still absolutely overwhelming

So, i think i started and gave up POE 1 probably 10 times easily. despite it being by far the best ARPG on the market, and i will sing it praises all day long, ultimately it came down to the skill tree being absolutely overwhelming.

i log into POE 2 and get a passive point and....i instantly find out the skill tree is the same basically. its absolutely overwhelming.

im sure im gonna get a bunch of people in this thread trying to justify the skill tree right now, and i am going to tell every one of you, that i am a D2 player, last epoch player, d3 and d4 player, im not better than anyone, but its not like i dont like arpgs. i love arpgs, i loved poe 1 despite never finishing the campaign because of the overwhelmed feeling i get from looking at the skill tree.

i dont think the skill tree NEEDS to change, but it needs to be more accessible.

so, if i had 6 months and i was developing this game, which i dont and am not, but if i did, these are the changes i would make (cosmetic mostly) to make this game more appealing to a wider audience base (theres more than just me that feels overwhelmed by this tree)

#1. [ZOOM OUT FURTHER] make it so i can zoom out further on the tree, i need to be able to zoom out and see the whole tree on the screen. once i realized that the tree didnt change at all, i decided i am just going to have to make a build i guess... so, im a sorc, i want to use multiple elements, i figured it would be cool to have the ability to make each element buff other elements, i knew that poe 1 had something that did that, and it was called equillibrium. i type equil in search and then...good luck finding it and seeing it in relation to your level 1 position.

this needs to change, i should be able to see a way to connect any 2 nodes on the tree at any point, so let us zoom way out.

#2 [NODE+PATH HIGHLIGHTING AND BOOKMARKING] ok, so the tree isnt changing obviously. you guys are committed to it, and thats ok, but new players DONT KNOW whats on the tree, and the task of having to read and memorize everything on the tree is ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMING. but, even if i read everything, i will forget its position and i will have to reread stuff again, and again and again every time i open the tree. my solution to this would be when you hover over a node, you currently have inspect and compare as options, i would add bookmark, which would highlight the path from your current nearest node to the node you are highlighting, and keep it like that until you unbookmark it. if i bookmark a node thats 25 positions away from my actual position, and one thats in the same direction but 42 positions away it would give me the path from start to first one, then from first bookmark to second bookmark. (extra brownie points if i can select whether i want the path from current real position or nearest bookmarked position) This is important because it gives me a path thats most efficient from point A and point B and limits my search like i know i want elemental equilibrium, whats fastest way to get there? once i know that i can pick up nodes that are close by easier. clarification: i should be able to bookmark as many nodes as i feel like simultaneously, and the bookmarks should stay though playsessions until they are unbookmarked or the node is picked up eventually as you level.

#3 [pre bookmarked basic builds] basically on the passive tree, at the top, to the left of where it says passive skills, give us a drop down menu that lets us select from some basic builds, like a sorc would have fire, cold, lightning, rainbow, maybe a witch would have minions, blood leech, poison, etc etc etc, when you select something you get an "i" button next to what you selected that tells you what skill gems you need for it, and the passive tree automatically highlights/bookmarks the passives you need for the build. These builds dont need to be hyper efficient super exotic builds, they just highlight a basic vanilla way of playing the character that most players in the sphere understand. the nodes that are highlighted and bookmarked are done so by using the same system from suggestion #2, making the player able to unbookmark any nodes and add to the bookmarks. alternatively give us a way to import bookmarks from guides. if you dont want to create and maintain a list of builds for every class, give us a way to export and import bookmarks so we can at least import ideas from online.

#4 [passive tree in tile form] on the passive skills screen, next to passive skills at the top, to the right of it, add a toggle for galaxy view / tile form. in tile form you would only list keystones/game changing passives, like: elemental equillibrium or blood magic, or oasis, in list form based on how far they are from your current position, the tiles would not need you to hover over them, they would have the name of the keystone, the description of it, and how many spaces it is from your current position and from your nearest bookmarked position, you can click on the tiles to highlight them which would bookmark the ability on both tile view and galaxy view, this enables you to look through a page and quickly read and select the build defining abilities you want on your character and gives you a starter point for what you want in a character.

what these 4 suggestions do for new players:

-ability to get a better understanding of the scope of the passive tree and its pathing
-ability to open the tree and see bookmarked positions minimizing time spent on passive tree screen
-ability to have a curated basic starting build that will get them past the campaign and they can modify as they learn and get farther in the game.

none of these changes fundamentally change the way the game is played or feels for experienced players. these are accessibility changes for new players that have no impact on the game if you are a seasoned veteran that just wants to start your 7th shield wall juggernaut and know exactly what you are doing.i cant imagine many people objecting to any of these?

100% agree, Also maybe and assisted build recommended by the devs for beginners.

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ward3n41#1940 wrote:

100% agree, Also maybe and assisted build recommended by the devs for beginners.

yea that would be great, kinda my #3 suggestion, basically an assisted build feature.

i hope they dont leave the passive tree to just be like they did in poe 1