GGG - despite all the criticism, please don’t do this!

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KingAlamar#4071 wrote:

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bendking#6176 wrote:

Agreed. I think a big part of the issue here is loot scarcity, but people also just need to 'git gud' and adapt.

What if the issue isn't just 'git gud' -- what if people had [measurable] psychometric barriers that prevented them from actually playing the game well enough??

Likely the most "disruptive" new element of the game is the frequency with which you have to Dodge-or-Die and how key that is to core character progression. Assuming you've done what you can with gearing, passives, and skills -- which I think a lot of experienced players are doing what they can .. the one thing left [reaction time / processing speed / pattern recognition] is likely the key issue.

Depending on the test involved an "elite" person will react 2-3 times faster than an average person. An average person in their prime will react 2-4 times faster than someone "more seasoned". Even within those averages there are huge individual variances.


The gotcha is that there is NOT a good solution for this issue. If you have elite reactions [fighter pilot?] and the game is balanced for a "normie" then there's zero challenge for you. If you're a normie but the game is balanced around a "distracted senior citizen's reaction time" then you're bored senseless.

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Fae_Lyth#6750 wrote:

The game has its issues, but difficulty is not one of them.
I agree with OP.

People will always search for the wildest things they find "difficult.
I've seen journalists complain about Spongebob - Bikini Bottom being "too difficult".
And Path of Exile 2, while engaging and requiring active gameplay, isn't what I would describe as "challenging".
Anything with any sort of mechanic whatsoever that is not an idle game will have someone complain about "difficulty", because...

I don't know why tbh. I fail to understand those people who refuse to engage with games they play, refuse to learn the mechanics (even though you're kinda bound to pick up on them passively? IDK maybe they have a hard time learning things in general) and then complain about their existence making it "difficult".

You've got to understand that "difficult" for those people means "has any mechanics".

Ultimately, games (as all art) are allowed to have a target audience, and not everything needs to be and should be made to cater to everyone. I've seen many franchises die because they abandoned their niche and decided to homogenise and mainstream their formerly niche franchise, alienating the audience that loved their previous features.

Football isn't for me. PoE2 isn't for you. That's fine.

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yatesie107981#1485 wrote:

Bump this up 100%!

Just my 50p here:

Please gives us more loot in maps. 
If a build is strong don't nerf it too hard!

Outside of these 2 points, the game is wonderful! 
Loving the challenge!

(I am a POE 1 player, and I have played many leagues)

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Ashwin#7887 wrote:

I think the feedback is more nuanced than that - at the moment, most feedback is either "wtf ggg game is too hard" or "ggg this is best game ever, keep it like this"

There are a large number of obvious upsides and some critical downsides.

1. The slower paced gameplay is great - it makes each encounter challenging and makes it interesting.

2. The dodge roll mechanic is good in theory, but it needs work. It currently feels too sluggish. It needs to give more iframes akin to a dark souls medium roll. Currently, it feels like fat rolling in dark souls.

3. The map sizes are a polarizing topic, but I like the ultra large maps. It makes the world feel immersive. PoE 1 maps felt like a quick zone that we ran through. PoE 2 maps actually get the scale of the world right - a village should be large enough to have multiple lanes of houses and a couple of "squares". Ramparts should be large, forests should be dense, deserts should be vast; the player should feel the scale of the world.

4. The boss mechanics are awesome - Draven, Mastodon, Count Geonor, Jamanra and even the mini bosses felt really unique and had great mechanics. That being said, they are quite bullet-spongy. At least for the campaign, either the boss HP needs to go down significantly or the player damage needs to go up. The mechanics make the fight challenging, millions of HP make the fight tedious.

5. Drops feel too ruthless in nature. People in act 3 running around with blue items seems a little too harsh. Alchemys are ultra rare, regal shards don't drop often enough to make crafting rares commonplace, exalt drop rate is fine, but regals are the real bottleneck.

6. The atmosphere of the world is amazing, the quests are great, the visuals look incredible, the soundtrack is awesome. Overall, the presentation of the game is top-notch.

7. If the current difficulty spike is the expectation, the end game maps are going to be a slog with a single portal. However, it remains to be seen what player power creep will look like. That being said, the end game atlas progression looks truly genre-defining. Combining the atlas with delve was a great innovation and I'm looking forward to infinite maps!

In summary, I think PoE 2 has all the elements to be a fantastic game but is still rough around the edges, as expected, seeing as it's in early access.

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bendking#6176 wrote:

That is why most devs design reaction times to be sufficient for the average person to react.

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ziggro#7495 wrote:

Im really hoping they dont listen to poe1 zoom zoom players and do the same bait and switch they did with poe1 and make the game easy

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pushon#5992 wrote:

Unfortunately, the inevitable has come – we’re seeing many opinions about PoE 2 being "too difficult," often written by people who expect the game to practically play itself. Many games, including souls-like titles, have gone through this same phase and unfortunately, not all developers were brave enough to stick to their original vision and keep the game as they intended.

The game is absolutely not too difficult! Those claiming otherwise simply haven’t yet grasped the rules of the beautifully crafted world you’ve created. I’m speaking from the perspective of a PoE1 player who spent most of my time using pre-made builds. I’m not even a hardcore Souls player. Currently, I’m in Act III, and I’ve died around 60 times. Despite that, I believe this is an incredible experience that will be remembered by many for a very long time.

However, for this wonderful experience to continue, you must not give in to the criticism about difficulty or complaints about bosses being overpowered. Don’t make the same mistake as the developers of Lies of P or Elden Ring. The game is excellent, and the vast majority of players surely enjoy the current level of difficulty far more than they would after the introduction of nerfs. Critical voices will fade faster than you think, and more and more players will want to join this amazing journey.

So, on behalf of myself and everyone who doesn’t rage quit after the first boss, I ask you – please don’t introduce nerfs. You’ve created something incredible, and don’t let inexperienced players ruin it!


To the players:

For heaven’s sake, understand that dying during a boss fight doesn’t mean the game is poorly balanced or too hard! Reflect on your approach to the fight, the boss’s attacks, your build, and the skills you’re using. If you still can’t beat it, just step back and level up a bit more. Start experimenting and simply learn the mechanics instead of pouring out complaints that might ruin the masterpiece that is PoE2.