I Found the "Vision" in the Game

Guys, yesterday I started the SSF league and tried to really immerse myself in the game — played with different camera zooms, examined mobs, textures, mechanics. Killed the first boss on the shore easily on the first try. Read dialogues, listened to the music.

I started as a Monk because I know how to build him, and maybe that’s why it felt easy, but if you play the game the way the devs seem to want us to — then honestly, I felt ashamed for criticizing the balance. I don’t know if loot or affix drop formulas are different in SSF, but the balance isn’t just good — it leans toward the casual player camp. You feel the punishment for mistakes, but you’re not humiliated. You move forward smoothly, damage is enough, monster health is reasonable, sometimes even feels low. You're even getting a good loot lol!

- took me 168 or so gold from vendor, one regal and one exalt orb.

- both straight drop from Draven, just identified.

Again, if you play the game as intended — clearing areas fully, opening chests, selling gear to vendors, saving up gold and buying what you need — then the game feels easy, interesting and captivating. Like I’m back in the good old 2000s but with great graphics and gameplay. After the first 3–4 zones and maybe one level of overfarming, you can already start skipping parts of areas and loot. You’ll have enough gold if you don’t waste it mindlessly. The game encourages a little thoughtfulness and attention, some mental effort.

The game nudges you toward using combos and mechanics, makes you press buttons alternating with auto-attacks, and rewards you with damage. (For those who didn’t notice — Thunder Strike’s damage was almost doubled in the patch, and the added kill damage on ailment enemies now lasts 2 seconds more, which helps A LOT during the campaign, especially on Monk. Not to mention that my first build version used Power Charges, and with 7–8 of them, I was ripping CHUNKS off bosses in endgame with Thunder Strike and a few simple support gems.)

I finished Act 1 WITH JOY in 4 hours. (Again, I played very slowly, almost meditative) I think that’s more than reasonable, considering the average length of a “single-player game.”

https://youtu.be/l0cg5GKPJXI - Draven fight for example

Moreover, it literally hints at every step what you need to do and where to go. Zones are simple, they fully reflect the layout shown on the global map, just mirrored in different ways. Following just two principles — maze logic and “hug the wall” — you clear areas in minutes without feeling like you’re skipping or stuck. The game’s pace is just right. It guides you on what to level and what skills to take. If you get stuck somewhere, the game subtly tells you to go farm and improve your build. The feeling of spending currency on gear just because you’ve got nowhere else to use it is indescribable — there’s no economy pressure.

Like "Guys, we really worked hard on this — please, play our game without zoom-zoom oneshot skipping." I can understand that.

The game is genuinely good — but it seems like you can only really play it in SSF. Right now, the trade league feels too toxic, considering the dupes, bugs, and the constant ADHD community pressure of “FASTER.” Yes, to get the intended immersion and enjoyment you’ll have to spend time in the game — but if you stop thinking “I’m wasting time,” then it turns into a genuinely rewarding experience. If you’re haunted by the idea that you need to be faster or spend less time playing — chances are, you need to stop playing for a while. You’ve probably built up a tolerance to joy.

Yesterday I realized clearly that the experience you get from the game depends heavily on your approach and mindset. This isn’t a racing game where you have to outrun everyone and get the best gear — that’s not the vision. So if PoE 2 for you is just a loot slot machine — I don’t think you’ll ever experience the game the way the devs intended.

GGG, thanks for your work!

P.S.
That would be great to let people play in party in SSF, just disable the trade and make all loot permanently allocated to the character because it feels lame that we cannot enjoy the game with friends without "economy".

Let me tl;dr this: To fully enjoy the game you need to intentionally gimp yourself by playing SSF. Once you have no option to improve your gear you'll be forced to play slowly as GGG intended.

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Let me tl;dr this: To fully enjoy the game you need to intentionally gimp yourself by playing SSF. Once you have no option to improve your gear you'll be forced to play slowly as GGG intended.

"Freedom is the property of the will to be a law to itself." — Immanuel Kant

A player who rejects trade does not act out of a desire for gain or speed (heteronomy), but from an inner drive toward honest, meaningful gameplay (autonomy). This is the execution of one’s own law — even in the form of a game choice.

But let me personally agree with you in that trade league should be less painful and toxic, but that's what we get from society in a nutshell.

Yeah us old school D2 fans have D2, grim dawn, and this. Modern arpg audience is screaming for another D4 and it's annoying.

As an old school D2 fan, been playing it off and on for 25 years, in fact just got off a binger this past week, as well as a grim dawn fan, I disagree. This current iteration is nothing like either of those games. It is much more of a slog fest, I wont even call it slow paced, it isn't paced at all, it is just slow period. I loved iteration 1, this iteration I find myself getting very sleepy after 20 minutes, that is unusual for me when the game it hitting me with just enough dopamine to keep my sleep receptors from getting active.

I hope they make the changes for the good. Also, I don't think anyone in the POE forums wants another D4, not sure where that is coming from that game is an arcade game.

In fact, I'm literally launching D2R right now, that is a real bummer from my pov.

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Let me tl;dr this: To fully enjoy the game you need to intentionally gimp yourself by playing SSF. Once you have no option to improve your gear you'll be forced to play slowly as GGG intended.

The game could definitely be a bit faster in all aspects, and that would be a good thing. I believe it will inevitably become faster, but for now, we have what we have.

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Let me tl;dr this: To fully enjoy the game you need to intentionally gimp yourself by playing SSF. Once you have no option to improve your gear you'll be forced to play slowly as GGG intended.

Every game is played as the devs intended.

Even POE1.

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hboi#6131 wrote:

Yeah us old school D2 fans have D2, grim dawn, and this. Modern arpg audience is screaming for another D4 and it's annoying.

pretty much this...

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Let me tl;dr this: To fully enjoy the game you need to intentionally gimp yourself by playing SSF. Once you have no option to improve your gear you'll be forced to play slowly as GGG intended.

What you're saying makes absolutely no sense. The main complain of the game now is "it's hard" and/or "it's slow". Going SSF makes the game even harder and even slower when you can't trade. You did not get what OP is saying in his post at all...

The tl:dr is you need to immerse yourself, take things slow and pay attention to what you're doing both gameplay wise and build wise to enjoy the game.

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Saruman100#7067 wrote:

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Let me tl;dr this: To fully enjoy the game you need to intentionally gimp yourself by playing SSF. Once you have no option to improve your gear you'll be forced to play slowly as GGG intended.

What you're saying makes absolutely no sense. The main complain of the game now is "it's hard" and/or "it's slow". Going SSF makes the game even harder and even slower when you can't trade. You did not get what OP is saying in his post at all...

The tl:dr is you need to immerse yourself, take things slow and pay attention to what you're doing both gameplay wise and build wise to enjoy the game.

They watch videos on a second monitor while barely paying attention to the game. Thats what they want a chill game to relax to. They dont get immersed.