This has such a long way to go...

...especially for melee, and I really thought long and hard about posting and not posting any feedback, really. It took me ages and trying a map before I really could wrap my head around what really pushes me away from the game (as much as I like the possibilities it offers).
This is highly subjective, but reading some of the posts here I'm not all that alone in that regard.

In two words: Pace and Punishment

For one, the pacing feels totally off.

1. During Combat

I first liked the idea of a "more methodical, slower combat". The problem is, it falls apart even during Act I. You either get swarmed by turocharged mobs and pummeled to death or you get machinegunned from the edge of the screen screen. So you need to kill alot of mobs very fast while moving fast. It kills the purpose.
I tried my melee warrior (yes, I did that and leveled a melee as first character to endgame) on maps. As I had no problems during the cruel part of the campaign I thought I give that a try. First Elite kills me with some sort of Lighting from above while I tried to use my artificially slowed ranged attack, second one with some time slowdown bubble rushed me and kicked my butt and I couldn't do anything.
My first impuls there was that I wished everybody who designed, developed, tested and approved that kind of crap would line up so I could slap them all at once :P

Seriously, please just admit that this game, like any other ARPG, is about killing as much stuff as fast as possible and stick with that. Otherwise it needs a serious rework with less and slower mobs that give way more reward.

At least that's about my melee. The Deadeye and the Infernalist do pretty decent without sweaty hands.

2. During character progression

Same counts for Progression. The pace feels weird. It takes alot of time to get anywhere and you just get thrown alot of roadblocks your way. Like the trials...god please don't make me remember too much about trials. Who got the idea that some RNG lottery about bad modifiers is a good idea? I didn't like the ascendancy trials in PoE1 and they just got worse.
A key aspect of your progression just gets locked behind some weird design choice. Boy...
Also, there are alot of nodes in the skillmap that
a) don't feel impactful
b) do have negative aspects (more damage and even lesser attack speed for maces anyone?)

Why? That doesn't feel like progressing.

3. Item progression

Well this one's obvious. Dropped items are mostly crap, you run entire acts without any upgrade. You need to craft stuff but crafting is totally RNG and you still need your lottery tickets aka orbs. Holy moly...yeah you could interact with some sort of outdated online marketplace that looks like pre dotcom UI Hell where the seller doesn't answer and you better pick up that phone and call right away.

Now about punishment. Well that's a short one. You get punished for trying, punished for dying. During endgame you not only lose the map, the map progression and you time invested, nahh the Items on the ground and XP earned are also gone. That makes trying a new item, trying new skills, trying new passives really, really fun. Just as fun as fifteen minutes of bossfights where you occasionally get instagibbed just because.

Why is it so difficult to add proper visualization of any effects and a decent delay to boss attacks to be able to react? Why does Last Epoch do crafting, progression and trading so much better? Heck, even Inquisitor Martyr does crafting better (and that game is way better in regards of methodical/slower combat than PoE2).
It all boils down to one question: Why do I feel like I have to develop some kind of stockholm syndrom to enjoy the game instead of enjoying it right away? Seriously, I don't mind having to learn things - IF the game tells me what I did wrong (which PoE2 doesn't). I don't mind when there's punishment for people who like that aspect, which I suspect is a minority. By all means, add an ingame option to enable or disable XP loss on death and see how many people really activate that option.

That said, I'm able to live on without that game, although having more ARPGs to play would be preferable. Take my post as you will, I just don't understand why key aspects need to feel like a kick to the nuts and a punch in the face while alot of other ARPGs offer decent QoL features. If hardship and the feeling of wasted (not enjoyed) time played and frustration is the center piece of PoE2's experience then by all means, stick to it. It's not for me then.

Have a great week y'all!

Hey man, you are definitely not alone with a lot of these thoughts, I specifically agree with the melee problem/mace problem. I have exclusively played HC and without guides so you can imagine i have went through MANY characters. Everytime i have tried warrior it hits a pretty hard brick wall. Armor is borderline useless, maces seem to scale slowly in damage and also need you to invest in accuracy or the node that makes it so you can't miss. On top of that they really seem to be the only weapon type that certain modifiers on mobs can totally counter you. Trying to fight a slow field hasted mob in HC is basically just the fast way to get back to the character select screen. Love the game overall but holy cow does it not feel good to play warrior

Hey,


I agree with the whole post, and especially this part :

"

Seriously, please just admit that this game, like any other ARPG, is about killing as much stuff as fast as possible and stick with that. Otherwise it needs a serious rework with less and slower mobs that give way more reward.

I also think that they should clarify their "vision", because it does not make any sense right now.
Lots of iterations/overhauls are needed to make the gameplay enjoyable and consistent with their idea of "slow pace, deliberate combat".

Do they really want what they advertised ? I sure do, and I guess we're not alone.

I really enjoyed the first playthrough of the campaign but it all feels pointless when the endgame is just poe 1 again. The meta is simply sprinting through maps deleting the screen. Tactical gameplay is non existent. This makes the challenging campaign irrelevant.

Melee here and I agree with you on it needing work. Melee definitely is gear heavy throughout. There isn’t much grace with underleveled gear.

I have a frost sorceress who, comparatively can steam roll mobs thanks to being ranged.

My warrior needed to farm maps through the campaign a lot to a) level up and b) find gear/currency to trade.

If you’re stuck then check your gear and make sure you don’t have pointless mods that can be replaced.

"

Apoplexie#7568 wrote:

Hey,


I agree with the whole post, and especially this part :

"

Seriously, please just admit that this game, like any other ARPG, is about killing as much stuff as fast as possible and stick with that. Otherwise it needs a serious rework with less and slower mobs that give way more reward.

I also think that they should clarify their "vision", because it does not make any sense right now.
Lots of iterations/overhauls are needed to make the gameplay enjoyable and consistent with their idea of "slow pace, deliberate combat".

Do they really want what they advertised ? I sure do, and I guess we're not alone.

To me it feels like they try to handicap the player to be slower overall with no regards to the mobs and their behavior.