An in-depth guide to Souls-Like within an ARPG. [General Game-Design Feedback]

I have been playing the game for 62 hours now and I see what GGG is trying to go for but it feels like a misunderstood attempt at the souls-like genre. I know this is supposed to be an ARPG though. However, I would like to give some ideas/improvements that I think would make the experience better when it comes to souls-like game design.

Additional Context: I think the overall difficulty of the game is good and I am currently towards the end of ACT-3 but improvements and balance should be shifted to aid this difficulty and make it a better experience for everyone, rather than a tedious headache.

There are 3 main factors to souls-like:
Dodge-roll, Bosses, and Loot.

➢ Typically in a souls-like, dodge rolling is necessary but has a stamina system in order to regulate the challenge of managing resources and focusing on boss patterns.
\\
This would assume that the bosses have calculations related to the player's actions, that attempt to adapt to player-related decisions.

➢ Bosses tend to have resting periods where they pause after an attack, creating an opening for the player. AKA Breathing-room.

➢ Bosses also tend to be the key factors for weapon/gear drops. [Obviously though this is a general RPG game design.]

➢ Normal enemies in dark-souls tend to drop basic gear and souls.

➢ Souls are essentially used as crafting/currency.

[While POE2 has some of these mechanics in place, they are too inconsistent or continuous to make it enjoyable.]

To elaborate:
Most bosses in POE2 do adapt to the player to an extent but are generally basic adaptations or outright random at times.

This isn't to say they shouldn't be "hard" but rather that the inconsistency of their AI creates an unpleasant experience for most. Making it more of a tedious headache, rather than overcoming a fun challenge.

Idea for bosses:
POE2 bosses should have event-based attacks as their 1-shot attacks and calculated, strategic attacks as their main attacks.

➢ Event-based attacks require players to react to environmental or timed mechanics. [Yes, some bosses already have this feature but it's not used very often.] These attacks would not be randomly used and are strictly based on remaining health of the boss. Similar to boss phases, when the boss gets to a certain percentage of health, it will trigger this 1-shot attack, creating a scenario where the player must figure out what to do based on environmental interactivity. [Example: Hiding behind a pillar or destroying energy crystals powering the attack]

➢ Calculated attacks consists of smaller singular attacks and combo attacks.
Combo attacks are 3-4 singular attacks combined into a continuous motion. The AI of the boss would choose different attacks based on what the player is doing. [Examples: positioned close to the boss, staying in one general area, moving around the arena, far away from the boss, etc.]
\\
All of these attacks should be telegraphed and should have resting periods. For example, Combo attacks should have a resting period similar to stunning a boss but slightly shorter. While singular attacks should have a brief resting period for the player to get a few hits in.
\\
While POE2 bosses do have these mechanics, they either have too many 1-2 shot moves, spam their moves too often, or their resting periods tend to be too short to really do much to them.
\\
Bosses also shouldn't spam/rely on multiple AoE attacks that simply form in random spots. Especially if the arena is small.

Ideas for loot:
Normal enemies should drop more crafting orbs, while bosses/mini-bosses should drop more weapons/gear while having a 60-70% bonus for the gear being related to your class.

Chests should also drop weapons/gear [+Any other item types] but with a lower chance than bosses and it might be a good idea to have only around a 20-30% bonus for the gear being related to your class for this scenario. [Generally this is how chests kind of already work but I have found more chests being empty than actually having anything in them, this could just be bad luck though]

Regarding dodge-roll:
I don't actually think it would need to be changed in any way, since I feel like a stamina system would be a downside to most people and it should mainly be used as a tool when needed. Meaning it would generally be less-focused but in a more structural way regarding how you approach enemies/bosses.

Regarding Normal Enemies:
They just need more polish honestly. Some do too much damage, Some are faster than the player themselves, and some are just too aggressive with attacks.

Final Notes:
With these changes, It definitely would be a more solid experience and I feel like it would still mostly fit into ARPG with all the other systems on top of it in regards to building your character and general progression.
\\
Generally though, things just need to be more balanced and thought out, and I think everyone would have a much better experience.


I know some of this might not be the best idea but would love to know what others think of it or if anyone has more ideas based on this. Anyways, that is all.