PoE2 Review - Week Two (Warning: Wall of Texts!)

Dear GGG,
I’ve been playing Path of Exile 2 with some friends, primarily tackling end-game content in duos. I play an ice self-caster, and my friend plays a summoner. Below are the pros and cons we’ve encountered so far. Hopefully, this feedback helps GGG improve PoE2 further.

Pros

First Loaded Map as Hideout: Starting with your hideout as the first loaded map prevents many lag issues in towns.
Party-Friendly Mapping: Mapping with friends is a great experience. There’s no looting disadvantage in parties, and atlas progression is shared since the main questline only requires high-tier maps instead of specific ones. Additionally, map modifiers no longer brick builds, so you can alch and go freely with friends.
Ritual Encounter Rejoining: You can rejoin Ritual encounters after disconnecting or crashing, which is incredibly convenient.
Game Pause Feature: The ability to pause is extremely helpful, especially in solo play.
Improved Graphics: The graphical improvements are noticeable and add to immersion.
WSAD Movement: This movement system is fantastic for navigating difficult terrains. Adding it to PoE1 would also be a welcome improvement.
Numerical Control: PoE2’s approach to numerical control is excellent. Reducing "more multipliers" creates a more balanced system, with manageable ranges for DPS and defense values. In other words, balancing a system with DPS ranging from 0 to 1 million is far simpler than balancing one with DPS ranging from 0 to 1 billion. This also makes character progression feel more rewarding, as small stat increases now provide noticeable improvements. For instance, raising evasion from 4000 to 5000 feels impactful in PoE2, unlike in PoE1. Well done.

Cons

Hard-to-Notice Ground Effects: Dangerous ground effects are still difficult to notice. Reintroducing PoE1’s distinct sound effects would improve visibility.
Unclear Quest Markers on the World Map: Quest markers are vague, and the lack of green icons for quest items on the minimap makes finding small boxes in areas frustrating.
Long World Map Load Times: Loading the world map takes too long, which disrupts immersion.
Rune System Frustrations: The rune system replacing the crafting bench feels clunky. Players cannot reinstall different runes into item sockets, which is a frustrating limitation.
Reforging and Salvage Benches: These benches are cumbersome for crafting multiple items. Use two seperated NPCs (one for coins, another for dismantling) would streamline the process.
Scarcity of Rare Monsters in Lost Towers: Rare monsters are too scarce in Lost Towers, making high-rolled maps feel wasted since white and magic monsters drop so little.
Slow Lever Interactions: Lever animations are unnecessarily slow and could be sped up.
Huge Maps with Sparse Monsters: Large maps feel empty, as enemies are too spread out. Doubling default monster pack sizes would make maps more engaging and alleviate issues with running out of high-tier waystones after failed attempts. The backtracking problem also needs addressing.
Obstacle-Filled Terrains: Overly cluttered terrains block both players and enemies, disrupting gameplay.
Lack of Skill Gems While Leveling: The limited skill gem selection early on is problematic. A friend of mine almost quit after choosing the “wrong skills” and being unable to progress. A recipe system or NPC for gem resets would help.
Access to Low-Level Gems: Not everyone wants utility skills to be max level. Providing a way to acquire lower-level gems would be helpful.
Official Filters for New Players: Official item filters tailored to character archetypes (e.g., Witch) would ease new players’ experience by hiding irrelevant gear.
Map Attempt Status After Death: Dying in a map marks it as “attempted,” and reentering via a waystone seems to reduce rare monster density compared to fresh maps, which feels unfair.
New Atlas Layout: While initially interesting, the new atlas layout becomes inconvenient for min-maxing endgame runs. A simple flat 2D UI like Delve in PoE1 would help a lot.
Flask Recharge in Town: Automatically refilling flasks upon entering safe zones, as in PoE1, would be much better than the current Well system.
Missing Utility Stash Tabs: The absence of utility stash tabs significantly affects quality of life.
Strongbox System Downgrade: The strongbox system in PoE2 is slower and less rewarding compared to PoE1.
Precursor Tablet vs. Scarabs: The old scarab system is far superior to the current Precursor Tablet mechanic.
Missing Commands for Passives and Quest Rewards: The lack of /passives and /questrewards commands makes it difficult to track missed quests and rewards.
Missing QoL Features from PoE1: Many QoL improvements from recent PoE1 patches are missing in PoE2. While this might be due to separate development teams, these features could easily be implemented post-early-access since solutions already exist.

Extra Comments

Endgame Party Content: Mechanics like Strongbox, Delirium, Breach, and Essence work well for parties. However, Ritual remains problematic as only the map host receives final rewards. Replacing it with Legion could expand on the Vaal lore while improving party play.
Boss Fights: The campaign progression from Act 1 to Act 6 is excellent, with unique monsters and engaging challenges. However, this disappears abruptly in Atlas maps, which feature far fewer unique monster encounters. Adding more map bosses or extra boss fights (like Shaper Guardian encounters in PoE1) would enrich the endgame.

Conclusion

Although there are clearly more cons than pros, my friends and I are having fun because the Atlas mechanic is very party-friendly. Your developers have already discovered the key to creating a great online ARPG: making the game significantly more enjoyable with friends. This is the most effective way to grow your player base, as an online game is meant to be played with friends. In recent years, PoE1 has felt more like a single-player game due to party play being nerfed to curb the advantages of the top 0.01% of players. I don’t know how long the fun of party play will last in PoE2, but if you nerf party play in PoE2, the game will simply become a worse PoE1. If that happens, there is a simple solution for my party: we’ll say goodbye and move on to Monster Hunter Wilds. Are you ready to compete with one of the best ARPG developers in the world in March 2025? If not, fix something before nerf something will help both of us a lot.

Regards.