I love 0.2.0, Don't change it!

Jokes on them, the best builds in 0.1 blasted everything. I am similarly blasting everything and simply bruteforcing my way through bosses without bothering with their mechanics.

It's almost like this "vision" doesn't work with the current game and players use PoE 1 tactics. Not because they enjoy them but because they work best with what we are given

I've so far liked it. Not yet through normal campaign even. Playing on HC and I've had a fair few wipes. Pretty much just silly stuff like face-tanking the highest-damage skill by a boss.

There's some things that need fixing. A couple of things massively overperforming. A larger amount of stuff underperforming to the point of being useless. Almost all new uniques are way too weak for what they offer. Usually the issue is just that the base DPS is so low, that even if whatever niche they offer is good, they still do way too little damage compared to even an average rare of the same level.

I don't find the monster movement speed a huge issue for the most part. The majority of monsters move fine. You can backpedal out of their reach.

EHP and general survivability is a bit too weak. The game gets too tiring and exhausting to play if you are always at a risk of death when playing a "normal", non-overpowerfoming build that doesn't screen clear. If at any moment a rare might appear that has the potential to kill you if you do a single mistake, it's just too much, considering that a core feature of ARPGs is that they sort of fluctuate between calmer sections and then get harder when you step up in area level or when you go for a bigger boss or such.

Almost all the new uniques are way too weak. It's not even that they are weaker than the best rares; it's that they are significantly weaker than an average rare of the same level.

There's too much noise in the passive tree. Look at say, monk builds. Everyone always takes Mindful Awareness, no one ever takes Life over Death. Everyone always takes Spectral Ward, no one ever takes Shadow Dancing. Even tho they path to just as easily. Why does Finesse even exist? No one would ever take it.

Some of the maps are tad bit too large for the movement speeds. Worst offender: Act 3's The Matlan Waterways. Ugh, I dread to play through that again, and again, and again..

Some attacks need a tiny bit of tuning for the animations and key frames and speeds. Spear and mace don't flow very well.

Overall tho it's good that GGG sticks to the core vision of making PoE2 tad bit more tactical and careful. In a few places it feels a slight bit overdone at the moment. I'm not sure if the map size and the rate at which currency and loots drops supports a slow-paced take to the game; realistically, you have to run scren-clearing builds to be able to e.g. craft effectively (not that there was many options for effective crafting) or find good gear effectively.

Still, I prefer this over PoE1. Not sure I could ever return to that after playing PoE2.

I agree with OP.

Having an ARPG where you get satisfaction from overcoming challenges and character development is nice for a change. There's infinite amount of idle-clicker ARPGs with 1 button explosions and zooming around the map.
Keep PoE2 what it is, no need to make another PoE1.

People who are constantly whining on every single outlet are the people who don't bother to make even a slight effort to figure out wtf to do in game. These people are entitled and should not be taken as majority.

Majority of people are actually enjoying the game and are already doing maps whilst the bozos who only whine are still stuck in normal campaign because they blame everything else except themselves.

Stay true to PoE2 vision GGG! Ignore the haters.

"

Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

It's almost like this "vision" doesn't work with the current game and players use PoE 1 tactics. Not because they enjoy them but because they work best with what we are given

Yeah, seems like an inherent problem when there's this much complexity and this many build options. There's always going to be something that overperforms.

I don't think that's always a huge problem. As long as the non-overperforming options don't feel too bad to play in comparison.

When a few builds can clear a whole screen in a second or can e.g. facetank boss mechanics or can kill bosses before they get to any mechanics, while the "normal" builds are not half slower but more like five times slower, then there's a problem.

Another problem is when most builds just die so easily that you can never relax. PoE2 is a game that expects you to play hundreds of hours before you've cleared all bosses and tried out a handful of interesting builds to close to their maximum performance. If those hundreds of hours are full-on "I might die at any rare at any time when doing level appropriate content", it gets exhausting.

TBH the worse aspect of POE2 is to have brought that unsufferable soulslike community in. These guys can't wait to sprout obvious advices and yell their self validating "git gud" and "you need to have patience, strategy and blah blah blah" like souls like games are 10.000 feet above any other game in terms of difficulty when it's really not.

Bro, your favorite game can be finished with a damn blindfold on. And you dare call that difficult ?

THe current state of the game is not horrible because it's too hard, it's because it's BORING

"

Varn76#2904 wrote:

TBH the worse aspect of POE2 is to have brought that unsufferable soulslike community in. These guys can't wait to sprout obvious advices and yell their self validating "git gud" and "you need to have patience, strategy and blah blah blah" like souls like games are 10.000 feet above any other game in terms of difficulty when it's really not.

Bro, your favorite game can be finished with a damn blindfold on. And you dare call that difficult ?

THe current state of the game is not horrible because it's too hard, it's because it's BORING

YOU find it boring, perhaps you were a fan of PoE1? That is, in fact, a completely different game sir. It's not meant to be the same, not even close. If you enjoy blasting your way through screens of monsters at a time without worrying about detailed tactics or strategy, then perhaps you should just stick to PoE1? GGG has been very vocal about continuing to support that game.

Especially if you take issue with the sort of personality of person that a slower paced, more challenging combat attracts.

Also, Skill issue. Git gud.

"

Varn76#2904 wrote:

TBH the worse aspect of POE2 is to have brought that unsufferable soulslike community in. These guys can't wait to sprout obvious advices and yell their self validating "git gud" and "you need to have patience, strategy and blah blah blah" like souls like games are 10.000 feet above any other game in terms of difficulty when it's really not.

Bro, your favorite game can be finished with a damn blindfold on. And you dare call that difficult ?

THe current state of the game is not horrible because it's too hard, it's because it's BORING

Right; there's a reason we play PoE2 and not Souls-likes. Of course many play both, but while there's overlap, there's also a significant amount of players here who prefer Diablo-style ARPGs over Souls-like ARPGs.

Taking some ideas from Souls-likes for Diablo-likes is fine and can be good for the game. Overall tho there are a fundamental core differences that necessitate to stick closer to one than the other. For example, the itemization. You kind of have to farm for currency and items - and indeed, rolling that awesome rare is a huge central part of the game - which means you'll be spending a lot of time going through the same maps again and again. Souls-likes don't really have that, and the amount of players who play a boss they've already beaten more than a couple of times before shelving the game is pretty small. The vast majority of Souls-like players simply beat the game once, killing most bosses once, and are done with it.

Diablo-style ARPGs are different and you are sort of supposed to start again on new chars, grind some zones repeatedly for items, etc. So the experience of doing just that needs to feel smooth enough.

I think the synthesis would be that you sort of have to be very careful and tactical when going to areas above your level, or when going for hard bosses, etc, but the ordinary experience of fighting your average magic packs and rare monsters (yet alone white mobs) mustn't force the same "tactical" and careful approach, especially not if you have chosen to be overleveled or left out some juicing options if talking about maps. If you force that, then you also have to account for it in itemization, drop frequencies, map sizes, content variety, etc, and then you no longer have a D2-clone.

"

Ironkilt#6473 wrote:

The mission statement of PoE2 was to be a slower, more tactical game than PoE1 and that is what attracted me to the game in the first place. The idea of a souls-like, ARPG crossover was exactly the game I wanted to play. I am enjoying the current state of the game quite a lot.

I realize the current patch is getting a lot of loud and negative feedback, but are those people the target audience? I feel like a lot of the streamers and influencers giving the game negative reviews right now are people who really just want to be playing PoE1 with updated graphics and WSAD movement. People who got used to the state of the game in season 1 and had no interest in the initial mission statement of a slower, more tactical game. People can be fickle, they forget that this is still early access and things are going to change. They may not be able to find success with the same play styles or strategies they did last patch.

When you take 0.2.0 as a stand alone game, I think it's excellent. The challenge is real, and so are the accomplishments. Maybe some slight tuning could help, like how when I party with my friend we find ~10 exalts an act but solo players are finding ~1; or how melee players are having trouble dealing enough damage to the boss in the Molten Vault to kill it before they run out of distence. However the challenge has made me look at things a different way, it has made me try all sorts of new strategies, to use my brain rather than follow a guide and to blaze my own trail. Every boss I down, every piece of fat loot I find is a massive sense of accomplishment accompanied by a dopamine hit like no other.

I feel like the negative feedback might be overwhelming for GGG right now, which is why I feel compelled to voice my opinion. If you feel similar, please post a response describing why you feel this way, or telling a story of an awesome experience you've had in 0.2.0.




Thanks for all the love and dedication GGG ♥

Tell me a your drug dealer contact please.

@Ironkilt Exactly my point. Thanks for proving it dumbo.

"

Varn76#2904 wrote:

TBH the worse aspect of POE2 is to have brought that unsufferable soulslike community in. These guys can't wait to sprout obvious advices and yell their self validating "git gud" and "you need to have patience, strategy and blah blah blah" like souls like games are 10.000 feet above any other game in terms of difficulty when it's really not.

My observation of our forum trolls is that they never mention playing any hard games like Dark Souls. They play one-button builds in POE and think they are god gamers and then talk down to anyone offering feedback on the game.

Now, within a Dark Souls community, those "git gud" trolls are insufferable, but our Path of Exile trolls are even worse. At least the Dark Souls people are presumably good gamers.