The Problems Thus Far and Possible Solutions

Hello GGG

After playing every day since the EA release, listening to streamers, talking to other players, reading this forum, the conclusion is fairly obvious. The main problems are twfold:

1. Ascendancies: Gating these behind these trials in their current state is broken, plain and simple. All players will have huge potential problems with the first two, after that it's nearly unplayable. The best solution is simply to replace these systems with something else, something fun and accessible. Certainly, for the latter two, up the difficulty, but honestly at this point, the majority of the player base will never gain more than 2 Ascendancy points, and almost no one will make it past level 3.

2. Crafting: I love the much more conservative loot system, but the absence of the crafting bench, the extremely limited, pure gambling nature of the current system, leaves players unable to adjust their gear to face the challenges of the game, simple as that. If you could remove runes from gear, that would be an improvement, but honestly, the crafting bench was one of the best things about POE-1. Finding a new crafting recipe was easily as exciting as find a great gear drop, sometimes more so, as new recipes permanently add to your build resilience. It is absolutely critical that this receives serious reconsideration. Right now, crafting is not just more limited, it is much less enjoyable, not to mention unrewarding.

You find a good base, slam a regal and have to get lucky or it's bricked. Then you slam an exalt (if you have one, far from certain) and have to get lucky or it is bricked. Chaos Orbs no one but a desperate gambler will touch if the you like the piece you are 'working' on and the only other options are severely limited and so rare as to make next to no difference. That's it. Might as well just gamble.

........

After that, minion pathing, the lack of minion aggro, line of sight problems, overtuned chaos damage, cheesy on death effects ... these are trivial and much more easily fixed, plus they do not kill enjoyment of the game, they are just minor frustration I trust will be fixed, but crafting and the Ascendancy Trials are frankly deal breaking.

As much as I love the game, the idea of going on without a reasonable shot at my Ascendancy feels ... depressing, I guess. Disappointing the incredible promise of an otherwise great game. I've never nee so close to quitting as after encountering the trials and that's is flat out insane, given how much I've enjoyed everything else. The last issue, which did not make the first big 2 because I think it's so easily adjusted, is the end game. Losing all rewards on death is just too much, imho.

There it is in a nutshell. I hope these issues get addressed and the game lives up to its incredible promise.

Sincerely,

Inethil