What does this game feel like to you?

I remember D2 as a very slow game. But that was very long time ago and I was bad.

That being said, overall I'm very happy and enjoying myself. The campaign has a few unnecessary slog points like the two Dreadnought areas and the entire "past" area of A3 - suddenly throwing a lot of fast, high HP mobs at you.

But with the improved zero-hitbox dodge roll I'm able to skip most of the annoying and uninteresting zones and level in the fun ones.

The game is definitely slower. (I'm a PoE 1 veteran and first PoE 2 campaign playthrough took me 70h. Quite off from Jonathan's estimate of "50h for a new player".) But if you keep on top of your gear, keep upgrading it, remember that the game is balanced around trading, it's not that much harder than PoE 1.

I might even make an attempt at a deathless campaign eventually (something I've never managed to do in PoE 1).

I hope the access to early ascendancies gets fixed because it's stupid to be finishing the campaign with just one set of points. Maybe that's just expectations from PoE 1 leaking, but I'd love to see a GGG reply to this.

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Ankh_13#4218 wrote:

I might even make an attempt at a deathless campaign eventually (something I've never managed to do in PoE 1).

GL and HF with that!
I still remember my first Hardcore playthrough back in PoE 1.0, it was amazing :)

It feels like a dream. All of weirdness included.

a chore with no loot.

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Skellimancer#1250 wrote:

a chore with no loot.

Yep that's PoE 2 described perfectly in 5 words.

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HeroEvermore#0498 wrote:

To me it feels exactly like Grim Dawn. VERY slow. Doesn't remind me of Diablo at all. Heck barely reminds me of PoE1. Just looks like it.

I really hope this game can separate itself from Grim Dawn cause it feels like a clone right now.

Minus the ascendancy stuff, cause no Dev has made anything that unfun in ages.

WHAT!?!

ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?

ACT 1 IS LITERALLY A LOVE LETTER TO D2, ESPECIALLY THE CEMETERY. At least visually.

Grim Dawn? 😂🤣🤣😂

I like the gameplay until I get to a boss, smashing a boss for 10 minutes and getting oneshotted is no fun at all.

I can not even get myself to play the game now, even though I may have found the solution for my frequent freezes. The amount of gear you get you can use is really bad, at least in POE1 you would find something you could use (and 200 million useless item).

Solid core

piece of crap it's no longer poe it's soulslike poe...

Endgame is an unfun chore. PoE 2 is amazing as far as gameplay is concerned, but there are so many contradictory and antiquated design elements, I definitely won't be playing after early access if this nonsense isn't addressed.

GGG, it's 2024, and unfun design philosophy has got to go. You can get exactly the same results with a positive reframing. Here are some of the worst offenders:

(1) One-portal maps.
(2) XP loss.
(3) Ascendency point gating.

The git-gud crowd will defend all of these, but their opinions* should be ignored. This is the same crew who argued for dropping your inventory in old-school MMO games. They are allowed to have their opinions, of course, but please ignore them. The same outcomes can be accomplished positively. "Congratulations, you completed a map without dying!" Now the popup has the same quest reward selection we're familiar with. Choose your reward, degen gamer, and know you're better than the casuals! As a casual gamer, I'm fine with this. Let me have a few portals, and I might play this game after early access.

Take 5 minutes ago. I was 96% through level 77, but an adventurous Warbringer took a step too far. Now he's 86% leveled, having burned the last waystone generating any type of relevant experience. Wonderful, my time-sink hobby has now given me a time-sink chore before I can advance my character. This character, of course, has 4 Ascendancy points, since getting the next two is as pleasing as a root canal.

There seems to be a disconnect between the actual game and the philosophy of mechanics. Go check out reaction videos of gamers first interactions with the PoE skill tree. Lots of cool stuff to experiment with, right? Not! The unfun, punishing, bad* design philosophy scares you away from experimentation. The lack of a "chill" endgame option is a major symptom of dysfunction. I'm typing this right now, because I would prefer to not be playing the game. This fact screams bad design! "Git-gud, maybe this game isn't for you. Try D4 herp-derp-derp." These dummies will be happy as long as they stay ahead. Implement this positively, GGG.

TLDR; games as work is old and stupid. You can refrain from punishing players while keeping difficulty. I'm a middle-aged guy who doesn't mind microtransactions to keep a game funded. But there is no chance in hell you're getting anything beyond the $50 I've spent if you cater so heavily to unfun enjoyers.

*These are opinions, of course. If you like punishing gameplay not related to difficulty, and if this exists on release, please enjoy. I'll play something else.