I'm not coming back to PoE2 until some major changes happen
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100% the game's floor needs to be raised. And also 1000000% the game's ceiling needs to be lowered.
When there is so much variance between player to player, character to character, it's impossible to balance. The issue is that GGG is still thinking in terms of POE1 and have included a so many skills/supports along with items/passive tree. The combinatorics alone make this impossible to balance for an action game. So, unless you want to do math and study a spreadsheet, your experience may suffer. Edit: also, I see a lot of people already saying that the campaign is a slog and thus the solution should be to make the campaign even easier/shorter so that you can get to end game faster. Don't you think the proper solution is to make the campaign experience better so that it's something you look forward to? Personally speaking, I prefer POE2 fresh start/campaign to end game mapping. End game mapping to me is the slog. Falling asleep while being woken up by the occasional 1-shot mechanic. Последняя редакция: Shrodin#0981. Время: 22 дек. 2024 г., 23:44:33
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Bye - we won't miss you
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" Hello Shrodin#0981, To your comment about a solution to the "slog" issue (which, to be upfront, I am of that opinion at the moment) - I stopped to think about this and it took me a bit to arrive at a complete thought. In principle, I think you're right: the solution is to make the campaign feel as engaging to players as the endgame. I wish I had a proper idea for how to go about this, but I don't. I just know how the current state feels, which is, for lack of better wording, not fun. (To be clear, I'm only referring to time when there's no objective, boss fight, rare monster, dialog, interactive plot object - let's say "meaningful content" - presently capturing my attention; that is, the extended periods of time between said content, which is just, to me, mindless walking.) However, I started thinking about why players want to get to the endgame as quickly as possible. This almost surely varies between players, like you note, but at least speaking to my own experience, I play POE this way so I can get to my goal as fast as possible: each league, I have a build I come up with, and I want to test its viability against the hardest content as soon as humanly possible. I (and I think most players, though I have no data to support this) consider this content to be the endgame bosses. That's the point of games in general right? To beat them. And the penultimate step to this victory is the fight right before the end. I think there's also a cultural influence that plays a part. That is, an emphasis on speed and mastery of difficult content. What's popular content with the POE community? I think of league races in general (like the Gauntlet), and popular streamers like Ben, who garner thousands upon thousands of viewers for being able to defeat pinnacle bosses like it's a (brief) walk in the park. But abstracting further, let's say a player has a different goal from any of the above. Generally, I think it's fair to say most goals are most easily achieved when flexibility for player choice is at its maximum. That is, when players can make a choice, learn from said choice, and continue or course-correct as needed (in a manner most respectful of their time). This is most possible when players have the most passive points, most accessibility to skills and support gems, most accumulation of resources, and most control over the content they can complete. All of these peaks tend to occur in one place: the endgame. So, while I totally hear you on engagement during the campaign, I find it difficult to imagine how GGG can make it as compelling as the endgame (though I truly hope they find a way - if any developer can, it's GGG). By their nature, I think the former is just a means to, well, an end, and to quote Tom from Mad Men, "waiting is bullshit." Thank you for your comment - it was an unexpectedly thought-provoking question and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to clarify my own train of thinking. |
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My 2 cents - personally, I've gone through the campaign (to mid Act 2 Cruel), but not to maps (like mid 50s level). My experience was decent at the start, then slowly now just dropped off. I enjoyed the overall improvements from POE1 (sound, gameplay, gems, etc). However, I felt the "dark souls-like" components to the campaign made it a bit too tedious at times (although overall it's not a bad change). Furthermore, I felt the "game balance" wasn't really there in terms of offense/defense, and has lots of room for improvement. I feel (and some pros agree on this, like Kripparian I believe, etc) that no matter how much you put into defense (armor, life, resis, etc), you'll still get 1-shot -- so why build any defense? That's where the balance is too one-sided and it removes a critical element of the game, to be able to actual think about your build...now it's just pure offense basically. In terms of end-game/maps, again, I never got there in PoE2, but I did for PoE1 (where I did mapping a bit) -- it's just not really what I'm looking for.
I felt there were quite a few parallels to Diablo II in terms of setting and some other aspects (Act 2/3, in particular). I enjoyed that part but perhaps it was more nostalgia than anything. However, I do also remember that D2 was fun to replay and go through the campaign again. With PoE2, I just don't really feel the same way unfortunately (yes it's Early Access, but I still think some of the things mentioned in this thread are just too much to change). Several reasons would include perhaps the difficulty (still feel too many possibilities of "1-shots" in the game, and elemental aid mechanics like bleed, etc are a bit much, when there are very few ways to actually defend against it, with too few defense passive nodes, etc) and map size where D2 had a good balance in both aspects (where I remember many would replay the campaign during each ladder reset again and again -- one where I doubt will happen for PoE2 player base). Again, a large part was the aforementioned things above previously. I do feel D2 was a masterpiece and to be able to recreate an improved version of it would be an insane feat in itself. Of course, PoE2 is not necessarily trying to do that, but I guess that was what I personally was looking for. Though, again, if PoE2 campaign replayability improves just like in D2 then I do believe the game's longevity would increase for the player-base -- for now, I don't think players would replay the campaign and also not many for maps either (whole other discussion there from the PoE1 map veterans). Another bonus from D2 I remember was "speed-running" the game with friends to help them level up their characters fast. In PoE2, it's still possible but the setting for "party experience" has to be disabled in order to do this, but at the expense of the party experience -- while in D2, this trade-off was non-existent so it would be much more fun to speed-run your friends through the game, hence increasing more replayability -- again, now there's no real incentive other than to beat a boss, but with no experience during the run. Moreover, the "party scaling" was much more "balanced" in D2 I feel than in PoE2 and playing in parties for PoE2 is much less fun than it was in D2 -- again, this hurts PoE2 game longevity/replayability. I really don't have any belief that the above will change at all in terms of patching, etc. In the end, I feel it's difficult to design a game that caters to everyone of course. So, I say just enjoy it for what you can (personally, I enjoyed the time overall but I don't think the game has any longevity for me). Good luck and have fun. "PoE1 Clone Has No Future!" ;) | EA 0.2 | Trade is EZ mode. ;) | Path of Trading ;) | "TLDR: -1 Devs ohhh" (Lol.) | "I've played a lot of videogames. It's my primary recreational activity. Best games ever: Elden Ring and Diablo 4." ~Elon Musk, 2023 | "Dawg", "IQ 48" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ | [Removed by Support]
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Bro, this aint a diary.
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Yeah, Im out as well. I've beat the campaign, and have ZERO interest in doing anything else. This game is not fun, it feels like a job. Constant sweat, no chill. Every boss fight is dodge 2 to 3 times, shoot once, repeat for 20 minutes. It gets so tiring and boring. I really enjoyed playing poe1, it was actually fun and was something to unwind to after a long day at work. Poe2 feels like I never left work.
And most classes/builds are trash. Melee is absolute dog crap in endgame. Im done with this pos game. |
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" That guy barely played PoE1 & if he did he didn't get much done lol no point in arguing with a child |
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" Nothing screams mature like throwing temper tantrum over dying in a video game. |
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" I'd rather converse with a passionate person than a troll. *shrugs* You also didn't do much in poe1 when you were playing it seems |
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