Trivializing content/bosses is a huge problem and you're playing it down, Mark.
" The answer to a flawed design isn't to make a different one. That's my main point. You also don't turn your game into a stat smasher. You add layers to both player and NPC actions until it eventually overwhelms over time. This gives ample room for power creep as years go by. This is also part of my original post of where GGG likes big numbers too much. The difference between a maximized build and generally good end-game build should not be 3000%. It should be maybe twice as good. You kill bosses in half the time. You clear maps in half the time. Not 4 minutes vs 4 seconds. That's just stupid. You can actually have brain dead "Haha screen go boom" and skillful combat in the same core design. Simply add layers and calm down the damn numbers. Players will either learn and compensate a lack of gear or the opposite but at no point should gear allow you to remove opposition entirely. We don't have to play two different game modes if they fix the current one. "Never trust floating women." -Officer Kirac
|
|
|
GGG just targets casuals and make game as "first time experience" hard. It's not balanced around min-maxed builds as it should be
You need to be a person who doesn't learn, play it as first time or have slow learning curve to enjoy it... Mark told that in QA. Last edited by saashaa#5518 on May 17, 2026, 2:23:39 PM
|
|
" Yes and that is why the give me .1 again posts exist. You already experienced it. It will never be the same again. That is the point people refuse to accept. On top of that, new classes, weapons, skills have been added which allow people more options to get stronger faster. On top of that people know much better how to gear which makes it easier. They already know the move sets which makes it easier, etc.... If you want that same challenge again you need to impose the challenge on yourself. If you balance the game around min maxed top end builds you gut the player base and limit the already extremely limited build diversity that exists already. Play HCSSF and don't play meta. There is your challenge. But the vast majority saying they want challenge wont do that. They wont purposely wear weaker gear or hold points or play the most off meta things possible. They just refuse to do these things (vast majority) but still want the difficulty for ALL players turned up. 4+ minutes on a fight for some players with an average of 2 minutes and you are upset you beat it in 10 seconds. You are playing min max'd style meta builds the majority of the time if you are doing that. If you add new modes you split the player base even further which hurts group and trade. If you are unwilling the impose the challenge on yourself, then get used to the current balance because they clearly stated it is about where they want it. |
|
|
They want to design Dark Souls bosses in a game with the framework of Super Mario World.
Jump on the enemy twice and it dies. Get hit twice and you die. It just doesn't, and will never, work. ~ Seph
|
|
" There's a halfway point somewhere around Hades 2 style combat and gameplay that could have easily worked and been fun. Haven't seen a single person ask for PoE2 to be Elden Ring (which is not actually that hard btw). If anything most of the people who bring up the soulslike comparison are people who for whatever unfathomable reason believe PoE2 to be difficult in its core gameplay. Game's not going in a direction of a soulslike or even Hades roguelike anyway and this is a dead argument at this point. I think there's little value in continued debate beyond educating people about what this game actually is and how it has diverged from what many feel it's originally intended direction was. Last edited by Skutz123#5377 on May 17, 2026, 4:13:21 PM
|
|
|
In my opinion, adding something like Ruthless would probably be the easiest way to create another layer of difficulty and extend the lifespan of existing content.
No, it does not add new bosses, new areas, or new mechanics by itself. But it can make existing content matter again for players who actually want more challenge. GGG could still keep making new content, of course, but I think there needs to be some optional difficulty layer for people who want the game to push back harder. That said, I don't think it should be a static choice you make at character creation and then get stuck with forever. I would much rather be able to choose when I want to run a Ruthless boss or Ruthless area. Or, alternatively, have multiple "campaign saves" for the same character, so if Ruthless becomes too much, I can switch back to normal, progress there, and later return to Ruthless from where I left off. Basically, I don't want it to be "you picked hard mode, enjoy your suffering forever." That sounds less like a difficulty option and more like signing a bad contract. PS: Someone should also define what Ruthless actually means in this context. Is it +X% monster HP? Is it +X% monster damage? Is it fewer item drops? More mobs? Better AI? More dangerous rares? What would "slower and more punishing" actually mean to you? |
|
" 100% agreed on the numbers being out of whack. It's not a trivial change, but all they really need to do is just stop thinking about itemization and numerical scaling from the standpoint of PoE1 where the performance gap between a casual player with low systems knowledge and a min/maxed veteran is literally thousands of times more damage/survivability. It's perfectly okay, at the very least in campaign and early map progression, for a well geared character to just be 2-3 times as effective as an average one instead of the dozens that they currently are. They're different games for a reason; PoE2 doesn't need to obfuscate lackluster moment-to-moment gameplay with a spreadsheet power fantasy the way PoE1 does. Like, I get that big numbers on gear make people's brains make the Feel Good Juice™, but there's no real practical reason for, say, the % Increased Physical Damage prefix to start at 40-49% and end at 170-179% - it could just as easily start at 10-12% and end with 43-45%. They could literally quarter the numbers on basically every damage scaling modifier and they would still eventually multiply into astronomical absurdity on a mirror build (as they should), but at least the range of player output to balance around would be quasi-manageable before then. It's a hell of a lot easier to thread the balance needle between players doing 100k - 500k dps than it is when they're doing 100k - 5 million. |
|
" Hades 2 is just a faster NRFTW with only a small group of mobs on screen you bounce between. That is basically the same as Souls. Hades 2 is closer to those games wayyyyyy more than 50%. There are tons of people asking for it to be Elden Ring. In fact, correct me if I am wrong but was it not the same interview Johnathan said meaningful combat in the same context saying he was binging Elden Ring? That is where the connection comes from. All of the games people say they want it to be closer to are not POE in any way. |
|
" Exactly, very good point. I never understood how they don't see this as a problem. "Sigh"
|
|
" I feel like a LOT of things in poe 2 doesn't really have a reason to be the way they are For example, the T1 defense prefix on gear is 100%, but for weapons is 170%, and you have the hybrid prefix which is like 20~50%, and you also have runes and corruption on top of that too, so in the end you have a weapon with like 300% increased physical damage At this point it just meaningless inflation of numbers. Like, 100% is a cool value with a meaning, but after that is just generic increments with no real purpose behind it, the increase could be 5000% and it wouldn't make me feel excited But i guess this thing in specific isn't exclusive to poe 2, i miss the days when rpg games didn’t have inflated numbers.. |
|
