My General Feedback Thread

Pros:
* Generally speaking, the game is much more beginner friendly when it comes to putting your character and build together. Limiting your choices by default, but with an optional "show all" is a really good move, IMO, and makes everything a bit more intuitive, while also allowing the variety veterans are used to.
* Adding Gold as a resource is long overdue and, again, using Gold for respecs is much more friendly to the player, while preventing a lot of character bricking in the early-to-mid game (which respects the player's time).
* Dodge Roll feels really good, especially during boss fights or long, drawn-out encounters.
* WASD movement is surprisingly good. I thought this was going to be a bit gimmicky, but being able to move in one direction while attacking in another feels, really, really good, even for melee characters.
* Boss fights have been surprisingly fun, and so far they feel fairly balanced in terms of melee vs ranged. There was only one fight in melee that I found to be really difficult (the witch by the cauldron, since it was hard just to get into melee with her), whereas some fights felt easier in melee (which was a surprise).

Cons:
* Some areas are a little too dark. I don't mind the grim dark feel of the game, but I kind of want to see what I'm looking at. Tweaking some lighting a bit would be welcome.
* The Well to refill flasks is dumb. Its just another click for the sake of clicking. I'm not sure why this was added.

Not sure:
* I have not found a source of Spirit outside of the Witch off-hand. I know everyone will be able to get Spirit, since Auras exist, but I figured everyone would have a certain amount of base Spirit. I guess I just need to get a bit further. :)
* I did not see Claws in the list of weapons. Are they being removed for PoE2? If so, that makes me sad; I had a claw character I played nearly every league.
* It appears as if Vendor Recipes are gone. If this is the case, I think I'm OK with that. They were an obscure mechanic that was not really player-friendly.

Overall, I have found the game to be quite fun thus far.

Spent some more time with the game over the weekend.

* Gold drop rates need to be increased a bit (10-20%, maybe?). Gold was added so that players could fix their build by respecing a bit easier, but respecing is quite expensive. This might not be a big deal, but you're also using Gold to buy gear in hopes of getting something better. This means that Gold is replacing not just Orbs of Regret, but also Scrolls, and the low-tier Crafting Orbs that used to be used as shop currency. Basically, Gold is now the primary resource for fixing a broken character, both in the skill tree and with gear, and as such it really could have a slightly higher drop rate, IMO. This is doubly so, since it appears that Gold is shared across all characters, meaning respecing on one character, depletes the gold of all your characters.

* Crafting Orb drop rates also need to be bumped up a bit (maybe 5-15% based on the Orb). With overall drops being much lower, Crafting is a really good way of getting those gear upgrades you need. Transmutation and Augmentation seem to be in a pretty good spot, IMO. Its Regals and Exalted that could probably be bumped up just a little bit. The rest are mostly for end game, and those seem to be fairly decent, though Alchemy seems really rare compared to PoE1.

* Resetting the zone on death. In theory, I actually like this. In fact, I'd say its a really good mechanic, except under 2 circumstances. 1) Dying to a Boss's DoT after you defeated them, and watching all of that loot get deleted on zone reset (and having to defeat the boss again). 2) Dying in a large zone while looking for a specific progression item, then having to restart that entire process, having to replay upwards of 15-20 mins. In both of these cases, the respect for the player's time is thrown out the window, and it feels like the worst mechanic ever.

* I've got to say it again, the boss fights are just awesome. I've done some bosses across 4-5 different characters, and they're still really, really fun fights. I'll even say this, to me the boss fights *are* the reward, they're that good. (That's not to say I don't want good loot from them. ;) They should have solid loot tables, especially for 1st time defeat.)

I don't want to speak too much about builds and skills, since I'm working on some fairly unconventional builds, but I will say that Lightning Arrows feel on point, Poison Arrows seem fairly weak, and Minions need some work.

* I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the Well is other than to fill up a new potion. PoE1 auto-filled while in town; this seems like an extra click for the sake of clicking. There's no lore tied to it that I've come across, and it just seems a bit cumbersome. I understand wanting to add some immersion but then...why would a well refill your charms? Why would there be an open well on top of moving caravan in the desert? And the well in Act 3 would be stagnant.

* Vendoring gear is clunky. I understand wanting to give players the option to sell gear for different currencies, I just wish there was a cleaner way to do it. How about having the Blacksmithing Bench become a Salvaging Bench with a button to Salvage items into Orb Shards, then once you get the Blacksmithing Tools a new button appears for the Armor/Socket Shards? To further simplify the system, you could even have a "Scrap for Gold" button, therefore moving all selling to a single interactable.

* Lets talk Resistances. These are silently being reduced in the background without the player's knowledge. I think the character needs a debuff placed on them that is visible in the upper left corner of the screen (with all of the other other debuffs; can be hidden in Options) stating that Corruption has lowered your Resistances by X amount.

* I'm running a few more characters through Acts 2 and 3, and I'm wanting to see how these feel with different builds. Some of the maps start getting a bit too large, and there were a few enemies that seemed off as well, but I want to take more notes on them before I give more detailed feedback; My initial thoughts are that some areas need to be cut back by 20-30%.

* I did have an issue in which FX turned off during the Vaal Fire Boss in early Act 3. The model FX would show up, but it seemed the shaders turned off? Not 100% sure on this one.

* NPC text areas always resizing (which can cause it to flicker for a few frames) is not very appealing. I think it would be better if the text area was a specific size, and then if the text is too long, it should slowly scroll (PoE1 did this very well). Resizing also makes it harder to click Continue quickly, which will end up being very annoying by the time you're on your 4th or 5th character.

* Shift-attack does not work on breakables (jars, baskets, etc).

* Holding Shift to compare Flasks while on a vendor screen often does not work.

* You cannot unequip items while at the Disenchant screen; meaning I need to leave the screen to swap gear, then go back into the screen to sell the old gear. (Cumbersome; Too many steps)

* Minions, and the player character, need more "weight" as they are far too easily pushed around by enemies. I don't mind the larger enemies doing this, but it seems even equal-sized enemies shove past everything with ease. Perhaps have the Meat Shield Support add "weight" to the minion, making them harder to shove past. This could also address the issue of minions having less threat, since enemies would be forced to engage rather than simply shove aside.

* Each minion type should have its own respawn timer, instead of all minions sharing the same timer.

* Regal Orb drop rates still seem a bit low, especially when compared to Exalted Orbs; though this could just be my RNG. Even still, if crafting is a desired way to progress, then both Regal and Exalted will need to have a higher drop rate.


ACT1:
* Honestly, I did not have any real issues with any of the areas, enemies, or encounters.
* Oh, wait, I take that back. The sheer number of damaging ground pool effects honestly got more than a little annoying.
* Of all the Act 1 boss encounters, I'd say Lachlann is probably the one I enjoyed the least.


ACT2:

Vastiri Outskirts
* I feel this area is about 10% too large for what it is. Also, using Town Portal after you have unlocked the Caravan, still sends you to the camp at the start of the level.
* Rathbreaker AI is easily broken (there seem to be a number of bug reports on this encounter already).
* The horde of enemies that surround you after defeating Rathbreaker might need to be re-balanced. Instead of having them all jump down at once, perhaps have them jump down in smaller batches. All of these, combined with the remaining hyenas, can very easily overwhelm the player on Normal difficulty at that level and, due to the shape of the arena, its extremely easy to get blocked inside. Alternatively, perhaps have the enemies up top begin to jump down in batches towards the end of the fight instead of after it, leaving it up to the player on how to deal with them.

Mawdun Quarry:
* Plague Swarms in that area can seem to "fall off" the bridge areas. They will come back up, but is really weird looking and somewhat janky.
* Is there no Boss in Mawdun Quarry?

Mawdun Mine:
* Rudja: I feel that her "staggering swings" attack sequence might be a bit better if its slowed down a bit. In testing, I noticed that if I Dodge Roll to avoid each attack, the last or second to last will almost always connect no matter how fast I try and dodge. It feels as if the timing between the two (her attack cycle and the player's dodge rate) do not match up. Though this could be the intended behavior, in which case its fine.

* Enemies with mana drain aura (and perhaps even the flask drain aura) should not easily outpace player movement

* Unique items are pretty horrible.

Act 2
* Caravan stopping does not stop the Caravan. Its kind of weird that when you are stopped at a location, and then go back to the Caravan, its moving. But then you go back to the area you were in, and its sitting there waiting. I understand why, because otherwise it would never really need the moving animation, which is really cool. Its just something that came to mind as I went back and forth.

Traitor's Passage 1:
* Exceptionally well crafted zone in terms of visual design; some of the best caverns I've seen in a game. Lighting is absolutely spot on and is visually stunning.

* Black Striders: Lower the damage of ranged web attack, but add a stacking -Movement debuff. With enough stacks it encases and incapacitates the target(s) completely for a few seconds (affects both players and minions; perhaps make minions slightly resistant to the effect so that it takes more than just a few hits). The ground web should also Slow and last an additional 2-3 seconds before dissolving. After being incapacitated, you cannot be affected by it again for a short while (same with minions).

* Vault Lurker: Have these also crawl up out of the pits (I loved when the spiders did that in PoE1).

* Balbala: There should be a better way to communicate to the player that they need to find her during the poison well phase. There is nothing to alert the player that they need to find her, and if they just stand around waiting for her to show up, they're going to die without knowing why. She just says, "Visions of Jarah" which isn't even a clue to the player as to what they need to do.

Trial of Sekhemas
* Love the entrance effect. :)
* Archer: Pretty straightforward, no issues.
* Summoner: Pretty straightforward, no issues.
* Melee: Have not ran this as melee yet, but I have a feeling the Honor mechanic would be really, really bad for melee.

Traitor's Passage 2:
* No new additions.

The Halani Gates:
* Very good area. The Caravan moving down below is really cool and adds a lot to the theme of the level.

Hey, a post that's made in a constructive fashion. Good on you sir.

Personally loving the game, it's amazing. Hopefully the "louder" type of people on this forum don't destroy it's core too much.

I'll come back to see how you enjoyed the rest of the campaign.

"

Seanprice798#2395 wrote:

Hey, a post that's made in a constructive fashion. Good on you sir.

Thanks! :)



* Uncut Gems of all kinds should stack by level. There is no reason why I should have an entire stash tab full of uncut gems.

* Attacking through doorways is much more difficult than in PoE1, and is mildly annoying at times.

Act 2 continued:
Keth:
* Living Sand: I'd give these a sand version of Frost Bomb that does minor damage, but Blinds the target(s) hit by it. This would give players a moment to get out of the area before it goes off, adding a little more tactical aspect to their encounters.

The Lost City:
* 10-15% too big. I would recommend cutting each side down by 5-7%. In general, when looking at the map itself, it doesn't seem too big, but when playing through you start thinking "How much more of this is there?"

* Minions have a really hard time navigating the area and constantly get stuck in doorways, much moreso than any other area thus far.

* Additionally, attacking through these doorways is also quite annoying, having to line up just perfectly to cast/shoot through the opening. Again, thus far, no other area has been quite so narrow so as to pose a gameplay issue to the player.

* Due to the combined issues above, I would recommend doing a doorway pass on this tile set and increase the size of the doorways a bit.


NOTE:
When I mention that an area is too big, I'm coming from the perspective of visual fatigue or stagnation. An area might be visually stunning, but if you're in that same area for too long, it starts to lose its appeal. A perfect example of this was American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns. An absolute visual masterpiece IMO, but each level felt ~20% too long and by the time you got to the end of the level you were more happy that you were done with it rather than being happy that you were moving forward. To me, the length of the levels took away from the game instead of adding to it.

In the same sense, when an area is too large in a game such as PoE2, you get to where you just want to be done with the area more than anything else, and I don't think that is a good thing for the player or player retention; and this is especially important since players will be running through the campaign from start to finish every new league. Instead, you want each area to be just long enough to leave a good impression on the player while also feeling as if they're moving forward in the story. And I am well aware that this is easier said than done. :)

SPECIAL NOTE:
I know PoE2 tries to have a few areas that migrate from one tile set to another, and this can help decrease visual fatigue, but you still have to combat the "feeling" that an area is too long, which is even more difficult to gauge. Its something I'll try and mention when I come across it, such as the swamp/jungle transition between Acts 2 and 3.

* Dialog and voice acting for the Witch are just absolutely perfect. So much snark and sarcasm, with a twisted sense of humor. :)

Act 2 continued:
Buried Shrines + Halani Shrine
* The Sarcophagus room is really fun even though it an entirely expected trap. :)

* Oddly enough, I did not run into any issues with minions getting stuck in doorways, even though it is a similar tile set to The Lost City.

* Of all levels thus far, I think this level should have a large number of breakables. There is a ton is miscellaneous clutter laying about, but hardly any breakables, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Mastodon Badlands
* Ribrattles, Skullslingers and Spinesnatchers are just super annoying, but in a good way. :) LOL I do think their HP could be dropped down a bit, but I'll need to run some different characters through here to be sure.

* I think it would be interesting if some of those random piles of bones formed into creatures.

* You'd think there would be some vultures in this area.

* No boss?

The Bone Pits
* This area feels way too big. I'd probably cut it by 25%. It's basically an undergound version of the Mastodon Badlands with mostly the same enemies, which makes it feel much larger than it probably is. If the Badlands does not havea boss, then I might even suggest increasing the Badlands by 5-10%, then cutting the Bone Pits by 25-35% and removing the waypoint, making the Bone Pits more of an extension of the Mastodon Badlands.

* Double boss fight is great, and I love that the remaining boss gets a new attack pattern after one of them dies.

* I feel that the Mastodon Badlands and Bone Pits are...lacking in some way. I'm not sure what it is about these two areas, but they felt off for some reason, and I'm not talking about the longevity of these two areas. I'm not sure if it was presentation, lighting, enemy variety, or something else; it was just sort of...flat? I'm probably going to revisit these areas once I finish up with Act 2 on these characters.

* Characters are getting pushed around WAAAY too easily. It feels like the character has no weight whatsoever, and it looks "sloppy" when you're sliding all over the place from getting pushed around while still casting and attacking. Seriously, this really needs to be looked at, IMO. It's janky, sloppy, and doesn't feel good or fun.


Valley of the Titans
* Dune Lurkers: These have way too many iframes. Also, a Dune Lurker with Siphon Mana? Really? These things need to be able to be damaged while they are rolling. Also, for something that's immune to damage as often as it it, it deals way too much damage. They're not fun to fight or engage with. They're just a poorly designed/balanced enemy all around. Maybe if they could be damaged while rolling they wouldn't be as bad, but but I personally feel that they need to be reevaluated at the design level.

* Boulder Ants: They push you a screen away because characters apparently have a weight of 0 (I think there was even a calm cool breeze that pushed my character around). They also can't be damaged while they're rolling around.

* Walking Goliath: The AoE damage when they "fall" seems to be much larger than the graphical effect. I seem to take damage when I'm a full character away from the graphic. The damage area either needs to match the effect, or the effect needs to match the damage.

* Hands down, the most annoying area in the game, and not in a good way. I didn't like it on my Ranger, and I hated it on my Witch. I usually try and clear an area, but this has been relegated to an objective-only area. Hit the Seals and leave. Even the Charm/Flask buff isn't worth exploring for.

Titan Grotto
* Zalmarath: Broken platform edge causes camera/character jumps all over the place (super buggy). Bone Blast constantly loses target and will start focusing on a random spot on the platform where my mouse is not aiming at. Its almost like it thinks that's where Zalmarath is, but he's no longer taking damage from it. So I'll re-target him, and at some point Bone Blast will lose the target and target something else.

Very nice review!

I 100% agree on the jumping p*nis monsters (Dune Lurker). Super annoying.