Listening to the community too much is what ruined PoE 1 for many of us.

Great post! I'm in full agreement with the OP and share the same concerns.

What I loved about PoE1 was its difficulty and how it catered to a more hardcore player base. That was its niche. It was still accessible—albeit with a long (but not necessarily steep) learning curve for newer players. To clarify, you didn’t need deep knowledge to enjoy the game; you could jump in and instantly enjoy the monster-slaying goodness. But as you progressed into the endgame, the knowledge and experience gap started to show. For some players, this could be unpleasant—but for others, it ignited that spark to learn, adapt, and rise to the challenge.

There was also a god-tier wiki available for those who wanted to dive deeper, along with countless guides for those who enjoy that kind of support.

I don’t see anything wrong with that model. If you oversimplify it, you risk losing the hardcore base that helped make the game what it is. If the direction is to become just another dopamine-fueled, Diablo-style loot piñata, that’s fine—but it’s a different audience, and you’ll certainly alienate the original fanbase.

What I’m really curious about is the actual direction and design philosophy for PoE2. Could someone elaborate on or clarify what that looks like?

Is the hope for a more hardcore experience just a pipe dream now? Are they more interested in catering to the masses? Has the focus shifted toward maximizing profit—risking the same fate as Blizzard?

It seems to me that Chris Wilson’s vision was centered around preserving the complexity and hardcore nature of Path of Exile, making it deeply engaging for dedicated players. Jonathan Rogers, on the other hand, appears to be steering PoE2 toward a more modern and accessible experience—possibly at the cost of the depth that made the original so beloved.

Could someone verify if that’s accurate, or share their own thoughts?

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Objectively untrue.

This is my issue with complaining streamers as well, most of the "Data" they bring up is incredibly subjective and anecdotal evidence, yet when you put that evidence side-to-side with the objective metrics - they fall short.

You are mistaking your subjective experience (probably caused by lack of adaptability and general mechanical skill) for objectivity.

This dude nailed it.

Zoomers and streamers are out here complaining about no loot drops and how "RNG is terrible," but they’re not even disenchanting gear, buying sockets, or salvaging quality items. Then they wonder why they have no crafting mats.

It’s not an RNG problem—it’s a gameplay management problem. And like the quote says, when you stack the objective data next to the anecdotal whining, it just doesn’t add up.

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For a long time before that, what truly made PoE 1 successful and unique was its deep-layered systems, customizability and difficulty, something other aRPG games couldn't provide.

10000000000000000% THIS. OMG THIS. Well said good sir

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MisterFancyPants#7969 wrote:

What became clear to me watching the Ziz interview, was that GGG don't really know who they're making the game for, and/or are trying too hard to make it for "everyone", which is a trap so many developers have walked into before.

Ziz was several times asking GGG based on certain premises, i.e. how long the campaign is 'supposed' to take and if PoE2 is a game meant for people wanting to sink thousands of hours into each year, and Jonathan couldn't really answer, or answered with non-answers.

You can't really make a game that is just as good for casual players as it is for 'dedicated' players. And between the length of the campaign, to the pace of progression, it seems very clear to me that they are making PoE2 for players that wants to play through the game a few times a year, but not really going head first into every league. More of a "story mode game" than a seasonal based game, like PoE1.

No matter what they decide, it's OK. But if every decision goes into trying to please everyone, they are going to make an "OK" game for lots of people instead of making a GOOD game fore some people. And in a seasonal environment, I think the latter is the best options, even when it comes to income.

This is a fantastic point. I still like the idea of standard mode for the loot pinata zoomy types and a ruthless mode for those cravings the slower epic challenge.

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exsea#1724 wrote:

moving forward anything i touch would have the chocolate cake enjoyers haunting me. i am no longer allowed to make anything different and everything i bake/cook will always be compared to chocolate cake.

The moral of the story: You are making chocolate cakes. You are rich selling chocolate cakes! Once a chocolate cake maker always a chocolate cake maker.

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awesome999#2945 wrote:

"

exsea#1724 wrote:

moving forward anything i touch would have the chocolate cake enjoyers haunting me. i am no longer allowed to make anything different and everything i bake/cook will always be compared to chocolate cake.

The moral of the story: You are making chocolate cakes. You are rich selling chocolate cakes! Once a chocolate cake maker always a chocolate cake maker.

ngl if i m rich i'd do whatever i want afterwards but i d still continue my chocolate cake business instead of just abandoning it.

cough cough cough

I miss the large bags of tart green apples:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/86271

=-[.]-=

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CAPSLOCK_ON#7907 wrote:

i want to die reading this lmao guy actually saying not having to go trough multiple websites to get info on stuff to make a build or craft items and making the game more accessible for people by being able to easily share builds are bad things LMAO if you were in charge poe2 wouldn't exist because poe1 would never have been a huge success

depends what your understanding of "great success" is. poe was initially made from gamers for gamers, and probably not people like you.

did you ever try to understand what makes a "good game" and the hard work for creative folks who invent mechanics for the player to discover, only for it to be trivialised and killed by some tool someone comes up with?

PoE1 hasn't fundamentally changed from what you guys are expressing your love for until you get to T17/Uber era where GGG had sidelined its content in lieu of making PoE2 and so needed to stretch existing content rather than doing any large scale iteration/addition.

What do i mean by that? Basically it had nothing to with listening to the community and there are plenty of examples where not listening to the community was detrimental to the game for years. The community is too diverse to pick up that much real information from which is why GGG can be very stubborn about changing something they don't want to / deprioritised. This is frequently the right choice and I usually back GGG on it, but it also is frequently wrong.

The problem with threads like this is they don't give enough coverage for the fact that some ideas are just bad, and the community or individuals or streamers are right to point out that its bad. Archnemesis absolutely got changed because of the community outcry but as someone who enjoyed the league itself but has analysed it from every angle afterwards I cannot understand how you can arrive at any other thought than it is bad.

The goal might be good, ie having rares matter but the execution initially and subsequently was just too poor to be worth inclusion.

But to go back to my initial response pretty much every major zoom increase was instigated by GGG, nobody asked for mageblood and my god i'd have deleted it the league after it got added if i was GGG. Likewise T17s shitting out loot like no tommorow with these ridiculous scarab strategies so players can measure their dicks against each other with div/hr wasn't requested its just a feature that players have gotten used to and the games developed around it.

Its also the case that as each league grew more and more players seeking shortcuts arrived and more content creators arrived to cater to those players, a path of minimum effort is available almost immediately in any new league many players already start with one. How do you think the game is going to hold any situation against that much community power to solve?

If you want the old experience in the modern game play SSF or HC and artificially limit yourself, the experience is 100% still there but you have to actively seek it rather than it being dumped on you. Like it or not regular SC is now the zoomers playground and GGG is responsible for 50% of that with the other 50% being the ease of information now available for the game. Very little is to do with "listening to the community" despise how often it gets parroted.

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Draegnarrr#2823 wrote:

Archnemesis absolutely got changed because of the community outcry but as someone who enjoyed the league itself but has analysed it from every angle afterwards I cannot understand how you can arrive at any other thought than it is bad.

The goal might be good, ie having rares matter but the execution initially and subsequently was just too poor to be worth inclusion.

what do you compare new stuff to to judge that "it´s bad".

previous leagues?
return of time investment when engaging into archnemesis rares compared to other mobs?
other games?

imho archnemesis monsters were introduced as a counter for screenclearing oneButtonBuilds. they pressed their button, screen cleared but rares were still there.

so archnemesis was bad cause redditoooooors were forced to adapt to more single monster damage or (god forbid the adaptation pressure) IGNORE the mobs cause they´re not worth it.

we have a large portion of players who are pestered by anything that challenges them. those casuals are no gamers.

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ggg ever "listened to the community" if reddit managed to pester enough nonThinkingPlayers into leaving the individual leagues by pitchforking the community into a wide protest.

give me 2 million dollars and i change reddit into a poe loving community, eventually it`s ever been a ai/bot powered battlefield of companies and their agencies they hired.