Owl spirit is everything what is wrong with POE 2 - We got POE 0.5 in poe 2 0.5

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saashaa#5518 wrote:

Entire poe 2 is goin to be POE 1 in pace - and this pace of slower and methodical synergy based combat was why even POE 2 was created

but we get owl..
which.. gives more projectiles, makes projectiles faster and covers ground in effects...
it shows how poorly GGG understand what they want to do with POE 2 - making it just faster.. more stimulating and less active in gameplay. More of POE 2





I WANT TO REMIND: ENTIRE REASON OF CREATING POE 2 WAS SYNERGY-SLOWER-METHODICAL COMBAT and not making players to powerful to fix poe 1 issues that cannot be fixed. in 0.4 we was to powerful and game was already to easy.

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anarchicgorilla#3089 wrote:

I think part of the issue is that we need to define what we mean by “slower,” because that word can mean very different things.

I honestly don’t think combat needs to be slower in the sense that characters animate slower, attack less often, or feel less responsive. I actually like faster characters. I like quick attacks, fast movement, and builds that feel agile. I also like that they are introducing things that speed up animations, because that can support different combat fantasies.

What I think needs adjustment is the **pace of combat**.

To me, combat pace is not just “how fast does my character attack?” It is more about how long enemies stay alive, how much room there is for decision-making, and whether the fight gives you time to engage with mechanics before everything is instantly deleted — or before you get one-shot.

That distinction matters.

A skill can look faster because it throws out more projectiles, hits more often, or animates more quickly. But if each hit does less damage, the actual time-to-kill may stay the same or even become longer. So when we say something is “faster,” I think we need to ask: faster in what way? Faster animation? More hits? More screen coverage? Faster clear? Less decision-making?

Those are not the same thing.

I think POE2 needs variety, not one universal combat speed. Slower, heavier attacks should exist for the juggernaut/bruiser fantasy. Faster, lower-damage attacks should exist for the duelist/rapid-strike fantasy. The problem is when balance pushes everyone toward one efficient answer, because then players stop choosing based on playstyle and start choosing based on what clears fastest.

That is where the metagame problem comes in. Some builds move through combat quickly, while others take too long to accomplish the same thing. Naturally, players gravitate toward the efficient builds. The issue is not that fast builds exist. The issue is when only a small number of builds feel efficient enough to be worth playing.

I also think this connects to the way endgame keeps drifting toward a Diablo 3-style loop where the answer is to gather everything up and blow it all up with one giant AOE. Some people enjoy that, and that fantasy should exist. But some people want smaller fights where positioning, timing, target priority, and individual monster mechanics matter too.

Right now, it feels like the game increasingly funnels everyone toward massive pack clearing, then a boss at the end. I think the game would benefit from more balance in encounter design — maybe even a cap on how many enemies can be on screen at once, with the game designed around that limit. Not to make the game feel empty, but to make combat more intentional.

So for me, the question is not simply, “Is POE2 becoming too fast?”

It is: **Is the pace of combat being balanced in a way that allows different combat fantasies to stay viable?**

Because I do not want every build to feel slow and heavy. I also do not want every build to become screen-wide AOE spam. I want fast characters, slow characters, small-group fights, big explosions, and different rhythms of combat — but balanced closely enough that players are choosing what they enjoy, not just whatever deletes the screen fastest.