Poe2 EA Review- An addicting walking simulator.

No lifed the game for about a week and made it to maps as a warrior( yes Im a masochist) Just hit 72 so heres my honest review.

PROS

WHOS THE BOSS!
Hands down the most fun I have had in poe 2 have been the boss fights. Even the mini bosses scattered throughout the zones were really enjoyable to fight. I hope they put a boss rush map where you fight back to back bosses or even double boss. They were challenging and it felt very rewarding to learn the bosses attacks and smack em across the face.

Slow and Steady
I honestly enjoy the slower more tactical pace of the game. It forces you to think before every engagement and find ways to make your build better. It makes you really take your time and come up with solutions. example - I was in a map and there was a pack of ranged and melee enemies and a choke point. I dropped a shield wall on the choke and when the melee characters got close to the wall I blew it up killing them all then stampeded into the pack of ranged enemies and blew them up. Or I shield wall and drop a hammer on everything head while i hide in cover. I also use shield wall to soak damage for me while i charge sunder.

Oh we animated
Skill animations are beautiful

Cons

Walking SIM!
While I do enjoy the slower pacing It feels a little too slow. The game feels like a walking sim where every map im participate in a marathon while avoiding potholes, homeless, drunk drivers and wild animals. Then when I think I finally hit the finish line and made it to the next zone I have to do it all over again. Its exhausting. Good luck with slogging through the campaign and it’s ginormous maps if you dont find boots with move speed. Move speed boots allow you to power/speed walk the ginormous maps.I hope that the poe community changes speed running to speed walking when they try to see how fast they can finish the campaign

Soo much weight
Characters ( specifically the warrior) feel clunky as shit. It would be cool if the mobs in maps were also slow and clunky but a lot of times it feels like were playing two different games. Mobs in maps seem to be playing poe1 still. They haven’t gotten the memo. Warriors slow animations and long wind ups going up against a bunch of caffeinated mobs that hit you 10 times before you finish your wind up is annoying. Don’t even try rolling cause monster abilities have .5 second cooldowns and you will be right back where you started only with less flask cause you thought you could roll out the way of damage.
Solution
Give mobs a cooldown on their attacks if I dodge roll to avoid a volly of ranged fire or a paw slap from a dog I should be rewarded with an opening to attack. DEVS NEED TO PLAY MONSTER HUNTER

Trials and tribulations to ascend
I hate trials they aren’t very fun and the fact that im forced to do them to ascend is even more irritating. When POE1 had labs you had the choice to either explore the lab and collect all the keys and treasure or just skip everything and run straight to the three bosses, kill them and ascend. This version feels like a chore. Im being forced to participate in something thats not enjoyable. Its annoying and its boring.
SOLUTION
Allow the people who just want to do it to ascend skip to the boss but have the boss and trial give NO LOOT OR REWARDS other than ascendancy points. That way the people who like the trials ( Im praying for yall) and the people who despise the trials are both happy.

1 shot is all I get?
This is for whoever’s idea it was at GGG to make it so you die once in a map and you lose the whole map. I hope Santa fills your stocking with vegetables and gives you a bunch of gifts full of shit you dont enjoy so you understand how we feel about maps. 1 death is far too punishing on maps. I thought I was on hardcore when I first started mapping lol. I may be a sweat but gaaa damn thats brutal. We in soft core baby.

More map bosses

I really enjoy the boss fights so to get to maps and find out I wouldnt get to fight a boss at the end of the map was a huge let down. I miss deleting everything on a map and then running into a boss room at the end.
Solution
If yall dont want a boss at the end of every maps can you atleast make them appear more or give us atlas passive that makes them appear on our atlas more frequently

Training dummy
Self explanatory

All in all great game having a lot of fun. I do get frustrated and have to keep reminding myself that it is only Early Access and that this is GGG and yall do listen to your player base ( sometimes)

+1

Great feedback. Reflects a lot of how I feel too. Except for the FUN parts. You chose a warrior and had the inherent tankiness. This let you have some fun with bosses. I chose a mage and had to deal with countless 1-shots and frustration until I specced her into a tank with tons of Life and Armour. And I still get 1-shot sometimes.

Compared to PoE 1, this walking simulator is lacking a lot in the FUN department. I hope GGG fix that eventually.