Minion gameplay is too passive and too good for what it is after around lvl 30.

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Minion builds don't HAVE to be like this. Think out of the box for a minute... that's how you bring innovation, change, new exciting gameplay. Nothing is set in stone.

- There is NO reason minion survivability should be based on your skill point choice, in fact I think that's also a mistake.

- Minion damage COULD scale off your own damage, thus making them much less limited like they are now. For every other class there's a load of options to pick, not for minions though, it's always around the same couple of nodes. Obviously, if something like that would happen there would have to be some balancing factor between your power and theirs. but my point stands.. it COULD be different. It doesn't have to be this way.

Much more to say but here's a thought I just had about how skeleton archers could work (as an example):

Their auto attacks could do almost no damage but instead their arrows would get stuck into enemies, allowing for other command skills or skills you use yourself to shine.

For example: You could use some sort of rip skill and remove all arrows to make them bleed for a lot of damage, or you could order your skeletons to explode them, or they could just work as a debuff to increase damage for another skill you use, or they could enable another command skill from another type of minion after a certain number of arrows is reached.

The gas arrow + explode them with another skill currently in the game is exactly along the lines of where their thinking should have gone for everything. But ghosts of the past are still present in the way minions just work. They can't bring real change without reworking them from the ground up.

Many possibilities, you just have to be open to change and think out of the box, that's all.


Yes, I understand that, and it COULD have been like that (kinda), you get some of the utility for that, and there actually is nothing stopping you from trying to achieve just that with the minion commands. You can pretty much have minions just as a meat shield and as a source of bleed/ignite/wither etc, and maybe some utility (spirit offering that buffs you, heals you and restores your mana through supports, sacrificing maybe two of your skellies for a bigger buff).

We have plenty more possibilites now. Just because most people fall into the same playstyle as it was in PoE 1 doesn't mean that it's the best one or that it's the only one. It's just the one obvious at first glance.

I still don't aggree that youu have fuckall to do. Even in PoE 1 you start off by needing to press 4 - 6 buttons and trying to automate most of them away. You don't have a way to automate almost nothing away in PoE 2, and I'm even looking for more utility or spells i can use while clearing to make it less slow. It's starting to be an issue the higher in waystone tiers I move now.

Also - before early access - tere were hybrid nodes, the start area for witch/sorc used to be the same. People just weren't picking up node that said minion on them and the other way around. I'm all for being an active caster while having minions as an added layer, but don't make me press 4 more buttons. I now compliment my minions. I think there is a way that minions could compliment you. Having greater synergies is a weird fantasy they came up for PoE 2 just so 1 button builds won't exist - but they will. People will find a way around it.
Eh? Minions distract enemies to much? If anything that's one of the ideas of minions. At least in act 1, everything was straight fast zooming to my character and not giving too much attention to my minions. I find they donothing much in act 1 and 2 so far and feel like made of paper ashes. Also, there's ANY other playstyle ifpeople feel they want more enemies on top of their head. At least for christ sake let players that want a slihtly more relaxed playstyle at least have one single option.
Last edited by voonvoon#6984 on Dec 11, 2024, 9:23:21 AM
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cVGhost#3152 wrote:

but don't make me press 4 more buttons. I now compliment my minions. I think there is a way that minions could compliment you. Having greater synergies is a weird fantasy they came up for PoE 2 just so 1 button builds won't exist - but they will. People will find a way around it.


There is a BIG difference between just pressing some buttons and pressing buttons that result in a meaningful outcome/impact that enriches gameplay.

I understand where you guys are coming from with your aversion to pressing buttons but this is HEAVILY misplaced. PoE1 taught you that pressing buttons is just tedious and unfun, I get that. As someone that was summoning 20 spectral bows constantly.. and also piano flasking... I GET IT. BUT that should not have been the case for PoE 2.

The goal to automate everything is ridiculous to me, why would anyone want to do that when they are playing a videogame for fun? It's like you're not having fun but you still want to play it for some reason. The process of creating automation can be fun.. there are games such as Factorio that prove that, but that doesn't take a whole lot to do in PoE... and when you're done you're left with nothing fun.

There is no other game out there that I know of where people want to automate the fun out of the game. Instead when the gameplay is repetitive and boring in other games, people ask for more intricate combos, richer combat, harder bosses etc. not to automate the bad design.

Since I gave the example of the gas arrow the skeleton archers were using earlier as a step in the right direction, I have to mention the downside of that skill too.

While the idea to have minions do skills like that is awesome, you have to press a button to fire them individually while their cooldown was pretty low... that part is an example of the kind of button pressing that is BAD because it is repetitive and boring. They should've made them either more powerful and longer cooldown so you have to use them carefully or just make them all shoot with one press... the number of minions of that kind possibly dictating how strong the cloud would be.

Constantly summoning SRS is boring and repetitive.
Constantly having to curse is also boring and repetitive.

Either way, I think it's too late despite it being early access... the level of reworks would need to be very extensive to change things and I doubt that will happen. If people weren't so hellbent on getting more of the same as PoE1 maybe they would have listened to different voices that want to make a fun game not a tedious one where that you want to automate it.
"Sigh"
Last edited by IonSugeRau1#1069 on Dec 11, 2024, 11:54:31 AM
Toxic elitist gamer mentalisty at its best. Seen too many threads like this blindly defending devs on everything back when WoW was in BFA, and guess what? That's the expansion where the game truly turned to shit and the playerbase collapsed.

Just killed Jamanra on my 3rd try using a minion build. Since minions are dead 3/4 the time I did most of the damage anyway. This was some pre-nerf Consort Radahn level bullshit. Minions only help you clean maps a little eaiser than other ranged classes and I say only a little because mobs have insane aggro range and a lot of them just ignore your minions to come straight at you. Whole dreadnaught was bullshit. Didn't die in those 2 maps but felt horrible as this type of play just isn't fun. Can't even imagine using my Ranger to do these maps, they're ridiculous pure and simple,

Instead of calling on the devs to nerf one of the only builds that make PoE2 as a gaming experience slightly more bearable, they should be buffing other classes like Warrior and fix broken BS like Blood Mage's suicidal 1st ascendency talent.
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cVGhost#3152 wrote:

but don't make me press 4 more buttons. I now compliment my minions. I think there is a way that minions could compliment you. Having greater synergies is a weird fantasy they came up for PoE 2 just so 1 button builds won't exist - but they will. People will find a way around it.


There is a BIG difference between just pressing some buttons and pressing buttons that result in a meaningful outcome/impact that enriches gameplay.

I understand where you guys are coming from with your aversion to pressing buttons but this is HEAVILY misplaced. PoE1 taught you that pressing buttons is just tedious and unfun, I get that. As someone that was summoning 20 spectral bows constantly.. and also piano flasking... I GET IT. BUT that should not have been the case for PoE 2.

The goal to automate everything is ridiculous to me, why would anyone want to do that when they are playing a videogame for fun? It's like you're not having fun but you still want to play it for some reason. The process of creating automation can be fun.. there are games such as Factorio that prove that, but that doesn't take a whole lot to do in PoE... and when you're done you're left with nothing fun.

There is no other game out there that I know of where people want to automate the fun out of the game. Instead when the gameplay is repetitive and boring in other games, people ask for more intricate combos, richer combat, harder bosses etc. not to automate the bad design.

Since I gave the example of the gas arrow the skeleton archers were using earlier as a step in the right direction, I have to mention the downside of that skill too.

While the idea to have minions do skills like that is awesome, you have to press a button to fire them individually while their cooldown was pretty low... that part is an example of the kind of button pressing that is BAD because it is repetitive and boring. They should've made them either more powerful and longer cooldown so you have to use them carefully or just make them all shoot with one press... the number of minions of that kind possibly dictating how strong the cloud would be.

Constantly summoning SRS is boring and repetitive.
Constantly having to curse is also boring and repetitive.

Either way, I think it's too late despite it being early access... the level of reworks would need to be very extensive to change things and I doubt that will happen. If people weren't so hellbent on getting more of the same as PoE1 maybe they would have listened to different voices that want to make a fun game not a tedious one where that you want to automate it.


You're asking for fundamental changes to an archetype that is easily one of the most popular in PoE1. I get why; you don't like it, and that's fine, but it's never going to happen. Not everything has to, or should, fundamentally change.

What you're asking for is functionally a caster DPS with minions as a flavorful dot. You do the work, the minions enact that work for you. That's not inherently a bad thing, but it has more than enough of its own flaws (for example, significantly increased survivability vs. a regular caster). I agree (and hope) that you're correct that it's too late to do what you want, because it's almost certainly not what most people want out of minions. If you find the minion playstyle too passive there are any number of active options to choose from. It was always a meme to call minions in PoE1 passive too, despite the builds almost universally being completely socket and skill slot starved, but it is what it is.

You say the goal to automate everything is ridiculous to you, and again, that's fine - I totally get the sentiment. But is it not equally ridiculous to you that someone such as yourself knowingly opts IN to playing such builds repeatedly in the first place? Why are you picking the one archetype you know will act this way, not enjoying watching it become true, then creating a thread to change it, instead of playing the myriad other skills that don't?
Last edited by Pathological#1188 on Dec 11, 2024, 12:12:26 PM
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z3mcneil#3966 wrote:
Toxic elitist gamer mentalisty at its best. Seen too many threads like this blindly defending devs on everything back when WoW was in BFA, and guess what? That's the expansion where the game truly turned to shit and the playerbase collapsed.

Just killed Jamanra on my 3rd try using a minion build. Since minions are dead 3/4 the time I did most of the damage anyway. This was some pre-nerf Consort Radahn level bullshit. Minions only help you clean maps a little eaiser than other ranged classes and I say only a little because mobs have insane aggro range and a lot of them just ignore your minions to come straight at you. Whole dreadnaught was bullshit. Didn't die in those 2 maps but felt horrible as this type of play just isn't fun. Can't even imagine using my Ranger to do these maps, they're ridiculous pure and simple,

Instead of calling on the devs to nerf one of the only builds that make PoE2 as a gaming experience slightly more bearable, they should be buffing other classes like Warrior and fix broken BS like Blood Mage's suicidal 1st ascendency talent.


I just fought Jamanra 1st encounter with a minion build and I too did it on 3rd try or so and I was quite disappointed because I did most of the damage, I was constantly doge-rolling all over the place in a small arena. Boss was constantly on me like there are no minions. Minions are just tickling the boss. They don't help you at all when adds attack you and you have so much to dodge in order to overlast the boss ... I think that boss should give you just a bit more time to "breathe", not dodge like you are a melee build without minions. At this point minions feels like just another damaging "buff" spell you can adjust in the tree. Boss should be a bit focused on minions from time to time. Not all the time of course but not like totally ignoring them during the whole fight.
OP, how did you manage to get 14 arsonists by the time you reached the act 5 boss, according to the gif?

I only have 5 arsonists and I'm getting close to reaching this point myself. There's no chance in hell an average summoner is going to have that much power unless you get lucky and craft +spirit on your gear before you burn through all of your orbs. Then again, I have no idea the extent of how much spirit you can get on gear to warrant that many minions.
PoE players: Our game has a wide diversity of builds.

Also PoE players: The [league mechanic] doesn't need to be nerfed, you just need to play a [current meta] build!

And the winds will cry / and many men will die / and all the waves will bow down / to the Loreley
Last edited by Pizzarugi#6258 on Dec 11, 2024, 12:27:14 PM
I mean, I play minion exactly because I want them to do the job while I chill
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OP, how did you manage to get 14 arsonists by the time you reached the act 5 boss, according to the gif?

I only have 5 arsonists and I'm getting close to reaching this point myself. There's no chance in hell an average summoner is going to have that much power unless you get lucky and craft +spirit on your gear before you burn through all of your orbs. Then again, I have no idea the extent of how much spirit you can get on gear to warrant that many minions.


Some simple trading and searching for the stats I want and I know that are powerful. I know what's powerful in PoE1 and it is exactly the same here. I kept my exalts I got along the way and used them for that purpose.. mostly.. I did fall into the trap GGG set out for us and tried to craft twice or so but that was a dumb decision.

To be honest with you, I went to trading pretty late as I was having fun initially and forgot about it, would I have done so earlier it would've been worse.

Use the word minion and search on the trade site for everything that is available and you will figure that out shortly.
"Sigh"
Last edited by IonSugeRau1#1069 on Dec 11, 2024, 12:38:09 PM
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OP, how did you manage to get 14 arsonists by the time you reached the act 5 boss, according to the gif?

I only have 5 arsonists and I'm getting close to reaching this point myself. There's no chance in hell an average summoner is going to have that much power unless you get lucky and craft +spirit on your gear before you burn through all of your orbs. Then again, I have no idea the extent of how much spirit you can get on gear to warrant that many minions.


Some simple trading and searching for the stats I want and I know that are powerful. I know what's powerful in PoE1 and it is exactly the same here. I kept my exalts I got along the way and used them for that purpose.. mostly.. I did fall into the trap GGG set out for us and tried to craft twice or so but that was a dumb decision.

To be honest with you, I went to trading pretty late as I was having fun initially and forgot about it, would I have done so earlier it would've been worse.

Use the word minion and search on the trade site for everything that is available and you will figure that out shortly.
So trading gives you powerful items and in return you have a powerful character. Almost like that applies to every build, even in PoE 1. Shocking concept.

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