An Early Requiem for Path of Exile 1 and 2

I know it is early. But I believe we can all see the writing on the walls.

POE 2 is not going over well with the player base. The lead creator/developer has dug in his heels. He wants his vision to realized and he wants every player to like it. OK. So, what can we expect?

First, it was always unrealistic to expect there to be two dev teams, one for POE 2 and one continuing POE 1. This is the type of corporate trick where there are two teams on the spreadsheet but they share 80% of their personnel and resources.

My guess is that now that POE 2 is out in early access and meeting mixed reviews, the head honcho is going to throw assets at POE 2. But, he has his vision. So, he is going to spend man hours and devote resources in an endless attempt to make enough changes to trick the player base without actually abandoning the vision. Players, of course, see this clearly. The extra resources will not yield better results.

But what about POE 1? The more resources devoted to POE 2, the less remain for POE 1. The next league has already been delayed multiple times, which isn't exactly uncommon for the game but this seems like it could be different. But the real question is, what comes after the next league? The next 6 months are critical for getting POE 2 right. There is a very high likelihood that after the next league, POE 1 is left on autopilot.

For some games, the autopilot stage of a game can continue for quite some time with minimal maintenance from the developer while still maintaining a meaningful player base. However, in this case I would argue that POE 1 is not currently in a good place. For veterans, there is a mix of not enough new content yet the old content feels cumbersome. For new players, the complexity of POE 1's endgame makes it nearly impossible to really commit to the game, especially if it is known that the developers have moved on.

We have all seen this before with various sequels. It is a sad tale.

I believe that the developers must make some hard choices. Abandoning POE 2 is not an option, nor is endlessly adding gimmicks to POE 1. I believe the best option is to take POE @ as it currently is, decide "this is as challenging and tedious as it gets", and every single update going forward pushes POE 2 closer to POE 1. As far as I can tell, there is no hard limitation preventing this transformation (as if the developer knew there was a chance this might happen).

I wish them luck. Alas, until this game becomes enjoyable, I am out.