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

Not exactly a first impression, but still ;)

I tried PoE some time back and quit early. I thought the game had potential, but had some big flaws. I have recently tried it again and things seem to be in a better state now. The game's core concepts are solid, and I am impressed to see the devs are putting in a lot more post-release work than I ever anticipated.

I have made a few new characters, just to get a feel for the game.
* Ranger (Split Arrow Crit): I love the feel of bows in this game and have largely enjoyed this character. None of the non-physical bow skills impressed me overly, but I still had little difficulty finding a selection of skills I found fun. Physical Damage spells tend to be nasty surprises when I first encounter them, and the final boss was a PITA, but most of the time things felt pretty good.
* Witch (Arc Crit): This is a fun build, but the Witch feels very under-powered. That said, given the next update changes the passive tree around her, I expect this will change very soon. I use almost all the lightning spells at different situations (except Shock Nova, which feels pretty useless) and they are all fun to play with.
* Marauder (Molten Strike): Seems a well designed class and the attacks I have used are well implemented, but not really my play-style. I doubt I will continue, but this kind of class usually does not appeal to me.
* Duelist (Dual Wield Cleave): Still pretty early on, but this seems a solid class and build too. The Duelist's starting area seems the best designed start on the passive tree, IMO, and leads to a surprisingly easy class to build for.
I have not tried the other classes yet as I have no idea how to go about building them.

At first, I thought the game was too zoomed in. As I played more, I realised it was not, but the game creates the perception that you are. I think there are two factors that lead to this. Firstly, statics in the foreground obscure too much. In other games, when the player or aggroed mobs are behind a wall/tree/etc, it becomes transparent. This rarely happens in PoE and, I believe, extending the effect would enhance the game. Secondly, mobs often aggro from off the screen, which can sometimes lead to ranged mobs attacking you before you see them. This also creates the perception that you are too zoomed in, because you cannot see all the action.

At first, I was unimpressed by the loot system, but it is growing on me as I play more. It is pretty insanely difficult to get bare-minimum passable loot (right base type with the right socket colours and linked sockets), but I assume this will be somewhat alleviated by the next update. I still feel the backpack is just SLIGHTLY too small, however. Most loot is 3-4 high, but the backpack only goes 5 high. All too often you cannot inventory Tetris because most items cannot be stacked. If you had six columns, this would work perfectly.

One of the biggest reasons I quit originally was that the desync was unplayable. Now, I do not see as much of an issue. I mostly play off-peak times, and there is little to unnoticeable desync then. Latency at peak times can be pretty bad leading to large desync, but it is still not as bad as it was. I hope you continue to improve this area of the game.

I normally pay little attention to audio in games, but PoE sometimes catches my attention with good ambient music. The voice acting often catches my ear, because I consistently like it.

I like this game.
It brings me what I like most about rpgs and I like the messy skill map that isn't meant to be completed.
My recent experience with customer support has been both friendly and helpful
and the in game community is just chatty enough.

Two things I would change:
I don't like how a belt has the same value as a full suit of armor.
And I want to have more that one pet.

Not first impressions as I have been playing since November 2013, more like feedback developed over time.
Lately I got very aggravated with the game and in fury posted bunch of negative stuff about the game. The truth is that the game is (unfortunately) the best on the market and I cannot play anything else for the time being. Would like to see the game catered towards my likes but that is unrealistic so I’ll just reduce play to bare minimum and $$ support to 0 until softcore play is optimized for casual players. Once better game is released I will move on (no need to further frustrate myself with PoE)

GOOD STUFF (still makes me play somewhat):
- skill tree and build options (absolutely brilliant)
- graphics (amazing)
- map system (just brilliant)
- trade with orbs as currency rather than gold (very interesting!)
- there is a learning curve to playing the game
- introduction of strongboxes (gave me hope in obtaining T1 gear)

STUFF THAT MAKES ME QUIT (all my friends have long time ago)
- loss of XP on death in softcore (there is HC in this game so the people who like wasting time regaining XP can go there and rebuild the char on death)
- shared loot in party playing (easily fixed by not playing in a party)
- shared portals in map play in party (fix is same as above)
- zero reward in terms on T1 gear drops for casual players
- trade dominated by greedy assholes posting prices unreachable for casual players
- constant nerfing instead buffing (damn streamers and their OP OP OP BS)
- not making strongboxes spawn twice as much and be permanent addition to the game
- and much more smaller stuff that I am lazy to list

Note that desync is not on the list as it is a technical issue and I don’t expect GGG to fix it. Just remove XP death penalty and I will gladly die to desync every 5-6 minutes (would not bother me at all).
Note to GGG: The way I would fix the game is create a true softcore with insane drop rates for people who are here for fun (not glory or bragging rights). Give them all (T1 uniques, no XP loss, buff instead of nerf) and call it softcore. Call current softcore something mid-way between SC and HC and keep HC as is. This way you will have everyone playing the game rather than 95% quitting once they realize that casual play is not welcomed in PoE.

I just started playing on June 30th of this year so this really is a first impression post. I played a lot of games up through college, but Diablo 2 was probably about the last one I was able to put some serious time into up until PoE.

I do agree with a lot of other posters that SC play does need to be tweaked toward a casual player base, but nothing major in my opinion. But I understand that most likely the end-game HC type player is probably the type that spends the most money.

I've made it to Act 2 Merciless without playing any in a party. That is partly because the Chat windows bug the crap out of me if I am actually playing, the only time I leave them on is if I am in town and looking for a trade. Something needs to be done with that Chat window UI.

The XP death penalty doesn't really bother me, most of the time, but it does bother me if I die because of desyncing where there literally is no way for me to tell something is wrong until I am dead. Normally trash mobs are no problem for me at all, so dying to them is very annoying. If nothing else I feel like something could be done so that the server at least is aware of the desync so maybe if the player dies there is no XP loss. If that is even possible.

Maybe tweak the rewards in those corrupted zones, most of the Vaal gems are trash (to me) and those sacrifice pieces so far are only good for trade (I know eventually they are useful). It's weird but to me the corrupted zone bosses tend to be harder then the actual zones bosses, I guess it is probably just the modifiers on the zone.

Quests:

I would love some quests to boost my resists, or even attack dmg/spd. I think the new expansion is adding that in?

Trade:

In general the main problem with it is that something needs to be setup in-game for players to buy and sell. Maybe like the noticeboard but just for trade, or maybe a new NPC in each town that just advertises what other players can list. Something, anything. In part this would encourage player retention. Maybe another reward $ idea is along trading, basic trading is free with expanded options for a payment.

Fusing/Sockets:

Specifically though fusings, there really needs to be a quest somewhere in each difficulty that gives fusings are a reward. Like 5 in Normal, 10 in Cruel, and 20 in Merciless. Or something like that. Spending a bunch of time farming for stuff to sell for fusings orbs just to spend 5 or 6 on an item and then end up with fewer links than I started with it is annoying.

Supporter Packs:

Great idea! I will probably buy a Forsaken Master pack at some point, but I honestly think the rewards should be tweaked some. If it was me I would shift all of them down one price level to $25, $50, $100, $200, and $500. I think a $25 dollar level would temp more people into purchasing it. The current $500 would be split and an additional reward added to the "new" $500 pack, BETA ACCESS. Personally, I think this would be a big temptation for folks, even if supporter pack beta access was different from true beta folks, just getting access to the new content early would be great reward for folks that spend that kind of money on a game.

General oddness:

I still have an issue with disconnects if I use Town Portals on a primary internet. I'm sure it is a firewall issue, but I just wanted to mention it because I don't understand how waypoints can function completely fine, but town portals cause me to disconnect. Or if I use a waypoint while in a party like for a trade.

My fix has been to use a wireless AP that goes around my firewall. But it seems like waypoints and town portals should function the same more or less.

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Overall though this is a great game, it really does have a learning curve but you can still jump into it if you have ever played a similar game.

Customer support has been great as well, I even had people emailing me over the weekend.

So, I was doing a level 70 coves map. One of the mods was patches of desecrated ground. The assassin master was on the map. I was all like "Yay! assassin master, he's the one I want to do quests for." But I'm playing a shadow with no life regen. Assassin master is standing in middle of patch of desecrated ground. Go to talk to him to get mission. Almost die because of desecrated ground. Can't listen to what he has to say, run away. Please make sure masters don't spawn in death traps. kthxbye.

Another thought, if the eternal laboratory had a button that said "close portals" on it somewhere, so that you could close the portals to the map that were not needed, then it would vastly cut down on the number of eternal laboratory instances that would need to be open. Just sayin'.

enable daily missions, when masters are in town ;o

Started yesterday, uninstalled today.

Game was fairly easy until the Merveil fight which was impossible. Died over and over. Then when I finally got through to the forest I died right away and picked respawn at town. Then from the town I found no way to get back to the forest except through the cavern even though I activated the waypoint when I was there. Turns out that merveil came back to life. Not going through that suckfest again. Seriously.

Also very frustrating when there are lots of enemies on screen and the games not keeping up with what you're doing. Rubberbanding and stuff.

EDIT>
Now that my frustration has settled I've decided I'm going to give it another try at some point, and maybe not take it too seriously. While the game does have some flaws, it also has a lot going for it.

Started a couple of weeks ago.

I've been reading a lot since then, playing, working out what will and won't work etc. I love it so far - significantly better than others of the type I've played (and I've played most).

There is a fair learning curve and I like that. I've seen some recent comments and threads about particular monsters (such as Merveil mentioned above) and additions causing angst. Personally I kinda like that there are hard things to do, and as a newer player with not very good gear I'm still managing to get past obstacles so far, including Merveil. First Dominus was an eye-opener, but again once you learn the tricks it changes significantly. That said, I have been looking hard at my two-handing duelist and wondering if he's going to be worth it...!

I enjoy the pop-in-and-out party play, which is unusual for me as a generally solo player. That said, it surprises me as much as many others that with ongoing work dedicated to maintaining an in-game economy, there's no automated method to transfer items. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be bothered trading if that doesn't appear - perhaps once I hit map levels.

Desync can be interesting. I've read many comments about melee suffering significantly, and experienced the same myself.

All in all, great fun.

"

Joaquin_Void wrote:

Started yesterday, uninstalled today.

Game was fairly easy until the Merveil fight which was impossible. Died over and over. Then when I finally got through to the forest I died right away and picked respawn at town. Then from the town I found no way to get back to the forest except through the cavern even though I activated the waypoint when I was there. Turns out that merveil came back to life. Not going through that suckfest again. Seriously.

Also very frustrating when there are lots of enemies on screen and the games not keeping up with what you're doing. Rubberbanding and stuff.

EDIT>
Now that my frustration has settled I've decided I'm going to give it another try at some point, and maybe not take it too seriously. While the game does have some flaws, it also has a lot going for it.

Sounds odd, do you see an "Act 2" tab at the top of your waypoint menu?