"Meaningful Combat" Is Anti-ARPG

-1
Mumbling of a poe1 epileptic fever dream simulator enjoyer.

Perfect, than you can keep enjoying zoom-poe1, and the others can enjoy poe2.

Dont add meaning ful combat style gameplay.

Zoom is fun, but we need more build possibilities.
make weak builds stronger please.

"Meaningful combat" is required for a game to be an arpg.
Without it, it isn't one.

Arpg. Action Rpg. "Action".
What pray tell would that mean?

Well firstly we want genre labels to be specific enough that we don't end up using the same terms for every game ever, making genres useless.
PoE2 and Cyberpunk 2077 are both games with rpg systems and action in them, but we shouldn't call them the same genre or the genre label is meaningless.
So lets start by saying that to be called an "arpg" a game must be top down or isometric with hordes of enemies to fight.

With that matter of finding something generally specific to separate games to keep labels useful, lets get to being genuine.
Action rpg.
In order for a game to be an "action" rpg, it has to have ACTION in it.

That means tangible engaging gameplay that requires player effort.
That means skillful utilization of physically demanding mechanics.
That means dodging, aiming, combos, slower fights that take long enough that you have to survive what the enemy can do to you.
That means needing to move out of attacks and aoe's, needing to maneuver based on enemy position, needing to switch up what attacks and strategies you are using to deal with different enemies different defenses, abilities, and behaviors.

If the game is fast zoomy nonsense where you can just hold down the button for one attack and zoop accross the map without actually putting effort into engaging with any mechanics, then the game has no action.
Which means it's not an arpg.

PoE1, is zoopy zoomy mechanically lacking nonsense that requires no skill expression or actual effort from the player.
PoE1 is not an arpg. It's just an idler.
Last Epoch is not an arpg.
The Diablo's I've tried were not arpgs.

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Evergrey#7535 wrote:

-1
Mumbling of a poe1 epileptic fever dream simulator enjoyer.

Such a well-crafted arguement, I kneel.

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The_Song#4903 wrote:

PoE1 is not an arpg. It's just an idler.
Last Epoch is not an arpg.
The Diablo's I've tried were not arpgs.

That is... certainly a take..

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nagisanzeninzz#2697 wrote:

Notice how almost 20 hours and this thread doesn't even have a single reply from the "Meaningful combat" crowd.

Their silence is deafening when confronted with well crafted argument, lol.

I don't really know how you count hours in your region of the world, but I had to double check this.

First post was made at 03:08:30 on 10.12.2025.
Your "silence is deafening after almost 20 hours" post was at 06:28:15 on 10.12.2025.

That is about 3 hours and 20 minutes later, not 20 hours. Even while I am typing this, it still has not been 20 hours since the thread was created. If your clock really stretches 3 hours into 20, I would love to borrow that for leveling.

As for the actual topic instead of the fantasy time dilation:

I have said before that zooming around the map is a joykiller. It practically forces players into the same playstyle - move fast, kill fast, skip everything fast. Playing together stops being "let's clear content as a party" and becomes "try to keep up with the fastest guy or enjoy staring at empty screens."

Slower gameplay at least allows people to actually play together and be a bit tactical. Someone can tank, someone can focus on damage, people can react to what is happening on screen instead of just speedrunning it. Yes, that nudges things closer to MMO style in some ways, but ARPG was not always a zoomers-only genre. Titan Quest, Diablo 1 and other early titles are basically the grandparents of ARPGs, and they were a lot closer to "meaningful combat" than to "hold one button and delete half the map offscreen."

I actually like that they reduced pack size and increased monster health. And for context - I am playing one of the most passive archetypes you can pick (pure minion build). I am not sitting there pianoing 8 buttons every pack. My minions do the work, I mostly run around. Even so, I want moments where I stop, back off, think for a second, reposition. Not just permanently sprint in a straight line.

When the game is only zoom-zoom-zoom, it stops feeling like an action game and turns into an Excel simulator with particle effects. You are not really playing anymore, you are just running, spamming, and checking stats. That might be your definition of peak ARPG, but for some of us, the fun is actually inside the combat, not only in the spreadsheet.

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Jyrlep#4788 wrote:

Slower gameplay at least allows people to actually play together and be a bit tactical. Someone can tank, someone can focus on damage, people can react to what is happening on screen instead of just speedrunning it. Yes, that nudges things closer to MMO style in some ways, but ARPG was not always a zoomers-only genre. Titan Quest, Diablo 1 and other early titles are basically the grandparents of ARPGs, and they were a lot closer to "meaningful combat" than to "hold one button and delete half the map offscreen."

What are you on about, PoE is a single-player game, that just happens to have a trade system.

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nagisanzeninzz#2697 wrote:

What are you on about, PoE is a single-player game, that just happens to have a trade system.

You have a very interesting definition of "single player game" when in your reply you say it is one and then also describe one of the ways it very obviously is not. Confusing, is it not.

No, PoE has never been a single player game in any meaningful sense beyond "you can technically play it alone". By that logic, a co-op game with matchmaking is also single player because you can click "private".

PoE has global chat, local chat, parties, trading, town hubs, hideouts you can invite people into, and content explicitly tuned around multi client or multi player abuse. That is not some accidental optional garnish bolted onto a pure offline experience, that is baked into how the game and economy function.

Sure, it is not an MMO in the classic "one big happy world" sense, it is shard based with town lobbies and instanced maps. That is still online multiplayer. You and I both know the game would basically collapse if you ripped out trade, chat and parties tomorrow.

So if you want to argue for zoomy solo power fantasy, go for it, but trying to rebrand PoE as a single player game with a little trade on the side is just rewriting reality. That is one argument you are not going to win.

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Jyrlep#4788 wrote:

"

nagisanzeninzz#2697 wrote:

What are you on about, PoE is a single-player game, that just happens to have a trade system.

You have a very interesting definition of "single player game" when in your reply you say it is one and then also describe one of the ways it very obviously is not. Confusing, is it not.

No, PoE has never been a single player game in any meaningful sense beyond "you can technically play it alone". By that logic, a co-op game with matchmaking is also single player because you can click "private".

PoE has global chat, local chat, parties, public instances, trading, group MF, town hubs, hideouts you can invite people into, and content explicitly tuned around multi client or multi player abuse. That is not some accidental optional garnish bolted onto a pure offline experience, that is baked into how the game and economy function.

Sure, it is not an MMO in the classic "one big happy world" sense, it is shard based with town lobbies and instanced maps. That is still online multiplayer. You and I both know the game would basically collapse if you ripped out trade, chat and parties tomorrow.

So if you want to argue for zoomy solo power fantasy, go for it, but trying to rebrand PoE as a single player game with a little trade on the side is just rewriting reality. That is one argument you are not going to win.

It's a single player game with global chat (for sh-t talk) and trade.

Nobody ever parties in the dream you described in your post, lol. Path of Exile players are basically social recluses, so much so that many people (with the game official support) even goes SSF for even more social recluse. I bet some of them even turn off global chat, lol.

Go play WoW and do 25 man raid or something if you want party games that much.