PC Gamepad BETA Feedback - XBOX Controller

Above all else, my number one point is that we should absolutely have simultaneous gamepad and mouse+kb control (example: Last Epoch). I would expect this to be the plan, but felt compelled to call it out anyway, just in case, due to how critical this is, for all the reasons.

It basically appears that the console experience was just ported to PC without much accomodation for the overall PC user experience (mousing, window management, etc). This is certainly fine for an opt-in beta-level first go, as I suspect there are many iterations to come. I do have to wondor, though, is this really the console experience? Aside from the actual gameplay, how do you live like this?

That said, it feels REALLY good to finally be able to play POE while sitting wherever and however I like. As much as I've been looking forward to this, it feels even better than expected, like its own new expansion of the game. When I'm just playing and not needing to be in menus or trade, I'm in heaven.

Other considerations, in no particular order...

▶ When the battery died on my controller, the most recent action was held down and continued until I swapped batteries and reconnected. Much worse than that, I had no control of the game whatsoever. I really should have been able to grab mouse and keyboard immediately.

▶ The top-left and top-right UI elements are way to big and awkward. Targetted enemy name/life bar shouldn't be above the string of character buff icons. Character life globe is obnoxiously large. Mana and xp bars stand out as generic and boring and don't feel like part of the design. Flasks and skills are fine, but everything else needs work regarding positioning and size, as they are taking away from the gameplay and focus on the action.

▶ I can't seem to get good control of chat. There's an awkward overlap between gamepad, mouse, and keyboard that just seems incomplete like an afterthought. Clicking parts of the chat window kinda work and kinda don't. I've now removed all my sell tabs so I don't have to deal with it during this beta testing, but I definitely wouldn't be able to play the whole game while locked to only the gamepad as is.

▶ I should be able to toggle a skill slot for "use on move" similar to asigning a skill to left click.

▶ With mouse+kb, we have 13 skill positions (listed as defaults): qwert, ctrl+qwert, left-click, right-click, and middle-click. It seems we only have 12 with a gamepad. I'm not sure what the best solution would be to fit another, but my first thought is adding a dedicated "use on move" slot that's not part of the ABXY slots.

▶ The ability to use the d-pad in menus is inconsistent, and the variety of button combos for navigation are a bit strange. I get that there are a lot of menus and screens to manage, but please pick a format and stick to it, even if it's additional context selection menus. Or perhaps better: since skills and flasks are disabled during menus, just have context based reassignments of those buttons. If I'm using a gamepad, I'm already expecting to not have single-press access to everything like with a keyboard, which is perfectly fine.

▶ When I'm in an NPC menu, I should be able to move, which would auto close the menu. Pressing B a bunch of times before I can move feels very clunky. Leave the L-stick on movement and just lock the d-pad to the menu.

▶ Tab customizing needs some work. Press RS to start customizing, then RS changes function instead of being the stop customizing, and that moves to B? Very unintuitive. Probably just need some rearranging of assignments here.

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▶ I can't seem to get good control of chat. There's an awkward overlap between gamepad, mouse, and keyboard that just seems incomplete like an afterthought. Clicking parts of the chat window kinda work and kinda don't. I've now removed all my sell tabs so I don't have to deal with it during this beta testing, but I definitely wouldn't be able to play the whole game while locked to only the gamepad as is.

I posted a bug report for this but if you didn't figure it out it currently works like this: You have to press enter on keyboard, left click with mouse in the text entry box where you type the message, and repeat for every time you want type a message.

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Broji33

I at least made it that far, but then closing the window, enabling/disabling rooms, and really clicking anywhere got me mixed results. Definitely felt buggy.

I had a problem with chat too, but overall the combat feels so great with controller I can never go back to mouse and keyboard.

I can't figure out how to cast skills on the ground. I am used to other games where if I hold a skill's button it gives me a ground aiming circle and then letting go of the skill button casts at the circle, while just tapping a skill's button will auto cast at the closest enemy without any aiming circle. I really hope PoE can add that as it feels amazing and this controller support is huge!

I agree with everything OP said.

The controller movement and gameplay is so wonderful.

Inventory management is okay, honestly. I understand why it had to be that way on console.

Chat is horrible. I get a whisper, go to my stash, and chat closes. Unusable. People move on if you are too slow to trade.

I hate most things about the console UI. Globe position/size. Buffs. Target life bar. On an aurabot using the Coruscating Elixir makes all four corners of the screen glow blood red at all times. It's awful.

I couldn't figure out how to accept an invite from a friend.

Not being able to go back to mouse and keyboard, I felt like someone was tying my hands to my controller, despite desperately wanting to reach for my mouse.

I just want the normal PC UI, but just let me keybind movement and skills to my controller. That's all we wanted GGG. We did not want the console UI shoved down our throats.

A couple additions:

▶ Alongside including a general level of gamepad customization, we should have a "dead zone" configuration for the sticks. Not having this is reminding me my LS is touchier on one side.

▶ Opening doors, chests, and other objects usually requires multiple A presses. I think part of this is that the activation doesn't happen until the character stop moving, but it's not intuitive to release LS then press A. I naturally want to press A as I'm moving past the object.

Add me to the list that is happy for controller implementation yet still wants to be able to use my mouse for things like inventory management. I also dislike the UI because things are way too big. If you're going to keep that UI then implement a slider to decrease the size of it. As stated, the upper left health/mana globe is huge and distracting.

I agree with most of the previous comments:
- UI is WAY to big, everything is huge and gets into my way, can't see half of my screen
- Chat is just unusable (I blame this on the BETA)
- Special movement skill slot is a must (for some build literally)

Few more bugs/notes from my short testing:
- In harvest it is possible when item drops near the altair that despite icon displayed pressing A does nothing, only way to get around this is to use your mouse and point the item manually before pressing A
- Sometimes prompt to pick up an item is displayed even when it is slightly out of reach, pressing A does nothing despite the highlight
- I think controller support should be complementary to keyboard/mouse combo not replacing it entirely, at least give us a choice to lock to the controller only or not. Was trying to trade but while locked to controller it was nightmare :(
- There has to be a binding for aiming specific direction, builds using flame wall and similiar would be unplayable like that

Idea is quite nice and COULD be potentially good but at the current state it is so unpolished you'll need months more of testing/development to get there.

Buffs / debuffs not being clearly distinguishable is another problem - all are on one row.

The mkb layout at least splits buffs and debuffs in separate rows.

Honestly wouldn't mind to see debuffs right above the character...