Feedback for Path of Exile 2

Hi GGG,

Omyth here! I've been playing Path of Exile 2 extensively (150+ hours) and have some feedback on issues and potential improvements that could enhance the game experience. Thank you for considering the following points:

1. Strongboxes Visual Obstruction:
The black mist emitted by strongboxes makes it difficult to see ground effects and nearby monsters. I recommend removing the mist or making it significantly more transparent to improve visibility.

2. Expedition Strongboxes Collision:
Expedition strongboxes are currently impassable objects. This can cause characters to get stuck or limit their movement during encounters. Making them passable objects would resolve this inconvenience.

3. Rare Monsters Death Animation:
Rare monsters have a visual death explosion that can be misleading as it mimics actual damaging death effects. This makes it difficult to discern safe areas, leading to unnecessary dodge rolls or standing in dangerous zones. Clarifying which monsters have damaging death effects would improve player experience.

4. Teleport/Portal Animation Lock:
When teleporting back to town, characters are locked in the animation, leaving them vulnerable to attacks for 2-3 seconds. Adding animation canceling via dodge roll would greatly improve player control and survivability.

5. Lever Activation Animation Lock:
Certain maps, such as the one with the Inner Sanctum, require activating multiple levers to progress. Similar to teleport animation issues, being locked into the lever activation animation can be problematic. Implementing animation canceling for these interactions would be a helpful quality-of-life improvement.

6. Flask Quality Improvement:
Introducing glassblower's bauble shards (similar to other currency shards) would make flask quality more accessible by using the salvage bench and reduce the waste of high-quality flasks sold to vendors.

7. Expedition Locker:
The absence of an Expedition locker is notable, especially when compared to the Relic locker. Adding one would free up stash space and align with the design of other league mechanics. I also suggest making both lockers available as stash tabs rather than separate entities.

8. Expedition Currency Drops:
Exotic coinage drops for Expedition vendors are too sparse, creating an imbalance as multiple vendors use the same currency for shop refreshes. Increasing the drop rate of these coins would make interacting with vendors more feasible and reduce stash clutter.

9. Gem Links Accessibility:
Achieving 4- or 5-linked gems is currently very rare. A conversion system (e.g., 10 lesser jeweler’s orbs = 1 greater jeweler’s orb) would provide a more reliable pathway and make all orb types valuable as the league progresses.

10. Skill Gem Slot Progression:
Many builds prioritize defensive buffs, leaving limited space for utility or situational abilities. Introducing a system where players earn additional gem slots as they level (e.g., one extra slot every 10 levels) would provide flexibility without compromising defensive priorities. Unset rings are an alternative, but they often lose out to resistance-based options in the late game.

11. Mapping Towers:
Tower maps currently feel underwhelming. A rework could make them more engaging and not low tire map fodder, such as focusing solely on a tower boss with surrounding area reveals upon completion. Additionally adding visual indicators (e.g., a lit flame atop activated towers) would clarify their status if a tablet is active or not. An increasing to tablet drop rates would also help as the 30% from the atlas is not enough to fill in the towers and not even close if you aim for desirable modifiers.

12. Death Effects and Penalties:
The current death penalty system feels excessively punishing, especially in higher-tier maps with significant modifiers. Losing map progress, modifiers, and experience on death makes risk-taking undesirable. "Do i pick up that divine orb or high level map or risk it all and keep fighting".. Idk if this is a solution per say but implementing a delayed loot retrieval system (e.g., poe1 Settler’s League-style from shipping/trade as a post-run reward window) would mitigate this frustration while preserving map challenges.

13. One-Shots:
Chaos damage, specifically the flower explosions and honing orbs, feels disproportionately punishing. The flower’s damage is still a bit over tuned and the honing orbs’ stagger effect needs to removed to make encounters more fair.

For context, I can still get one-shot by white monsters with certain spells and abilities and my current stats are as follows:

2000 HP
1500 Energy Shield (3000 overflow with Grim Harvest)
81% Armor, 84% Evasion
75% Fire/Cold/Lightning Resist, 20% Chaos Resist (+18% Chaos from a charm)

14. Atlas Skill Tree Clarity:
Providing more detailed information on the Atlas skill tree would improve its usability. For instance, rarity bonuses spec’d into the tree should reflect in the character screen or map overview. Additionally, the term "explicit modifiers" is unclear; magic and rare waystones (i.e., maps) do not have explicit modifiers, so it’s unclear if "explicit" refers to map mechanics (e.g., corruption +1, rituals). If so, this should be explicitly stated.

15. Character Information Display:
Certain stats (e.g., shock chance, lightning exposure effects) are not displayed in the character sheet. While some mechanics depend on enemy resistances or other factors, providing average chances or an overview of these stats would enhance transparency.

16. Reforging Bench Upgrade:
Allow the reforging bench to combine three of the same item type (e.g., amulets) into a new base item. This would offer players a fresh chance to craft desired stats without overly depleting crafting resources.

17. Skill Gem Conversion:
Skill gems currently pile up in stash tabs, creating clutter and limiting their utility. Adding a system to convert three skill gems of the same level (e.g., three level 17 gems) into one higher-level gem (e.g., a level 18 gem) would help with progression and make the reforging bench more useful.

18. Additional Movement Skills:
Dodge rolling is a fantastic mechanic for early-game mobility, while late-game teleport and leap slam offer further options. Expanding movement skills later in the game could address challenges with narrow passages and maze-like map structures, adding flexibility without trivializing boss fights.

19. In-Game Auction House:
The currency exchange implementation is fantastic. Expanding this system to include an in-game auction house could streamline trading even more and eliminate reliance on external sites, making the process more seamless for new players and less frustration for old once's trying to buy items from newer once that don't understand the system and fail to answer the chat request etc.

20. Microtransactions and Essential Stash Tabs:
Prioritize implementing a Map Stash Tab (asap). Additionally, offering a budget-friendly bundle containing a Currency Tab and Map Stash Tab as a "starter pack" in the "featured" section would be incredibly beneficial for new players, as these tabs are essential for an enjoyable gameplay experience.

Thank you for taking the time to review my feedback. I’m excited to see how Path of Exile 2 continues to evolve, and I hope these suggestions align with your vision for the game.

Best regards
- Omyth

Post this in POE2 thread

:)

1. Strongboxes are bad, they take way too long to open just to drop some garbage magic items 90% of the time, so i just skip them
2. Playing a melee character i have never even noticed that expedition chests are objects, i don't see it as an issue, but a fix woudn't hurt
3. just dodge roll/non-issue
4. just kill monsters around you/non-issue
5. just kill monsters around you/non-issue
6. just get better gear/non issue
7. 1000% agree
8. No, Exotic coinage is supposed to rarer that the other expedition currencies amking it more valueable late game
9. Great idea, 10 lessers for the greater and 100 for the percect seems fair even if it leads to the lesser jeweler's orb being a bit rarer
10. Unset rings are a great alternative, especially in the end game when 30/36 ele res is unoptimal.
11. 100% agree
12. Seems like a skill issue to me/ just kill monsters around you
13. just get better gear/ skill issue, never got one shot after recent changes to enemy chaos abilities. My dude, after recent changes all you need is 115 of each ele res and 3 rolls of 20 to 25 chaos res to never die,
thats 12 suffixies for ele res and 3 for chaos out of 24 you have.
14. I don't feel like this is an issue, but if people feel that way i do not mind this getting fixed.
15. Certainn stats depend on enemy life (shock and ignite chance), while exposure effects could easly be calculated, i hihgly doubt they will, since its been that way in PoE1 and you're just supposed to "PoB it"
16. That's a league mechanic, it will come to the live game some day, i suppose
17. just vendor it wtf
18. just use the 100 div body armor you peasant.
19. The trade system absolutely sucks rn with new players listing every item for 1 div making the trade site useless in 95% of cases, but i feel like thats a bit overcomplicated for me
20. I do not understand why there is no map stash tab.