Path of Exile 2

[frunk]

With the new patch out I thought I'd give it another try, trying the mercenary. But I tried all three movement options (WASD, mouse, controller), and not one of them feels "right" for me. But at this point I chalk it up to my skills (or lack thereof).

I'm almost entirely WASD now (sometimes controller when I'm on my laptop).  I'm still waiting for better hybrid support for controller/keyboard.

[frunk]

From the What We're Working On post.

Large Area Sizes
Many players are reporting that areas feel like they are too large. Normally when this is the case, the main reason is due to other concerns such as monster life or player damage being incorrect, or just a lack of entertaining content in the area. However, we are checking to see if there are any outliers that players are spending too long in to see if any changes to area size need to happen.

In the meantime, we did notice that there are some areas that don't have sufficient checkpoints, so we are doing a pass of adding some more of these.

No, the problem is huge ass areas with repetitive enemies and slow movement speed.  The content is entertaining, but not when I have to repeat a hundred times plus wander and backtrack around a bunch in so many areas.

You can nerf movement speed compared to PoE 1, but then you need to make the areas smaller not increase them.

[crazy canuck]

I really hope they don't bow to the pressure to make zone smaller. If people want to do speed runs, they can go back to POE 1.

My main issue with the game is it becomes too easy and the fun of the early part of the game gets lost. But I guess they have to do that to keep the audience that wants an easy game happy.

I tried to huntress over the weekend and the police style melee version is what I hoped the monk would be.

[frunk]

I really hope they don't bow to the pressure to make zone smaller. If people want to do speed runs, they can go back to POE 1.

I'm not talking speed running here, I'm talking not spending 30 minutes in an area because I can't find the way to the next one because it's so damn big.

[crazy canuck]

I really hope they don't bow to the pressure to make zone smaller. If people want to do speed runs, they can go back to POE 1.

I'm not talking speed running here, I'm talking not spending 30 minutes in an area because I can't find the way to the next one because it's so damn big.

It takes me less than that time to clear a hole opening area, so I'm not sure what you're doing wrong.

[Iormlund]

I agree with Frunk. Maps are too big. Especially in Act 3.
I like to explore the whole map, though.

I'm going for a Smith of Kitava build. Plan is simple so far: get elemental resists to 85% and wield a two-hander plus shield.

[frunk]

Having time to think about it and gauging my interest in 0.3, I think PoE 2 is heading in a direction that I'm not that interested in.

To be clear I loved the first few characters I played, and think that there's a very fun game there.  However for me it doesn't have the replayability and long term fun of PoE 1. 

• Pacing is way off.  Slower movement is fine, but don't combine it with slogs through huge zones of unrewarding normal/magic monsters with the occasional rare to brighten things up.  Considering what a good job they did with the boss design it's disappointing to see how grindy the rest of the game is.
• Itemization is awful.  There are almost no interesting uniques before endgame, and they've succeeded in making the terrible crafting system of PoE 1 worse.  Please, please, please rip off Lost Epoch's crafting, it is so much better.
• The passive skill tree is big, but severely limiting.  The number of actual real choices for a lot of builds is pretty low, particularly since there's no path through the middle.  As an example poison builds that aren't big hit builds have ~5 nodes they pretty much have to pick up.  This means that it's almost impossible for a character not on the right side of the tree to make a poison build and most poison builds are going to have very similar skill trees.
• The two previous issues mean that interesting character development is almost entirely in skills/supports. Now there's tons of stuff that can be done with skills/supports in PoE 2, by far the coolest design difference from PoE 1.  However all the crazy character design in PoE 1 that used to be a meld of skill tree/ascendancy/skills/items is now concentrated mostly in skills (and some in ascendancy).
• It feels like there's too much emphasis going into endgame and not enough care with making sure the campaign is fun and repeatable.   In PoE 1 I tend to play builds from 10 to maybe 20 hours for a build I really like.  Now 20 hours in PoE 2 barely gets me to endgame which I honestly don't mind.  For me endgame isn't where I want to spend the majority of my playtime, I want to try out a new build rather than play the same one to death.  However it is clear they are putting a lot more effort into endgame and I'm not seeing the same love for the campaign.  So many mechanics that are in PoE 1 don't show up in PoE 2 until endgame, and the crappy state of campaign uniques, ugh.

[Syt]

Thanks for sharing your impressions, frunk. I haven't given it another try yet, but based on your feedback, I think I will let this one cook a bit longer before jumping back in.

I don't begrudge GGG that they're trying new things and want to change the formula (after years of the previous system I imagine they're chomping at the bit to do what they believe is cool new stuff they couldn't do in POE1). But it seems clear that more iteration is needed and I hope they'll find their path.

[frunk]

I mean there's a lot of great stuff in PoE 2, and I think they'll definitely keep improving it.  I'm just not sure the overall design is heading in a direction where I'll play it nearly as much as PoE 1.

[crazy canuck]

I agree with all your comments except your point about pacing.  We have been over that before, so I won't revisit it. But my guess is if the other points ever get addressed your pacing issue would fall away.