Really Enjoying PoE 2, But These Two Things Are Making Me Quit

Hey everyone,

I'm a new player, and I have really enjoyed Path of Exile 2 so far! The gameplay, the combat, and the overall design are fantastic. But after spending almost 600 hours and leveling several characters, I've decided to stop because of two major frustrations:

1️⃣ Losing My Map and All Prefixes
One of the most frustrating things is losing my map and all the prefixes when I die or leave the area. It feels like so much progress is just wiped away, and it makes me hesitant to engage with the system at all. I understand that maps should have some risk, but completely resetting everything feels overly punishing, especially for newer players like me.

2️⃣ The XP Penalty on Death
The XP penalty is brutal, especially when trying to level up. Losing a chunk of progress every time I die makes the game feel more punishing than rewarding. Instead of learning and improving, I just feel discouraged. It creates a situation where one mistake can erase hours of effort, which makes progression feel like a grind rather than an achievement.

I really want to love this game and stick with it, but these two things are pushing me away. I hope GGG considers some adjustments to make the game more accessible while still maintaining its challenge.

Are other new players struggling with these mechanics as well? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Struggeling with those mechanics? I did, yes.

Then i tried around and landed on going for all 4 resistances at 75%+, so especially including chaos dmg. Changed a bit dmg to defenses and the experience turned around completely.
Losing a map (from death) is really on me now. Beeing distracted and having multiple things hit me one after another is not a good idea on a really heavy disadvantaged map. xD

I also looked thru everything in the currency exchange and found a little nice Omen thingy (Omen of Amelioration?) that is basically always active now. Reduces exp loss by 75%, to a point where you will notice, but not really care that much about it.

... not saying those mechanics don't suck at the start, but you can absolutely work around them.

I get what you’re saying, and I appreciate the advice! But my issue isn’t about trying different things, capping resists, or finding ways to mitigate mechanics. It’s about how *demotivating* it is to lose a map and XP on death.

Sure, I could work around it, but that’s not really the problem. The problem is that when I die, it doesn’t just feel like a setback—it feels like I’m losing a ton of progress in a way that makes me not want to keep playing. Losing a map entirely, along with all its prefixes, makes engaging with that system feel like a gamble rather than a challenge. And while Omens can help with XP loss, it still stings enough to make leveling feel frustrating rather than rewarding.

I’m not saying the game shouldn’t be hard, but there’s a difference between a challenge that makes you want to improve and a punishment that makes you want to stop playing. That’s where I’m coming from!

+1

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Woofeliwowa#1985 wrote:

2️⃣ The XP Penalty on Death
The XP penalty is brutal, especially when trying to level up. Losing a chunk of progress every time I die makes the game feel more punishing than rewarding.

... why would you be rewarded for dying? it's supposed to be punishing, this is the developer slapping your hand with a ruler and saying "BE SMARTER DUMMY".\

My hot take -- I would be pissed if they removed the xp loss on death. It's an insanely important learning tool that new players are too green to understand.

You will hit your natural level cap and stop progressing due to deaths. That lets you know you need to build defenses and play better, and die less.

If you lose nothing on death then there is no achievement at all, its' just a grind. Anybody can do it. Not everybody can currently hit 100, if they could, then it's just like world of warcraft -- not an achievement, just a grind.

If you can just get to max level for free then there is no achievement... it's just time sitting at a desk.

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Woofeliwowa#1985 wrote:

Sure, I could work around it, but that’s not really the problem.

Yes it is.. That's your job as the player dude.

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Woofeliwowa#1985 wrote:

The problem is that when I die, it doesn’t just feel like a setback—it feels like I’m losing a ton of progress in a way that makes me not want to keep playing.

Again -- that's the point. The developers do not want to hold your hand, they WANT consequences, they WANT you to hurt, they WANT you to lose, they do not want you to win every time.. in interview after interview they have said this for over a decade, they want it to hurt. And they want POE 2 to hurt MORE than POE 1.

You will never get your way I believe. If you can't come to terms with this than you will struggle with POE forever.

Hurting the player is a core design philosophy. I'm not even kidding. They used to make items not stack because they felt it 'emulated the weight of picking up items' -- they want you to work, suffer, and not get what you want. Welcome to POE and Grinding Gear Games


(1 portal is bullshit though, I think they should revert to 6 portals because they still have invisible unrendered death effects)

I don’t need a *reward* for dying - I just don’t want to feel like I’m wasting my time. Losing my map and XP doesn’t make me want to “play smarter,” it just makes me feel frustrated and less motivated to keep going. There’s a difference between a meaningful challenge and a punishment that kills the fun.

If the XP penalty is *so* important for learning, then why isn’t it there from level 1? If it’s truly a core mechanic to teach players how to improve, then it should apply at all stages of the game, not just later on when you’re deep into progression. Right now, it feels like an arbitrary roadblock rather than a well-integrated learning tool.

And I don’t see the issue with me reaching level 100 in *SSF*. It’s not like I get there for free - I still have to run maps over and over again, push through harder content, and earn every level. Just because *more* people could reach 100 doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be an achievement. It just means it wouldn’t be *artificially frustrating*. Grinding is still grinding, but losing progress because of one mistake doesn’t make the game harder—it just makes it feel like a chore.

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Rakie1337#5746 wrote:

My hot take -- I would be pissed if they removed the xp loss on death. It's an insanely important learning tool that new players are too green to understand.

If you get lesson from abuse, you need help man. It's not the Xp loss that teach you, it`s seeing the mechanic of what kill you... Wich ironicly the game miss a lot because of the fast paced and cluttered screen. And lag, freeze, unoptimized performance etc. You know all the random thing people keep screaming about.

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Woofeliwowa#1985 wrote:

I don’t need a *reward* for dying - I just don’t want to feel like I’m wasting my time. Losing my map and XP doesn’t make me want to “play smarter,” it just makes me feel frustrated and less motivated to keep going. There’s a difference between a meaningful challenge and a punishment that kills the fun.

If the XP penalty is *so* important for learning, then why isn’t it there from level 1? If it’s truly a core mechanic to teach players how to improve, then it should apply at all stages of the game, not just later on when you’re deep into progression. Right now, it feels like an arbitrary roadblock rather than a well-integrated learning tool.

And I don’t see the issue with me reaching level 100 in *SSF*. It’s not like I get there for free - I still have to run maps over and over again, push through harder content, and earn every level. Just because *more* people could reach 100 doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be an achievement. It just means it wouldn’t be *artificially frustrating*. Grinding is still grinding, but losing progress because of one mistake doesn’t make the game harder—it just makes it feel like a chore.

Personally I don't fuckup much so I rarely mind it, been playing POE for like 6 years, average like 600-900 hours per league. POE is the only game I play. As you play longer you won't have these issues, I promise. But it feels very bad when you first start, yes :)


> If the XP penalty is *so* important for learning, then why isn’t it there from level 1?

Because people are too stupid for that up front, firstly, and secondly it's not meant to be a tool, you're just supposed to use your brain and realize the diminishing returns in your build. Most new players also don't realize the campaign isn't the game, mapping is -- the campaign is the training wheels.

Most people struggle to take the hint from the experience loss in dying that they should be building their character better and playing more carefully.

This game wants you to be punished for dying. It's been 13 years and now two path of exile games. It's safe to say xp loss is likely staying.

No xp loss would be fine for SSF, but they don't like to "split game design" by having different rules for SSF and all that.

I'm not a fan of the 1 portal for various reasons -- but xp loss is very minimal it just sucks at first.

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Thaynime#8492 wrote:

If you get lesson from abuse, you need help man. It's not the Xp loss that teach you, it`s seeing the mechanic of what kill you... Wich ironicly the game miss a lot because of the fast paced and cluttered screen.

if you can't tell how the two go hand in hand you can't be helped.