Absolutely disapointed -- This game is hard, and not in a fun way.

My issue with POE2 is that its really is Diablo/Souls-Like and not POE-like

Its a really dumbed down from POE (on character skills and builds) and really dumbed up on Dodge Dodge Dodge BS. Literally this was to be and extension of POE1 running on the same servers. You could go POE1 champaign or POE2 to get to maps. Then some idiot at GGG played Elden Ring and said We should make POE2 that.

Game Ruined

"

melkoriii#5637 wrote:

My issue with POE2 is that its really is Diablo/Souls-Like and not POE-like

Its a really dumbed down from POE (on character skills and builds) and really dumbed up on Dodge Dodge Dodge BS. Literally this was to be and extension of POE1 running on the same servers. You could go POE1 champaign or POE2 to get to maps. Then some idiot at GGG played Elden Ring and said We should make POE2 that.

Game Ruined

Not an accurate comparison at all. Elden Ring is actually fun to play.

"

Etvein#1213 wrote:

"

Cocofang#3395 wrote:

Why do you want the same game twice? You already have PoE1, why would you want PoE2 to be the same? PoE1 fills a unique niche on the market and so will PoE2. Why would GGG cannibalize their first game by just remaking it shinier, when they can capitalize on two niches instead?

You people don't deserve GGG. You deserve Activision, Ubisoft and Bethesda.

Because PoE1 code has its limitations and we want our QOL that were supposed to come with 4.0 and which were impossible to build on old code. Also they promised to sort through the mechanics and balance the game and update graphics. Instead they just said "f*ck off" and remade Ruthless into a different game and now we are supposed to just get lost for some reason.

We don't want to go back to a decade old spaghetti code that we can't even support anymore. No matter what GGG say, PoE 1 will get the skeleton crew treatment and die out in a year or two. Any supporter packs bought will go to develop PoE 2 instead.

They have no reason to give up on PoE1 because it still fills a unique niche that no other game, including PoE2, can fill. It has an established audience. It would make no sense not to continuously capitalize on that.

Mark my words, you entitled doomers will be blown away by the next PoE1 league. And you know why? Because GGG knows they have to prove that they are still fully committed to PoE1 and it's community. So they will deliver.

After years and years of rewarding your trust with amazing content you whiners are willing to throw it all into GGGs face just because PoE2 is different. How exactly has GGG not earned your good will after dutifully delivering you peerless content for years?

You don't even realize that one of the reasons that GGG made the decision to split PoE1 and PoE2 is YOU! Because at some point they realized they would have to delete a game that people loved and cared about (and is obviously profitable) for the sake of making the changes they wanted. So they decided to go the extra mile and deliver both. It makes no financial sense, no strategic sense and no long-term sense to throw PoE1 away because supporting it will prove GGGs commitment and cement them as trustworthy. Which is the ultimate goal for a live service.

At least that's the theory, if not for fickle, entitled people that are willing to flip the table at a whim because instead of getting the same toy but shinier, they still have to - checks notes - continue to play their favorite game.

Brats. Spoiled rotten brats.

"

Cocofang#3395 wrote:

"

Etvein#1213 wrote:

"

Cocofang#3395 wrote:

Why do you want the same game twice? You already have PoE1, why would you want PoE2 to be the same? PoE1 fills a unique niche on the market and so will PoE2. Why would GGG cannibalize their first game by just remaking it shinier, when they can capitalize on two niches instead?

You people don't deserve GGG. You deserve Activision, Ubisoft and Bethesda.

Because PoE1 code has its limitations and we want our QOL that were supposed to come with 4.0 and which were impossible to build on old code. Also they promised to sort through the mechanics and balance the game and update graphics. Instead they just said "f*ck off" and remade Ruthless into a different game and now we are supposed to just get lost for some reason.

We don't want to go back to a decade old spaghetti code that we can't even support anymore. No matter what GGG say, PoE 1 will get the skeleton crew treatment and die out in a year or two. Any supporter packs bought will go to develop PoE 2 instead.

They have no reason to give up on PoE1 because it still fills a unique niche that no other game, including PoE2, can fill. It has an established audience. It would make no sense not to continuously capitalize on that.

Mark my words, you entitled doomers will be blown away by the next PoE1 league. And you know why? Because GGG knows they have to prove that they are still fully committed to PoE1 and it's community. So they will deliver.

After years and years of rewarding your trust with amazing content you whiners are willing to throw it all into GGGs face just because PoE2 is different. How exactly has GGG not earned your good will after dutifully delivering you peerless content for years?

You don't even realize that one of the reasons that GGG made the decision to split PoE1 and PoE2 is YOU! Because at some point they realized they would have to delete a game that people loved and cared about (and is obviously profitable) for the sake of making the changes they wanted. So they decided to go the extra mile and deliver both. It makes no financial sense, no strategic sense and no long-term sense to throw PoE1 away because supporting it will prove GGGs commitment and cement them as trustworthy. Which is the ultimate goal for a live service.

At least that's the theory, if not for fickle, entitled people that are willing to flip the table at a whim because instead of getting the same toy but shinier, they still have to - checks notes - continue to play their favorite game.

Brats. Spoiled rotten brats.

I mean, the trust was kinda thrown out when the switched from treating PoE2 as an extension of PoE1 and switched to something decidedly not an extension of PoE1 rather late into the development and then went even further and started throwing around souls-like. They won't straight kill PoE1 and are obviously good with cannibalizing the PoE1 population with the MTX transfers to try and pull people over. It will have a skeleton crew that occasionally reruns leagues. Expect active development to stop in a few years unless they literally double their dev team.

I think the general "difficulty" is ok, although the boss fight are just a tad bit ridiculous, 3-4 minutes fights, non stop moving around, multiple phases, some boss don't even have adds so you only get ONE health flask for the whole fight.
This is not difficult, it's a bit over the top, it is not FUN when you can't do mistake, it is not fun to have skill that ONE shot you no matter how well it is shown or displayed before, it is NOT A FUN mechanic, if I want one shot dead mechanic I would go and do WoW Raids, not just strong boss SOLO in a ARPG like PoE.

I think there could be a good way to appease to wide variety, just have a difficulty slider
If and only if you are solo:
Loot and such could be rolled appropriately depending on how easy or hard you want it.
Making a point system then at the end of the fight you can have loot depending of those "points"
Easy mode:
A) You have 2 lives, reviving with full HP and flask on death
B) You have a NPC helping you
C) Boss has 15% less HP
D) Boss deal cannot one hit you, ONLY if you are full life, you can't go under 0 with one hit

Hard mode:
A) You deal 15% less damage
B) You have 15% less HP
C) Boss is 5-10% faster

ETC ETC ETC.

I think you can see my point

Why not give the option to the player instead of making one size fits all, so you decide for yourself and not someone else.
Saying "Dont make the game easier for other" is just egoist, there is tons of way you can artificially make a game harder on yourself but it is way way harder to make a game easier.
Thus the game should be easier with option to make it harder!

"

Cocofang#3395 wrote:

Why do you want the same game twice? You already have PoE1, why would you want PoE2 to be the same? PoE1 fills a unique niche on the market and so will PoE2. Why would GGG cannibalize their first game by just remaking it shinier, when they can capitalize on two niches instead?

You people don't deserve GGG. You deserve Activision, Ubisoft and Bethesda.

There has never been any problem with any game publishers/developers that split their focus.

"

Nothv13#0740 wrote:

"

Cocofang#3395 wrote:

"

Etvein#1213 wrote:

Because PoE1 code has its limitations and we want our QOL that were supposed to come with 4.0 and which were impossible to build on old code. Also they promised to sort through the mechanics and balance the game and update graphics. Instead they just said "f*ck off" and remade Ruthless into a different game and now we are supposed to just get lost for some reason.

We don't want to go back to a decade old spaghetti code that we can't even support anymore. No matter what GGG say, PoE 1 will get the skeleton crew treatment and die out in a year or two. Any supporter packs bought will go to develop PoE 2 instead.

They have no reason to give up on PoE1 because it still fills a unique niche that no other game, including PoE2, can fill. It has an established audience. It would make no sense not to continuously capitalize on that.

Mark my words, you entitled doomers will be blown away by the next PoE1 league. And you know why? Because GGG knows they have to prove that they are still fully committed to PoE1 and it's community. So they will deliver.

After years and years of rewarding your trust with amazing content you whiners are willing to throw it all into GGGs face just because PoE2 is different. How exactly has GGG not earned your good will after dutifully delivering you peerless content for years?

You don't even realize that one of the reasons that GGG made the decision to split PoE1 and PoE2 is YOU! Because at some point they realized they would have to delete a game that people loved and cared about (and is obviously profitable) for the sake of making the changes they wanted. So they decided to go the extra mile and deliver both. It makes no financial sense, no strategic sense and no long-term sense to throw PoE1 away because supporting it will prove GGGs commitment and cement them as trustworthy. Which is the ultimate goal for a live service.

At least that's the theory, if not for fickle, entitled people that are willing to flip the table at a whim because instead of getting the same toy but shinier, they still have to - checks notes - continue to play their favorite game.

Brats. Spoiled rotten brats.

I mean, the trust was kinda thrown out when the switched from treating PoE2 as an extension of PoE1 and switched to something decidedly not an extension of PoE1 rather late into the development and then went even further and started throwing around souls-like. They won't straight kill PoE1 and are obviously good with cannibalizing the PoE1 population with the MTX transfers to try and pull people over. It will have a skeleton crew that occasionally reruns leagues. Expect active development to stop in a few years unless they literally double their dev team.

Bitter people always go with the most uncharitable interpretation.

GGG initially said PoE2 would be a huge PoE1 expansion. So obviously MTX would still be there. But after the split, that would preserve PoE1 and unshackle PoE2, they were faced with a choice: Double dip on MTX sales or accommodate players on an unprecedented level and allow them to keep all MTX they bought for an entirely separate game. Given how they already had to sell the split of the two games, they opted for the later.

Additionally, as I said, the split can also be further proof of their commitment to PoE1. As the alternative with the direction and scope of development was to effectively delete the game in favor of PoE2. Which they also didn't do. All because of thankless, shortsighted and reactionary people that now jump down their throat anyway.

"

Cocofang#3395 wrote:

Bitter people always go with the most uncharitable interpretation.

GGG initially said PoE2 would be a huge PoE1 expansion. So obviously MTX would still be there. But after the split, that would preserve PoE1 and unshackle PoE2, they were faced with a choice: Double dip on MTX sales or accommodate players on an unprecedented level and allow them to keep all MTX they bought for an entirely separate game. Given how they already had to sell the split of the two games, they opted for the later.

Additionally, as I said, the split can also be further proof of their commitment to PoE1. As the alternative with the direction and scope of development was to effectively delete the game in favor of PoE2. Which they also didn't do. All because of thankless, shortsighted and reactionary people that now jump down their throat anyway.

The thing is before the split, PoE2 wasn't going to be different enough to warrant a split, it would just be a continuation. It was to fix issues with onbording new players, underlying spaghetti code, update graphics and expand the game, not be a separate game and kill the first.

Personally, I'd just like them to not try and hodge-podge a souls-like experience into a foundation (rng everywhere with little to no ability for the player to influence, gear playing a huge part in character power) that runs counter to a souls-like experience like they currently are. Go souls-like and cut back on the pure rng for gear or have gear less important for character power. It seems a huge waste to try and make a difficult boss when a lucky player can pretty much just negate it.

"

Nothv13#0740 wrote:

The thing is before the split, PoE2 wasn't going to be different enough to warrant a split, it would just be a continuation. It was to fix issues with onbording new players, underlying spaghetti code, update graphics and expand the game, not be a separate game and kill the first.

Personally, I'd just like them to not try and hodge-podge a souls-like experience into a foundation (rng everywhere with little to no ability for the player to influence, gear playing a huge part in character power) that runs counter to a souls-like experience like they currently are. Go souls-like and cut back on the pure rng for gear or have gear less important for character power. It seems a huge waste to try and make a difficult boss when a lucky player can pretty much just negate it.

God it's depressing that the bar has sunk so low that we're at the point where literally anything that has a moderately difficult boss or even just combat that requires interaction and execution is now called Souls-like.

The gearing is perfectly fine, the only issue seems to be that the game treats bosses like a skill check first and a gear check second and a lot of PoE1 people can't seem to handle that. If you actually have the skill to execute the boss's mechanics and avoid damage then it's totally possible to progress through the game without having to grind out power. If you can't do that then yeah you're going to have to go back to the previous zone or boss and gear up until you outnumber the content. Acts and early maps aren't just a mindless trudge of filler content anymore and the game is better for it.

The misconception is thinking that gear is too important for character power, when the reality is just that the game is tuned for a much higher level of execution than what you were expecting and your ego can't seem to handle that. But hey, if you don't want to actually learn the boss fights then you've got these great options of either grinding out power til it's skill checks are negated or just going and playing PoE1 which still exists right over there and is exactly what you're asking for. Seeing gamers demand that the devs neuter their vision in order to appease the lowest-common-denominator when there are already have so. many. options. catering to that, is just beyond frustrating. Please just let a single game exist that caters to people that require more mental stimulus to be entertained than that of a baby giggling at a bunch of jingly sparkly keys being dangled in front of it.

"

MrPedez#4934 wrote
Honestly if u havent played a character past lvl 14 u really havent given the game a fair chance at all. It actually does get easier once u get higher lvl and get ur skills and support gems up and running, Im almost lvl 70 now and im doing pretty damn well now with mediocre gear but i can definitely feel my char getting stronger with every lvl and gear upgrade i get

What reason is there for me to punish myself by reengaging with the game? I've seen the future and the future is more tedious boss fights that take 10 minutes with one mistake causing a reset.

The future is crap gear drops and praying "PLEASE give me something usable!" when crafting.

What is the fun in grinding until I out-level King in the Mist by ten levels to beat him? What is the fun in unlocking even more worthless skills to try and juggle or secondary gems which, often, have little to no synergy with the skills or other secondary gems (or even cancel skills and other gems out)?

It is a boss fight that is only difficult if you miss a narrow tell window, fail to get the exact frame when animation canceling, or the sweet spot where you avoid damage while dodge rolling. Then attack once for minimal damage (since you haven't been able to get good, appropriate gear drops) before restarting the cycle again over and over for 10 minutes.

The only exciting part of the game, the boss fights, are equivalent to playing a waiting game against an opponent who can't lose because they are perfect in execution and, along a long enough time frame, WILL beat the player.

There's no strategy beyond "Get better gear or more levels so you can kill fast enough you avoid making the inevitable mistake that will cause the fight to be redone."

The mob AI is just dumb bombs that get in range as fast as possible so they can do as much damage to you as possible. They have no other motivation or decision trees. They don't flank, they don't have complementary attacks, there's no strategy to combat, short of exploiting pathing issues (if you want to call that a strategy).

Wow, both designs went out of date in the 1990s. Totally cutting-edge design!

Well, arguably the early 2000s if you want to include D2, which GGG has taken and stolen both good and bad ideas from without evaluating if the idea survives scrutiny after 20 - 30 years.

It seems a lot of people love retro games, based on the Steam charts. Personally, I asked for a refund (I haven't heard back) and this will be the last time I buy from GGG instead of Steam. See, I wanted GGG to get all $100USD instead of the $70 because Steam takes 30%. Unfortunately, it means I lost out on Steam's refund policy and ability to review the game.

So wait to hear from support and likely suck up a $100USD loss. Live and learn.