Been a great league. Looking forward to 0.5!

I wanted to share my thoughts on the game, now that I have a little over 2k hours.

There are some issues like endgame lacking content, but I feel though the game balance and direction are much better now so I am focusing on that below. Endgame will come over time with content updates, so that's not really what I have focused on with POE2 while in EA.

Pacing - This is overall good and density in maps felt like it was very on point this league. I never felt as though the changes made to density were a problem or the monster effectiveness being a negative. Both changes were introduced and balanced very well from the start. I think with some changes to the Atlas, which is my main problem endgame, it will feel very good to pour some hours in.

Progression - Felt good and going from campaign into endgame was very comfortable. I play mainly SSF and did multiple runs. I never felt like it was too easy to gear my character, nor did I feel as though it was too much of a grind. There is a sweet spot in solo modes, such as in POE1, and I feel that overall the progression couldn't be much more balanced than it is currently, from a single players perspective.

Crafting - In a much better place and it's really great to see the changes that have been implemented since 0.1 The game has a more deterministic feel, while not giving the players too much of a power creep, such as a crafting bench would. Staying away from just throwing a bench into the game was a great decision and one I hope to see y'all stand behind and improve on. With more mechanics I could see this current system expanding into something very fun to play with.

I guess I just enjoy the game for the most part, but wanted to at least share some feedback of my own experience. I have had gripes in the past with previous patches, but for the most part those have been addressed, so it's hard for me to speak on them now.

There are still performance improvements I would love to see and of course more content, but imo it's starting to shape up as one of the better arpg's we've seen.

Thanks again for the work and good luck to everyone playing in 3.28/0.5!

"

rrogan17#2926 wrote:

There are some issues like endgame lacking content, but I feel though the game balance and direction are much better now so I am focusing on that below. Endgame will come over time with content updates, so that's not really what I have focused on with POE2 while in EA.

Okay you have to explain what you mean by Balancing, because the Balancing is completely off. Build Variety is dramatically lacking. Its concentrated in a couple of skills. You also have only 3 ascendancies that are dominating the meta. That doesnt mean you can play other ascendancies. They are not bad, well some are, but you can use them. Also that doesnt have much to do with streamers, there are streamers who only play melee, but they dont get a lot of people to play melee. Because its not what people wanna play.

If we talk about the different mechjanic s you cna play in the game the balance is completely off. Mapping is pretty dogshit unless yolu run a lot negative rarity or you run abyss and farm Omens of Light and Omens of Abyssal Echoes. Then you have Chaos Trials and Sekhema which are profitable, but then you have the big issue thats called temple. Temple is better than basically everything else, because its consistent profit. You dont rely on RNG for profit.
. TPacing - This is overall good and density in maps felt like it was very on point this league. I never felt as though the changes made to density were a problem or the monster effectiveness being a negative. Both changes were introduced and balanced very well from the start. I think with some changes to the Atlas, which is my main problem endgame, it will feel very good to pour some hours in.

"

rrogan17#2926 wrote:

Progression - Felt good and going from campaign into endgame was very comfortable. I play mainly SSF and did multiple runs. I never felt like it was too easy to gear my character, nor did I feel as though it was too much of a grind. There is a sweet spot in solo modes, such as in POE1, and I feel that overall the progression couldn't be much more balanced than it is currently, from a single players perspective.

I think Campaign is a bit too easy. Well Viper is still the hardest Boss and i still hate the fight.

"

rrogan17#2926 wrote:

Crafting - In a much better place and it's really great to see the changes that have been implemented since 0.1 The game has a more deterministic feel, while not giving the players too much of a power creep, such as a crafting bench would. Staying away from just throwing a bench into the game was a great decision and one I hope to see y'all stand behind and improve on. With more mechanics I could see this current system expanding into something very fun to play with.

Last Legaue had very determinsitic carfting. they removed it for 0.4 which was a good call.

Genuinely not sure why troll posts like this are allowed, but actually giving feedback is cause for removal.

The pacing is completely off, the campaign is a sluggish chore, not even remotely challenging, just a test of our patience. When we finally get through it we are met with awful drop rates that make progressing anything that isn't Fubgun clone #3842 tedious. Build diversity is almost non existent and the gulf between a competent build and the other options is a vast gulf.

This is tied closely to the fact that crafting is a mess now, it was so very close to perfection in 0.3 but it has now taken a big step back with the removal of some currencies and an overall lack of drop chance combined with making it a blind slot machine rather than something deterministic that we can plan out and build intelligently.

Reverting to 0.3 and adding back in the Druid would be the optimal step forward, but in order to get this game out of the dumpster we need genuine and accurate feedback rather than troll posts insert the "this is fine" dog in a burning house meme...

"

Alzucard#2422 wrote:

Build Variety is dramatically lacking. Its concentrated in a couple of skills.

When people want to play as fast as they can, they naturally pick whatever performs the best for that, which leads to concentration to whatever skills happen to be the best in that league.

That being said, all weapons are viable, and almost all of them have more than 1 decent build for them.

It's more than a couple skills that are totally fine to use and capable.

"

Alzucard#2422 wrote:

You also have only 3 ascendancies that are dominating the meta.

7 ascendancies are between 5% and 17% (17% being the highest use rate for a single ascendancy) use rate looking at poeninja.

That's not at all bad IMO.

"

Alzucard#2422 wrote:

Mapping is pretty dogshit unless yolu run a lot negative rarity or you run abyss and farm Omens of Light and Omens of Abyssal Echoes. Then you have Chaos Trials and Sekhema which are profitable, but then you have the big issue thats called temple. Temple is better than basically everything else, because its consistent profit. You dont rely on RNG for profit.

There can be other reasons to play though than just maximizing your div/hour rate.

I like mapping myself mostly since I just find it chill and fun to do the maps at an average pace. It's relaxing and I'm making slow progress towards my goals as I go.

"

JarlaxleDaerthe#2435 wrote:

Genuinely not sure why troll posts like this are allowed, but actually giving feedback is cause for removal.

Genuinely not sure why these forums are full of people who seem to hate it when someone says that they really like the game.

It's really weird, like, coming to a forum of a game you dislike to tell the players who like it that they are wrong to like it.

"

JarlaxleDaerthe#2435 wrote:

The pacing is completely off, the campaign is a sluggish chore, not even remotely challenging, just a test of our patience.

I certainly have found the campaign hard, prolly hardest ARPG campaign I've ever played.

Took me like 100 hours or a bit more to finish it guideless on HC.

Even this league even tho I've finished it many times by now I've had 3 chars die after Act 1.

Idk if this is then very easy to you, but if that is the case, I wonder what would be an example of a challenging Diablo-style ARPG? I found D2, Grim Dawn, and a bunch of others easier than this.

"

JarlaxleDaerthe#2435 wrote:

When we finally get through it we are met with awful drop rates that make progressing anything that isn't Fubgun clone #3842 tedious.

Is this also from a SSF perspective?

"

JarlaxleDaerthe#2435 wrote:

This is tied closely to the fact that crafting is a mess now, it was so very close to perfection in 0.3 but it has now taken a big step back with the removal of some currencies and an overall lack of drop chance combined with making it a blind slot machine rather than something deterministic that we can plan out and build intelligently.

I think the perceived problem from GGG's side was that people were doing very high level gear too easily and quickly into the league.

That's obviously a problem, as then you indeed have no more progression.