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That said, I have a question for you: do you really think 0.2 is better than 0.1? Do you believe the game is perfect as it is?
Of course the game isn't perfect as it is; it's incomplete, unpolished, unbalanced, pretty buggy, and poorly optimized.
I think where we might differ is that I wouldn't expect a game in its 2nd major content patch of an extended Early Access period to be anything other than what I just described. If there's anything about the game I find borderline unacceptable right now it's the persistent crashing some people (not myself) are experiencing. I think for a paid EA they do owe people a product that can at least run reliably.
Is 0.2 "better" than 0.1? On the balance I would say no, probably not. I do think there are many things about 0.2 that are absolutely improved over 0.1:
- All rares visible on minimaps is absolutely enormous; game-changing adjustment that has gone relatively unacknowledged. It makes maps
so much faster and basically eliminates any need to backtrack (almost making checkpoints redundant)
- The new Unique tablets are amazing. The one that lets you access all maps within the range of a tower is another revolutionary change that I haven't seen anyone acknowledge; the fact that you can hop over mountain ranges and lakes/rivers so your progress toward a citadel isn't interrupted is h00ge
- I think the League mechanic is being undervalued and largely ignored; I find it to be fun and challenging. And especially if you can notice a wisp without activating it, you can be strategic about timing and force them to travel longer distances which makes for bigger rewards -- the bonuses are huge; I think I've gotten more drops from wisp possessed rares than I have from map bosses at this point
- The changes to belts and the Charms are great and promise a lot for the future
- The new multi-tiered rune system is I think being given little credit; it really allows for a lot of customization which eases the pain of upgrading specific slots (e.g., it's easier to "fix" your resists when you upgrade an item that throws them out of balance)
- I'm absolutely loving Tame Beast and I think everyone who is just farming Haste Aura companions to boost their DPS are missing a lot of fun possibilities; having a companion with Shroud Walker that jumps into enemy packs opens up a lot of possibilities with things like Temporal Bubble, Hinder Aura, etc.
...but, ultimately I would just say again that even if 0.2 were just objectively worse in every way I wouldn't be too worried. I think a reasonable person looking at what they're doing and understanding the point of Early Acess should be open to the possibility that the journey from 0.1 to 1.0 is not necessarily going to be a steady increase in quality and that one patch that isn't quite as good as the last isn't the end of the f'ing world.
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Do they give their customers and players what they want or watch the actual money go elsewhere?
Hello. Customer and player checking in! I've contributed more to support PoE2 than I did in total for PoE1 (which was a lot). I feel like I have to keep reminding people that your personal tastes and preferences are not representative of the entire player population... that doesn't seem like something I should have to explain this often.
