My PoE 2 review

First, I played PoE 1 from closed beta to late 2014. I did quit because it was too grindy and hadnt time.

In PoE 2 I have 140 hours played and at this moment I feel its not anymore rewarding enough. My char is 91 ranger. I know its rookie number to any hardcore PoE fan, but Im not going to spend another 100 hours if its not rewarding. I was hoping PoE 2 would have been more casual friendly.


What I like:
-wasd -movement. This is so good and well done
-dodge mechanic. Works well
-bosses. They are annoying and good at the same time. I think bosses are in good situation with difficulty
-campaign. The story could be better but overall campaign felt great and exciting
-new gem system
-new respec system
-graphics and artistic style is good. Optimization needs work tho

What I dont like:

-atlas map. At first it looks cool but later its not fun. My problem is to move forward in map to find things like Citadels. And after 90lvl you dont want to waste t15 map on dull maps so instead you spend like T1 map just to move forward. Then you need to stack Towers and tablets to be able to farm mechanics. It is just too much work and wasted time to move forward and find good spots.
Also we need to be able to zoom out more in atlas map.

-level progression and death penalty. I would like to hit lvl 100 but I know its not wise to even try because it needs too much time and same time its not even relaxing as you are fearing to die and lose xp. I play the games to relieve stress, not to be more stressful :P

-gear progression. I really would like to be able to find my own gear. I hate trading but SSF feels just dumb and waste of time. Anyway, buying good gear isnt satisfying and being able to find/craft own gear should be achievable in meaningful time. +200 hours per character is too much, would like to play other specs and characters too.

-trading feels mandatory. This probably wont change because trade site etc are very good and works very well. However, i would like that trading would be removed or change SSF chars having much higher currency drop chance but remove the option to toggle SSF off. So toggling SSF on would mean you are permanently SSF but with higher currency drop chances etc.

-strongboxes. Black fog needs to be reworked. Some of the abilities like "casts lightning bolts smth" does just too much damage.

-trials and ascendancy. In my opinion they are just too hard.

-death too punishing. 10% xp loss, map loss, atlas map modifiers loss and loot loss is just too much. Absolutely not fun.


I like PoE 2 more than PoE 1 and I will wait for the patches. Probably will play for a moment before taking longer break. Its a good game but needs a bit more casual friendly progression curve.

Trading feeling borderline mandatory is my biggest complaint at the moment. My 76 deadeye has no good gear on that I actually dropped out crafted myself and my defensive stats are lacking way behind. It feels just as bad as launch Diablo 3 where the best way to progress was flipping items on the auction house instead of playing, except this time we have added friction for… reasons…