Path of Exile 2 feels like it does not respect player time

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Reptyl#5808 wrote:

Path of Exile 2 feels like it does not respect player time

I want to give feedback on PoE2 from a very specific angle: respect for player time.

PoE2 repeatedly wastes player time in many different ways, and the worst part is that these issues often stack on top of each other.

Oversized maps, dead ends, and constant running

Both campaign areas and endgame zones are unnecessarily massive, with an extreme number of dead ends.

A huge portion of playtime is spent running rather than playing:
-long empty stretches
-frequent backtracking after dead ends
-oversized layouts with little meaningful interaction

This does not feel like exploration. It feels like artificial playtime inflation.

Forced animations and transitions

PoE2 adds many long transitions and animations, such as elevators in Chaos Trials, doors, passages, and scripted transitions.

These are cool the first time, but frustrating when encountered constantly. Combined with oversized zones and heavy traversal, these delays add up to a significant amount of wasted time with no gameplay value.

League mechanics that block gameplay unless you use external tools

The new Vaal Temple mechanic was presented as a roguelike, build-your-own dungeon experience.

In practice:
-the in-game UI does not clearly communicate consequences
-randomness can invalidate large amounts of progress
-destabilized rooms can erase learning and time investment instantly

This is not about meta-gaming or efficiency. It is about being actively prevented from playing the game unless you rely on external guides simply to avoid wasting your time.

Layered punishment in endgame (EXP loss + map loss + redo)

In endgame, a single death can:
-apply an EXP penalty
-cause you to lose the map entirely
-force you to redo the map from scratch

This is layers upon layers of punishment. You lose:
-time spent preparing the map
-time already spent inside it
-time required to redo it
-while also receiving fewer rewards

The loss is wildly disproportionate to the learning gained and turns deaths into massive time sinks.

Replaying the full campaign on every character

I understand that a new league should put everyone on equal footing and that playing the campaign once per league is reasonable.

The issue is what happens after that.

The PoE2 campaign is extremely long, physically huge, and filled with running and downtime. Repeating it unchanged for every additional character amplifies every time-wasting issue mentioned above.

I strongly hope that by full release, alternative ways to level secondary characters are explored, especially given PoE2’s enormous scale.

TL;DR – The core issue

PoE2 repeatedly asks for large time investments while consistently placing obstacles between the player and actual gameplay.

Too much time is spent:
-running through oversized areas
-waiting on forced animations and transitions
-repeating content after layered punishments
-navigating systems that are unclear without external resources

Progression is often slowed or reset not by meaningful challenge, but by friction, downtime, and loss of previously invested time.

PoE2 does not simply feel demanding. It often feels slow, obstructive, and disrespectful of the player’s time.

What I hope changes

-smaller, denser maps
-fewer forced transitions or ways to speed or skip them
-league mechanics that are understandable in-game
-a re-evaluation of layered death punishment in endgame
-alternative progression options for secondary characters

PoE2 has incredible potential, but right now it asks for more time than ever while being far too willing to waste it.

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Reptyl#5808 wrote:

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Hyperspacing#5593 wrote:

I swear 1 streamer said "respect player time" and all the lemmings just fall in line like its this philosophical and super important term that is just SOOOOO important.

Dude just play the game for fun and if you're not having fun...play something else.

What streamer? I don't bother with watching live streams. I haven't watched any discussion based youtube videos recently either. I just had this discussion with some casual players where we summed some of it up and this ended being my own take on it.

I really feel like the game is being made artificially longer and more dragged out and very related to that more punishing than it has to be.

I understand I can just git gud and not die in my semi juiced maps. But lag happens, disconnects happen and shit we don't understand and won't understand happens (lack of game communicating what kills you) and punishment can be fine. But losing the map, exp which equals to time, the investment the map could have cost with the time it took to maybe setup too etc. seems on the heavy side. Also I have to reclear it with no benefits from the endgame map device thing, meaning people like me probably just throw in a dead/bad map to pass on to the next node I was headed towards, which is a problem that doesn't exist in the PoE1 itteration of the endgame.

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Reptyl#5808 wrote:

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Lonnie455Rich#2087 wrote:

Anyone who ever says "respect a players time" I always just ignore every opinion they ever have, ever.

You are playing a video game, its entire purpose is to waste your time.

I think this is a misunderstanding of what “respecting player time” actually means.

Yes, video games are optional and time-consuming by nature. That is not the argument.

“Respecting player time” does not mean “make the game shorter” or “remove challenge.” It means that the time a player chooses to invest should be spent on meaningful gameplay, not unnecessary friction.

There is a difference between:

time spent making decisions, fighting enemies, learning systems, and overcoming difficulty
and

time spent running through empty space, waiting on forced animations, repeating content due to stacked punishments, or losing progress without gaining proportional learning

One is gameplay. The other is padding and friction.

If a player chooses to spend hours in a game, that time should feel intentional and rewarding, not slowed down or erased by systems that add little to no gameplay value. That distinction has existed in game design for decades and is not controversial.

Dismissing feedback by saying “all games waste time” ignores the difference between engaging time and wasted time.

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Hyperspacing#5593 wrote:

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Reptyl#5808 wrote:

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Lonnie455Rich#2087 wrote:

Anyone who ever says "respect a players time" I always just ignore every opinion they ever have, ever.

You are playing a video game, its entire purpose is to waste your time.

I think this is a misunderstanding of what “respecting player time” actually means.

Yes, video games are optional and time-consuming by nature. That is not the argument.

“Respecting player time” does not mean “make the game shorter” or “remove challenge.” It means that the time a player chooses to invest should be spent on meaningful gameplay, not unnecessary friction.

There is a difference between:

time spent making decisions, fighting enemies, learning systems, and overcoming difficulty
and

time spent running through empty space, waiting on forced animations, repeating content due to stacked punishments, or losing progress without gaining proportional learning

One is gameplay. The other is padding and friction.

If a player chooses to spend hours in a game, that time should feel intentional and rewarding, not slowed down or erased by systems that add little to no gameplay value. That distinction has existed in game design for decades and is not controversial.

Dismissing feedback by saying “all games waste time” ignores the difference between engaging time and wasted time.

Every moment you are in a map you are making decisions,fighting enemies, learning the content, and overcoming difficulty...so they do indeed respect your time.

Games without "friction" are extremely boring. You want games, especially ARPGS, to have friction. WIthout it there is just staring at a screen, watching tv on the side, and just deleting whole screens while you wait to hear the special drop.

I just laugh cause a couple streamers use the word friction and "respect players time" and it just scours the entire feedback forum with people just using those phrases.

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Sakanabi#6664 wrote:

Yeah, it's 2025... sorry 2026 and this is unacceptable!

Vote with your wallet!

Ehm... your post makes quite sense. Maybe if you handn't used that meme phrase more people will actually read it and probably even agreed.