PoE 2 Feedback : 2 big issues

Hello,

First of all, I am writing this in order to help. After all the shown footage at Exilecon, I would like to point out 2 major concerns / flaws :

1. The UI is atrocious (where life mana orbs are, spell icons, menus, flasks, etc). Sorry to say but the PoE UI has always been ugly ; I would strongly advise you to spend time making it crisp, clean and beautiful.

2. Having dual specialization in an RPG is a huge mistake. We've seen this in the past in many games. Players always want and ask for that feature, they think it's great at first; but in reality they don't know the ramifications it entails and what is good for the game long-term.
It devalues character identity, the rerolling to make new characters, cheapens respec points and builds to the point where you can almost do anything on any given character. Trust me it will lessen player retention overall long-term.

Why did you decide to include this in PoE2 ? It's one of the worst game design philosophies imaginable in a role playing game.
And if you really intend to keep this system, you should make it way more punishing, or the skill points semi-impossible to respec at the bare minimum.


(ps: I am saying this as someone who wants you to succeed)

What games let you dual specialize?

i ll add in some of my own takes:

1. attack skills being locked to ONE specific weapon type kills player experimentation somewhat.

what i noticed in the trailers are skills are now locked to ONE weapon instead of POE1's 2-3 weapon types.


2. having specific skills ON the ascendancy tree.

in POE1 choosing a certain ascendancy would allow you a bump in power/utility. some are more efficient/better than others, but you could forsake one ascendancy for another and still be somewhat strong.

in POE2, we have ascendancy specific skills, which you cannot obtain any other way.

to me this goes against POE1's concept of classlessness and flexibility. it also goes against the skill gem system. anyone can use any gem/skill as long as you have the right stats or the right gear.

POE2 is a total lockdown. if you want this specific skill you MUST use this particular skill or else.

"

exsea wrote:

in POE2, we have ascendancy specific skills, which you cannot obtain any other way.

to me this goes against POE1's concept of classlessness and flexibility. it also goes against the skill gem system. anyone can use any gem/skill as long as you have the right stats or the right gear.

POE2 is a total lockdown. if you want this specific skill you MUST use this particular skill or else.

from Bex https://twitter.com/bexsayswords/status/1685054663824203776

"Btw just like in Path of Exile 1, skills in Path of Exile 2 are not locked to specific classes. Any class can use any skill.
7:28 PM · Jul 28, 2023"

"

insectbrain wrote:

"

exsea wrote:

in POE2, we have ascendancy specific skills, which you cannot obtain any other way.

to me this goes against POE1's concept of classlessness and flexibility. it also goes against the skill gem system. anyone can use any gem/skill as long as you have the right stats or the right gear.

POE2 is a total lockdown. if you want this specific skill you MUST use this particular skill or else.

from Bex https://twitter.com/bexsayswords/status/1685054663824203776

"Btw just like in Path of Exile 1, skills in Path of Exile 2 are not locked to specific classes. Any class can use any skill.
7:28 PM · Jul 28, 2023"

"

exsea wrote:

Sorry, didn't realize you were talking about something like that, but then again POE 1 also has something similar.

Where did you find that pic of the Ascendancy tree? Are there others?

I agree somewhat with Exsea about the ascendancy skill thing. This started becoming a thing I THINK with bone barrier in 3.8 for the Necromancer. I could be wrong about that being the FIRST ascendancy-locked skill. Good thing was that it was basically just a copy of other guard skills, so it didn't stand out too bad. Tawhoa's Chosen came in 3.11 and that was a REAL problem because it was a functional skill that nothing else in the game could compete with for slams.

Before these ascendancy skills within the last...4 years or so (coincidence?!), all skills were item-based or gem-based so that if someone truly wanted to they could make ANY build. This was the basis of PoE and it was one of the biggest selling points for PoE (see Bex's comment...).

I honestly don't even think the devs realize this isn't true anymore...again see Bex's comment, although he isn't a dev.

"

exsea wrote:

"

insectbrain wrote:

"

exsea wrote:

in POE2, we have ascendancy specific skills, which you cannot obtain any other way.

to me this goes against POE1's concept of classlessness and flexibility. it also goes against the skill gem system. anyone can use any gem/skill as long as you have the right stats or the right gear.

POE2 is a total lockdown. if you want this specific skill you MUST use this particular skill or else.

from Bex https://twitter.com/bexsayswords/status/1685054663824203776

"Btw just like in Path of Exile 1, skills in Path of Exile 2 are not locked to specific classes. Any class can use any skill.
7:28 PM · Jul 28, 2023"

Necro has granted Bone Armor forever, its actually crazy how much PoE2 haters have to grasp at to act like it's doing all these horrible never-before-seen awful things.

@OP I think you're crazy on the dual spec that looks awesome and I fully disagree that it hurts character identity. Pretty much every fantasy IP you look at the protagonists/antagonists use more than one weapon. Crossbow and sword, large gun + small concealed gun, 2h axe + throwing axes. Dual spec is hype as hell.

For UI idk I'll let you artists worry about that. Your suggestions don't seem very specific. 'make it crisp' ... uh +1 I guess?

"

innervation wrote:

Necro has granted Bone Armor forever, its actually crazy how much PoE2 haters have to grasp at to act like it's doing all these horrible never-before-seen awful things.

i complain a lot but i've never specifically mentioned that i hate poe2, in fact i've mentioned in various posts that i want to see it succeed.

as for bone armor, i actually forgot that skill ever existed, as i dont play summons. if you are playing summons, you would tend to prefer necro.

bone armor doesnt work if you're not playing a summon build.

knowing about the existence of bone armor makes me dislike the direction of POE even more.

the difference between bone armor vs werecat form is, in most cases players who play summons will definitely choose necro as its so focused that its the best ascendancy for that playstyle.

whereas for poe2 i believe that anyone could just slap on a shapeshift gem to use like bloodrage. anyone has access to shapeshifting, except werecat form. you lose access to it if you dont specifically spec into it.

bone armor EVEN if given a way for players to gain access to it outside of ascendancy does nothing for non summoner builds.

i bet that if were cat form was available outside of the ascendancy many players would want to grab it.

"

jsuslak313 wrote:

Where did you find that pic of the Ascendancy tree? Are there others?

I honestly don't even think the devs realize this isn't true anymore.

you can find more from 2019's exilecon footage. its a little hidden and the a few skills were teased in different videos.

theres crazy shit like the ability for using bows as a melee weapon.

and yeah, i think the devs might not realize that skills arent classless anymore.

bex, i dont think shes a dev. shes more of a PR person, i may be wrong. but anyway shes left the company and will be dearly missed.

That isn't true about bone armor being only usable with minions...its a simple guard skill that provides flat protection and bleed immmunity. It has no connection to the minions, only that it ALSO benefits them. It is basically steelskin, with the added benefit of affecting all your minions and granting bleed immunity. But the minions themselves don't play a role in the usage of Bone Armor.

Also, Bone Armor has NOT been around "forever". It was introduced in 3.8 which was only 4 years ago. And yes there were calls even then for "no skills in ascendancies". But it is innocuous because no one is ever going to play necromancer just to gain access to "Bone Armor". However, people DO play Chieftain for the sole purpose of gaining access to Tawhoa's Chosen.

The gray area comes with: is it truly a SKILL or is it simply a buff mechanic unique to the ascendancy? The latter I am okay with, it is basically the reason we have ascendancies in the first place. But if it is a unique usable GOOD skill that no other class has access to...THAT is going to be a problem.