I haven't enjoyed a game this much in a long time

This game is a 10/10 for me so far. For reference, I'm playing a monk (lv 44) and at the end of Act 3.

I wanted to post this after seeing so much hate. It's been a long time since I've truly enjoyed playing a game this much. For me, the difficulty is just high enough to make me die 3-10 times on a boss. Then I'll have to rethink the skills I'm using, playstyle, swap out support gems, or strategically use my currency or vendors to get upgrades. Even if you get hardstuck, you can always farm gold and use the random item vendor to get upgrades, especially early on.

At this point, my damage is good enough to really out dps a boss without even having to learn many mechanics besides the obviously projected large attacks. It took me until halfway through act 3 to get here, though. I spent a lot of act 1 and 2 struggling, but the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level skill gem upgrades felt like a good power boost in the best way possible. Same with item upgrades I got from vendors and crafting. I've probably changed the general skills and playstyle I use to clear maps/bosses 4-5 times and I love that. Learning to adapt and overcome has made this game unbelievably fun for me.

I also love that I actually have to think about crafting throughout the campaign. That is something I loved about poe1 but it really only became relevant in the endgame. For example, I always keep an eye out for rare quarterstaffs that could be upgrades and recently found one that was about equal DPS, then got lucky with a Chaos orb and it became a decent upgrade. Or even picking up bases and using transmute/augment until you get a good item, like gloves with attack speed and/or flat phys damage, then using a regal to make it a real upgrade.

The bosses are hard, but realistically if you spend every attempt learning the boss mechanics and how they project certain moves, they're very doable. I had to do this in poe1 too on pinnacle bosses. I understand people's frustration for having to do this on campaign bosses, but for me that makes the campaign actually engaging instead of a mindless grind to get to the endgame.

One caveat is that it does feel like you need decent knowledge of the crafting and item system to make this game feel good and fun. Since I have that, though, this game feels amazing and perfectly tuned

Same. Been a while since I was this hooked on a game that I constantly think about it while not playing. Love the more grounded approach to gameplay. And the bosses so far have been Chef's kiss in spite of the fact it took me to kill them about 5 minutes due to not keeping my gear up to date. Love the fact you don't have to overgeared to beat them as long as you learn their mechanics. Love the horrorish aproach to monsters.

I do wish that they would implement teleportation between checkpoints because i always fully explore the maps so having to run from one side to the actual destination is kind of a chore.

Monk is definitely a fun class. I am still at the end of Act 1.

Loving the game looking forward to trying the other classes as well.

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I do wish that they would implement teleportation between checkpoints because i always fully explore the maps so having to run from one side to the actual destination is kind of a chore.

Yeah, agree. The tedium of re-exploring entire maps to find one boss has been annoying a few times. I don't mind it as much because I really enjoy the environments and enemies themselves.

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Love the horrorish aproach to monsters.

I love this as well. Enemy design also feels well-done and varied enough to to keep it interesting. The dark theme in general feels great, like the character select screen being all classes in a noose and the one you choose escapes while the others hang. Or in Act 2...

I feel the same. This overall, is the ARPG I've been waiting for since Diablo II. Is it perfect? No. But it's really, really close already for me.

Thanks GGG!

For many years I didn't like the game so much, that I think about it all day and almost think of ditching my responsibilities to play.

Yes it need improvements (for me skills are too much tied to weapons, and not enough skills are offered on frist two "levels" making it lack of build diverstity until much later levels) but it's what I wanted. I have to think, strategise, I have to gear correctly from the start of the game, and not after many hours of play. I want to give feedback, check for bugs, and help it be even better.

I’m having a similar good time with sorceress. I’m rerolling on warrior to see how the gameplay differs. I really enjoy most of the things people are complaining about (low drops, big maps with deadends, hard bosses, punishing deaths). As is, this game is in my top five favorite games of all time, and actually might be finally dethroning the first two diablos. For me, this game corrects the mistakes made between D1 and D2, while keeping the improvements, expanding the content, and innovating beautifully.

I am really enjoying POE2.