Initial Reactions Part 2

Continuing some initial reactions just for general use. For reference, starting as Witch (Blood), being a bit past the first Trial (rebuilding the Horn), and a long time PoE1 Player.

Bosses feel good overall, as do Rare mobs. They're not easy, they need some work and learning, but they telegraph (generally) well, there's enough tools in the core kit to have some agency in the encounter.

Regen mobs get out of scale still, I've had a few points of a Rare with Regen and some defensive nature on a high durability Mob (like the rock monsters) fully outclass DPS. Even once during a Trial of Blood, bricking the run, which is a pretty feel bad moment. Looking at a way to cap the regen, or provide more player tools to counteract healing in a way that doesn't force 'just DPS' builds are required.

Speaking of the trial, while it is challenging, it's no shock to see a lot of negative feedback about it. But it was a good learn and conquer. I think it's roughly where it should be balance wise (speaking as someone who hates Sanctum). PoE2 offers the tools to preserve Honor where PoE1 didn't. It was melt the map or lose. Took 4ish runs (ignoring the one run I crashed half way through), with one of them being bricked from aforementioned regen rare mob. It could use a mildly better way to explain Sacred Water and Keys, as well as the core systems for new players. Knowing Sanctum I knew the mechanics and it didn't take long to figure out Water was Aureuns. But having the Djinn give a dialog option to talk about Sacred Water, Keys and Ascendency as a concept so new players have a better idea of the stakes at the end would be a good fit.

In particular however, the snake people seem like a pain point for it. In particular, the sand dive they do is extremely hard to see, and erupts at a very fast speed, making it difficult to avoid honor chipping that really drains you over the course of the run. In normal maps, this manuver is fine, but here it becomes rather hateful.

Of the enemies I've encountered in general, most feel fine, a good mix of interesting and threatening, with the mob density generally zeroed in. I think the big scarabs (not the REALLY big ones, but the ones that charge) are a bit over the norm. In particular their charge attack feels bugged, in that they can restart it very rapidly. As a caster, there's almost no time to do anything but flee at maximum speed the entire time, as they moment they finish a charge, the resume a charge, and the hit from it is VERY soon after impact, even at full move speed, it's hard to avoid, and the dodge roll recover is too slow to avoid a follow up charge. A few second cooldown on their charge likely solves this problem.

As to Witch, the skills feel low DPS overall. While I'm not expecting to melt even normal mobs, the issue is more the wand skills tend to (dramatically) outpace the Witch Skills in terms of damage, discouraging build investigation and variety. Contagion feels about 15% too low, Essence Drain feels really bad, Bone Spikes (The minion making one) feels slightly weak (off set that the minions and synergy with Contagion). And this was with a build that put most of its points in damage. It might be the split Minion / Spell damage nodes are just a little to weak, or the 4 to 7 range of these spells have too low of a floor.

Skeletons don't feel like they hit very hard. Though for me, they're more playing the role of blocker than attacker, but even when hooked up to aggressive gems they felt lack luster. This is made worse during bosses, whos AoE's tend to keep them dead for a significant time. Again, this may be a result of fairly low investment in them at the time, but I'd guess I've got less than a 20% uptime with skeletons while using Last Gasp during the typical boss encounter. Skeletons are also AWFUL during the Keth Shrine areas, as they struggle to figure out the doors, forcing you to move forward without the minions, until they die and go on Cooldown to respawn. I couldn't imagine how awful this zone would be for a full Necromancer. Simply allowing minions to move through each other (even if they can't -end- that motion on top of each other) would help fix this, but better pathfinding so they form a que would also do this.

In other non-skill news; Gem finding feels good, I've been able to get the skills I want, even after cycling several out (either not liking them for the character after using, or making a few in error). I've never really felt like I've been overly starved, while also not feeling like they are totally free. Likewise, general drops feel okay, I'm not yet flooded with stuff, but there's enough drops that I don't feel like I should loot every single item no matter what. Boss drops feel a little weak given the cost invested into completing the encounters, which sets up a 'they're not worth it' mentality before maps, when they should be seen as a high value (but hard) target. Socketing Orbs feel pretty rare, though they seem high value, so I can't say if this is too low or not. Blue crafting materials feel like there's enough to use on any desired item, while rare ones feel rare enough to only be useful for large projects. The Regal and Chaos (at this point) feel too rare to be generally usable. Similarly quality materials seem rare enough at the moment that they can't be spent without really serious consideration.

As to some basic gameplay stuff;

Dodge roll feels just a touch too slow or too short. If the recover was 5% faster, it may feel better, or if it moved 10%ish more distance, it feel a bit more useful as the primary escape tool.

Cancel casting, while useful, can also feel very bad, at least for keyboard. It's too easy to cancel spells (particularly ones with cooldowns) during the heat of battle, forcing you to either just take that risk, or dramatically slow down your play. This may be less of an issue with a controller, but I think for Keyboard, I'd like a gameplay option to prevent it entirely and just lock myself into the spell (Save perhaps leaving Dodge Roll as a hard cancel).

Mouse and Keyboard moving and shooting is fairly clunky due to the needs of targeting, often whipping the mouse between the two ends of the screen. This isn't a doomed prospect, and as I play I get better at it, but some other solution would be nice (keeping Keyboard for this run, and will do a character using a controller later). Channeling skills are an odd duck, I can channel while moving, but I can't -start- new motions without ending the channel. This feels unintended, as if the intent was channeling should be at the expense of motion, then they should stop you. If channeling should allow motion (at the reduced speed), then you should be able to force move while holding the channel.

Lastly, a inherited issue from PoE1, which is how the game loads graphics. Zoning in when you start, and having a bad load spike the first time you use each skill feels like shit. I'd MUCH rather have a longer initial load that loads the graphics of equipped skills so they fire smoothly out the gate, rather than 'warming up' and shooting each skill once to make sure they're loaded. It's also an issue for mobs, having a vicious load spike the first time monsters appear (or use skills) that are often invisible, but dangerous, for the first 5 to 10 seconds of an area, or forcing the game to shutter as it loads.

Thus far the story has been good, though clearly not a central focus. The characters have enough grit, and good actors backing them. There's a few spots that could use another pass, characters being very emotionally forward to a stranger, Finn feels like he really breaks character at times, as do Risu and Shambrin. Some of this can be trimmed down or re-worded, but both often just break what should be deeply ingrained cultural taboo about their interacts with the others caste in just plain english. These should be very implied thoughts, that Shambrin has a degree of sympathy for Risu due to her own disability and the way people treat her. Any direct statements about this should be kept towards the end of the act, not the start. I think Balbala getting a light shift after you complete the first trial, rather than going "Eh I guess I'll stick around.", her arc would feel more complete if she goes "Finally I can rest." Then looks around and realizes she's the only one who can fix the Trial chambers, and goes "Well, maybe I should fix the place up a bit first." This allows her to admit that while she's clear of the laws binding her, she has a duty to her traditions (and that she's actually learned from her suffering and wants to make the world better).

Sin, I mean, the Hooded One, in particular has some rough spots. The change in voice is a little jarring as a PoE1 player, I assume this was necessary as the old voice actor couldn't do it. But the gravely layering of his voice is REALLY at odds with the soothing, soft spoken Sin that I feel is really in line with his characterization. A soft spoken, easily ignored or talked over voice, contrasting with the bombastic shouting of Innocence. A shade that is ever present, but easily overlooked (So much so that in PoE1, only one other townsfolk even directly admits to seeing them). I think his statements on the Maraketh practice of slavery is really out of tune with his character. I get you want the cool slave driven town (and that's fine), but him being more vocally opposed to it suits him (since he isn't generally someone to tell people what to do, that's an Innocence thing). Perhaps something about the Maraketh not learning from Oriath's mistakes, or the practice being a cornerstone of both why they survive, and why they haven't reclaimed their former glory, a brutal paradox of humanity.