Willing to accept slower gameplay and new game design, except...

Not every game is going to be made for me. People are having fun with PoE2, and I don't want to take that away from them.

I'm willing to dodge roll. I'm willing to farm story zones to level and get gear. I'm okay with bosses having large health pools from the get-go.

But I need to actually enjoy what I'm doing at the core. And none of the skills I've tried have actually been fun.


Boneshatter - At low levels it's slower than a basic attack for none-to-not enough of a damage increase and only does something interesting if an enemy is "primed for stun." Yet it can't even cause stun buildup.

Earthquake - The aftershock detonation goes off way after it's relevant. Either the pack is dead or the boss has moved. And the fact that the shocks don't stack means that there's reduced reason to use the skill actively, you use it once and it's underwhelming and then the special part of it fails to do what it intends.

Rolling Slam - Decent, but it takes an already slow game and makes it even slower.

Armor Breaker - Actually an okay skill, if not "fun". The fact that it knocks back feels a little odd though. What's the design strategy there?

Overall when I was using maces, most of the time I was using the basic attack. That's not terribly interesting. Rolling Slam saw more use once I had the faster attacks support gem.


Lightning Arrow - Starter skill, serviceable but neither exciting or numerically strong. Lower DPS than a basic attack if single target attacking things.

Lightning Rod - Why is a skill that only exists to combo other skills available so early? It's sort of just orb of storms with a further restriction. Useless damage on it's own so someone could easily take it and end up really disappointed with an early game gem unlock being very disappointing.

Poisonburst Arrow - It's.. fine? I guess? There was really no way to jazz this up a bit?



In what ARPG, in what other games in general is your first "skill" a general downgrade? You want to use it. Yet in nearly all my low-level playtime, I found myself coming back to the basic attack because things weren't worth using, or actually were a detriment to use.

Looking through the tooltips, there's a huge fascination with attack skills having lower damage or lower action speed or even both. For benefits that aren't even accessible unless you set up combos/cross-skill synergies. Does every skill need a codependency? Part of why I was looking forward to PoE2 was not being held back by socket links. I thought, "Oh cool, I can have some utility skills, a single target attack and an AoE target attack." Instead there's less freedom around every turn - support gems are limited to a single instance equipped at a time. Attacks are locked down to a single weapon type. Skills are kneecapped unless set up in the specific combos they've envisioned.

If this game had a different name than "PoE2", rather something like "Path Of Exile: Something" stubborn vets like me might have come into it with a more open mind, more open to change. I've accepted that this is a different game design from PoE1. I just want the actual combat and skill gems to be fun. Not quite so lethargic, limp-wristed and so locked down that I have no room to experiment.


I have to accept that there may be no room for what I want in the current design ethos. The devs may be set on skills requiring co-dependencies. That they envision what skills and weapons will do, rather than giving players tools to shape them.

If nothing else, I hope the people who are having fun with PoE2 continue to do so. And that if GGG tries to appease people like me, that it doesn't water down the experience of folks who enjoy where the game is and where it seems to be heading.

Grenades are pretty fun.

So, one of the things I've noticed is that PoE2 does not really want you to spam one, or even two abilities over and over. Instead, it wants you to use a variety of abilities that work well with each other. Now, granted, my Warrior is still low level and in Act 1, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

What I do is cast Earthquake when I'm about to engage a pack, Rolling Slam into the pack, Dodge Roll backwards into the Earthquake, which pulls everything into the Earthquake as it goes off, then Boneshatter the sparkly guy. Technically, you can just walk backwards into the EQ, throwing out a basic attack or two, since the roll isn't any faster than walking, but the roll makes it look cooler. :p

EQ never felt good to use once I was engaged in combat, because most enemies would be dead by the time it went off, or I had to kite back because some other pack engaged. Once I started doing this, it ended up working fairly well.

Another thing I've noticed is that PoE2 wants you to use your basic attack, otherwise they would not have allowed you to socket it with Support Gems. It's one of those things where you're just used to never using your basic attack past the 1st area, because its worthless, and it seems that PoE2 is trying to break that trend a bit by making your default attack useful. Basically, all weapons have a "baked in" skill gem.

They're trying to break some old molds, and I've got to give them some credit for that. And it does take some getting used to because, like you said, its very different from PoE1 and other ARPGs.

When you reach maps, have movement speed boots and relevant action speed for your main skill, it will have that POE1 zoomy vibe again. Tons of turbo'ed mobs left and right, you're spamming skills at inhumanly possible speeds, shit blowing up everywhere.

I prefer the weighty slow pace at the beginning to be honest.