Resuscitating the Vision of PoE2 - a letter to GGG

I’m writing this as a long-time player and admirer of your work. This is, however, the first time I truly felt compelled to take the time to consolidate my experience and thoughts, and share them in this format in hopes it reaches you.

I’ve spent over 1300 hours in PoE1 and over 500 hours in PoE2 already—alongside playing other titles, some more recent than others, some more fun than others, like Diablo IV, Final Fantasy XIV, Last Epoch, and Baldur’s Gate 3 - all with its kinks and quirks.

I don't see myself as a casual player, but I also don't see myself as a hardcore grinder either. I’m someone who looks for and values well-crafted games with challenge, identity, and intention.

And it’s because I care that I want to be honest with you:


PoE2 in its current early access state, feels like it’s in cardiac arrest.

Not dead. Not doomed. But something vital has flatlined—and if we don’t acknowledge it now, we may miss the opportunity to revive what could be a truly legendary game.


❤️ What’s Working: The Core Combat Is There

Let me start with what you’ve nailed: combat at its core feels good. Monsters have weight. Animations sell the danger. I feel tension and stakes. The gameplay loop, at a mechanical level, has a solid foundation. There’s a heartbeat in this game that I do feel.


😓 Constant Hyper-Tension: When Every Second Feels Like Survival

Tension in combat is great—when used deliberately. But PoE2 has me in a constant state of being “on.” One moment of distraction, one misstep, and I can lose an entire trial in two seconds. This drains me fast. It turns moments of power fantasy into anxiety loops. The fun starts to dissolve when survival becomes a 24/7 stress test.


⛓️ Trial Design: Locked Progression Meets Harsh Punishment

I’m fine with trials being tied to character progression. What’s not fine is how punishing they are—especially trials for the 3rd and 4th ascension points. Some trial modifiers force you into choices like “do 40% less damage” or “have 0 Energy Shield.” For builds that rely on ES or are outside of the meta, that’s a death sentence. Multiply that by 8 or 9 modifiers per trial and the whole experience becomes punitive rather than empowering. Worse still, the rewards are lackluster.

It’s not a trial of mastery—it’s a trial of patience and luck.


🎲 Itemization: Where’s the Fantasy?

ARPGs are typically supposed to be about loot. But I’m lost on what the intended experience is.

I have mountains of orbs that don’t help me meaningfully progress. Crafting feels locked behind extreme randomness, with modifiers and their tiers both left to chance—even with essences. Most of the time, I give up and buy gear on the trade site, which reduces the core fantasy of item hunting to a market simulation.

Is the vision that players should primarily be trading instead of finding or crafting gear?

If so, please tell us. If not, this system needs serious clarity and support.


🧩 A Vision Without a Pulse?

This may be the most important part of my message.

It is quite unclear to me what PoE2 wants to be—and I don’t think your community has much clarity either.

Right now, the game feels like a patchwork:

* Combat has elements of Soulslike tension.
* Close resemblance to Diablo 2 skill-level scaling.
* The systems and itemization resemble PoE1, but without the power curve or reward structure.


Yet, it’s not close enough to any of these to say, “Aha, this is what PoE2 is all about.” And I believe that’s a dangerous place for a game to live—because if the vision is unclear to us, it may be unclear inside your studio too. That leads to disconnects between systems, pacing, content, and progression.

I want to believe the vision is there. But right now, it feels fragmented. And if I, as a committed player, feel this confused, I can only imagine the pressure on your internal teams.


🧱 Endgame Design: Slog vs Reward

I understand wanting endgame bosses to feel earned. But locking them behind tokens/currency acquired through gameplay that currently feels unrewarding, turns the journey into a grindwall. If the core game loop were fun and fulfilling, maybe the amount of tokens necessary to access these bosses wouldn’t feel like much. But in the current climate, it feels excessive.

Add to that the confusing reward structure, complex map mechanics, and inconsistent difficulty, and it becomes a wall many players won’t want to climb. And the few who do rarely say the payoff was worth it.


💡 Final Thought: Please Deploy a Defibrillator

I truly want PoE2 to succeed. There is something magical here. But the game needs clarity. It needs alignment. It needs vision that goes beyond just being 'fun'.

A game without a clear identity drifts. A studio without a vision burns out. And a player base without purpose walks away.

I don’t want that. I want PoE2 to live. And I believe you can bring it back—if you're willing to continue to listen, reflect, and most importantly commit to a vision the community can believe in.

I’m here. I still believe. Please let us know what you want this game to be—because I want to fight for it with you!

-Raz

Wow, I totally agree.

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Razilas#1957 wrote:

🧱 Endgame Design: Slog vs Reward

I understand wanting endgame bosses to feel earned. But locking them behind tokens/currency acquired through gameplay that currently feels unrewarding, turns the journey into a grindwall.

This is a major issue if the game truly wants to go F2P and be massively played. I think they should aim for a 1–1.5-hour timeframe to gather a full Breachstone/Simulacrum doing T14/15 maps on a tier C build.

The VAST majority of people will surely enjoy the game more if they can experience baseline endgame content more often; leave T4 and ultra-high-end for the giga nerds.

Think of a 30-something old dude with a full time job and a house to take care of.
Get back from work, play for a couple hours, kill Xesht, log off. I think this needs to be achieved to keep normal people engaged.

Great post - thank you.

Ye, that's a good feedback, I agree with all the points.

I would add that the endgame lacks innovation. It is the same "beat uber bosses" 25 years old concept. I mean... there is that nice looking Atlas, procedurally generated, a big one. It begs for exploration, but what for? Do something with it. Donno, let us conquer lands and become a king. Or help to establish or defend settlements here and there. Or something else entirely, except this "collect tokens and beat ubers" stuff that every single arpg has as an endgame goal since Diablo 2. Add some strategic-layer minigame there, it won't ruin anything but will just make meaningful our traverse through the Atlas. Corrupted nexuses is a right step in this direction but it still feels as artificial addition just to get Atlas points.

Another excellent contribution that won't get the traction it deserves. Thanks for sharing OP.

I miss more gear options

All my drops has life/mana on hit/kill, accurary, stun threshold, or 10 regen per sec...

I find it all quite useless ._____.

Thanks for the replies! I appreciate knowing folks outside my own gaming circle share a similar sentiment.

I understand GGG has been receiving, and acting on, a lot of feedback and may not come across my post. Here is hoping they do continue to go through the feedback and get this game back on its feet.

first, to get people back, or at least when things go gold. game needs speed. game needs expensive items.

these 2 alone will keep the game going and for a while.

stop trying so hard with campaign. a 'challenging' campaign isnt something people would care after 1-2 days of playing. making it as hard as can be is only going to have people uninstall.

Interesting post, good read. Thank you Sir.