Too much crafting is ruining the game

I've been back into D2 playing the new Warlock, and there is a simple purity to D2 that I kind of miss. You pick up the item. Is it what I want? No? Throw it away. Yes I know you can cube magic items with perfect gems - but broadly most stuff you use until the end game is going to be floor drops and also broadly there's little reason to hang on to a bunch of crafting bases. I also don't count runewords as 'crafting" personally.

No need for a dump truck load of stash tabs to keep "in progress" items and crafting bases.

I'm not saying PoE2 needs to go D2 in that direction but I think the current crafting meta is extremely convoluted. It would be nice if random rare drops were more useful.

for me the fun in loot is getting an item that is an upgrade, or an item that makes me want to try new build, getting some expensive currency drop is nice but its not the same as getting something usable

+ the crafting system already is quite complicated, with more stuff added it will only get worse for people who dont play every expanison to endgame.

ingame crafting tutorial instead of watching randos on youtube would be nice

I am sorry, but I strongly disagree with the sentiment that crafting is extremely convoluted. While I will agree on the aspect that crafting is extremely difficult to understand early on, highly RNG-based, without better controls (such as prefix/suffix locking in PoE1) and more of a lever/slot machine pull, crafting has never been better in PoE2 since its inception.

I already feel the hate generation that will occur from this reply and frankly I don't care lol. Aside from the RNG aspect of crafting, determinism comes at a cost. If you guys are refering to high end/end-game items it hasn't changed in PoE for YEARS. If you are referencing items that can be used as upgrades on a smaller scale then my question would be is how do SSF players seem to all agree that SSF is in a very healthy state especially with regards to crafting?

Unless you have taken the time to learn the systems, done the research about ivls via PoEDB, Craft of Exile, YoutTube, etc. then I hate to say it but maybe the game isn't for you. I am not hailing GGG as a godsend dev but c'mon people; if you wanna learn something, especially if it is complex, you need to put a little effort in even if the writing isn't on the wall for you to do so.

Again, I know this will be a "Sh*t take" by a lot of people but again, I don't care lol. I started playing PoE 1 in 3.23 and since then have just taken the time to learn both games to a higher affinity and still have fun in both games. At the end of the day if anything in life is not providing a positive experience then quit doing that thing lol.

There is nothing wrong with crafting as an option. But nothing beats the feeling of picking good gear from the ground - which never happens basically. You either craft it or buy it... :( Saving for an item by collecting currency and dropping it is not the same...

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m1cckalodeon#7840 wrote:

I am sorry, but I strongly disagree with the sentiment that crafting is extremely convoluted. While I will agree on the aspect that crafting is extremely difficult to understand early on, highly RNG-based, without better controls (such as prefix/suffix locking in PoE1) and more of a lever/slot machine pull, crafting has never been better in PoE2 since its inception.

I already feel the hate generation that will occur from this reply and frankly I don't care lol. Aside from the RNG aspect of crafting, determinism comes at a cost. If you guys are refering to high end/end-game items it hasn't changed in PoE for YEARS. If you are referencing items that can be used as upgrades on a smaller scale then my question would be is how do SSF players seem to all agree that SSF is in a very healthy state especially with regards to crafting?

Unless you have taken the time to learn the systems, done the research about ivls via PoEDB, Craft of Exile, YoutTube, etc. then I hate to say it but maybe the game isn't for you. I am not hailing GGG as a godsend dev but c'mon people; if you wanna learn something, especially if it is complex, you need to put a little effort in even if the writing isn't on the wall for you to do so.

Again, I know this will be a "Sh*t take" by a lot of people but again, I don't care lol. I started playing PoE 1 in 3.23 and since then have just taken the time to learn both games to a higher affinity and still have fun in both games. At the end of the day if anything in life is not providing a positive experience then quit doing that thing lol.

The mechanic in itself is ok, though i dont know if there is a reason to have different tiers of currency, but new leagues will make it more bloated, were atr 0.4 and the game hasnt even properly launched

for me issues are

1)imbalance in markets it creates as running just maps get maybe 100 div in a session while yt is full of "this is how i make 4000 div a day crafting boots"
2)how annoying is to craft maps and tablets and how much more powerful crafted ones are(though this is also about bloated option pool)
3)how it completely invalidates all found loot by midgame

I no longer play POE or POE2 like I used to. Main reason is the loot system, over-reliance on player trade and crafting.

When build guides starting listing estimated currency costs for their gear loadouts - that was the sign that things had gone sideways with the loot in POE games.

I have friends who no longer play to get loot - they play to get currency, with full intent to buy most or all of their gear. Maybe I'm just old - but that is not how you play an ARPG =P

Crafting is the only thing that gives the top tier currency it's value.

While I agree that it would be more fun to FIND items that are strong because I absolutely despise crafting. It does make having a large stash of divine orbs useful.

The way the game works now is you start a character and equip the best stuff you find until you get a divine orb. Then you use it to buy crafted gear to get stronger so you can get more divine orbs so you can buy better gear. (from crafters)

The drops in the game are purely for leveling only. That's the only time I have used dropped gear in both poe1 and poe2.

You shouldn't be forced to craft to have a powerful character but you are either vicariously through other players or taking on the gamble yourself.

There are just too many combinations and possibilities to try in this game to force crafting but it has weaseled it's way into being a core aspect of the game.

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cwfoster72#9149 wrote:

From my experience, the loot that drops is more to viewed as bases for crafting than to be outright perfect pieces of gear ready to slot. I dont think trying to farm for gear and hoping to get awesome, useful upgrades right out the box is wise. That would be very frustrating for me if i viewed it that way and had that expectation.

It is totally possible to craft awesome gear from the dropped bases. I focus on white and blue gear to craft on and generally avoid yellow. This has worked great for me. If I would dive deeper into crafting, im positive i could make much better gear.

Uniques seem to be more for specialized builds that would revolve around mechanics with one or two uniques. Hence the name Unique? I cant see them being useful outside that. I have seen people play craaazy incredible builds using uniques in ways i never would have thought to use them. It would be unwise to equate Unique with, lets say, a Legendary type weapon from an MMO. Like the be all, end all top tier piece of gear. Thats not the purpose i see for them.

This is how you're supposed to view ground loot in endgame and if more people thought this way this this thread wouldn't exist. Ground loot is another tool in the toolbox for you to arrive at a decent item. It's not designed to fall from the heavens as a decent item.

Some people who play in a trade league are playing an economic meta-game using a meta-loot filter that nullifies and removes ground loot that's not relevant to their meta-game and that's a self-imposed issue and their idea that "ground loot sucks" is mostly rooted in a mindset and perception warped by the goals of their meta-game along with the loot they see using their meta-filter.

That's not a game design issue or drop design issue. It's just how they're choosing to play the game and then feeling like the parts they've chosen to ignore (that actually support the foundation of their meta-game) need a redesign.

When you remove the loot from thousands of other people's stashes in the equation and likelihoods of finding and/or crafting decent items, the super-rare all-t1 items that people chase for and the absolute top-end builds that people want (and sometimes complain about) are almost always so far outside of the stratosphere of potential existence to be a realistic item or thing to chase that you shouldn't even bother unless you plan to devote an entire lifetime to grinding, and then some. It's similar to expecting to win a lottery.

Adding trade into the equation is what enables the mere existence of those things. They are aspirational extremes and long‑tail outcomes of massive time investment, game knowledge, and collaboration through trading. They are not intended as benchmarks for what an average or even above‑average player should expect to acquire. They’re the equivalent of perfect rolls in a system explicitly designed around variance, crafting depth, and probabilistic outcomes.

If you frame your expectations around owning those items rather than interacting with the systems that produce them, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. The game is designed around progression through crafting, incremental upgrades, and problem‑solving, not around ground loot replacing your gear every few maps.

Ground loot exists to:

- provide crafting inputs
- surface interesting bases and mod combinations
- occasionally spike into something exciting
- feed the broader item ecosystem (SSF, trade, crafting, recombination, etc.)

It is not meant to be a vending machine for finished gear.

When players say “loot feels bad” what I think they often mean is “loot doesn’t match the fantasy of skipping the crafting and knowledge layers because I only interact with trade.” But those layers are the game and they support that trading-centric meta-game.

Removing drops they don't like or tuning drops so that only mostly endgame‑ready items rain from the sky would trivialize crafting, collapse the economy, and shorten the lifespan of progression dramatically.

So yes, if you do any of the following:

- ignore crafting
- filter out anything that isn’t immediately sellable
- compare yourself to the top 0.01% of players
- expect as-is ground loot to solve your build for you

Then the experience will feel miserable, and it won't be because the loot system failed you, it will be because your expectations don’t align with what the system is designed to do.

This thread has the same energy as a thousand people sitting down at a poker table expecting to get a royal flush because they all saw the same pro get one on TV and then after a few disappointing rounds for most, 800 of them congregate around a forum post suggesting that poker needs a redesign around card dealing, 195 of them who did alright feel that it's mostly fine but maybe they could remove 2's if you've already been playing for more than an hour, 4 people who got lucky the whole time agree because they don't even see the point of 2's anyway since they were never even dealt one, and the 1 guy who got a royal flush tells everyone to get good.

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karsey#2995 wrote:

....When players say “loot feels bad” what I think they often mean is “loot doesn’t match the fantasy of skipping the crafting and knowledge layers because I only interact with trade.”

While I agree with most of what your post says, This part I strongly disagree with. I don't think loot is bad because I only interact with trade, I only interact with trade because loot is bad.

I hate trade.

I think it's cheating. I think its a band-aid for poor design. But trade is the lesser of two evils.

Crafting is worst.

Crafting is just plain unenjoyable (to me of course, others seem to love it).

It boils down to one unavoidable aspect of the entire crafting system.

Interacting with the inventory isn't fun.

Maybe this is better on PC, but on console, it's a chore. To be fair, I've never seen a console inventory system that was not a chore. However most console games don't force you to interact with inventory as often as POE2 crafting does. And you have to interact with the inventory a lot. You interact with it when you identify and pick up potential bases and again to "craft".

The chance of getting a wanted magic base is mathematically low. I hope that's not disputed (if so I can link to the craft of exile page), but for example the chance to get ANY "#% increased Physical Damage" on a spear is less than 4%.

ANY not tier 1, not tier 2. ANY

This doesn't take into account the chance to drop any spear or the chance to drop a spear of a specific base. Combine that with the RNG of crafting, I'm looking at hours of play time inside the inventory (or it at least feels like hours).

Maybe it would be tolerable if you could use a loot filter to only show the stuff you're looking for. However, I'm absolutely not going to identify every single possibly good item base on top of dealing with a RNG crafting system.