My POE2 Feedback!

Id like to start by saying this game is fantastic, and fixed a ton of problems i regularly have when trying ARPG. Its clear GGG cares about their work, and really set out to make something wonderful here, ive been having so much fun. I think this game has had a strong start, and with the GGG team behind it is going to grow into a true masterpiece!

This said id like to talk about what i think makes the game good, and some of the early problems players are having with the game. but first the positive!
1. Gameplay is King! The combat in this game is glorious! Skills feel good to use, builds as a whole are fun to play. Even at early levels the skills im presented feel good to use, and are something i could see myself using even into endgame. I have seen other game suffer from mechanics that make your character feel clunky or the combination of skills feel janky to make a character work. Trash mobs are not overbearing, but also have meaningful skills to consider when approaching each pack. Bosses... i cant even begin to express how well GGG did here, every time i approached a new boss i did it with excitement and caution, Taking down the boss feels like an accomplishment, active damage mitigation means i have to take the fights seriously, i have to understand the bosses attack, and im not just face tanking each boss.
2. Player real estate, i think GGG has likely hit a good spot where players have a lot of control on what their build does, and how it performs. I love the simplified item system, each peace of gear matters, in early levels vendor gear matters. Its clear what pieces that drop are the ones i want to invest my crafting mats into, and which ones i want to disenchant/sell. The currency to buff the gear matters, and feels good when it drops. Pieces that drop that are almost where i want them are still very exciting because i have some control over enhancing that item into something really good for my character.

This said id like to talk about some early points of contention in the POE early access, why i think they matter, and what i think can done to improve them. i also want to express that there are clearly multiple camps of players with different ARPG background coming into POE2 expecting this to be a better version the the game they are or have played, this game is not trying to be as fast as POE1, and its not trying to be as casual as some of the Diablo installments. I want POE2 to be good, but i also want it to continue to be its niche in the ARPG genera.
1. Dodge roll. Firstly i want to say that i understand getting cornered my mobs is not a fun mechanic. Secondly i think any game can be balanced around the ability to or not to dodge roll past/body block. i think the right answer lies somewhere in the middle, i definitely understand some bosses/enemies are designed to create a challenge with the constraints of body blocking, and this is ok. however players actually can dodge roll through mobs. and if this mechanic is deemed necessary for a strong character, or just a fun experience, experienced players will utilize the tools to do so (im talking about blink, and the legendary, and likely other mechanics to do this). This being said it creates a scenario where body blocking is a negative experience more so restricted to newer or less understanding players, and likely there will be builds that are also restricted on some of these mechanics as options. I think the fix here is to really decide which monsters should and should not body block. The player character is powerful, this should likely also translate when dodge rolling the the majority of mobs.
2. Medium core difficulty (Boss and area resets, and map ends on death) Firstly absolutely in favor of medium core difficulty, it simply dosnt feel rewarding to die to a boss only to respawn to them nearly dead. It also isnt compelling character design when i can just make a glass cannon ranged build that can do a majority of the content in the game, i enjoy when defense matters, and when the choice between defense and offense matter. This said i do feel that to often POE2 relies on the dodge roll mechanic, and not often enough on actual character defense, i think tanky characters should find mechanics that they trivialize because of their well invested defense, but also skilled players should be rewarded with well executed dodges. i think the least fun of the mechanics is areas resetting on death, i think this is likely frustrating for more novice players, that said its also a mechanic that keeps defense meaningful early on. i think the answer here is to really make sure checkpoints are distributed well enough that when a player makes meaningful progress that that is acknowledged and rewarded.
3. Gold/Respec. So i think this comes in two parts, i think that character investment should matter, this is a game where there is a lot of room to put time and effort into what your character does, and what they excel at. and should not be something that is trivialized by free respecs. That said i think gold offering a way for players to both correct wrong choices (this is very important for new player experience). Secondly i think this creates viability for players to make honed league starters, without compromising what type of build they play as they approach endgame. Builds with more restrictive requirements can be respected into as those requirements are met. This said i have seen players accustomed to more gear drops invest heavily into gambling options and restrict themselves on the ability to respec, overall limiting their ability to fix an under tuned character. (this problem will be fixed for the more regular player as players learn the game, but will likely continue to be a problem for the new player experience).
4. Vendor Recipes. I think this was pretty important in POE1, but i see how its unfriendly for newer players. This said i think a few of the things it offered are pretty important solutions for early progression. Firstly skill gems, i want these to matter when they drop, but i also really think players need to be able to craft up, down, and horizontally across skill gems. This means players should be able to turn a level 4 skill/gem into a level 5 or level 3 respectively. for crafting up i think this is important for ensuring players have meaningful and consistent power progression. For crafting down i think this ensures players dont lock their access to a skill while changing gear and losing stat requirements. for crafting horizontally this ensures players have acces to both support and meta gems as needed. Secondly i think players having equal access to movement speed boots is pretty important, i think this helps with increasing the overall average player experience, minimizing how time consuming the larger zones are, and ensuring the experience they have with a boss is similar in regards to ability to maneuver around bosses mechanics. I also think the ability to craft basic resist rings is also a healthy tool to have access to, but smaller than the other two.
5. Ascendancies. I think this one missed the mark, not specifically because of the challenge, but two others things. Firstly expectation, giving players a quest to unlock ascendancies sets the presidency that they should be getting them at that point in time. I dont think Act2 trial is that hard (i did it as witch), but i could understand that when players find it difficult it can be frustrating, due the the experience being vastly favorable for specific builds(players will view this as unfavorable for their own), the idea of needing to build specifically for that content to ease its challenge isnt a great option, and as a designer you ether balance it towards ranged, making it all the harder for melee, or you balance it to melee, making it trivial to ranged. I think an option here could be to make honor a resource that resets per room, this would make you not feel like you need to be getting hit 0 times in early rooms. For the Act3 trial i cant speak on it much, i quickly skipped it in favor of getting to maps sooner, i think the large % felt bad, losing half damage, or taking 50% more damage ect, and while traps are manageable, they make the experience more annoying, i feel like people who do this content will just over-stat it to the point they can take stat hits and still clear as to prevent annoying runs. I also think Ascendancies could just be attached to the content people like to do, for example attaching ascendancy points to maps, this would allow people who dont like these other options of content to still get their ascendancies in an enjoyed way, just at a later time.

All this said im really enjoying POE2 and eagerly wait its future! i think leagues will vastly change the league start experience, likely offering more gear than what is currently available, or increasing the power level of the player. I think the early gripes with the challenge of the game will likely be laughed at in later seasons as players become better, resources and tools for the game become better, and league mechanics support in player character progression. I hope GGG continues to make POE2 the best version of POE2 it can be. I highly recommend this game to anyone that wants game that asks them to take it seriously, it already is able to offer a lot for those willing to invest how well they perform, and i think this is overall wonderful how how engaged the POE2 community will be with the game.