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

"

z3mcneil#3966 wrote:

Souls veteran here. So played for about 2-3h today (East Asia here and servers were down during most of the day and down again now). Chose Ranger, WASD. Spent a lot of time researching the skill tree so only got to level 7, didn't die once, and other than the 1st boss, barely had to heal. From the Witch boss and the Devourer to the last one I just fought (forgot the name), got hit maybe 1-2 times per boss fight, and never came close to dying clearing the maps. Loot drops been mediocre, still using the starter weapon. All skill points into damage.

Found WASD better for me since movement and dodging is entirely controlled by my left hand on the keyboard, and dodging is second nature since most of my gaming time the last 3-4 months were Elden Ring and Wukong. Can't speak for melee, but if you're ranged and dying all the time to bosses, then maybe you're not paying enough attention to boss attacks. I suspect some players are experiencing the isometric ARPG equivalent of the Grafted Scion/Tree Sentinel/Wandering Wight, as a player you're not in control of the fight here, you can't just stand still most of the time and when you attack you shouldn't just spam your attacks without paying attention to boss movements.

Unlike the actual Souls games, you can't stagger or poise break the bosses to give yourself a guaranteed attack/critical hit window, the bosses don't give a sxxt about what you're doing, they just do their own thing. So you need to stay on the move and react to bosses. To compensate, you have all the stun/freeze CC skills, learn to use them properly. I'll see how hard the Act 1 end boss is when I get there, but so far there has been nothing special.

Done for the day. Ranger. WASD. Lvl 8 now, death count 0, total times healed since 1st boss: 1. This is nowhere near as hard as an actual Souls game, dodging may look slow and there is a pause inbetween dodges but that's GGG's subtle way of telling you to not spam rolling. Learn the new controls and pay attention to boss attacks.

Btw, got an Exalted orb from the last boss I killed before logoff, so Exalted are common now? Considering I haven't had a transmutation or regal orb drop yet it seems funny.

I can handle everything else, but bosses have way too much health these fights are going on way too long

I gave up in act 2 when I realized that ascendancies can and will make your character objectively worse. This is not it.

I would love to keep supporting PoE1 but gigigi will just waste my money on this shitshow and not improve PoE1 in the slightest.

you literally do not have to be zizaran to enjoy it. you just have to go kill some monsters to grind some levels and gear. it's not that hard.

Agreed its way too hard. Running monk and its taking 12+ attempts to kill a boss. I have died 200 times minimum before level 15.

Boost damage 25% and reduce monster damage 25% or increase player defense.
This will still make it a very challenging game.
I can't imagine anyone playing hardcore.

I'm alright for the most part, the only thing that pains me greatly is the traverse speed... walking back to check that one corner of the location you didn't fully discover takes 3 to 4 business days. I don't think we can judge how game plays when it comes to combat until well into maps... remember that PoE1 sucks ass until you stack at least several 4-links, attack/cast speed, movement speed AND two Quicksilver flasks. It plays a lot like PoE1 in 2012 (pace) but doesn't feel as terrible when engaging normal enemies.

"

Akaos74#2503 wrote:

Agreed its way too hard. Running monk and its taking 12+ attempts to kill a boss. I have died 200 times minimum before level 15.

Boost damage 25% and reduce monster damage 25% or increase player defense.
This will still make it a very challenging game.
I can't imagine anyone playing hardcore.

They don't

"Absolutely disappointed -- This game is hard, and not in a fun way.", pretty much sums up my Act 1 experience. Why do I feel this way?

- WASD is mandatory. Mouse + Keyboard cannot do WASD. You can only move and dodge-roll in the direction to which the mouse is pointing, which does not allow you to continuously target and attack in one direction while continuously moving and/or dodging in another. WASD is a completely unfair advantage over Mouse + Keyboard, especially in boss fights where it's mandatory to continuously target and attack in one direction while having the ability to immediately move and/or dodge in another.

- WASD is also terrible in that the game was designed around players being able to continuously be on the run, and by self-fulfilling prophecy, you have made the players be continuously on the run, kiting, kiting, kiting, just to survive. This is an action RPG. We are supposed to feel powerful and able to stand our ground while fighting. Having said this, I'm not saying we shouldn't have to move or dodge enemy mechanics, but continuously having to kite, kite, kite everything is terrible.

- Flask slots. Designing the game to only allow two flask slots is perfectly fine. However, not allowing the player to choose what flasks can be placed in the two provided slots is terrible. Players need to be able to choose what is appropriate for their build. Upon reaching level 4 I no longer needed a Mana flask. Playing through Act 1 with a dead, unusable flask slot, all the while needing to equip and use a second Life flask, is not fun and would have save me many deaths.

- Belts/Charms. This needs balanced. Why are there belts without charm slots? Playing through the game was constantly annoyed with either having a charm not having a belt with a charm slot, or having a belt with a charm slot and no charm to put in it. Also, I don't even understand the purpose of charms in the current iteration. If a Charm charges up like a flask, consumes charges like a flask, and functions like POE1 utility flasks, the Charm is a flask.

- Items Drops. Terrible unless you consider POE1, Ruthless mode to be fun. Everything being base white, sometimes magic blue, with yellow rare few and far between is not fun. There are not enough currency drops to upgrade, fix the gear.

- Uncut Gems. Good in that you can decide what skill or support gem you want to turn the uncut into. Bad in that you need uncuts to level up your chosen skill and support gems. Bad RNG, your skill and support gems are to low a level to progress through the game. You both have to find an uncut, and when you do, the uncut's level must exceed your skill/support gem's level to level it up. Bad for smooth progression. The skill/support gems need to level up along with our characters. Also, is there a way to upgrade lower level uncuts? If not, I have way to many useless low level uncuts, all the while my skill levels are roadblocked by not finding higher level uncuts.

- Resistance Gear. Not enough of it.

- Mobs. Overtuned. Kite, Kite, Kite, continuously.

- Bosses. Way Overtuned. Fights take way too long and the outcome is ultimately decided by whether or not you can kite, kite, kite, continuously without running out of Life flask charges. You are either successful at kiting and the boss dies or you run out of charges and you die. There is a difference between having to recognize and dodge boss mechanics during a reasonable length fight, and having to do the same for 10 minutes with little or no mistakes for the duration, especially when some of the mechanics are intentional one-shots. There is nothing worse than being several minutes into the kiting chaos of the fight, and then not getting out of the way of a one-shot that forces you to start the entire fight all over again. Oh wait, I stand corrected. The Act1 boss is multiple phases of this. Getting KO'd in a later phase to have to start over, we all just logged out. A second attempt would be the same result and none of us had the time or desire to try again.

Yeah, I'm not enjoying this one. Uninstalled and refunded

"

Marrond#4432 wrote:

I'm alright for the most part, the only thing that pains me greatly is the traverse speed... walking back to check that one corner of the location you didn't fully discover takes 3 to 4 business days. I don't think we can judge how game plays when it comes to combat until well into maps... remember that PoE1 sucks ass until you stack at least several 4-links, attack/cast speed, movement speed AND two Quicksilver flasks. It plays a lot like PoE1 in 2012 (pace) but doesn't feel as terrible when engaging normal enemies.

PoE doesn't suck at low levels. It's a breeze, and a fun one. Smash up some mobs, pick up ground trash, zoon through the campaign until you start to die a bit and then sort your resistances and start gearing for maps. Easy, brainless fun. Can get a bit repetitive, but it's a lot less repetitive than dodge, dodge, dodge, dodge for 10 minute until you get one shot!