Dear Mark or John or Any Dev willing to read this

POE1 to me is modded D2. They took the D2 formula and asked what would it look like if this was on crack.

I have a lot of great memories and enjoy the first game. However the truth is that the first POE game is one of the most if not the most inaccessible game on the market.

This is simply because of the game's design. POE is unique in that it promotes genericness and dislikes specificity. What I mean by that is every passive point and skill is accessible to every class. This creates a fucking shit storm of balancing issues but it means endless interactions, bugs and builds that make for a game that can be played endlessly.

This while appealing to people that enjoy the chaotic nature of POE1, in my opinion doesn't have any real commercial reach or approachability. This is backed up by what I've seen and read in forums and comment sections. You either play the game for thousands of hours or you uninstall after being on the beach, there is no in-between.

This is where my only gripe with POE2 comes in. You say you want to make a more approachable game and design a streamlined skill system but then use the same passive tree from before. This tree system to me is the definition of illusion of choice. I can see what the devs wants me to do. I can see what skills with which supports and nodes I'm supposed to take. But then why try to present this with the facade of having a choice. Because if I didn't take the nodes I'm supposed to take my build would be either weak as fuck or unplayable. If there were genuine viable alternative variations for my build that were accessible via the passive tree I wouldn't think of this as a problem but that's just not the case. For certain ascendancies you have to build a certain way. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I think it makes the game easier having characters in line with player expectations in terms of skill sets and abilities.

But this is the problem. You have a more streamlined skill system which effectively gimps your passive system, so why don't you just streamline the passive system also? Hardly anyone spends points on blind effect in general. Or minion damage as a ranger. This game is much more specific and restrictive if you want a high performing character and therefore alternative options serve no other purpose than to "bait" new players.

To me POE2 is a game with endless potential but the one fundamental issue it has is that it's trying to please POE1's core audience while offering nothing that they fundamentally want. The spreadsheet Andy's who are more build makers and theorycrafters than anything else will never enjoy this sort of game. They enjoy the endless freedom for experimentation and POE2 cannot have that as a core offering if it wants to appeal to a wider audience. Why? The reason is simple. Because what appears to be freedom of choice to a POE1 vet, to a newbie will seem like convolution. I know this because I remember playing through the campaign for the first time, I had no fucking idea what was going on. I had to play for 3 diffrent leagues before I even understood the basics of the game, that's how unfriendly the onboarding is. But I get it, you get through that and POE1 is a special game.

Nevertheless you still pander by implementing the old passive tree system but fail to recognise that this system is completely inappropriate for the game you are designing.

https://imgur.com/v5itd6l (my revised tree design - generic passive points should be just attributes. So the roots of the tree are attributes.)

I think as a company you guys need to decide, are you all in or out. You can listen to the community feedback all you want but the truth is that "the community" is thousands of people with all differing opinions.

Too many chefs spoil the broth. The Mona Lisa would be very different if DaVinci listened to every passerby's input. Is it any wonder why game development has gotten stale? You expect random people on the internet to know what's best for your game? I think having a vision is non-negotiable, but compromising on the way to your vision is unacceptable.

Warcraft 3, D2, StarCraft. All games made without constant "community feedback". And my tree idea may seem D4ish. But I believe GGG should make the Diablo 4 that the Diablo 2 Blizzard North devs would have made if they had the chance to (if that makes sense).

It's cool you like it for whatever reason, just keep in mind that's just not gonna happen that's all, even tho you don't feel like it, it's prbly a good idea to have a backup plan, another game you can jump to.

It's either that POE2 have a major shake up, or POE2 is dead, one of the two, because this is still to this day a free to play game, and those people that's loud, they do whine and curse and yell too much yes and it can be annoying, but they are also the people who pay for MTXs, they spend on the game as much as a streamer because looking cool is important, having the feeling of success in a game is their digital antidepressant, but that purchase only happens when they feel the game gives satisfaction, and there is very less satisfaction currently.

On top of that, in case you don't know, GGG is 100% owned by Tencent now, if you have a chinese friend, ask him about Tencent games' reputation, the answer you got I will guarantee you to have one phrase in it "cash grabbing", Tencent is like that, so it is in their best interest to make the loud majority player base happy.

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TravisL#2218 wrote:

GGG is 100% owned by Tencent now, if you have a chinese friend, ask him about Tencent games' reputation, the answer you got I will guarantee you to have one phrase in it "cash grabbing", Tencent is like that, so it is in their best interest to make the loud majority player base happy.

I just mentioned Ten**** and they ban my message today.....
How about that?!!!

i still cant believe that they promised us a 4.0 expansion years ago. and now this 4.0 expansion resulted in nearly 1 year of no new league for poe1 in return for this abomination of unfun game. everything but the visuals suck, no movement skills sucks, the skilltree is bad, the atlas tree is bad, everything is slow but monsters, trials suck, crafting sucks, the map layouts suck. i dont know, they should have sticked to their plans of making 4.0. poe2/10 is a disaster and it will be one for a long time, because obviously their vision sucks.