Annoyed POE gamer with new graphics engine 🥲 suggested solutions also provided

Dear Grinding Gear Games Staff,



I hope this thread finds you well. I recently learned about the decision to release Path of Exile 2 as a separate base game rather than an expansion. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some thoughts and concerns about the new graphics engine and its impact on the player experience.



Firstly, I appreciate the effort to enhance the visual quality of the game. However, I've noticed that the minor visual improvements introduced by the new engine might not necessarily justify the additional strain it places on hardware resources. Playing the game post-update has been challenging, with noticeable stutters, freezes, crashes, and unexpected logouts. The sudden appearance of Syndicate members and similar encounters, causing CPU usage spikes up to 100%, has led to frustrating moments and untimely deaths.



In comparison to the smoother and more enjoyable experience before the engine update, I find myself longing for the previous state. It appears that the game has become excessively CPU-intensive, while the potential of the GPU remains underutilized, as evidenced by low GPU memory usage (around 2GB) and overall usage (roughly 30%). This situation raises questions about the effectiveness of having a powerful GPU when the gameplay is impeded by CPU-related issues.



Considering these concerns, I have a couple of suggestions that I believe could significantly improve the player experience. Firstly, if it's feasible, I kindly request that you consider reverting the graphics engine to its previous state. This move could help alleviate the performance-related issues and restore the smooth and enjoyable gameplay that many of us have come to love.



Alternatively, I'd like to propose a solution inspired by the approach taken by AION, a popular MMORPG from 2008. In AION's case, they provided players with the option to choose between a "Default Engine" and a "High-Quality Engine." This ingenious approach allowed players with varying hardware capabilities to enjoy the game without compromising graphical fidelity. By implementing a similar choice within Path of Exile 1, you could cater to a wider range of players, ensuring both low-end and high-end systems have an optimal gaming experience.



For context, my system specifications are as follows: i7 4th generation processor, 16GB RAM, and a GTX 1070 graphics card. Despite being able to smoothly run demanding games like God of War and the latest MMORPG titles such as Baldur's Gate 3, I've encountered substantial issues and frustration with Path of Exile since the graphics engine update.



I appreciate your dedication to crafting an outstanding gaming experience, and I genuinely hope that one of these two suggestions resonates with your team. Your attention to these concerns would undoubtedly contribute to a smoother, more enjoyable gameplay environment that optimally utilizes the available hardware resources.



Thank you for taking the time to consider my feedback and suggestions. I look forward to seeing how the game evolves in the future.

i too, have an 1070, and gpu usage is 100%. frame time is 20ms for the gpu and 3 for the cpu, so, it looks to me like my gpu is the bottleneck (only after the update). i cannot play like this. i'm getting under 30 frames where i used to have 100.i feel like giving up playing poe.

You shouldn't even need a decent setup to run poe. Free to play arpg, that exists since 2013 probably misses out on a lot of players from all around the world if the demands are to high. Then they gonna play homm 3 again or whatever.

People with very good set ups buy all kinds of shiny games with big marketing. Most of them probably don't play poe to the endgame, unless they stream a lot^^

Yeah exactly a game like POE should not be that much hardware demanding, it was way way better and enjoyable pre-Engine update, now its just sickening due to untimely freezes, crashes, stutters and what not, I keep getting frustrated every day while playing poe...

^I'm curious how they screwed up game performance SO bad...what did they actually change for the better?

I have experienced more freezings, crashes, and loading screens in the small amount of time I've played this league than in the entire decade I played previously.

And nothing I've experienced is BETTER.

lol you called it

bought a new pc, was very happy for the last 3 leagues; suddenly pc burns when playing poe
Edit: new v-sync options cant handle 60 fps, vulkan seems to be locked at 40 and d12 event at 30?!