Leveling (the Campaign) in POE2 is Broken (with Suggestions to fix it)

I have not been doing the maps and so on (others have that covered) but I have played through the campaign on all ascendancys now and some are problematic to level in the campaign with the class' skills. The main problem is evident in the community advice for leveling. Look at YouTube videos and content creators and the advice is always the same. No matter what your class, level with a bow or a monk. Most people talk about lightning arrow and lightning rod as the best way to do the whole campaign. Perhaps I am just "unique" but when I have to use the skills of another class not related to my class to level that is a problem. When GGG wanted to put more emphasis on a good campaign I am not sure they wanted everyone with lightning arroe. However the solution is not to nerf but to buff. All ascendancys should have a natural path through the game. My experiences leveling and suggestions:

First of all the first gem you get on the beach you should be able to cut it any way you want as long it is a skill that can be used with the beach weapon equipped.

For the classes I found the following:

Monk: Falling thunder is junk unless you have power charges and given the quantity on monsters there is no way to base the class on power charge acquisition. You dash in to killing palm something and you are body blocked pinned and dead.

Suggestion: Change killing Palm to generate 1 power charge every 2 seconds if you have used killing palm in the last 6 seconds. This would stabilize power charge and make falling thunder viable. Also up the damage of glacial cascadebefore the final spike by 50%.

Warrior: Wow this is a hard one to level. Its tough for him to even beat the devourer because he has to stand in pools of poison and has no tank yet. One of the main problems is his mobility with rolling slam. It is super slow and you WILL get chunked if you use it so warriors make do with default attack. Earthquake is still to low to be of use so there are no more tools left.

Suggestion: Increase the attack speed of rolling slam by 50% and add damage for earthquake before it erupts like frost bomb.

Mercenary: Another great idea that missed in the implementation a lot. They are significantly weaker than a ranger and there would be no reason to play merc over a ranger. The reality is that its a tough life to start off a merc if you are using his skills.

Suggestion: Get rid of reload on mercenary and instead replace it with a charge generation mechanism similar to second wind. If I am playing and shooting with speed I generate charges of the bolts and expend them when firing. Bigger skills like fragmentation rounds should charge slower and accumulate up to 2 or 3 shots max whereas basic attack would hold up to 10 charges and refresh faster.

Ranger: She is good in leveling. I Highly suspect lightning rod / arrow will get nerfect but I would encourage GGG to still keep it viable for campaign.

Sorc: Again good. Spark / Flame wall combo levels nicely and a lot of witches use this to bliz the campaign. Again be careful with nerfs.

Witch: This one is a bit of an enigma. Unearth with contagion has some cool stuff but frankly contagion is just too weak. By the end of Act 2 your DPS is going to crap and thats with multiple stacking poisons.

Suggestion: Make Contagion have a 2m AOE and a 200% increase in duration. Also apply the multiplied damage when it spreads but apply that damage boost to any other chaos DOT spread with contagion.

"

Kraythax#2592 wrote:

First of all the first gem you get on the beach you should be able to cut it any way you want as long it is a skill that can be used with the beach weapon equipped.

Why does your title have nothing to do with your post?

Regarding the quoted comment: you literally get another completely free skill gem after you leave the beach lol. Seconds later.

The purpose of that first area is to not have you experiment with skills: its to teach you how to dodge, use flasks, and basic attack patterns. Then...literally seconds later, you can choose to go a completely different direction.

The way it is now, it completely STOPS any form of confusion right from the start. What good is a bow gem if you have no bow? A mace gem if you have no mace? Etc. If it were 100% open in the very first area, brand new players would 100% be lost. I know you said "as long as its the same weapon type" but that's not really helpful either....half the "level 1" skills ONLY WORK if they are paired with another skill.

That said...some of the starting skills DO suck balls.

Sometimes CHOICE is the wrong choice. At the very very very absolute very beginning of the game, this is especially true. It's why the first few points in the passive tree on any class don't really branch anywhere and are completely different from each other.

Things will get balanced based on the vast amounts of data GGG has. I honestly think that feedback on balance is quite useless at this point.

I'd also add: skill gems aren't exactly rare. Any player worth his salt will find another skill themselves if they aren't having a good time with the "starter" skill.

In fact, I'd be surprised if a brand new player didn't have like 8 different skills equipped by the time they were level 5


I'd almost argue the opposite of your entire point: the starter skills SHOULD be the most clunky and awful skills to use, because it encourages you to experiment with other things. If a skill feels "too good" or "too powerfuL" right from the start, it stops any need for you to change that skill for a LONG time. This is the problem with things like lightning arrow and spark.

This is where I would disagree. The game should be fun from the start, not a torture festival.

"

Kraythax#2592 wrote:

This is where I would disagree. The game should be fun from the start, not a torture festival.

Exactly!

I really don't envision myself doing this campaign (It is just 3 acts so far... imagine 6) over and over again every three months or to roll an ALT.

"

Fhrek#4437 wrote:

"

Kraythax#2592 wrote:

This is where I would disagree. The game should be fun from the start, not a torture festival.

Exactly!

I really don't envision myself doing this campaign (It is just 3 acts so far... imagine 6) over and over again every three months or to roll an ALT.

Having done it 12 times on my account as well as my brother's, its a bit of a slog but you get quick at it fast. Some day a content creator will distrill some strategy on it. The real key is to know where the bosses are and stop full clearing. However, I shouldnt have to play ranger to roll a warrior.

"

Kraythax#2592 wrote:

Having done it 12 times on my account as well as my brother's, its a bit of a slog but you get quick at it fast. Some day a content creator will distrill some strategy on it. The real key is to know where the bosses are and stop full clearing. However, I shouldn't have to play ranger to roll a warrior.

Two Things:
1) a less-than-the-most-powerful skill doesn't equal "not fun". And as I said...if you IMMEDIATELY hate that skill, you can change it within seconds upon entering the very first goddamn town.

2) In the above quote, you just described WHY its fine the way it is. You don't REALLY know things are bad...until someone tells you its bad. If someone, for the very first time stepping into the game, is playing a warrior: they are progressing very slowly but they are presumably having fun (which is why they CONTINUE to play with the warrior). Otherwise....there are multiple solutions available to you immediately: change your class and/or change your skill.


There is imbalance, but the other things you are describing are just non-existent. Thousands of players didn't play ranger to roll a warrior...and they are still playing. I hate when people try to project their own sense of "fun" onto others.

Even the most basic noob can figure out "If it isn't fun, I shoudl probably change something", but when that happens is unique to THEM.



Your detailed criticisms of the skills and why they don't function well is good enough. You don't need to obscure it with subjective commentary. Also try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who HASN'T played the campaign 12 times already.