Is PoE2 even PoE?

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

but I want my updated PoE 1 in all its shiny, crazy glory.

Well, that is exactly what GGG delivered. Two separate games, PoE1 preserved in its original glory and PoE2 offering a fresh, modern experience. Even if some players confuse the first league they played, Affliction League, as the original glory of PoE1, it was an unusually over-the-top league and far from a normal representation of the game. New players who started with it might see it as the golden standard, but not a single league was as broken or busted as this one. The current state of PoE1 is still very much solid and true to the good old PoE1, never drifting toward being similar to PoE2.

Wanting an "updated" PoE1 in all its shiny, crazy glory, is unrealistic. It would be nice, sure, but it is very low on the priority list.
The devs will not dive into a full graphical overhaul right away because it would take a huge workforce for very little gain. Players who enjoy the game as it is do so because it does not need a graphical overhaul. There are other obvious gaps and issues that need to be filled and addressed, and the devs have already shown they work slowly but steadily toward that, even with the much slower pace of just two months.

Maybe newer players do not really understand that, I do not know. They just see something shiny elsewhere, assume it must be better, and expect it right away out of FOMO, even though it is quite unrealistic to ask for.

After all, if shiny graphics are what we are after, PoE2 is there, ready to be played at any given time. Or if the slightly different gameplay loop feels too different or hard, there is also Diablo 4, which offers quite the scenery for what it is, and the gameplay loop is more forgiving and easier on fresh players who are still learning the basics and trying to understand how the game works.

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ArtCrusade#4438 wrote:

Transparency is a paradox. The more transparent a studio tries to be, the more ammunition their critics have when things don't go as planned.

Such sage advice. Every single developer that ever makes a "we'd like to do this if we can"-type statement has those words intentionally misinterpreted as some "promise" that was never made. There are far too many people on this planet who want to portray everything good as something terrible, while ignoring the actual problems in the world. It's so tiring to see this play out with game after game.

PoE Souls of Hatred

I've tried playing POE 2 several times...... but it doesn't work, there's just no fun in that game.

POE2 is better in my opinion, because it is far more engaging for the player, I love the combat mechanics and general fluidity of combat in POE2 far more.

Here we are again, POE 1 players dedicating their time and having endless discussions about a game they hate..

I installed it to see if maybe I judged it too harshly in 0.1, maybe it's actually playable now and uh well, I uninstalled it after reaching level 4. No, I don't want to salvage items or dodge roll or click the well or check points... I don't want to do anything in this game at all to be honest.

This is anti-PoE, like what retail WoW is to Vanilla or WotLK - anti-MMO.

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Skad#1740 wrote:

Here we are again, POE 1 players dedicating their time and having endless discussions about a game they hate..

Yeah, it's almost like the game they "hate" is directly affecting the game they love. Strange how they have some opinions about that, ey? God forbid we actually debate something we care about, right?

I think both PoE1 players and PoE2 players have the ability to write some forum posts between game sessions.

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

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Skad#1740 wrote:

Here we are again, POE 1 players dedicating their time and having endless discussions about a game they hate..

Yeah, it's almost like the game they "hate" is directly affecting the game they love. Strange how they have some opinions about that, ey? God forbid we actually debate something we care about, right?

I think both PoE1 players and PoE2 players have the ability to write some forum posts between game sessions.

Skad has a solid point. The PoE1 versus PoE2 discussion has spiraled into something far more emotionally charged than it needs to be. Disliking a game is fine, but endlessly arguing about something you claim to hate feels unproductive. If the concern is really about the game people love, you would expect more time spent playing PoE1 instead of doomposting about PoE2.

The claim that PoE2 is actively harming PoE1 also feels increasingly thin. PoE1 is still receiving regular updates and fresh content, and GGG supporting two games does not automatically mean one is being sacrificed for the other. Studios growing and branching out is not some betrayal, it is how long-running games stay alive in the first place. The only real pressure point is GGG pushing itself to maintain an aggressive release cadence to satisfy everyone instead of allowing more time for polish.

And no matter which direction they go, the same specific crowd finds a way to complain. Release league after league and they are unhappy. Slow things down to deliver a more refined product and they are unhappy all the same. At that point, it becomes hard to argue this is about PoE2 at all. It looks more like a small but very vocal group whose expectations and emotional attachment guarantee dissatisfaction, even when things objectively work in their favor.

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

The claim that PoE2 is actively harming PoE1 also feels increasingly thin. PoE1 is still receiving regular updates and fresh content, and GGG supporting two games does not automatically mean one is being sacrificed for the other.

Now, first of all, I never used the word "harming". But secondly; [Removed by Support] could claim that the PoE1 leagues as of late are screaming "passion" and "full attention". "Regular updates and fresh content" speak nothing of quality, so it's an empty statement/argument.

And no, they aren't "sacrificing" PoE1 as a whole for PoE2. But it goes without saying that they have to do certain compromises, maybe for both games.

Of course, if you generalize everyone into the "same crowd", "they" would probably be unhappy no matter what. I would love for them to take a bit longer - if it meant quality content, endgame rework, a total meta shift and new, interesting skills that aren't rehashed, reskinned skills of old that they can't be bothered to rebalance. So please, "the crowd" you are speaking about and generalizing about isn't "one crowd", it's several crowds. Leave me out of some of them.