How to turn POE2 into a game w 5 million+ players. 2 Difficulty settings

I love the direction of POE2. How the game is more challenging and fulfilling combat but it seems a lot of people do not. They expected something a lot easier. Many of these players seem like they would not play POE2 if it retains this direction.

Solution: 2 different difficulties. Normal and Easy. So all the players who want to relax and just go through the content.... will have the opportunity to do so. Let's face it... there are a lot of casual gamers and poe2 is likely not a good home for them. But it is an amazing home for gamers who want a more serious experience. So lets provide both?

How the 2 difficulties will be distinct: You decide. I don't know the answer to this yet. If anyone has any ideas please share. You cannot switch difficulties for that character however and maybe some of the end game content is fundamentally different. End game bosses that are a bit more basic and certain legendary loot would be removed from the echosystem as well.



So we can retain every gaming audience with this solution. Casual daddy moms and the hardcore....


--edit--
2 difficultly settings would allow a tremendously large audience to participate in POE2. and the gamers who appreciate the challenge... still have the exact same game they enjoyed.... the default mode. No one loses anything and only positives are to be gained.

That's a great idea! +1

So after watching one of the streamers who complaining (polite way of saying tbh, its more like having a tantrum) about tuning and contrasting their play to my own as well as actual good players (not me) like Steel, Nugi and Quin I see pretty clear patterns of "bash head into boss, get swammped by everything on the screen thats available to be aggro'ed die predictably and respawn a lot"

That said I support difficulty levels. I'd hate to see the 1 button gamers get POE2 turned into a faceroll.

I was considering posting about the difficulty of the game, but I hesitated because I didn’t want to get hated on. I don’t play Dark Souls games, and while I don’t mind a game that requires planning, strategy, and thoughtful decision-making, I’m not a fan of gameplay that relies heavily on timing or moment-to-moment mechanical skill. That’s just not my thing. I prefer games that are more relaxing.

Even when I manage to beat a boss I struggled with, I don’t feel any sense of satisfaction or accomplishment—it just doesn’t resonate with me. That’s not why I play. I play to explore, collect items, and build my character. Diablo 4, for example, misses the mark because it’s too brain-dead, even when it comes to character building, and the endgame holds my interest for maybe two hours before it gets boring.

Path of Exile 2 definitely fixes those issues, but the boss combat style just isn’t to my liking at all. It feels more like an entirely different genre than what I enjoy.

I think the idea of multiple difficulty settings is the thing that will allow the largest player base. I don’t care if the lower difficulty results in half the drop rates of everything. I just want to be able to play the game.

I have encountered difficulty and tried to adapt but to no avail. I have had multiple attempts at the act 1 final boss. I leveled, I bought gear, I upgraded gear, I reallocated supports, I did all the optional bosses, I have made a reasonable effort to overcome the boss. I am going to make a new character and try the process again. I think the boss is pretty cheap. The ice pillars are cheap because of the hit detection. The blood pillars are cheap because they just endlessly spam, it would be one thing if the boss actively summoned them. They are extremely frustrating in the mist ring with all the wolf spawns.

I play local coop and have tried solo, assuming the boss might be easier. The space in local coop makes fighting any boss difficult. You go too far to dodge and you pull your partner to their death. This is compounded by the fact that there is almost zero chance you can revive your partner. The revive needs to be faster, again I don’t care if that results in less loot. I just want to be able to play the game with my coop partner. The game was kind of marketed as an opportunity for a wider audience. There is no way at the current difficulty the game is going to reach a broader audience. I understand that I suck. I am willing to accept lame loot until I stop sucking. I just want to keep playing and that is currently very difficult.

To the people who think the difficulty is just fine and should not be changed… Are you really giving a well informed opinion? I have played one character and it seems fine to me. That is not a well informed opinion. You can play solo or coop. You can play six different classes. Some classes are melee and some are ranged. You can create a character blind or by guide. Is it completely impossible that if you did start a different character you might find you are having a different experience? You might even play the exact same character and your rng might be bad and you find yourself struggling. Just something to consider.

The campaign could be made easier and the end game could be kept exactly as it is. What is the point of gate keeping the campaign? The better rewards are in the endgame correct? The economy would be unaffected because skilled players are still the only players capable of getting worthwhile loot. Every one who enjoys the current difficulty, you really want to replay the campaign again and again, league after league?

Here is probably a dumb idea but instead of changing difficulty overall, what if you could change the difficulty by instance? It seems like if you get gate kept at the act 1 final boss going back to farm for exp is terribly slow. What if you could boost the difficulty of a previous area or boss? Basically it would be nice to have some way to level up quicker, so you can then go back and try to break through your roadblock.

Local coop is way overtuned. I have recently got past the act 1 final boss by myself on two different characters. The local coop assumes you are both sweaty try hards. In reality people are playing with their significant others or friends who aren’t well versed in the genre. They aren’t ever likely to become acquainted with the genre if this is the way they are treated. You are 100% assuming both players are using build guides to try and game the system. In reality it is a moderately talented player trying to carry someone who is just starting out. This is not the way to try and grow a game.

We had 2 or 3 posts like that suggesting split the game in 2 modes like PoE1 is where we have Normal Game play and Ruthless.

I think this idea is great, but looks like Ruthless enjoyers doesnt like. They want everyone to suffer and have miserable experience. I think they have more happiness with others frustration that their own game.

Imagine instead of making an easy mod, they just create another ruthless mode for even more hardcore players lol.

Ok, let's be transparent about this. There's a difference between people who want "serious content" and people who are "serious players".

People who are legitimately "serious players" have been quite vocal about the game being too hard/unfair in various ways. Publicly.

sounds good to most. i'd suggest having less drops gear etc on easy mode and leave it as it is on normal. it'll make it rewarding for completing the game on harder mode.

I'm more in favor of 3 settings. The knobs and switches are already built into the game.

Casual - Normal - Hardcore