POE2 isn't SLOW ENOUGH (new player feedback)

First, a disclaimer so that it's clear where I'm coming from:

I'm by no means a veteran player. I've only played the first game back in 2012 up until they wiped the beta progress for everyone. The game was good. It was the diablo 2 successor for me.

The appeal (at least for me) was the following:
1. you come up with an idea for a build
2. you make the best possible version of it
3. you progress and you DON'T DIE (not because you lose portals to maps or exp or your character but because a single death means your build is garbage)
4. you still have to pay SOME attention to pilot the build
5. the game doesn't become too easy up until the point you get the best possible gear, then it's OK, you've beat the game

Sure you could also look up someone else's build but you better make some homebrew out of it, because otherwise what's the point?
theorycrafting is a BIG part of the gameplay
if someone else does it for you then they're also playing the game for you
especially if the build is so optimized you only have to pick up the loot
it's like you've outsourced the actual fun to someone else and you're just doing the mouse clicking (albeit you're also experiencing unhealthy bursts of endogenous euphoretics perhaps)
that's why there was this HUGE passive tree marketed as a selling point
the devs KNEW theorycrafting was the biggest part of the genre's appeal but I digress

Now to the point:
People say the game is 'tedious', progress is 'slow', you're 'wasting time'
Tedious how? The mobs aren't dying fast enough? Fast enough for what? Compared to poe1? It's a different game. Your progress through the campaign is too 'slow'? Slow compared to what? Where are you trying to get so fast? To the endgame? To do what? Clear the maps? The maps aren't clearing themselves fast enough. Why do you want them to? The only explanation I see is that you want to HOARD a lot of currency as fast as possible for any reason. What you don't understand is that you're chasing ABSOLUTE numbers. If the game is 10 times slower and you're getting 10 times fewer currency items, these items still hold the same value. It's the opposite of inflation and it's inherently GOOD.

There is an obvious problem tho. Some builds play somewhat close to Poe1. Those gotta be nerfed. The problem is that for most people the game is slow and for others it's considerably faster. This DESTROYS theorycrafting and build variety because it takes a rare kind of player to deliberately build something vastly sub-optimal.

There's also a less obvious problem. The game is actually HALFWAY between fast and slow. Some mechanics and mobs belong to a faster game. Broadly speaking:
1. sometimes the size of a pack is humongous
2. some packs lunge at you from off screen at breakneck speed
those situations feel like it's poe1 and the game assumes I have some broken poe1 build that can one shot a few screenfuls of mobs with a single click

Also, one shots shouldn't exist. When you have too little ehp and defences is one thing, but unconditional hard coded one-shots shouldn't be allowed in a slow game, because then the 'slower progress' actually becomes an issue. I'm talking about that time themed boss in ascendancy trial. Maybe there are more. You shouldn't lose characters in a slower game because you made a single piloting mistake (like you missed a dodge roll or were too slow to react to a never before seen mechanic). Obviously because in a slower game it takes longer to build back up.

Encourage synergies more. Simply speaking there shouldn't be a build with 2 skills that is effective (lightning arrow deadeye is such a build if I'm not mistaken, although I'm too new to the game to know for sure, but such builds do exist). There should be effective builds that have varied rotations of skills that interact with each other. This must be upheld so that the actual PLAYING of the game by the PLAYER is happening even if the player is using someone else's build. Effective builds should require engagement and paying attention to what you're doing.

TL:DR
1. nerf builds that are easy to play
2. nerf builds that are clearing too fast
3. as you do the previous don't forget to nerf mobs and mechanics that are also poe1-fast
4. remove scripted one shots
5. remove respawning at checkpoints (or make it take like 8 seconds of unpauseable time)
6. make the game save your exact state and position when you log out from inside the trial rooms and such (currently you can just restart boss fights as logging out puts you before the last room)
7. but first remove scripted one shots

Otherwise the proverbial VISION seems GOOD to me
yeah maybe the honour system is a convoluted mess but the others are giving good feedback on it, I just wanted to express maybe some unorthodox opinions that aren't too often voiced.

ALSO, Devs please keep in mind that the forum is chock full of poe 1 vets, it's likely you aren't getting much feedback from the newcomers around here. But we're playing the GAME and it's pretty good so far

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brusin#1479 wrote:

1. sometimes the size of a pack is humongous
2. some packs lunge at you from off screen at breakneck speed
those situations feel like it's poe1 and the game assumes I have some broken poe1 build that can one shot a few screenfuls of mobs with a single click

Quite frankly, if I hadn't taken up frost wall, the game would've been way harder, especially the second half of act 3. It's one of the best defense skills imho, as it helps a lot against both the larger and faster mobs as well as many projectile attacks. Combined with a good defense setup, acts 1 - 3 cruel were almost a cakewalk with my frost stormweaver.

The clear speed is relatively low, though, but I don't mind that at all.