Most PoE content creators are a joke and PoE2 still doesn't know what it wants to be.

I'm sure you've all seen how so many of them shilled super hard for LE, even saying completely absurd things such as "LE has great graphics now" ... riiight.

Can anyone seriously look me in the eye and say that, especially after playing PoE2?

These same jokers fueled the community heavily against PoE2 for their own gains and whims and made the negative reviews explode on steam.

Let me be clear, there is and was valid criticism here and there but it was nothing that warranted that scale of negative reviews imo. And a lot of the criticism was still the same tired PoE1 propaganda since launch.

That being said, there are things that LE does that PoE2 SHOULD definitely take heavy heavy inspiration from... such as crafting, trading and the circle of fortune mechanics they have. So there definitely is some merit to LE. Combat gameplay however is not one of them... I've literally tried to play it again for a bit and quit at lvl 37 because of how easy and weightless and trivial everything felt.

Now let's talk about the second part... PoE2 still doesn't know what it wants to be... and that, in my opinion, is the worst thing right now about the game. On one side you are trying to introduce combo skills, parry, etc... that warrants proper combat... on the other side, endgame is still the same screenclear mess as in PoE1 and bosses still get vaporized really easily, albeit at a slightly slower pace, but still same in nature.

I've also heard Jonathan saying that they are actually trying to please both camps? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE.

If you want a game with good combat, you look towards games like No Rest for the Wicked and inspire yourself much more heavily from those. If you want the same "screen clear" bs you look towards games like PoE1. The core designs just go against each other...

The off-meta classes, like Tactician, are the real trash of this game today. The game is too easy now: just create a Huntress. I’m hating this game and posting my opinion everywhere in the hope that, at some point, someone reads it and resolves the problems with other classes or nerfs the Huntress.
The economy is broken. If you choose another class, you can’t farm, and there’s virtually no chance of dropping items or divines. This game is over. That’s the reality. I think carefully about what I do in the game and don’t take the easy route—I don’t choose the meta class with BUGGED INTERACTIONS. This is the same mistake Diablo 4 made with Spiritborn. I switched from D4 to POE2 because there I’m free to create new builds. In version 0.1, the game had good balance and you could play in any style, but now that’s no longer the case.
My verdict is that version 0.2 has killed POE forever. Either you have the guts to nerf and bring back the challenging gameplay experience, or just make everything easy to kill so everyone can be equally happy.

"

Kotolino#2642 написал:

The off-meta classes, like Tactician, are the real trash of this game today. The game is too easy now: just create a Huntress. I’m hating this game and posting my opinion everywhere in the hope that, at some point, someone reads it and resolves the problems with other classes or nerfs the Huntress.
The economy is broken. If you choose another class, you can’t farm, and there’s virtually no chance of dropping items or divines. This game is over. That’s the reality. I think carefully about what I do in the game and don’t take the easy route—I don’t choose the meta class with BUGGED INTERACTIONS. This is the same mistake Diablo 4 made with Spiritborn. I switched from D4 to POE2 because there I’m free to create new builds. In version 0.1, the game had good balance and you could play in any style, but now that’s no longer the case.
My verdict is that version 0.2 has killed POE forever. Either you have the guts to nerf and bring back the challenging gameplay experience, or just make everything easy to kill so everyone can be equally happy.

It's not just huntress however, or more precisely lightning spear. I have not played anything meta this patch yet it still overperformed in the ways that I've mentioned. There are obvious balance issues but I think the core problems still stem from what they are trying to achieve being too vague.

They still want people to "blast" apparently but blasting is incompatible with good combat.. parry and combos and whatnot. There's just these blatant conflicting ideas that continue to clash in an attempt to keep the old PoE1 player base in while still bringing in new people.

The worst part that they're not realizing is that they're chasing after 2 rabbits, and they will end up catching none.

Also here's tactician in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcMxvjIi7O0

Not meta, but presents the same issues imo, in a slightly different form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFkd_85iCC4

Here's more in case you weren't convinced that Tactician is actually quite broken as well.

This is a pure example of what kind of a joke gameplay is in endgame. Why would anyone even try to engage with things like parry in this medium.

I agree with u on the second part OP, but the first is a bit deceiving.

If u actually played Last Epoch before and u played it yesterday u'd know what the CCs are talking about.
The game looks soooo much better than before, I was actually shocked at times and was just standing there looking at the environments.

That doesn't mean that it's better than PoE2s visuals, those are genre defining right now. It just means the LE has improved alot and probably looks better than PoE in a some ways.
I didn't watch anyone so I don't know if they exagerated much, but it is noticeable.

"

IonSugeRau1#1069 написал:

I'm sure you've all seen how so many of them shilled super hard for LE, even saying completely absurd things such as "LE has great graphics now" ... riiight.

Can anyone seriously look me in the eye and say that, especially after playing PoE2?

Well, yes. With the art style they are going for, it looks great.
It's not groundbreaking or awesome, and PoE2 looks way better, but something looking better doesn't mean something else is ugly.
By that logic, every woman who is not a super model would be rated as a turd.

"

These same jokers fueled the community heavily against PoE2 for their own gains and whims and made the negative reviews explode on steam.

Let me be clear, there is and was valid criticism here and there but it was nothing that warranted that scale of negative reviews imo. And a lot of the criticism was still the same tired PoE1 propaganda since launch.

Ppl don't review bombed PoE2 because of streamers telling them or LE being a thing.
Ppl review bombed it because it was a hot mess in 0.1.0, and GGG made it worse with 0.2.0 instead of improving.

"

That being said, there are things that LE does that PoE2 SHOULD definitely take heavy heavy inspiration from... such as crafting, trading and the circle of fortune mechanics they have. So there definitely is some merit to LE. Combat gameplay however is not one of them... I've literally tried to play it again for a bit and quit at lvl 37 because of how easy and weightless and trivial everything felt.

Dude... the gameplay doesn't become more meaningful because you make the game "hard" from the first area you enter. And "hard" is, in PoE2's case, hitting a sponge - tedious.
The gameplay becomes meaningful when you put something into the fight and get something in return. That you don't have to "put in" something so early into the game is because it's the introduction to the game.
The campaign is literally the tutorial to make you familiar with the mechanics, and from there, the difficulty increases.
You can prefer an earlier increase in difficulty, sure, but then use the "campaign skip" and, well, skip the tutorial.

"

Now let's talk about the second part... PoE2 still doesn't know what it wants to be... and that, in my opinion, is the worst thing right now about the game. On one side you are trying to introduce combo skills, parry, etc... that warrants proper combat... on the other side, endgame is still the same screenclear mess as in PoE1 and bosses still get vaporized really easily, albeit at a slightly slower pace, but still same in nature.

I've also heard Jonathan saying that they are actually trying to please both camps? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE.

If you want a game with good combat, you look towards games like No Rest for the Wicked and inspire yourself much more heavily from those. If you want the same "screen clear" bs you look towards games like PoE1. The core designs just go against each other...

At least here we agree. You can't have both. It's literally impossible by definition. A grinding game with godlike power fantasy in endgame, but "meaningful slow combo bla combat" the entire game... nope.

Now, we have "meaningful" PoE2 combot (player-side), but PoE1 combat (monster-side).

"It doesn't matter — declining revenue will be the only truth."

"

IonSugeRau1#1069 написал:

I'm sure you've all seen how so many of them shilled super hard for LE, even saying completely absurd things such as "LE has great graphics now" ... riiight.

Turn up gamma on Path of Exile 2 or turn it downward in Last Epoch and you will be surprised how similar the graphics actually are.

Dull and grey tones aren't inherently better graphics than colorful and vibrant palette.

"

Sadaukar#2191 написал:

I agree with u on the second part OP, but the first is a bit deceiving.

If u actually played Last Epoch before and u played it yesterday u'd know what the CCs are talking about.
The game looks soooo much better than before, I was actually shocked at times and was just standing there looking at the environments.

That doesn't mean that it's better than PoE2s visuals, those are genre defining right now. It just means the LE has improved alot and probably looks better than PoE in a some ways.
I didn't watch anyone so I don't know if they exagerated much, but it is noticeable.

I've played at launch and till the level I mentioned I've played (actually I've played even less, seems like 34 was when I bailed not 37) I saw no difference in graphics. Spells still look janky to me, character models same, the way they move and interact also makes it feel very cheap by comparison. Well, actually, not even by comparison... it just doesn't feel proper for a game in 2025.

Like I've said however, there are merits to LE. Graphics or combat gameplay isn't one of them imo.


Are you telling me this:



Is even remotely close to this:



???

"If you've played LE" Yeah I did, here you go:





Also let me be clear again, I'm not saying this to dunk on LE. They're trying their best with what they have.. and they will probably improve to some extent. My gripe is with lying fake CC's that pretend it's otherwise then what it is.

Well I never said LE looks better than PoE2, quite the opposite.

Like I said, no idea what those CCs are saying, but to me the game looks much better now. Granted last I played was when LE launched 1.0. (around 150 hours back then)
The Spell effects didn't improve much, that's true. It's mostly the environments.

I guess u're just having issues with CCs here, which I can't say anything about.

The issue with the game not knowing what it wants to be is much deeper and actually depressing to think about after their recent interviews, because it doesn't seem to get better in the future. They don't even understand the problem.