still sucks if you're not with the "meta gang".


Then we have the persistent problem of class disparity: either you create a character with a kit that utilizes a mechanic currently broken in the game, or your endgame will be mediocre at best and you'll rely on lucky to drop something useful. For example: I had a build that was exceptional at leveling, but when I reached the first boss of the first Tier 1 map, I couldn't even kill it. What should have been a small step in difficulty became a huge barrier that I could only overcome by buying items from people with "meta" builds who had no problem with these difficulty transitions.

The lack of class identity is also bizarre, with witches fighting with monk abilities or warriors using crossbows because the "more conservative" kits aren't good enough. I'm not saying this kind of mix is ​​wrong, but relying on this kind of thing in a game where diversity should be immense is sad. Perhaps this would be resolved if the ton of useless Uniques we have were reworked so that these more simplistic combinations were viable.

To pinpoint the issue about class balance: GGG needs to learn from some few good MMORPGs that balance isn't achieved by nerfing those who are doing well, but by buffing those who are doing poorly. Classes that were excellent in 0.2 were ruined in 0.3, and some build models were simply eliminated due to item and skill changes that didn't really benefit anyone (like swapping the Living Bomb for Solar Orb on Pyrophyte staffs). If something is good, DON'T TOUCH IT! The endgame should be enjoyable for everyone, not just those playing the current meta.

some feedback on your feedback:

1. I think leveling is a bit too fast - but I didn't really die all that much when it mattered this league compared to 0.2. Agree with campaign skip - I only play 1 build per league for this reason.

2. I can't really speak on deli as I can't run it as well on my build (I rely on snap to generate infusions and nuke things if I accidently overwhelm myself by mapping to fast - deli mobs don't have corpses so I'm "garbage" vs deli - ofc because I'm impatient and just slam). I wouldn't say being in endgame just sucks, but 100% hear you if you don't play meta, you're just stupid slow at clearing/progressing - you never break through "the barrier" to join whatever the meta class(es) are doing. Overall it just leaves players getting frustrated that they can't push in any meaningful way - this leads to an increase in currency/loot disparity where the slower players can never obtain true endgame quality gear - resulting in them quitting/leaving the league.

3. Something like 80% of all characters played are using wands and bows. Feels bad so I agree with class disparity not really existing here. I do think its ok that builds can exist outside of their loosely defined range - totally cool with me that witches can use monk skills etc; however, the items should be more locked to the archetype of the character to give it more identity.


Lastly, I think nerfing is mostly the correct approach. If GGG is aiming for the "the vision" the game is just way too easy.

Please note these comments are coming from an arc stormweaver. I think the balance here is fantastic. I'm usually in danger, but I do have great damage at the same time - so it's more that the mobs are too fast for this class (arguably for everyone?); not that im lacking damage or defenses.