So many things at the wrong time.

PoE2 Has a Timing Problem
Builds Never Come Online Before the Game Falls Apart

I’ve been grinding through PoE2 and the more I play, the more obvious it feels: the game has a serious timing problem. Combat, rewards, and character building are all out of sync, and it kills the fun.

Campaign loot: Sure, it’s “consistent” with progression, but uniques are so bad they might as well be sold by the first vendor in town. 99% of them would still go unbought. They don’t inspire builds, they don’t feel exciting, and they’re basically dead weight.

Character building: In the campaign, there’s no real build identity. The passive tree gives you so few meaningful choices early that you’re just shoehorned into whatever your class/weapon/stat combo allows. By the time your build finally starts to feel like it’s coming together, the game has already shifted into the “predictable one-shot slog” phase.

Endgame maps: Every map boils down to the same formula: dodge 0–10 one-shot attempts, or die. Bosses aren’t interesting, they’re just HP sponges with instant-kill mechanics. If you’re not screen-clearing by T3 maps, your build is bricked. Have the one shot the boss skill.

Mob design: Soul Eater, global curses like Temporal Chains, death auras, teleporting mobs, voidwalker DoTs… elements that chase the player, it’s all just cheap. GGG seems to think “instant, untraceable death” is good design. It isn’t. One-shots should be a failure state, not the default.

Progression philosophy: Everything good is gated. Currency gates, level gates, stat gates. Random fortune? Nope. Only bad RNG is unlimited. Anything powerful comes with a downside, a restriction, or is locked behind absurd grind. Crafting pathways? Still a slog. Unless you hit the “I win” omen or buy your way out in trade, you’re stuck with uninspired gated rng. I stopped picking things up why bother.

Pacing: Characters should feel formed by level 60. Instead, PoE2 drags everything out. Builds don’t come online until it’s too late, and by then the only viable endgame is the same sweaty, screen-clearing meta.

At the end of the day, PoE2 feels like a game where the fun is always deferred. You never get that “jackpot” loot moment, you never get to fully explore your build before it’s invalidated, and you never escape the slog of one-shots and homogenized gameplay.

GGG needs to rethink this philosophy. Right now, it’s draining, uninspired, and way too sweaty for how little payoff it gives. 2c

I played to 86 SSF to formulate this opinion