PoE 2 - same name, different genre.

I’m writing this feedback not to whine or attack anyone. I just really wish someone will read it and make the game better.

I really enjoy PoE. I think it's the best game in the Hack ‘n’ Slash genre. Although I usually don't get caught up in hype, this time I fell for it hard. Imagine my disappointment when I launched PoE 2 and realized that this game has very little in common with its predecessor. Sure, the aesthetics, mechanics, microtransactions, and title remain the same, and that, in my opinion, is one of the game's biggest problems.

When I purchased early access, I thought I was getting an improved version of the first game. Technically speaking, the game is excellent: graphics, sound, effects—everything is top-notch. However, it lacks one crucial element for an HnS game: fun gameplay. Sure, I saw in trailers that the game would be slower than the first one, but I never thought I’d have to kite every single white mob the game throws at me. I never imagined that boss fights would be 8-minute-long, tedious battles instead of opportunities to earn better loot.

Here, I want to emphasize something important: this is not about the game being too hard. The game is simply poorly designed. Soulslike games are my favorite genre. FromSoftware games are by far my favorite titles. But just giving a boss high HP and DMG doesn’t make a game Soulslike. Where’s the joy in defeating a boss? Where’s the reward for mastering the opponent's moveset and finally taking them down?

In PoE 2, that typical Soulslike euphoria is missing. In PoE 2, all I feel is relief that I can finally move on—only to have it immediately crushed because the next white mob takes 5 more hits to kill than the previous one and that’s only if he doesn’t have a shield. If he does well tough luck. I can’t roll behind it because there are 20 other enemies waiting back there (Dreadnought map, I’m looking at you), so I’m left with no choice but to shoot it 30 times.

Of course, GGG has every right to make the game the way they want. It’s just a shame that the near-total shift in genre wasn’t openly communicated to players who were expecting an HnS game. Playing PoE 2 feels like dropping an ARPG character into an HnS setting. It’s as if Kratos from God of War (2018) were thrown into God of War 3. The character feels too slow and too weak for this type of gameplay. Sure, I can dodge endlessly—I don’t mind that. But after 8 minutes of rolling around a boss, I’ve simply had enough.

This brings me to what worries me the most. I understand that the game is in early access and a lot can change. But when I see the sheer number of builds being nerfed to the point where playing them stops making sense, I fear GGG will never think, “Hey, let’s let players create powerful and fun builds. If someone figures out how to beat a boss in a minute instead of eight, good for them!” I have the impression that GGG wants every boss fight to feel like the same tedious dodge-fest for everyone. Unfortunately, that’s what I’m most afraid of.
On top of that, I absolutely don’t understand why GGG refuses to give players a free skill tree respec. This way, players wouldn’t feel like they have to restart the game from scratch because they don’t have enough gold to reset their tree. For the developers, it would also mean a greater variety of experimental builds to use as a basis for further balancing.

Oh, and one more thing: the system for awarding honour in the “Sanctuary” is a bad joke. I loved the Sanctuary in PoE, so I knew what to expect. I reached the boss in the final room without taking any damage. At level 23, I had just over 470 honour, as my build primarily relies on evasion. After the boss fight, I barely stood at 60 honour. GGG, I understand you want to compensate players who don’t stack armor or evasion by adding HP to ES. But unfortunately, evasion doesn’t dodge certain attacks unless you invest in Acrobatics on the skill tree. While it’s technically possible to reach that node at level 23, my evasion rate would drop to nearly zero due to the 70% penalty, as I’d have to rush straight for it.

It would be nice if I could stand at nearly 1,000 honour before the boss fight, like, say, a Sorceress. This system is simply terrible.