On-Death Mechanics

Hey GGG! I just want to preface this with praise. I am very happy with what you have created here. I am enjoying POE2 and diving into all my maps. I have lots to praise, and multiple viewpoints from older family members, non-gamers and friends that have all tried your game. I'll be completing a write up for you to review.

My current and most primary complaint, especially now in maps. Despite some grief with Melee in trials... is on-death mechanics.

Just wanted to see how others deal with on-death mechanics. I am clearing t10+ maps just fine, but occasionally ill get one shot (3k health) by a single on death mechanic I was unable to see. Is this intended?

I understand it can also be a skill issue/paying more attention but it is frustrating to just somehow disappear with 3k health. I am able to eat mobs and bosses for breakfast, but if something I dont quite see (usually purple stuff of some sort on dark maps) goes off im immediately dead.

For reference I have 75 all res, 3k health, 50% DR, Level 81 and have 7% Chaos Resistance.

Any information would be appreciated. I personally think, due to amount of visuals at times, especially in darker maps that these on-death affects need to be nerfed or tweaked a bit. I think it can still be an oh shit moment and take lets say 50% of your health. But a straight one shot is kinda gross. Especially because now you lose your map, and atlas mods on that "node".

It's especially annoying trying to grab some stuff on the ground and you blow up to some random crap. Ritual for example, keeps you locked in place, usually with a Tornado or Blood Waves. If a rare has those purple trees that spawn its almost impossible to avoid and hard to see they even exist. If I was to come up with a percentage, i'd say 90% of my deaths in maps are due to on-death one shot mechanics.

Wishing you all the best!

If I was to come up with a solution, it would be to add a noticeable sound effect when there is on death sounds or orbs that is extremely distinctive (Thinking Iron Maiden in the Chaos Sanctuary (D2) as a Zealer). I would also tweak the damage, especially if its chaos to be dialed back. Perhaps capping the damage done to 60% of your health if you have above i'd say 2000. This will still make it an uh oh moment, but if you get stacked on-death effects or simply unlucky, it can become difficult to realize whats about to happen to you.

+1

I fully second this post. A lot of great stuff and developments! However, on-death mechanics that are very difficult to see in combination with having only one portal is a recipe for frustration.

I can get behind the "darksoulsy" feeling intended behind dying to an on-death mechanic cause you got distracted by the loot, and then lose the loot because of that.

There's two immediate problems to that:

- Loot filters: Now with better loot, if you use a large font lootfilter it's even more difficult to see on-death effects. Literally happened to me yesterday.


- Visual effects: The on-death effect usually happens really fast and if you have any leftover visual effects from you killing the boss (IE, flame wall) It gets even harder to see.



Eventually it'll reach a point where everyone will default to rolling the fk away after killing a boss, disregarding whether or not there is a death effect. People will be sceptical and it'll end up feeling like an extra hurdle that's there just to mess with you for no other reason.


Audio cue would solve this but I feel like audio cues are already too many during bosses. A screen danger effect would be better, not just in the floor, but actual screen danger effect like when you're low on health on a shooter game.

Just killed a yellow mob and was happy it dropped quite a good amount of stuff.

Only to die 1hit through 2k hp and 2k mana(dmg taken from mana before hp) from an on death explosion that i did not even see because everything was full with the names of the dropped items...

Fun xd

It's not just on death mechanics, the game generally has bad visual clarity.

The on death effects just feel twice as horrible in PoE2 because you have double punishment compapted to PoE1.

You lose XP - You loose all loot you didnt pick up yet - You lose access to the map.

This is especially true in a game like PoE2 where your character is much slower and movement abilities don't exist.

In my opinion on-death effects - and also these small chasing and then exploding projectiles should be either removed entirely or turned into applying a dot/curse/debuff to you instead.

They should NEVER oneshot because dealing with them is actually not a skill issue, its a visual clarity issue. It's not a difficult mechanic, it's just straight a anti-fun mechanic.

The last thing to kill me on HCssf ruthless on poe1 was volatile crystals and I knew it would be the thing to kill me in poe2. died at lvl 54 just as I dinged. Great big flash of light as i lvled up blocked the visuals of volatiles before i could see them it was too late.

I legit knew this would be the cause of my death eventually. And that only makes the feeling worse and I just feel robbed of my character. Other on death mechanics are mostly fine, but these volatile crystals have always been different, they always just 1shot you if you're unaware of them.

I was somewhat looking forward to dying so i could join my friends. but what a shitty death, I feel cheated again.

Also my build was insanely tanky had over 1k life and 2.2k energy shield didn't matter...

Just need more cracked EHP so you can ignore the mechanic. Builds and gear solve everything. Give it a few years, maybe we'll get a "immunity to on-death explodey" affix.

+1

On-death effects serve virtually no purpose unless they're incredibly well telegraphed and visible.

There will never be a moment where me dying to a basically invisible on-death mechanic feels acceptable.

Remove them from the game or make them so painfully obvious that players actually have some kind of counterplay.

On-death effects are not a hill worth dying on GGG, at least not in their current state and at the frequency with which they occur.

+1.

I have gotten to the point where the only thing that kills me in maps is either "Periodically Unleashes Lightning Storms" (because the indicator is very subtle,) or on-death effects because I didn't remember one of the 20+ mobs that explode on-death.

So instead I've gotten into the habit of waiting about 5-10 seconds after killing a boss mob, or a group of mobs that I know have death effects, before moving into "danger close" of the area. Doesn't matter if I saw a mirror drop (I didn't and they don't exist to me until one does,) I'm waiting out the "dropped frag grenade" timer.

As it currently stands, these on-death effects being an insta-kill to anyone only work to artificially elongate endgame content sinks. It forces players to slow down or risk hitting the XP penalty (or losing their character entirely in HC.) While I'm all for making the endgame a longer (and potentially more rewarding) experience, I don't think "forgot about this one death effect you saw once in campaign, three acts ago? GG enjoy your XP penalty" is the way to do it.

i feel if they just slowed them down just a tad or maybe pulsate a little, some of them are impossible to avoid or see because they happen so fast, and wit alot going on on the screen its just a nigthmare...

i dont mind a game beeing challenging/hard, but theese effects are neither, when they more or less happen instantanious