We welcome First Impression posts! Please be nice to those posts.

First, I'd like to thank the GGG Community, and their Support!

Feedback:
Still playing the Campaign. Enjoying!

Design/Gameplay Feedback:
1) Continue innovating FPS technology, this category is in the science graphics card technology. Default settings FPS was going up and down from 120+ to 20 or lower when I had graphics power saver on, (a lot of power saving settings are by Windows default these days!). Anyway I have an older gaming PC, which I understand is most likely the majority of my issues. Resolved by disabling power saver on g-card, and turning Vsync on and using some lower settings. The game tends to get hammered by lots of effects, (this would be a primary LONG TERM research area), as well as general encounters throughout the game. Just some ideas to remember here, nothing specific! As you probably know best! (:

2) Server can change based on who enters an area first, via grouping party. If we select US Realm, for example, and we host the group, then it should ALWAYS be based on the hosts realm, and not per who zoned in first. This brings to mind the following (see 2A) below:
2A) In the group listing, allow a filter by realm option. I'd like to see groups with the lowest latency. Side question, I do not think that Open NAT helps this game with how many groups you see? If open NAT would show more groups in the listing available, then by all means I would ensure that my NAT was open! Which brings to mind, wouldn't PS5 want open NAT anyway? How would that affect the game then from the console point of view vs PC, as I think we all group together now IIRC from POE 1? I do not know, consider however, explaining continued in design below in 3)...
3) More emphasis on smoother grouping! The idea goes into the design level, what can be done to make grouping smoother, maintain full groups, and fill empty spots as easy as possible?
4) A guild finder tool?
5) PVP!
6) Inventory (Stash) sort, which would auto stack shards. Search highlight tabs containing items that match the search query string.
7) Passive skill tree save template, refund all, smoothening of build swapping.
8) Listing items for trade 1 by 1 is time consuming, maybe a dropdown option upon listing, "List all items of the same?", as you're list one? Just an idea!
9) Buffer overflow error Windows:
Set the game as high priority and received 2 buffer over flow errors, not sure if it was due to high priority or not?
10) Groups listed with "players 5/6" have never been joinable. It says error: "Your party is full."

That's all that I have thus far, thanks continued and glhf! (: XD

Act2 Mawdun Mine, Explore Traitor’s Passage, Ascend Deshar,


What I generally miss with the zones I've played through now in act2, are things that can be broken, can be by hitting, or kicking, pushing things! This will make the zones more alive and an interaction with the environment that makes it significantly alive.


things in the environment that can be opened, such as chests, graves, bookshelves, wells, pots, stones, lumber, benches, glasses, jars, dead bodies, carpets, furniture, statues,. Then it can be fun with some surprises that are hidden in these breakable things, can be traps, monsters that are spawned or elites.. I definitely believe in something more in exploration for the game! Its so brutally beautiful, you stop to look at the actual environments and walk corner by corner for exploring.

My two cents -
Not a hardcore player, I'm on my 30s now, been playing since 2017. So have this in mind. I'm tired.

I just had this happen to me minutes after doing maps, level 73, Monk, around tier 6.
Considering I need to play other stuff too, it's really heart-crushing when you can barely get enough drops for high tier waystones, and you have to manage with Tier 1 or 2; I put a tier 3 Waystone and manage to do almost the entire map, so far I got around 10% exp... remember that number... because I had to backtrack to the single Rare mob with "minions" lying around in the corner (chill bubble aura), funny thing is died 'cause yea... can't move within since I'm melee and stun-locked by minions. As I said, heart-crushing.
Lost the 10exp I managed to do from one map... multiply that experience by whichever number you prefer, 'cause is basically that the entire time, plus you lose the map.

The Good:

+Visuals and sounds, always top-notch, plus the story is going towards a really interesting lore, Sekhema, Doryani, etc.

+WASD, like playing a Survivors game, never would've thought I would play an ARPG using it over Mouse.

+New classes and skills look awesome, Monk and skills like Tempest Flurry feel good to play.

+Goodbye Chromatics, seriously thank you for that...

+Most of the Bosses are fun and cool to play against.

BUT... We need to talk about the HUGE ELEPHANT in the room...

The UGLY HUGE ELEPHANT


+How long have you've been developing Path of Exile as whole?....over 11 years? and we're still dealing with:

1) THE WORST TRADE SYSTEM IN THE FREAKING HISTORY OF MANKIND - (seriously I don't need say anything else here, bots are no longer excuse they are a reality, so bear with it, player interaction doesn't count either, 'cause it sucks major horse balls)

2) Performance issues (this with league mechanics like Delirium and Breach are terrible, always happened, and now it's in POE2), is the same shader coding garbage system... some players with crashing entire PCs, and sometimes shaders and textures not loading, specially on maps (invisible enemies for some seconds...) - and I have it installed into NVMe -

3)Leveling, while the campaign is interesting, doing it TWICE per character is not, I suppose you're fixing this by making the Acts 4, 5 and 6... but please consider chopping the maps and make them shorter... remember "we no longer have a +40% movement speed spammable flask on your back"

4)Endgame, if you're considering releasing this system... think about it more than twice...Waystone sucks, maps are horrendous, lots of backtracking (for all rare mobs), Towers are boring, lack of variety, passive skill trees suck, the lack of monster packs is gigantic in comparison, you can barely make any xp from maps after level 70.

5) Melee and HP... I don't have to say anything, only that there're lot of videos of players with a Witch over 13k ES and negative res on all elements, scratching balls. My Monk with all his will trying to reach over 2.5k HP, almost 70% res on all, and still getting one-clapped by whatever is within range.....
Also there's not a single f*cking "Maximum HP" node within sight! WHAT IS THIS SKILL TREE??! WEAPON SWAP SPEED?! WTF?!

6)The big "why?" without answers:
A) only two flasks, one of them forced for mana...;
B) Support gems limited to 1 Skill gem... (and supposedly you wanted POE2 characters to use more than one single click-skill build... while I can only have ONE skill use a 25% ATTACK SPEED SUPPORT???);
C) A dodge skill for all classes that sucks, is slow, can't get you out of mob cluttering (play Witch Infernal if you want something useable);
D) No Alteration Orbs = more meaningful drops?? I don't see the math here if all I get for drops are dogshit Uniques and barely any worthy rares... again, the trade system can't help with this MEDIEVAL atrocity of a progression system;
E) Ascendancy, I'm pretty sure I don't need to say anything, but still: You put Sanctum and Ultimatum for Ascendancy Trials??? WHAT IN THE LIVING F*CK ARE YOU SMOKING!? - DON'T BOTHER TWEAKING THE NUMBERS, DELETE THIS GOD-FORSAKEN LEAGUE MECHANIC AND PUT A RANDOM QUEST TO KILL X BOSS 4 TIMES AND JUST CALL IT A DAY, IS A CORE BUILD ASCENDANCY, NOT A FREAKING 50 DIVINE ORB'S WORTH ITEM!
D)MAGIC FIND, WELCOME BACK...
F) F for 1 Portal for maps... on Bosses too...the most concerning part is that somehow one of you looked at this and thought "looks like a nice idea, let's put it on the EA and maybe release it"...
G) All monsters reset within the instance after death... this for leveling is a pain in the butt.
H) Charms suck, since many other enemies have certain attacks or effects that count as whatever shenanigans i.e "Corrupted Blood" or a slowing chill that's neither chill nor slow (because the "Slow Charm" didn't do jack-sh*t against those mobs spamming the water crap everywhere in act 3...) very annoying and nonsensical.

I) The worst of all, you're charging $15 for an Early Access for basically "beta-testing" the game (which is your goddamn job btw), I was expecting this to have "some minor issues" and address the missing content within those 6 months you mentioned... but I can't imagine you GGG releasing this game "FINISHED" around 6 months, there're a sh*t ton of problems that will certainly turn me away from the game you release it like this. Let alone pay, I asked for a refund when I bought the Ogham Supporter Pack out of hope, I got access to POE2 because I wasted my disappointment on you for years, since I put money worth of a Top Tier Supporter pack from years back... which you never bothered to upgrade, looking nowhere near as good as the latest minor skins...just saying, never paid for any supporter since you released Incursion Legue, you've been going over your "vision" for WAY too long) -

Overall? This doesn't feel like POE2, is POE1 but with all the nerfs you always wanted but never managed 'cause otherwise the game would've fucking died...
Basically the game ramps up in Act 1, and then goes to sh*t after Act 2 onwards...

Ending my rant. Because this is all I got from your "new game" right now, hate.
So chill the f*ck out with your "vision" GGG. Not as many will see it through.

Your casual Dad gamer. Not sure if anyone will see this but this will be my current feedback about the game so far. I will post my dislikes/would like to see changes and then my positives about the game.

My current dislikes: The following are my most critical.

- The entire mapping system feels like its missing its legs in order to
start running;

- Losing Experience. Its a game, not a job. Let's have fun.

- Dying to after death effects that don't provide enough time to escape or
have eyes on due to all the visual effects. Remove or reduce damage.

- Only 1 chance per map discourages map crafting and playing the Endgame
in general. 6 Portals, 6 chances. Again, it's a game.

- Mazes (Maps) feel like a chore to get through since the layout is
massive which causes a lot of back tracking. In my opinion, a good
layout shouldn't make the player feel like they have to constantly keep
their map open.

- The on ground burning/shocking effects in maps should NOT be on the same
tile as a lever. Moreover, when using the lever it doesn't grant you
immunity to mobs or the on ground effects while locking you into the
animation. Make it so we can animation cancel if you want to roll out
and remove the on ground effects on the same tile as the lever.

- Mobs do more damage than the bosses. Balancing issues.

- Not enough bosses in the maps. 1 Boss per map, a bossing map that
contains multiple bosses or 2 bosses at once. Just more bosses, back
tracking for rare mobs doesn't feel rewarding.

- Higher drop rate of next tier of way stones. Another 30% in my opinion.

- Why does rare chests drop magic items? Magic should drop magic, rare
should drop rare. It's like ordering a Coffee and getting a Tea.

- Charms don't feel special. More crafting options for charms??

- Towers need a boss and the tablets you put in them need to have more
juice for the player to get excited about. Towers feel like hobbit holes
and not a tower I want to ascend. Maybe make the Towers like the Bruce
Lee movie "Game of Death".

- Again, losing the map (after 1 attempt) and the Experience doesn't feel
good and is what makes me stop playing. Especially when getting 1
shotted by an after death effect you either cannot see or don't have
enough time to escape from.

Grinding Gear GAMES. The games part means the most to a player.
Can Grind all year long, but if the Game isn't fun.
Gamers won't Game your Game.

My Positives:

- Graphics & Art Style are superb.

- Sound effects are so amazing that you can feel the punch in it.

- Story is great. Loving the grit the game brings. Makes it more
immersive.

- Music is perfect. No Spotify while on POE 2.

- Character design is unique and fun. Haven't played warrior yet though.

- My experience in trading has been great. Very smooth to use.

- Hideouts and guild hideouts bring flavor to the game.

- Bosses blow every other ARPG out of the park and its not even close.
Some bosses even make most Elden Ring bosses look poorly designed.
(Yes two different styled games, just my opinion)

- WASD feels smooth & slick. Great job, I'm loving it.

- Game is very well optimized along with the servers. (Client Player)

- Enemy Design / Animations are absolutely phenomenal. Whoever designed
these. Cheers, give yourself a pat on the back and know that you created
the new standard.

I'm sure i have a lot of more positives to mention, but GGG already know
now what they're doing right due to the feedback given by the community.
If the Devs read this, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and enjoy your well
earned time off. I'm excited to see what your team has in store for us.
Cheers!