Feedback from a New Player POE 2

Hello GGG,

As a new POE2 player, I wanted to share my feedback. Maybe it will be interesting, maybe not, I'll let you be the judge of that.
I've been playing hack n slash games for several years but I never played POE 1 because I didn't want to get into a game where you have to memorize tons of stuff just to understand how to play.

POE 2 has this promise of being more accessible according to you.
So I gave it a try and I finished the campaign. I'll only be talking about the campaign since I never touched the endgame (I got fed up before getting there).

I played Lich ED/Contagion following a top tier build on Mobalytics. So not some random build thrown together, an optimized and well-rated build by the community.

For me the strengths of this game are the graphics, the skill gameplay, the decent storyline, the dark atmosphere that we love in hack n slash games, but above all the variety of possible builds. The skill combinations are incredible and I really enjoyed that.

But the leveling difficulty is just absurd and frustrating to me.
In the first act, I found it a bit odd to struggle against white mobs, but I told myself it would get better with gear. Spoiler alert: even with decent gear, it was still just as painful.

The turning point was after the act 3 boss. It took me around fifteen tries to kill him. I was satisfied, and then in act 4 it was still just as slow against white mobs.

Which leads to a gameplay loop in slow motion: I move forward 3 meters, I run into a pack of white mobs, I kill them slowly, I move forward another 3 meters and I start over. And when you try to sprint past them, you risk dying and having to start all over.
It just mentally exhausted me and I didn't want to go back to the game anymore. To me, the hack n slash spirit just isn't there.


So it depends on your strategy: if this game is made exclusively for POE 1 grind players who already know the game and want something brutally difficult to feel alive, then it's a great game. If your strategy is to open up to a new player base, I think it's not heading in the right direction for now.

A note on SSF: I'm an SSF player at heart. I love looting and crafting by myself — buying powerful gear from someone else just isn't fun to me. I understand you can't flood the game with crafting orbs because it would destroy the economy, but maybe the SSF league could be reworked: lock it so that when you choose SSF you stay SSF (same for HC — it feels weird to choose HC and then keep playing in the normal league after dying), and in return give SSF players access to more crafting orbs so we can actually experiment and craft our own gear. To me, that's the real fun in ARPGs — grinding and finding your own equipment.

If I took the time to write this, it's because despite everything I did enjoy POE2 and I'd be happy to come back once v1 is officially released.

I give you one advance: Run Run Run!
This is not game for normal life people.

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DarkDredd#2184 wrote:

I give you one advance: Run Run Run!
This is not game for normal life people.

How can you tell? You haven't played since 0.2, you don't know what going on ingame.

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bloomhead#3858 wrote:

"

DarkDredd#2184 wrote:

I give you one advance: Run Run Run!
This is not game for normal life people.

How can you tell? You haven't played since 0.2, you don't know what going on ingame.

Untill 0.2.0 game was super easy and fun. After 0.2.0 was 'lost in translation'. Visioners became haters and fancy boys toxic reactive supporters of one tap play. He wouldn't have changed his mind even if he had played after 0.2.0 patch.

+1

Most of the power comes from the gear. You need +level to chaos spells on your staff/wand. The game doesnt teach you that.
Its pretty much bad experience overall for new players.

Ed/contagion is slow in the beginning but when you get dark effigy at level 31 you should be able to nuke pretty much anything. I'm on my 4th level 90+ lich on hcssf, the only boss I die on is Arbiter.

I don't know which guide you are using but don't give up, the build is awesome when you figure it out!

Good luck :)

"

default_mp3#9394 wrote:

Most of the power comes from the gear. You need +level to chaos spells on your staff/wand. The game doesnt teach you that.
Its pretty much bad experience overall for new players.

I think the lack of in game info is the biggest problem for new players.
Take the temple for example, they threw it in there with zero information on how it works(I still don't know how tf it works). You can read the armour mitigation % in the character sheet, but the numbers are complete BS and will get any newbie killed over and over...

The crafting should be designed to add to gear so we can keep working on items to improve them instead of bricking our gear, which is how it works now. -Sorry mate, bad luck! -Find another item and try again(sucker!!).

The game won't teach you how things work. Unless you're willing to spend time on 3rd party websites and watch YouTube movies to learn how the systems really work you'll have a hard time.

Once you know how it works it's real easy... Not difficult at all..
-But the game won't tell you.