Low Skill POE1 veterans are trying to ruin POE2. GGG please commit to your vision.

Hello. I have been largely having a good time with poe2 and loved my early experiences but find the game becoming too easy as it progresses which is an unusual form of progression. But anyway... sorry for the cynical post but i want to get this off my chest because i don't want this game to be ruined.

GGG's vision thus far has given me the greatest aRPG experience I have ever had. From a player who normally doesn't care for these mindless types of games. When GGG said they wanted to create an evolution of the aRPG they weren't kidding. I died a lot in Act 1 (monk) until I became better at the game and those experiences were some of the best I've ever had in a game. It has been downhill since then unfortunately but with rebalancing that can change. Having to engage with the bosses and have long drawn out battles where you feel like david vs goliath were exciting and compelling. imagine showing up at a boss and having to engage w the mechanics and learn what the boss does? to me that is fun. but there are players who disagree.

--edit-- the difficulty goes away immediately the moment you find an imbalanced weapon.


And personally I am sick and tired of POE1 veterans (and their whiny feedback) trying hard to ruin this game and turn it into some zoom fest easy mode ''i'm a god'' power fantasy. It already looks to be a bit that way based on watching streamers in the end game. One hit and the entire screen of enemies explodes. great ''evolution'' of gameplay (sarcasm). It's like it devolves into the same mind numbing nonsense as the original. One button, shut off your brain gameplay but with slower base movement speed.

What I loved most honestly was the early footage where they had ''overtuned'' enemies and these star streamers kept dying. it meant the game could be challenging. combat that rewarded you for using an assortment of skills instead of being a one button andy.


I wish they stuck true to their vision and created a more challenging meaningful game. maybe it can evolve in that manner by launch. I don't know. They listen to the worst feedback by people who are used to poe1 and want the worst aspects of poe1 to define poe2.

these ironically... Low Skill gamers who often follow build guides and always trade for the best loot and rush through the game from point A to Z as quickly as possible. it's unfortunate that those players are the standard bearers for the community even in poe2. they are jaded and their entire identity relies on being ''the best'' in path of exile.

i watched asmongold for example struggle to play a warrior and he went through more than half of act 1 using only one skill... a shockwave totem and his basic attack and blamed the game and said ''warrior sucks''. ''melee sucks''. when he was playing extremely poorly and refused to use the mechanics and skills that were introduced. this is a skill issue. same situation for everyone who complains about melee. it was a skill issue for me too. i died a lot at first with a monk... and then i got better at the game and learned how to play properly. imagine that. imagine having to use skill in an ARPG? Unusual concept I know. aka Evolution of the genre. Since POE1 didn't require much skill. Just follow guides and buy the best loot and you are on your way to the end game. One button and the screen can die.

anyway, he rerolled into a witch... his minions became powerful and he found a good weapon.... and he just sat back and didn't have to engage with any boss mechanics and just melted the act 1 boss easily and rapidly.

these unskilled gamers are the standard bearers for path of exile. the devs really need to stick true to their vision instead of these 1 button andys and 2 skill wonders. I play POE2 the way it was intended. I'm not going to pretend i'm a pro but I am having So Much Fun with this. My Lightning/Ice Monk Invoker has a full skill bar and I even ran out of slots. I want at least 1 more ability slot to have more versatility and combos at my disposal. it feels exhilarating to chain one travel skill into another and pulling off crazy combos and yet if i watch an end game streamer... they are just using ice strike on repeat and it's such a boring stream. it's like ''kill as fast as possible with the minimal effort as possible'' and somehow that translate to ''good gamer''. i'm sorry but it doesn't. these streamers are just finding ways to have the biggest Easy mode as possible. So it's no wonder they hate POE2's original vision of a more challenging methodical game with meaningful combat. no hate on asmongold btw... i just wanted to use his experience as an example.


The POE2 ''meta''.. similar to poe1 in general is all about cheating your way to the end with buying the best gear with exalts and pretending like you're a big shot. You're basically turning on Easy Mode. If you beat a boss with the best weapons.... that doesn't take nearly as much skill. It is the opposite of skill. David vs goliath.... well if you're a goliath yourself because of your gear you don't really get to have that experience do you? You're the Goliath, he is the David. So these same players couldn't handle it in early testing? And they wanted the game to become easier? What a shame. Sadly it seemed GGG listened to this unfortunate feedback.


GGG: Stop listening to easy mode gamers and consider giving us a Hard mode please. Or rebalance the normal mode and consider making Act 1 easier for newcomers and then make act 3 progressively harder.... and follow that mentality towards Act 6 and end game. Why is act 2 easier than act 1? Why is act 3 easier than act 2? Why is cruel easier than act 3? etc etc. Most games follow an opposite formula and when you reach finals levels you expect a challenge.


TLDR: Rebalance the game to make act 1 easier and every other act harder. And add more life to bosses in Act 3 and beyond. Especially for Cruel. Act 1 cruel the mobs in the manor are much harder than the boss fight itself which i beat on the first try.



Additionally: (new edit) I want the most people to enjoy this game as possible. We need to think beyond ourselves. If you like the game to be easier then you deserve and easier game. If I want it harder I deserve that option as well.

This is why 3 difficulties would make sense. People can play it the way they want to play it.

Easy, Normal, Hard, and they can give them fancy names. All with their own economies. Problem solved for everyone.

They could even add more loot drops to the easy mode.

The Vision will kill the game.

I don't think they're low skill. They represent all spectrum of skills, and the real issue is disappointment. That PoE 2 is not "PoE 1 but better". Despite months of GGG telling us, it's going to be a significantly different game, that playerbases may not overlap by much.

I'm having fun, although I see (and post about) many issues. I can see myself as someone playing both games eventually, but the controller-friendliness of PoE 2 wins my heart by a small margin.

--added this to the original post--

their vision has given me the greatest aRPG experience I have ever had. From a player who normally doesn't care for these mindless types of games. When GGG said they wanted to create an evolution of the aRPG they weren't kidding.

A lot of people lack vision and want the same old boring niche crap that poe1 aspired to be. POE1 had a ceiling. it reached it. meanwhile people who gave up on aRPGs because they found them too mindless and boring are capable of having a home in POE2 with it's more rewarding gameplay.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

The Vision will kill the game.

dumbest post i ever heard. i think its about people that loves the game try to help ggg and want the game to be the best in the world. its about feedback, give and take

And then there are players who are basically "I'm not having fun therefore noone should and the game should die".

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

The Vision will kill the game.

love the game? they only love it when it's easy. they hate it and whine and cry like small children when it gets hard.

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Chrohnos#3552 wrote:

dumbest post i ever heard. i think its about people that loves the game try to help ggg and want the game to be the best in the world. its about feedback, give and take

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Chrohnos#3552 wrote:

dumbest post i ever heard. i think its about people that loves the game try to help ggg and want the game to be the best in the world. its about feedback, give and take

This!

I am so happy this game isn't PoE1, eventhough I have 2500 hours in that game. People are just dissapointed because it's different. And they can't handle that so they have to say in this forum that 'PoE2 is the worst game ever'. It's getting boring.

Also, doesn't anybody understand that it's version 0.1, not 1.0? There's a lot of balancing to be done for sure. But the vision of the game is so insanely good.

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IcyMistV#5121 wrote:

their vision has given me the greatest aRPG experience I have ever had. From a player who normally doesn't care for these mindless types of games. When GGG said they wanted to create an evolution of the aRPG they weren't kidding.

A lot of people lack vision and want the same old boring niche crap that poe1 aspired to be. POE1 had a ceiling. it reached it. meanwhile people who gave up on aRPGs because they found them too mindless and boring are capable of having a home in POE2 with it's more rewarding gameplay.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

The Vision will kill the game.

First, PoE 2 has nothing rewarding in its gameplay.
Second, you don't care about PoE 1 which is one of the best arpgs on the market? So you actually don't like that genre. This is just a parody of a soulslike game that is failing at even being that. If PoE 1 is boring to you, you aren't the target audience of either games. You won't be around every 3 months for leagues and GGG certainly won't be getting enough mtx purchases from the few people defending the horrible state the game is in atm. It will change sooner or later, into something that generates more profit and retains more players. Because people enjoy fun games. And PoE 2 ain't fun. HC SSF and Ruthless exist for those 0.1% that want it. The "difficulty" in PoE 2 is fake. It's not hard, its tedious and boring.