I am curious how many players will never come back after the new "league" launch in poe 2

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

Wonder what will happen when (if) certain forum warriors won't have huge numbers to back things up.

I guess they could always skew numbers, à la the original post.

It seems to have become a running trend to compare peak numbers to off-peak numbers and pass it off as a meaningful comparison. As well as to make claims that numbers are "plummeting", despite POE2—an unfinished game—having a healthier player retention than applicable three-month-old POE1 leagues (9% retention vs 6% and 4%).

But hey, what's verifiable data compared to a tasty narrative? Pooey to accuracy!

POE2 needs a lot of work. That isn't in dispute. Hopefully v0.2 brings us a much better experience, though I expect we'll have to wait until full release to allay our unrest.

As far as guessing goes, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the day 1 peak is below 400k. Numbers won't plummet though; they'll follow the exact same number trends that we're used to, within a margin.

ggg has to make a solid decision

if they make the game slow and deliberate, they will alienate the zoomers.

if they make the game zoomy they alienate the slowers.

personally speaking i like slower paced combat. and if we're being honest ONLY MACE has the slower paced combat. everything else outperforms most mace skills by a huge margin.

the speed and reach of a quarterstaff can be so addictive. but i had my fair share of zoom.

my personal belief is that everything ELSE should be nerfed so theyre on par with maces.

why i m against the opposite, where ggg could just buff maces instead, the problem i foresee is that by buffing maces, it would mean zooming is the end game. ggg would be forced to raise the ceiling and create harder content. we would just be playing poe2 all over again. all their hard work making the game balanced around melee would be for naught, since players delete bosses in literal one shots.

it is not possible for ggg to cater both playstyles. if zooming exists, the zoomers will be able to clear more content, earn more currency and achieve more in a shorter time. this will give them a lot of economical advantage. where slower builds simply eat dust. earning currency to buy new upgrades takes longer. being weak longer means doing less juicy content longer. the gap between the 2 will grow large rather quickly.

i am not convinced that ggg would nerf everything else. but i am waiting to see how ggg intends to steer the game moving forward.

realistically its likely it wont go my way. i've played poe1 for 10 years and it mostly did not go my way. i've learned my lesson so if i see the game not going my way this early on. i probably wont come back for either.

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SoujiroSeta#2390 wrote:

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Asghaad#3967 wrote:

250-300k at release dropping to under 100k within a week

in other words same numbers PoE1 league would have generated with FRACTION of dev time investment ...

250-300k at launch to 100k within a week LMAO

I know some of you vehemently dislike Poe2, that's fine. You have right not like it, but what you say can easily be disproved with facts.



It started at 578k on launch (December 6 2024) (steam) and didn't drop down to less than 100k on February 18 2025.

LUL like I know most of you who dislike Poe2 just assume ur feelings are facts, but you can at least check the actual facts before making stuff up.

I'm actually surprised these many people are still playing the game considering it's current state, and $30 entry fee.

This shows the game has some serious staying power and once it gets more updates it could be massive. Full release and being free will potentially be flooded and I'm willing to bet it will pass EA numbers by a huge margin.

That was his prediction for 0.2 numbers when it’s launched.

I will play to see the new changes and try a new class - like I do every league. It doesn't really matter which of the two games it is, I'll still try it.

I think they will be busy with another "best game of the millennium." Games like that come out once a month, and the streamer audience will be there, not here.

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bachgaman#6713 wrote:

I think they will be busy with another "best game of the millennium." Games like that come out once a month, and the streamer audience will be there, not here.

Monster Hunter has probably already converted a few players. Atomfall will probably also do so. The new Dune game coming out in May too. Metal Gear Solid, Borderlands 4, ArchAge, Crimson Desert, Doom, Kingsroad, GTA 6, Soulframe... I could go on, lots of interesting games coming out this year.

And A LOT of PoE 1 veterans are typical "few games players", while I suspect that a lot of the new players making PoE 2 numbers seem really high, are flavor of the month game players. We will see if they come back during the beta, and we will see if they keep returning for leagues. I have my doubts.

Anyhow, I hope PoE 2 succeeds (read; I hope they do what they need to do to succeed). But I have my doubts, because they seem hellbent on changing things just for the sake of changes, and seem to have learned nothing from 10+ years of PoE 1.

are we getting a new class ? or just couple ascendancies ?

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

Monster Hunter has probably already converted a few players

Anyhow, I hope PoE 2 succeeds (read; I hope they do what they need to do to succeed). But I have my doubts, because they seem hellbent on changing things just for the sake of changes, and seem to have learned nothing from 10+ years of PoE 1.

i've always been a MH player. tho i kept coming back to poe.

as a standard player i always had this idea that since this game was designed to be played forever, i could eventually become godlike if i just kept grinding. and i really wanted to play poe until the end of time.

on the flipside. i've always HATED poe1 and the direction it went. but i kept coming back because temp leagues gave me new OP gear and POE2 would come in and make poe1 great again.

unfortunately poe2 was made separate so i got left wondering why the fuck i played poe1 for all the past 3-4 years for?

i have long come to term that poe1 will not change to suit my needs.

its ironic that despite poe2 invalidating my 10 decade worth of standard wealth, i learned to love poe2 much more. but at the same time i see the same mistakes being made.

despite defending poe2 a huge lot. what you mention about them not learning is so damn true.

in fact i find it ironic that they UNLEARNED some of their own lessons.

for example melee totems. as part of poe1's melee rework they removed melee totems and instead gave players more dps to compensate. poe2 they REINTRODUCED melee totems. like what the flying fuck.

i personally am waiting to see what GGG is going to have in store for poe2 in their next poe2 major announcement and i really want to see their direction.

i dont have another 10 years of my life to waste on a game that went a direction i did not like.

as for monster hunter. i m thoroughly enjoying it. ironically poe2 helped push me back into playing MH by reminding me that i really prefer slow and methodical combat.

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eternalJOURNEYofTHEloser#5873 wrote:

Poe 2 early access was launched on 6th of december 2024. They game was incredibly hyped and everyone had really high hopes. Some were already calling it the best arpg ever. However from what we are seeing now many people believe its a far worse game than poe 1.

Considering steam numbers the game had 570 000 players logged in on launch. This number has plummeted to approximately 40 000 players right now. In my opinion many players and even some popular streamers have concluded that they dont like poe 2 and wont even be trying the next "league". In my opinion the game is so different and so much worse in many endgame aspects that its beyond repair and I completely lost the will to login. I am currently enjoying completely dead hc trade settlers league.


I would guess the next "league" will initially have around 400 000 players on day 1 but the numbers will plummet even faster then after launch.

What is your guess?

holy hell imagine thinking that having 40k players on march 6th, three freakin' months after early access launch and has only had some minor patches is a bad thing.

But it's okay OP, keep making up statements like 'many people believe it's a far worse game than poe1', and 'some popular streamers have concluded that they don't like poe2'.

You can sit on here talking about the old game with it's low player count that's mostly bots all you want. The fact is PoE2 is here, it's abundantly clear it'l be better then poe1 in just a few leagues.

Poe1 is out yall. And just take one second to ask yourself why you don't even bother to play the 'best arpg of all time obviously goated' unless there's a new update. The answer? Because PoE just isn't that fun outside of a league launch. PoE2 might change for that awhile once it's a full game.

im a new player and for the life of me cant seem to enjoy this game. ive tried multiple classes and they all feel the same with either your lightning or cold skills. it might get more enjoyable the further i get but as it is right now i can never get out of act 1 because its just boring as hell.