Waystone Modifier Feedback – Affix Counterplay & Map "Frustration"

Hey GGG,

some quick framing to start: I’m definitely not a casual player. I’ve got multiple level 90+ characters this league, including a heavily invested Smith league starter. I’ve farmed over 100 div worth of currency, fully explored most of the Atlas, and put serious time into testing the new systems – from unique map node hunting to tower/tablet mechanics. I’m giving feedback from the perspective of someone who actually engages deeply with your systems, tries to understand them, and adjusts accordingly.

Now to the core issue: affixes and counterplay, especially with things like Temporal Chains, stun modifiers, and similar.

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1. Curse Modifiers – Where’s the Counterplay?
Let’s take Temporal Chains as a core example. In general, I don’t hate curses in maps – they’re a PoE staple. But in PoE1, I had ways to deal with them:

Flask affixes to remove or mitigate curses

Uniques that provided curse immunity

Passive tree nodes

Gear modifiers with reduced effect or immunity

In PoE2, those options are basically gone or hyper-limited. From what I found, there are maybe two or three notable clusters with reduced curse effect – located far top-left and top-right of the passive tree. This is a huge problem under the new tree design philosophy. If those nodes are meant to enhance what I already have on my gear or build, but I don’t have any gear options to begin with… then it’s a dead end for most builds.

So, if I’m not already pathing top-left or top-right, the opportunity cost of traveling there is massive. For 90% of builds, it’s simply not worth it. But without taking them, I’m stuck with map affixes that literally break the gameplay loop – extreme slow-motion from Temporal Chains, with no way to counteract it. That makes certain maps unplayable and unenjoyable. It's not challenge, it's just frustration.

Compare that to Enfeeble or Elemental Weakness:

Enfeeble = Fine. Slower kills, but I can deal with that.

Ele Weakness = Potentially bad for some builds, but there are ways to mitigate it through res overcapping, etc.

Temporal Chains? There’s no fix. Just a dead map unless you happen to be one of the few builds near the curse wheel. That doesn’t feel right.

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2. Stun Modifiers – I Tried to Fix It and It Still Sucked
Let’s talk stun affixes. I ran Smith as my league starter and made a very intentional decision to counterplay stun:

Took nearly all stun threshold nodes I could find

Ran Utzaal Cuirass with +40% stun threshold

Slotted in stun threshold runes

Took the 100% stun ascendancy node

Had over 4k life, which should set my baseline threshold

Despite all of that, maps with "increased stun chance" still felt exactly the same as if I had done none of that. I was constantly interrupted, chain-staggered, and punished in a way that made all of my counter-investment feel pointless. That’s the opposite of the depth PoE is usually known for.

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TL;DR – If I Can’t Play Around It, It Shouldn’t Be There
If I can’t counterplay it with gear, passive tree investment, or skill tweaks, then the affix has no business being in the game – especially if the penalty is something that breaks the core moment-to-moment gameplay like Temporal Chains or being stun-locked.

You’ve always done a good job of creating systems where players can adjust and overcome, but these specific modifiers don’t live up to that standard yet. Give us real tools. Let us fix these problems through smart adjustments – the way PoE should be played.

Would love to hear thoughts from other players who tried the same – or someone from GGG who can shed light on whether we’re missing pieces of the system.

Cheers

The counterplay is 3 prefixes and 1 suffix in waystone. Use omens to guaranteed your orb of alc will only craft prefixes. Suffixes only give waystone drop, so you don't need more than 1 suffix in waystone.

On the note with Temp chain and more stun buildup, I just straight up throw it away. The annoyance is not worth, the "challenge" doesn't give enough reward for me to tackle those mods.

Exactly my point of feedback, thx for confirming.