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

Killed him first try without any problems with my own and far away from optimal build...with enough life and OKish stats on my gear the boss was relatively easy. ^^

Back to drawing board
Equip better stuff
Farm better stuff
git gud
L2P
Learn meachanics
Learn to dodge

Pick one or all of the points above.

Play & learn the game instead of whining that you can't faceroll all content few hours into a brandnew game....this is not D4 where even a ape who hit his head against the keyboard can beat 99% of the game. ;)

8hrs in, and its a blast! Im half way through act1? (mausoleum) lvl 9. Taking it slow. Playing warrior with shield and mace, learning everything as I go. Died 10+ times. Dodging normal mobs stuff, learning new skills synergies - warcry, slam, boneshatter - booom. Feels so meaty when it hits and clears the mob pack. I'm really excited about how this looks and hope that devs will keep it in that direction. I like the soulslikeness of this one. It is a challange. Yet my friends in guild that have 1000+ hrs in poe1 just smash through the game like it was yet another poe1 season and say that they wipe the whole screen ez :)

I was fully expecting some people to try and play this game the same way they played PoE1 instead of engaging with it on its own terms, accepting the fact that it's different and learning to play it all over again. Seems I was right.

I mean, I've seen a steam reviewer complain that he couldn't facetank bosses half an hour in and refund the game.

The game feels just right. It's not too hard in any way, and thus far, every time I have died it was on me, not some bullshit I could do nothing about like in PoE1. If I died - skill issue. As it should be. PoE1 wasn't ANY easier in beta btw, people will eventually find more optimal builds and approaches here too. Which will take time. Despite similarities to its predecessor, this is a new game. Maybe you should treat it as such if you feel like you can't zoom through it as easily as you can in poE1.

There's a certain boss in Act 2 I won't spoil that I'm convinced is either a troll by the devs, or they accidentally put this boss as was designed 8 months ago, and not the current fixed version. You'll know her when you see her. The random spike in difficulty is out of nowhere, and isn't gradual either. It feels like Uber Lab .... and its in Act 2.

Coming from someone who didn't die on Act 1, most players are gonna hit Act 2 and just quit at this point. I hope this isn't the trend the entire way.

End game should 100% be hard, but not Act 2 of a campaign...

This is my first impression too. It feels like darks souls meets D2, neither of which I particularly enjoy. Also GGG seems to have doubled down on one shots and off-screening, like back in the early days of PoE1.

I have found that if I am patient, prioritise rolling as the main skill for any boss fight and occasionally attack in the rare "safe" windows, they aren't difficult fights, just long and tedious. The problem is my attention wanders and I make mistakes because it is so uninteresting to play this way, every build is mostly a rolling build.

I feel very underwhelmed by my first few levels, better than D4, not as good as PoE1, Last Epoch or Grim Dawn.

tedious is not the same as difficult, even though tedium can be used to make a game difficult.

"

Shyanmar#4875 wrote:

I was fully expecting some people to try and play this game the same way they played PoE1 instead of engaging with it on its own terms, accepting the fact that it's different and learning to play it all over again. Seems I was right.

I mean, I've seen a steam reviewer complain that he couldn't facetank bosses half an hour in and refund the game.

The game feels just right. It's not too hard in any way, and thus far, every time I have died it was on me, not some bullshit I could do nothing about like in PoE1. If I died - skill issue. As it should be. PoE1 wasn't ANY easier in beta btw, people will eventually find more optimal builds and approaches here too. Which will take time. Despite similarities to its predecessor, this is a new game. Maybe you should treat it as such if you feel like you can't zoom through it as easily as you can in poE1.

100% true.

Its perfect and I hope that GGG is not going to change POE2.

Just craft some better gear and go again, use your resources liberally. Upgrading your weapon for 10 damage more completely changes a boss fight.

A bit of perspective for folks who think that the game being mechanically harder than POE1 is a bad thing for user-retention....

On steam alone.... POE2 peaked at 459k players, and has held over 300k since launch. POE1 all-time peak was 228k on steam. POE2 is *more* popular already. It's going to be a smash hit financial blow out.

Dark Souls sold 27 million copies. Elden Ring sold 25 million copies. Harder games are *more* popular then POE1, not less.

My biggest gripe with POE1 is a game with builds where you can walk up to a boss and face tank him is not a game to me. (especially when that build is copied from someone else because of punishing respec costs and inability to evolve a character)

POE2 fixes all of this and more...

For sure, it's a different game, and it was brilliant for GGG to separate them and keep POE1 alive, for the obviously excellent dedicated fans who like that experience.

I predict POE2 will have stably 2-5x the playerbase of POE1 before EA is even done.

And also, GGG has already seen that the players who have the *most* trouble with POE2 are POE1 players, because there is enough similarity that players assume they know how to play POE2. I felt it was very hard for the first two hours, but I've already got over much of the learning curve, found the timings and gooves, and it's nowhere near as hard as I expected it to be. Once there are build guides and mechanics guides helping players who don't want to learn through death and experience, people will see it's not as hard as it seems.

I also don't enjoy the tedious combat mechanics, exactly matching my expectations from what I had seen before EA opened up.

It took me some tries, but since I have found a class and build that allows me to do the POE1 run-around-boss-in-circles I am actually having a good time.

Looks like you just have to find what works for you.

I really can't understand what they were thinking when some small fire bug in first zone when you go outside of the city literally 1 shot you with little fire ball... I mean for real? I understand POE have to be hard and complicated, but this? [Removed by Support]