POE 2 EA feedback, mismatch pacing, identity crisis of POE 2

TLDR, Pacing is way too off in POE 2. Adjust your pacing and focus on only 1, do you want to make a slow pace POE 2 gameplay or a fast pace POE 1 gameplay. Don't mix it in. Game is way too off as a gamer playing a different game. It doesn't feel like I'm playing 1 game but rather 1 game with 2 identity.

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Here is an EA review from a POE 1 Veteran playing POE 2 after playing multiple classes, reaching end game, doing all pinnacle content, playing through campaign multiple times (yes campaign is boring after a few playthrough).

POE 2 is having an identity crisis. The "VISION" is to be slow pace which defines POE 2 experience, but the game is mixing in with POE 1 playstyle, mechanics, skill and the pacing is very off.

I feel like the intended vision for poe2 is to be slow. The gameplay should be slow pace, meaning monster and player pace are the same. But monster pacing is not in sync with player pacing throughout the campaign and at end game POE 2 pacing just doesn't make sense anymore.
Things fell out in later in campaign and especialy in end game onwards where poe 2 slow playstyle struggles when monster is at a faster pace than player and you're better off using poe 1 playstyle 1 button mash to match the pacing, rather than slowly building combo and executing it, you want a fast kill or be kill 1 button skill spam.

Here is some example from act 1 on the pacing issue (Warrior Playthrough)(I choose warrior over other classes because this can demonstrate what POE 2 "VISION" was supposed to be with raise shield/parry)

Act 1 (Until Freythorn)
Playstyle is very fun and much like the POE 2 "VISION" which is enjoyable. You get to interact with mechanics like block/parry/dodge roll then basic attack, building stun momentum then heavy stun. Truly the POE 2 experience as intended and all those mechanics really fit into POE 2 slow playstyle that the developer want to. In fact, it is quite enjoyable when you're able to pull off a combo and it is rewarded with a powerful interaction that is very balance still. The boss mechanics are easy to understand even during first playthrough, which serves as a tutorial to more difficult mechanics. It is very fun for this period. The pacing is "JUST right".

Act 1 - Upon reaching Freythorn
Then when you enter Freythorn, the monster pace suddenly ramps up, you have more monster density, faster monster attack speed and movement speed. The damage is higher too. Especially rare monster with temporal bubbles/mana siphoner which is an Archnemesis modifier and should not be introduced until later in the game to balance the pacing. This reminds me of Sentinel 3.18 Pre-nerf AN mods where you get 4 mod invul, ice wall, heralding minion and 1 more mod in act 2, chasing you while you can't do anything. The monster speed is like poe 1 where skill like Rolling Slam and Earthquake feels bad because of the animation and delay for aftershock with small aoe compare to shockwave totem where the AOE is bigger and only need 1 button to set it up. And raise shield/parrying can already start feeling bad and the payoff is very poor compare to putting your Shockwave Totem and Boneshatter for shockwave to heavy stun and walk around just like in poe 1. During those 2 seconds for you to set up a parry/raise shield or earthquake the monster has perform more action than the player. The game favors fast skill with fast payoff in this scenario rather than waiting for opportunity to use combo because monster pacing is way faster than the player pacing. This is very POE 1 playstyle.

Act 1 - Upon reaching Ogham Farm/Village
The pacing now is like POE 2, which fits the playstyle well again. Except for some circumstances where wolves were attacking twice your attack speed. Which is very weird and doesn't fit in well into the slow pace of POE 2.

Act 1 - Upon reaching Ogham Manor
This now feels like POE 1 playstyle and very fast pace, doesn't fit with POE 2 slow mechanics at all. Monster density, ground dots, fast moving swarm that overwhelms you. At this pace, the POE 2 which has animation time, combo setup pace and raising shield/parrying just feels bad when you get swarm.

Throughout the acts we'll see varying pacing which is like an identity crisis of POE 2 which their mechanics like Toxic Growth/Volcanic Fissure/Hammer of the Gods takes 1 second to use, but monster swarm at you before you can even set the combo up, just doesn't fit in well with the pacing. While POE 1 playstyle skill excels at this fast pace without the huge delay. At some pace you can execute the combo, while some map pace is just out of order for you to use that playstyle and it feels bad. (Act 2 Balbala the Traitor (Also fortress boss) is a good example of how bad the pacing mismatch is. The boss flying around throwing stuff at you make it very difficult to even set-up a 2 combo skill. Either you pre-set up and pray that she flies into that area to execute your combo, or you basic attack her to death, else you have to swap to POE 1 playstyle just for certain scenario if you can't cope with the "VISION".

Then comes end-game mapping. It is a cluster mess and a backward QoL compare to POE 1. The new changes made to get atlas passive is horrible. I've reached Red Map T15, irradiate for level/precursor for mechanics and juice it, but without any atlas passive. Why? Because throughout the map rush (Very good improvement, you can now progress easier because you can map sustain better than previously), I can obtain higher tier map, but no way to get atlas passive unless I move towards the objective which takes forever. And I only got 2 passive points which is very funny considering the progression system is that messed up. If i want more atlas points, I'm forced to waste time pathing towards the objective and "SUCCESSFULLY" complete the objective. And it is very punishing and time wasting that if i FAILED the objective, I have to waste a few hours just to get into a new area that has that objective. It is also not user friendly compared to the current POE 1 atlas, where you just complete map objectives for atlas points and you can run ANY map you want rather than have to path your way around the cluster mess that is backward progression. What POE 1 improves on, POE 2 don't even bother looking because since a few years ago, POE 2 direction is far away from POE 1. in 0.1 we can obtain points by progressing maps, which is decent and beginner friendly. Then In 0.2 they made it worst again. It's like every patch the game gets worst. The dev "VISION" is to make the game slower and easier for new player but this is NOT NEW PLAYER FRIENDLY at all.

Now comes the pacing for end-game map.
Here it is very obvious, you go POE 1 playstyle zoom zoom one shot overpower everything, or you just suffer from POE 2 pacing. Hammer of the Gods few seconds animation for the hammer to fall? If you juiced your map hard enough, before it finish channel, you'll either dodge roll or spam potion and repeat until successful or your potion runs out first. If you're successful? Monster chase you backwards and out of the hammer AOE. So you spend 1 min+ for 1 rare monster and you can't use the skill as intended because monster pacing is very different.
Another example, Toxic Growth and Poison to explode. It takes 0.7 seconds and even with high skill speed it still is long, once you jump back monster swarm you and before you can shoot your poison out, you take too much for delivering too little. And guess what? you're running away and the monster is not at your Toxic Pods. What an "Equivalent" exhange.
Or perfect strike? You have to wait for the perfect opportunity to execute your skill, but before you can execute, you have to find an opportunity itself to use the skill, else you're face tanking rapid assaults by the monster, or eat the boss big phat skill.

The pacing is just way too off for POE 2 playstyle, and leanings towards POE 1 playstyle.

IMHO, choose one, POE 1 pacing and mechanics or POE 2 pacing and mechanics. Don't mix them in, it is disgusting horrible. Messing up the pacing/mechanics is what caused your so called skill "PARRY/RAISE SHIELD" to feel so bad at end game that people don't even want to use them. If you are going to continue to design more POE 2 skill mechanics, then you might as well assimilate all the POE 1 into POE 2 mechanics and pace so the skill is as your "VISION" and for god sake, adjust the pacing of monster to fit in POE 2 "VISION" as well. This will give you an IDENTITY at least. And make the map smaller/smaller pack size/ smaller mob density/ slower speed to at least match the POE 2 pacing and mechanics. Adjust the reward to compensate for the smaller map/smaller pack size and smaller mob density. Also adjust ascendancies, passive nodes and power level overall to balance so that it can fit into POE 2 better, that means introducing some health nodes to all classes so they can get some HP rather than focusing on ES alone (Yea slightly nerf ES, for balancing purpose I feel it is a must), don't have to throw a lot of it in, a few 3%-7% hp node for each classes, with more for those melee classes, and less for those range classes makes a big difference, adjusting the damage for melee/range so that it is balanced, not some skill that is overpower while the other feels insignificant because this makes build diversity really bad. By reducing monster power level and player power level, you can sync them to fit into your POE 2 "VISION", instead of nerfing everything to the ground from player point of view, but buffing the monster which I think is very bad, including the stealth loot changes, it is just unfun and unrewarding to even play.

For now, I tested what I want to test and am done for Dawn of the Hunt and I can only hope for a new league for POE 1 (probably delay again seeing how it's almost a year).

Amen, well said. I dont want POE2 to be POE1 but like you said its to mixed up which is a strange and unfun mix. And here i thought POE1 has a long campaign, POE2 said hold my beer lol.