Several Ways POE2 is HARDER than POE1 Ruthless

§1. Ways POE2 is harder than POE1 Ruthless, in no particular order:

1.1. POE2 has no ALT orbs so one crafting attempt per item unless you want to waste super valuable rare currency. POE1 Ruthless has alt orbs that can be farmed to roll items.
1.2. POE2 Took out all heralds except those associated with a particular weapon type. EG. Herald of Ash requires you to be wielding a Mace. Why I cant use it on my infernalist in POE2 is beyond my knowledge.
1.3. POE2 act zones force you to almost clear the whole zone because it is massive and often the locations (bosses, zone gates, etc) are spread out. In POE1 Ruthless you can run by the white trash and focus on goals while in POE2 you will get ganged up on, surrounded pinned and killed so you have to methodically clear it.
1.4. POE2 Can body block the character (although improves still there) and in POE1 Ruthless that isn't really possible.
1.5. POE2 End Game Maps allow only one death. in POE1 Ruthless I have 8 portals on the map so 8 attempts.
1.6. POE2 Locks you out of content if you die. In POE1 I can continue to try to kill a pinnacle boss if I die.
1.7. POE2 Act maps are massive requiring almost an hour or more per map for the normal folk to run. Often 2 hours. Act 3 is HUGE compared to Act 2 which is HUGE compared to Act 1. I am afraid to see what Acts 4 though 6 will be.
1.8. It takes me about 30 hours playtime to clear the campaign in POE 1 Ruthless. In POE2 I will BARELY be in act 3 at that level. (Again NORMIE speed so all you "elite" gamers will finish everything in 10 minutes of course /sarc)
1.9. POE1 Ruthless has very few one shot mechanics in bosses. Usually if you died to a degen or AOE you knew it was you that goofed and you should have dodged.
1.10. POE2 Ruthless has fewer gem combinations that are viable than POE1 Ruthless. In POE2 half or more gems (of those already released) are tied to a weapon type. Some gems that used to be general purpose have been reclassified but switching weapons is impossible for a witch anyway because as soon as you do all your minions vanish so all other weapon types are off the table.
1.11. POE2 does not allow me to slot the same support gem for two different skills but POE1 Ruthless does. I can have extra crit chance on all my combat skills if I am doing a crit build or fire damage on all my lightning skills for general elementalist.
1.12. In general there are less favorable cross discipline gem interactions possilbe in POE2 than POE 1. For many classes there are only a few viable setups. I cant run skeleton minions on a chayula monk build for example because my quarterstaff disables my spirit and unequips my sceptre.

§2. Ways that POE2 is EXACTLY the same as POE1 Ruthless.

2.1. No crafting bench so no deterministic outcomes. :(
2.2. No movement Skills so walking, but honestly the maps in POE1 Ruthless are MUCH smaller.

§3. Ways that POE2 is easier than POE1 Ruthless

3.1. Support gems are easy to get (though honestly in ruthless trade league they are pretty easy to buy)
3.2. Dodge roll is MARGINALLY better than quickstep. But both are in the "meh" category.

In summary if you were able to play POE2 than POE1 Ruthless should feel super easy. I am sure there are more points here that I missed.

@GGG: What percentage of your playerbase plays ruthless every league. I like ruthless but I dont play it every league. Do you really think players will slog through this every 3 months? I would bet on "no."

Dont even have access to the skill gems you want in ruthless

Dont get quad tabs full of loot from mapping

Dont get multiple exalts per map

Dont get enough gold to work with anything

Your problems with the campaign on POE2 ... its your first time, its not gonna be fast duhhhh

Rest of the issues : It's Early Access

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Poe2WarriorMan#6401 wrote:

Dont even have access to the skill gems you want in ruthless

In years playing rughless I have never had a problem with this, especially in trade league. Always someone has dropped the gem you seek.

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Poe2WarriorMan#6401 wrote:

Dont get quad tabs full of loot from mapping

I have loot filters and only pick up what I want.

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Poe2WarriorMan#6401 wrote:

Dont get multiple exalts per map

Farming exalts in ruthless is easy. There are a number of youtube vids on farming currency. They apply to ruthless as well for the most part.

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Poe2WarriorMan#6401 wrote:

Dont get enough gold to work with anything

Gold hasnt been part of a POE mechanic for a long time, people trade using other things.

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Poe2WarriorMan#6401 wrote:

Your problems with the campaign on POE2 ... its your first time, its not gonna be fast duhhhh

Played through act 2 on 7 chars, I think I got it down as fast as can be humanly for a guy my age. I used to race in POE1. Still going to be 5x longer than POE1.

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Poe2WarriorMan#6401 wrote:

Rest of the issues : It's Early Access

Bugs and balance issues I have no problem with. I have a problem with decisions that I believe are bad.