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

You're free to disagree with what's written, just be polite and constructive in your response.

The below is based on my perception of the game; this is just one person's opinion. It's possible my experience could have been different with more loot or other factors, just to give an example. I'm sharing my thoughts in the hope of providing constructive feedback.
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My first impressions of Path of Exile 2 in early access were critical, but after spending more time with it, I've somewhat tempered my views. However, I still feel that while the game is designed to be difficult, it often isn't difficult in a fun or rewarding way.

Here's a breakdown of my experience with different classes:

1. Minion Witch:
o I invested heavily in minion damage and health, but during boss fights, my minions would die almost instantly, leaving me to run around like a headless chicken.
o The Act 1 boss was especially frustrating. Certain parts of the fight occur in a small, enclosed area filled with adds, making it nearly impossible to succeed with a minion build. I eventually had to give up my minions.

2. Warrior:
o My experience was better with a warrior, although I relied on a yellow weapon I had originally found with my witch.

3. Mercenary:
o I'm playing a mercenary now, and it's been a more balanced experience – though I have 3 yellow items found by my other characters.
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Suggested Improvements

A few tweaks and fixes could significantly improve the (early) game experience:

1. Community Toxicity:
o The community is becoming increasingly toxic. At this rate, it might soon resemble the toxicity of League of Legends. While this isn't entirely GGG's responsibility, implementing stricter forum and chat rules could help maintain a more positive environment.

2. Dodge Mechanic:
o The dodge mechanic feels sluggish and unresponsive. My character dodges like a 50-year-old (and after a roll like that, I'd also need a moment to check my lower back and struggle to stand up straight.
o Suggestion: Make the dodge animation and recovery more fluid and responsive to improve combat flow.

3. Loot System:
o Loot distribution feels off. My mercenary is using several yellow items collected by my other characters. Without these, I doubt I’d be able to beat some bosses.
o Example: The Cemetery boss took me almost 10 minutes of constant dodging and occasional shooting to finish due to my low damage output.
o Crafting Currency: There is a lack of crafting currencies and, at times, a lack of base items to use for craft. This makes gearing up through crafting nearly impossible.
o Suggestion: Improve drop rates for crafting currencies and ensure a better supply of base items to give players more control over their gear progression. Parallel, item drops need to be tweaked, too; using only blue items vs. some yellows is a completely different game.

4. Currency and respec:
o The current system makes prohibitively difficult respeccing. The ability to experiment with different builds is essential in a game that prides itself on being challenging. If respeccing remains costly or restrictive, players will be forced to follow cookie-cutter build guides to have a chance at beating endgame content.
o Suggestion: Make respeccing more accessible by either reducing the cost or increasing the availability of gold. Allow players to feel comfortable experimenting with their builds without fear of being locked out of progression.

5. Body Blocking:
o A major source of frustration for my witch was getting body-blocked by my own minions, which led to unnecessary deaths or forced me into difficult situations.
o Suggestion: Either reduce the collision size of minions or allow players to pass through their minions.

6. Minion Mechanics:
o Minions feel weak and unreliable, reminiscent of the issues seen in Diablo 4's launch.
o Suggestion: Improve minion survivability and damage, especially for boss encounters.

7. Sense of Accomplishment:
o There's a lack of a clear sense of accomplishment or progression. Too often, success feels dictated by RNG. If RNG is against you, even defeating a difficult boss or elite mob doesn't feel satisfying.
o Suggestion: Introduce mechanics that provide a tangible sense of advancement or reward so players feel a positive payoff for overcoming challenges rather than just relief.

8. Mouse and Keyboard Controls:
o Movement feels slippery and imprecise when using mouse and keyboard. The character tends to slide after a command, making it hard to control movement precisely during combat.
o While WASD movement is somewhat better, the overall movement speed and responsiveness contribute to a sluggish feel.
o Suggestion: Tighten the movement controls and reduce character sliding. Make gameplay more responsive and fluid.

Thank you for your hard work, and I look forward to seeing how the game evolves!

Loving the game.

+1. Either me and my buddies were all under geared. Bad luck? Drops that may had helped us live thru ACT I. After 100+ attempts on the big bad wolf what was apparent is casting offensive skills to kill his adds in the fog lead to having to stay still long enough to get hit 30 times and die or run around dodging endlessly until the pack literally shoved you into the fog and die. Sit still for long enough to cast and have the boss and adds take all your health away 300 times or don't cast and die. Very confused on this half baked design. Shoe horned into a handful of EXACT builds with Exact gear???

This is my opinion, mostly just brain on a page but I want to rant.

I think there's a lot of cope going on and this is coming from someone who loves PoE and wanted this game to be amazing.

Literally don't understand GGG's position with this game. You'd think they would cater to a wider audience with a sequel and with how much good press and attention they've been getting but instead have went the other way with it.

You'd think with how unpopular ruthless is they would steer clear of the carrot but mostly stick approach to ARPGs. It just fosters resentment from your player base.

I'm not writing the game off, I'm not stupid and i get this is the first version of a game still in development but the direction it's going in feels bad and I don't like the reboot of the games mechanics.

The game is incredibly frustrating and puts limitations in the way that make no sense to me..

Support gems.. why does the game insist that you follow a build path unless you tick a nigh invisible tickbox to show other gems that are super viable options? The System they already had was so good. All they had to do was tie it into the story to explain it to new players and that's it but instead we get the neu skill menus.

Skill system in general is a step back and feels obtuse. The combination of a menu system while also having a item that is crafted from the decision made in that menu doesn't work well.

The warriors starting options are terrible. The Shockwave totem attack time is too long you get 2 attacks then it's done, earth shatter takes too long to go off and rolling slam is just an exercise in futility. The fact that the auto attack + Herald of Ash is the best option till level 20+ speaks for itself.

I'm not even going to get into the loot because it barely exists in this version of the game.

Currency? stripped down so it can all be added back in later as season mechanics zzzzzz.


Look, I know how this post sounds and tbh I would be taking the piss out of myself reading this because it's based on version 0.1.0 of the game. I will say though that all these bad decisions are things that should have been right before they put it in people's hands.

TL;DR I'm not having a good time with it, it's frustrating and I want my mommy.

10 times ? really
Very odd

+1 op

I can't believe how awful some of you are at gaming. I am by no means a pro. Barely any experience in ARPG's (PoE 1, Diablo) and the gameplay to me feels perfectly balanced. Some of the early act 1 bosses i rolled through on the first try and it progressively got more difficult to where I started wiping and had to figure out a way past the boss. Whether that be figuring out the boss mechanics or improving my gear/resistances. That's exactly how the game was intended to be and to me that is fun. For some reason I feel like alot of you casuals just want to brainlessly walk through the game while holding left click to attack and that somehow feels fulfilling to you. Well I hate to say it but you ARE the minority here. Acting like this game is tuned for pros like zizaran and wudijo is a STRETCH. I'm progressing through the game just fine as someone who has little experience in PoE and not a pro gamer. Back to PoE 1 with you people.

I agree, the difficulty would be fine if u had reasonable options to fight it. THe absurdly small amount of currency and loot in general makes it kinda just either super lucky or painful.

+1 It feel's like the game is on hardcore mode just without perma death.

You can’t be serious. A boss fight where at least 75% of the ground is permanently on fire, and you almost constantly take damage even if you dodge? Then the boss throws out aoe effects that, of course, deal even more damage. So you’re stuck in perpetual dodging mode (Path of Dodging) and have exactly one pathetic healing potion that runs out before the boss even hits 30%, because he has a quadrillion hit points. On top of that, you’re supposed to somehow deal damage — if you’re playing a minion build, that means juggling multiple keys and coordinating everything perfectly. After the eight attempt, I gave up in frustration.

So this is supposed to be the new definition of fun in PoE 2? Sorry, but this is pure frustration and absolutely not what I expect from an ARPG.

I have absolutely no problem with games being challenging, but there’s a world of difference between challenging and not fun…