I really don't like POE1 in my POE2

Act 1-3 + Cruel = Campaign/Item & Gem growth/Challenge/Mechanics/Performance, 9/10 game at least. Its a top down view Dark Souls/Elden Ring like game with far juicier skills and much more mechanics because its an ARPG, best of both worlds, a winner and an evolution.

End Game...

Worse Mechanics - Whatever build diversity you had, is pretty much downgraded massively, you blast mobs with your one or two op skills

Challenge turns to Spam - That's just more monsters...oh and more monsters. Hit a breech or mirror? Even more monsters...How can you possibly survive, "easy", just stat yourself up to the high heavens and keep on attacking with high damage and cc's. Don't forget to spam dodge rolls! (without much sense of direction because you're covered by all directions...).
Oh look at my waystone, it says 100% more magic monsters, NICE.
Did I die? Oh and at least I can appreciate the game with less monsters, thanks for removing the breech/mirror!

Game Performance is really early access (End Game added visuals/assets) - Killed a rare monster? Oh what's this explosion about...my FPS is shot, how lovely. An altar, oh look at these blood waves, how cute...where's my FPS? Oh I'm outside, look at all this lovely scenery...that shader bar has a really cool green color!

Items and crafting are a complete bore - this weapon...doesn't have physical damage %...but it does have mana/stun/attributes/lower requirements...MAYBE, just maybe, this regal orb will hold promise to the one weapon that may be goo...ye why did I bother.
OH LOOK, these boots have mannnaaa
OH LOOK, these helmets have mannnnaaaa
let me touch them up with augmentation...oh lower requirements! That's fantastic!
STUN THRESHOLD!? Well why is there a charm system for that offers stun immunity when I can just...load myself full of stun threshold in every single piece of gear, that might be reeeeeally cool yo!


The TLDR (that's maybe TLDR)
I didn't come here to play POE1, the end game state is a complete counter to the fantastic potential of the game that you warm into.
I wouldn't rate end game over a 7/10 experience, you grind in cope of improvements, with limited skills and build diversity in favor of success/clear speed (+try and ignore the FPS spikes mate...more monsters are cool ye?)...they clearly lowered the divine orb drops because I guess the 1% of freaks were heavily succeeding so there's crafting and worthwhile trading enjoyment out the window.
The game needs serious thoughtful improvements to the players longevity and enjoyment of play and if I was GGG I would be taking this seriously if they want to sell cosmetics and more instead of possibly a huge heavy focus into more classes and ascendancy's because those things are nice but they're on the short end of the stick when it comes to the actual foundation of gameplay and crafting (which supposedly is an evolution of the ARPG).

Seems like the tough campaign is pointless when the endgame is just poe 1.

I don't like it either, but it's here to stay I'm afraid. For whatever reason GGG is scared of loosing the support of streamers and POE1 content creators (like it or not, they are the whales that buy the most MTX). And those "whales" love the POE 1 endgame "slot machine one button spam fest" type of gameplay.

I feel like their plan for POE 2 was to get new blood with trying a different approach to the start of the game in hopes of getting them hooked enough to stay for the completely different endgame.

And I will stand my ground on this opinion: streamers and POE 1 content creators ALWAYS decide the direction of both games; GGG only decides on the details.

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lupasvasile#5385 wrote:

And I will stand my ground on this opinion: streamers and POE 1 content creators ALWAYS decide the direction of both games; GGG only decides on the details.

They have an influence sure but they don't actually decide anything, they are more like cheerleaders for what GGG decides.. they have to be because their business is garnering attention/views for their 'content' of playing games, so by acting excited and like they are having fun it is like a long form advertisement, gets more people interested and in turn bring more business to them.

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Oblivionbringa#7895 wrote:

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lupasvasile#5385 wrote:

And I will stand my ground on this opinion: streamers and POE 1 content creators ALWAYS decide the direction of both games; GGG only decides on the details.

They have an influence sure but they don't actually decide anything, they are more like cheerleaders for what GGG decides.. they have to be because their business is garnering attention/views for their 'content' of playing games, so by acting excited and like they are having fun it is like a long form advertisement, gets more people interested and in turn bring more business to them.

If that were true then POE 1 would not be where it is now. If that was true Chris would not have just "retired', but continue with his original plan for the game.
These so called "advertisers" were there to continuously put pressure on GGG to steer the game in a direction only they enjoyed. And as streamers, they are always followed by hordes of loyal brainless followers.
You only have to read between the lines; everything is written there if you only want to see.

Streamers only make games worse; that's a fact from my point of view. With popularity comes arrogance, and with arrogance comes entitlement, and little by little they force their way into whatever hobby they like. Companies like money, so they will always bend. Reality is often disappointing.

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you grind in cope of improvements

not sure if this is a typo or intended, but grinding in cope in the most accurate way to describe trying to upgrade your gear without the trade site

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lupasvasile#5385 wrote:

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Oblivionbringa#7895 wrote:

"

lupasvasile#5385 wrote:

And I will stand my ground on this opinion: streamers and POE 1 content creators ALWAYS decide the direction of both games; GGG only decides on the details.

They have an influence sure but they don't actually decide anything, they are more like cheerleaders for what GGG decides.. they have to be because their business is garnering attention/views for their 'content' of playing games, so by acting excited and like they are having fun it is like a long form advertisement, gets more people interested and in turn bring more business to them.

If that were true then POE 1 would not be where it is now. If that was true Chris would not have just "retired', but continue with his original plan for the game.
These so called "advertisers" were there to continuously put pressure on GGG to steer the game in a direction only they enjoyed. And as streamers, they are always followed by hordes of loyal brainless followers.
You only have to read between the lines; everything is written there if you only want to see.

Streamers only make games worse; that's a fact from my point of view. With popularity comes arrogance, and with arrogance comes entitlement, and little by little they force their way into whatever hobby they like. Companies like money, so they will always bend. Reality is often disappointing.

[Removed by Support] Streamers aren't alone; if it was just streamers and not a majority of the community (who pay money), they wouldn't have said influence.

PoE1 got made because people decided to pay for it, and keep paying for it. PoE2 got made because people who play PoE1 decided to keep backing the company. It is utterly ludicrous to believe that the things that made PoE1 popular wouldn't be widely desired in PoE2, and things that actively work against what people enjoy about PoE1 wouldn't be decried in PoE2.

Streamers are generally a megaphone of what the popular opinions of the day are; this isn't true across the board and always, but generally speaking, popular opinion is popular for a reason.

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iadapt#7831 wrote:

not sure if this is a typo or intended, but grinding in cope in the most accurate way to describe trying to upgrade your gear without the trade site

Honestly it feels like the drop and stat finds are completely nerfed and boring to cater for 500k+ concurrent players trading, which obviously makes the solo experience a chore.

I'm having more potential fun trying a chaos or trial instance than slogging through a map with horrible Waystone punishments and an annoying quantity of monsters which you take care of easily or find that there's too many casters and/or "physical casters" that can near one shot you.

I was kinda hoping they would go in a different direction with PoE2. Starts off on a REALLY strong note then quickly fades into what made PoE1 boring. All about nuking everything instantly so you can ignore mechanics and move fast as possible at all times.

That wasn't fun in PoE1 and it isn't fun here. Wish they'd learn that.