The Boss Fights in PoE2 Feel Exhausting

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Epemetheus#2681 wrote:

If these bosses are so difficult then why am I already doing them again on cruel difficulty?

I’m not even a good player…

I don’t think it has anything to do with difficulty and everything to do with people wanting to rush to endgame because they’re impatient.

Sounds like you got to much time online instead of working a J-O-B...

Been at it since release, and am only Lv18 and just got to act 2....

Go outside for a bit and do something constructive w/ your life...

I had an entire weekend to grind. I work a full time job 😝

Why are you so mad that poe2 is a massive success? This game is absolutely incredible.


“Sounds like you got to much time online instead of working a J-O-B...

Been at it since release, and am only Lv18 and just got to act 2....

Go outside for a bit and do something constructive w/ your life...“

edit: nvm

I hate them too! Bullet sponges and out-of-nowhere insta-kills, again and again! Who the hell thought that would be fun?!

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PathSoph#6723 wrote:

I hate Dark Souls.

Too bad for people like me as this looks to be the path POE 2 decided to imitate and got inspiration from.

Great suggestion by the way. That would be awesome for casual players!

Elden Ring is one of my favorite games of all time and I can't stand POE2 either.

Just dropping my 2c. I'm still pretty early into the game. I have no issues w/ the difficulty BUT I do think the time it takes to down a boss is a bit long.

I think perhaps reducing the main boss health bar by like 5-15% to cut down on the time it takes to down them.

This isn't a deal breaker for me. I'm very much enjoying the game so if this is not changed I can live w/ it but just a suggestion.

I love the game, but I hate some of the boss fights.

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Xmangox4#5836 wrote:

Am I the only one who can’t stand the boss fights in Path of Exile 2? Don’t get me wrong—the bosses are visually stunning, and I can appreciate the effort that went into designing them. But I personally hate Souls-like games, and dying repeatedly to the same boss is just not fun for me.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there were only a boss at the end of each act. However, it feels like every zone has a boss with multiple phases. On top of that, they feel like bullet sponges, taking forever to kill. There seems to be way too much emphasis on bossing, and it’s exhausting.

The worst part is being stuck on a boss when all you want to do is continue playing the game. It’s demoralizing, and I often lose the willpower to keep trying. Sure, it might be a skill issue on my part, but like I said, I just don’t enjoy Souls-like gameplay.

I wish GGG would consider adding a mode for players who don’t enjoy boss fights. Maybe they could make the current mode “Ruthless” and add a more standard mode for players like me. My favorite part of an ARPG is mowing down mobs of monsters and feeling powerful—not grueling boss fights, and especially not the ones in Path of Exile 2.

What do you all think?

I can't stand souls-like games, but PoE2 has struck the perfect balance for me. It's challenging but with the right equipment, it's pretty manageable.

Just don't ever use any currency on crafting, it's useless. Use your currency to buy stuff on trading, and you will have no issues with any of the bosses in the campaign.

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Xmangox4#5836 wrote:

Am I the only one who can’t stand the boss fights in Path of Exile 2? Don’t get me wrong—the bosses are visually stunning, and I can appreciate the effort that went into designing them. But I personally hate Souls-like games, and dying repeatedly to the same boss is just not fun for me.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there were only a boss at the end of each act. However, it feels like every zone has a boss with multiple phases. On top of that, they feel like bullet sponges, taking forever to kill. There seems to be way too much emphasis on bossing, and it’s exhausting.

The worst part is being stuck on a boss when all you want to do is continue playing the game. It’s demoralizing, and I often lose the willpower to keep trying. Sure, it might be a skill issue on my part, but like I said, I just don’t enjoy Souls-like gameplay.

I wish GGG would consider adding a mode for players who don’t enjoy boss fights. Maybe they could make the current mode “Ruthless” and add a more standard mode for players like me. My favorite part of an ARPG is mowing down mobs of monsters and feeling powerful—not grueling boss fights, and especially not the ones in Path of Exile 2.

What do you all think?

Unfortunately, this is the same issue that crops up all the time in Fromsoft games, as well - many players want to play games like Elden Ring but do not enjoy the difficulty, and so they ask for an Easy/Casual/Softcore/Whichever mode that allows them to play and enjoy the content without having to deal with the challenge/difficulty endemic in the 'intended' game experience.

Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of most of these Fromsoft games and the 'Father of Dark Souls', famously refuses to do this. In his eyes, the games he creates are intended to provide a certain feeling - the exultant rush of overcoming adversity. In order to provide that rush, there must first be adversity. In Miyazaki's eyes, an Easy Mode would remove the entire purpose of creating the difficult game in the first place and would cheat players who used it of the reward of actually defeating the game's adversity. In Miyazaki's eyes, giving players an Easy Mode is stealing from them, not giving them what they want.

Similar arguments can be made for PoE2, as it borrows some core concepts from Soulslikes in terms of boss design. Grinding Gear is trying ffor the same feeling of overcoming adversity. They want you to feel not simply powerful, but masterful as you learn the game. In later playthroughs you'll dance effortlessly around bosses that used to hard-stop you for hours, and that sense of ACTUAL progression - of gaining real skill in the game - cannot be earned any way other than by gaining real skill in the game. ARPG number-bloat artificial power cannot substitute for being good.

"Git Gud" is an ugly catchphrase that jackasses use to scoff at newer, struggling players, but it's also something of a rallying cry. Actually doing it - achieving the status of "Gud" - feels awesome. It's a dopamine hit that keeps on hitting, unlike the brief, weak high of a Shiny Drop. There's no way to shortcut it, no way to fake it, no way to rush the process. And adding an Easy Mode where boss health is reduced by ninety-five percent, player damage is increased by a factor of a thousand, and loot tables are all juiced by 30x would render all of the effort it takes to Git Gud meaningless. Why should anyone bother, when you can simply switch the game to Easy Mode and let it play itself?

Especially, unfortunately, in this franchise, where the playerbase as a whole never tires of being awful jerks to anyone who does play Ruthless in PoE1. Rather than consider it a challenge to defeat, people in this forum at least tend to consider Ruthless a horrible mistake that needs to be buried forever, and anyone who plays it can go in the same grave. It's...kinda ugly, to be honest. But eh.

WHY THE SECOND ASCENDANCY BOSS IS SO DIFFICULT WHEN WE HAVE ZERO LOOT ?? GGG EXPLAIN