Development Stories: Path of Exile 2 Narrative Design Philosophies

Hope the story feels more coherent. 10 act was great. But the second half feels really weird with all the god slaying.

It would be nice to see more of civilized societies. Aside from Oriath and Highgate, we mostly see small camps, and ruins of fallen empires. From dialogue we know warbands have communities, everything about heist screams that there is more civilization in the world. All of those new additions seem out of place right now.

Environmental lore (like the Kaom stories in act 1) are great, and are pretty immersive, at least to me. I'd love to see more of those. Also i personally preferred a little more obscured endgame lore, atlas lost a lot of charm with all the explanations of how it works, not to mention that the conquerors are hardly as great characters as Shaper and Elder. Maven looks like a step in the right direction as a character, but the whole "the universe is vast" seems a little overblown, the lore was going that way since adding act 4, but to me it was way cooler when it all was way more down to earth.

oh my! I hope there is not fighting while story is going on. I would definitely miss it or die trying to hear what is going on. now if there was a choice to do more story or more combat that would be cool.
What I would love most in POE 2 is references of POE 1 but 20 years later like where people went afterwards and how the change of time and Zana's outrage changed the lands

"in terms of places and people, what would you most like to see again from Path of Exile 1?":

People from PoE 1: Navali, ZANA!!!, Hargan, Clarissa
Places: Act 4 town, The Ascent, Imperial Gardens, The Forest Encampment

No hate here but...

When no one likes leveling through the acts more than a few times...

... why are we spending so much time on a set of new acts?

I'd love to see what has happened to the body of the beast!

- In act 4 it's still a mountain.
- In act 9 it's starting to rot, blood spilling over the waterways, it's been probably less than a couple months.
- Now twenty years later, what has happened? Did the whole mountain collapse as the insides decayed into a hollow? Perhaps it's turned into a pile of bones that scrape the sky where a mountain once stood. Maybe it's desiccated and been preserved, it's veins too toxic to be eaten by anything. Maybe it's totally gone and exists only in memory. Perhaps a new mining town has sprung up, sifting through the gore for rediscovered virtue gems. Or even new life sprung from the body, creating a new ecosystem of terrible blood monsters/plants.

I'd like to see Nessa again. When I first started the game years ago, she was my favorite and most endearing character. I felt sad about the way her story ended. I know she almost certainly died with the Brine King, but it's never explicitly stated in-game. In fact, there's some dialogue that suggests she could still be alive.

"

She's not coming back to us, is she? Can't say I'm surprised, what with everything she's been through... what she's become.

I wish her all the happiness she can find out there in the sea. More than she could muster on this gods-awful land of ours.

- Bestel

"

No, she's not one of us anymore, but at least she's not like Merveil either. Can't overlook a mercy like that. Who knows, perhaps Nessa is better off this way. Not like this is much of a home to come back to, anyway.

- Tarkleigh

Maybe they're in denial. Maybe they know, but can't bring themselves to say it. Maybe the Exile tried to spare them and lied. But personally, I want to believe she escaped and is alive somewhere, not as some monster but as her new self.

The simplest thing I can think of would be her appearing randomly in certain maps, but swimming away if you get too close; Dead in life, but alive in dream. Like Kaom and Daresso.

However, if you guys expand on Tsoatha in PoE2, I'd be nice to see Nessa tied in with that somehow. Knowing PoE though, she'd probably be an enemy of some kind, or some random corpse, so... maybe a vague ending is better.

The "Bandits" quest always stood out to me in POE2. Yes, most people choose the skill points, but I always wondered what people would have picked if it was ONE skill point, versus the other rewards.

On a recent character, I actually chose to play choices as RP. She was a witch, and I decided to side with my fellow witch, who understood me.

I'd love to see MORE of these personal and permanent choices. Especially if the options are very difficult to weigh!

I would like to see more of the eternal empire, more than we saw in act 3, i want to see beyond sarn and it's surroundings, and also places we've been to like the city of sarn, or maybe the slums. A collapsed scepter of god would be awesome.