Rigid Ascendancy Restrictions in PoE 2: A Barrier to Player Freedom and Retention

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I remember games like D2 when every skill selection was final, and you had to learn by having a suboptimal character. You just built better next time. Choices had consequences, and you learn to mitigate weaknesses in your character built. Just my thought

Good point. Choices mattering is something that is sadly missing in today's gaming. WOW use to be the same way before respec was watered down to a simple switch of the button. I'm all for being modern but there are some old school design choices that I like. Choices being a big deal is one of them. Leave ascendency as it is. It's not like we won't have access to tons of info online as to how all the builds play so we can all make a more informed decision. That was something we never had back in the day. Back then you relied on word of mouth, book guides or straight up gut feeling.

I never understood the obsession of doing everything on one character. It feels like the modern generation diseases like: no focus, ADHAD, autism and other bullisht, want to force all games to become this mix of "give me everything now and here, because I can't be bothered to play your game".

While it does restrict builds and such, the fact is that very few new players will even realize that they can't respec their ascendancy. Older players will realize that, and either soldier on, or complain, and at some point GGG will change their mind.

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lupasvasile#5385 wrote:

I never understood the obsession of doing everything on one character. It feels like the modern generation diseases like: no focus, ADHAD, autism and other bullisht, want to force all games to become this mix of "give me everything now and here, because I can't be bothered to play your game".

I want to play a game, not have a career in a game. There's better uses of my playtime than leveling up another ranger just to try a different ascendancy.

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HammerofNatsu#7665 wrote:

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Valmar#3550 wrote:

I have over 8k hours played in PoE.

There was ONCE I would love to change my ascendancy. ONE single time.
It was not a big deal in any way.

I prefer the way it is, choices matter. Give them respecs, they will ask for ascendancy change. Give them ascendancy change, they will ask for class game. Give them class change, they will ask for Diablo 5.

No thanks. Its a wise decision (could break the meta, ladders, etc). And anyway not a big deal at all.

HOWEVER if they see thousand people asking for it, Im pretty sure they will change things in the future, its early access for some reason. Nothing is set in stone.

I think letting you change it before reaching maps would not be a bad thing at all, in case anyone new to the game is needing it.

I actually really like this idea—it’s a solid compromise. Allowing ascendancy changes before reaching maps would give new players a chance to adjust their choices as they figure out the game without removing the weight of decisions for more experienced players later on. It balances flexibility and commitment in a way that works for both casual and hardcore players. I think something like this would go a long way in making PoE 2 more approachable while keeping its core identity intact.

Yes, I think the same about respecs. Letting you fully respec during the campaign for free or even half-gold cost would be awesome for new players, while also not a reason to exploit it in endgame.

The only bad thing about these mechanics would be in races if they implement them. But they could easily ban the respecs during the, so easy fix then.

Anyway, probably not happen. But even when I', more or less a conservative dude, I would not mind the game being more approachable to others.

ggg should keep it.
choices needs to matter

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I want to play a game, not have a career in a game. There's better uses of my playtime than leveling up another ranger just to try a different ascendancy.

EXACTLY...

I game to PLAY a game as a HOBBY...

NOT WORK at it like it's a JOB...

Choices shouldn't matter...

IT'S A F'N GAME PEOPLE...

Reset/changes are a MUST HAVE...

I REPEAT, IT'S A F'N GAME! and saying it should matter, means you've turned it into a JOB, not a HOBBY...

Get OFF the PC/CONSOLE and go outside...

Jeesh...

Caps locking half your post doesn't make your argument any better. If playing the game more than once is too much for you, might I suggest story driven gives with no choices? Might be easier for you.

You could also just get better at the game so that leveling up is at most 4-5 hours to hit maps/endgame but I guess that is too much of an ask.

Usually, choices should matter. Otherwise, what ends up happening is players get bored of the game and never come back. This game has one of its core elements being character customisation, and they want the choices you make to customise your character to feel impactful.

If you enable ascendancy respec again, it actually disincentivises people to customise & experiment with their builds, because they are saving all their gold for ascendancy respecs (or enough for a potential respec, 'just in case' they need it) that will have to cost a lot more than refunding normal passive points. It also means that you have to farm on a character you don't actually like playing in order to unlock the different ascendancy, and completely change your gems/skill setups to accommodate the ascendancy change (because ascendancies have their own socketable skills).

The amount of player friction involved in this process is probably too high, especially considering the demographic of people that require an ascendancy respec consider themselves 'time poor'. Also, once you complete the change and you don't like it, you have to re-grind the gold to change back - which may be too grindy for these types of players and not actually be fun for them, meaning they would quit anyway if they ever do a 'failed' respec.

#4 is really the strongest argument. I think it should work in such a way that you can unlock multiple ascendencies and then switch between them either at will or at a cost of some kind.