Love hate relation with PoE, The good are very Good, but the bad, are really BAD

I played PoE on & off, & clock slightly over 1.1K hours( base on steam), & the game has been a love-hate relationship.

The good:-----
The good part of the game is really good, even amazing, like character building, itemization, lots of stuff to do. Lots of way to build you character. The feel of combat is pretty good, not the best, but better than most arpg.
The crafting is the deepest of any arpg, way OTT in my opinion, but the good outweighs the bad. I just wish crafting receipts ate not lock under RNG & contents(often also RNG).


The Tolerable:-----
The visuals are tolerable, to be generous. It's a 7-8 years old game so I wouldn't be harsh. The characters look like they came from PS2 era, butt ugly but put on some half-decent MTX, they are tolerable.

The end game is okay. I know some people think it's amazing, but I hate instant base levels. They belonged to Mobile games in 2021, but then PoE is an 8 years old game, & I am not sure they will change it in PoE2.

The multiple mostly unfun mini-games like Atlas civilization & Sherlock holmes wannabe Syndicates. They are time waster, I play an RPG to kill monsters & get loot. If I want a strategy game, I play crusader kIng 3 or something.

Did I mention the among of websites you need to open & third party apps & tools you need to play this game?


The ugly:-----
Lab!!! I hate it the first time I played it, I hate it ever still. I am just tolerating it. I am sure I am not alone. Without the "good" of PoE, I would have quit just for the lab. It would be more tolerable if there are checkpoints or they tone down the traps. I know how to set my char for lab. That doesn't mean I like it.

The exp loss. Another big divide. I have no issue with punishment on death. I am not a spring chicken & have very little time for gaming. Having to regain 20mins-hours of progress is too much for 1-2 hours of time I usually game.
Like lab, I only tolerate it, due to the good.

Horrible 1-shot sudden death.
90% of the time, I have no clue what killed m, 90% of this death are one-shot. Before some smartass goes "Git Gud", while I do not consider myself a king of gaming, I played enough actions games & arpgs (I even played OG diablo) to see how PoE has more BS one shot and mech than any other game I played ever, by a landslide.

Trading, a complete abomination Big S time waster. Yes I know there is a SSS. Not avoiding a problem is not the solution to a problem.


The bottom line:-----
I am still playing (as of time of writing) is the game outweigh the bad, but it isn't FAR. I spoke to some fellow iRL friend & PoE players that is we tolerate PoE because there Isn't many good options out there.

I played Last epoch & if it has a decent MP, as well as a good end game, I am off PoE for good. Or maybe if D4 corrected the mistake of D4 & delivered the game we all wanted, I am off. Damn, if D2 remake is true & just repackage D2 with more shiny visuals, I am off.

It is such a shame PoE will always be the game I play while waiting for the game I actually wanted to play.I can imagine how much better PoE will be if the bad ain't so bad, & how popular it can become.

I am fairly sure I am not alone with this.

I dont get the lab. It takes a total of 15-20min to do all Labs. So even if you dont like them you dont need to use a lot of time there.

For the xp penalty, work harder on your survivability, get better at mechanics. It forces you to progress and get better even though you dont play hardcore.

Both can be fun with the right mindset

Imo

Your "uglys" are all mitigatable.

Lab you do 4 times, and it's really only once that is a true pain in the ass.

Exp loss. Soft cap and quit worrying about exp. You can die as often as you want once you reach your cap.

1 shots can be avoided too, by choosing to play more cautiously. And really this is just a corollary to your exp-loss complaint. Get over that and the 1 shots wont annoy you nearly as much.

Trade is completely voluntary... you're doing that to yourself.

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KiadawP wrote:

90% of the time, I have no clue what killed m, 90% of this death are one-shot. Before some smartass goes "Git Gud", while I do not consider myself a king of gaming, I played enough actions games & arpgs (I even played OG diablo) to see how PoE has more BS one shot and mech than any other game I played ever, by a landslide.

This is my biggest gripe with PoE I think. But it seems to be part of the appeal for some.

At the very least, I wish PoE had an Elder Scrolls Online type of death screen.

"

KiadawP wrote:

90% of the time, I have no clue what killed me

90% of the time, you die to either too poor defenses versus the mods you're running (-max resists, elemental weakness without overcap or 100% uptime on curse flask etc), or bad placement. Those are the main reasons. Think it's been "years" since I've been oneshot by a non-telegraphed mechanic, other than, you know, standing in a middle of a buffed pack, getting hit by million mobs at a time, something that can't hadrly be called a oneshot. Or DD... I've probably died to DD. At least not in a non-overly crazy map.

What a lot of people seem to not get, is that even if your character can clear a map in less than a minute, doesn't mean it's strong enough all around.

"

SkinnerSw33t wrote:

"

KiadawP wrote:

90% of the time, I have no clue what killed m, 90% of this death are one-shot. Before some smartass goes "Git Gud", while I do not consider myself a king of gaming, I played enough actions games & arpgs (I even played OG diablo) to see how PoE has more BS one shot and mech than any other game I played ever, by a landslide.

This is my biggest gripe with PoE I think. But it seems to be part of the appeal for some.

At the very least, I wish PoE had an Elder Scrolls Online type of death screen.

If PoE had ESO's combat system, none of us would be here talking about PoE.

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

If PoE had ESO's combat system, none of us would be here talking about PoE.

OK? Other games use a similar death screen.

ESO is just an example, and such a screen could be integrated into PoE w/o changing PoE combat.

We're not playing "other games" either. PoE's combat system isn't like "other games". They started with the premise that they wouldn't allow some simulation to determine the outcome. It's based on your actions. Other games simulate this well enough for you to feel like your actions matter. They don't. That's really what has set PoE apart from the games that came before it.

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

We're not playing "other games" either. PoE's combat system isn't like "other games". They started with the premise that they wouldn't allow some simulation to determine the outcome. It's based on your actions. Other games simulate this well enough for you to feel like your actions matter. They don't. That's really what has set PoE apart from the games that came before it.

Yeah. This is just straight up horseshit.

"

Phrazz wrote:

"

KiadawP wrote:

90% of the time, I have no clue what killed me

90% of the time, you die to either too poor defenses versus the mods you're running (-max resists, elemental weakness without overcap or 100% uptime on curse flask etc), or bad placement.

You are making pure assumptions & your assumptions are all dead wrong. Even pro streamers admit there arte BS deaths that you just can't avoid due to poor design.

Maybe you should give them advices too.

The white knighting in this forum of off the chart, every time someone made a negative point it always the usual response that "you suck".

I have 20+ years of action & arpg gaming experience & some time on the leaderboard as well, & while I never claimed to be an expert, I am well above, your resist is not cap. I decent enough to know a death that is my fault vs one that isn't.