Great Art, Bad Choices: Why This Game Let Me Down

This is the first game I’ve ever felt moved to review. I love its visuals and the way the skill tree is laid out, but I’m disappointed with the design choices. It feels as if the developers are aiming for a Souls‑like experience, yet not everyone wants to face that level of difficulty. In a single‑player title you could simply let players pick Easy, Normal, or Hard, but this is an online game with player‑to‑player trading. A designer’s personal taste shouldn’t dictate everyone’s experience—certainly not in a way that forces all players to suffer.

Second, although the game boasts plenty of unique legendary gear and a wide range of classes, in the current version it’s basically impossible to craft your own build and achieve the results you expect. Class balance is way off, and patch 0.2 has nerfed every popular class. I can’t understand why an ARPG would deliberately cap the ceiling or stifle the rich variety of builds that should be thriving. The ground is fertile, yet the designers seem driven mainly by a need for control.

Now, I'm playing on the permanent league and searching for gear. But with fewer players around, prices from traders are rising. Can you imagine an item going for 500 Divine Orbs? With the current drop rates, do you really think someone will reach that kind of wealth? I even bought the official drop-tracking ring, but the late-game experience feels bland and unrewarding. I don’t feel like my currency is building up at all.

Trader items are too expensive, and the items I craft can’t even be sold. This is the situation I’m facing now. Maybe it’s because I chose an unpopular class—not one of the flashy new ones that half the player base is using. Haha.

Dear GGG, something clicked for me today. I think I’m done playing—for now. But I’ll be waiting for the day when every build can truly bloom.

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Shengyang#2718 написал:

A designer’s personal taste shouldn’t dictate everyone’s experience

isn't this exactly what a designer should do? like if i go to a good restaurant, the chef is probably using his personal taste to dictate the experience of the people eating there

Also, I’ve spent almost 700 hours online on Steam with this game. I played a summoner build. Back in patch 0.2, I was still looking forward to new spectres. My mind was racing—maybe there would be new aura spectres? Or some simple minions that could help boost damage? But in the end, only beasts got new modifiers. Okay, I told myself, maybe that’s just part of the fantasy of playing PoE for the first time.

I was also excited about the 100 new uniques and 100 new support gems. I hoped something could actually improve my current build. But all I found was one new Minion Support gem—none of the new uniques could replace the ones I had. I even tried 3 other classes, hoping to bring some of my ideas to life, but I kept running into obstacles. Honestly, I’m just tired. There’s no sense of reward.

The best time I had was during the first month of patch 0.1. With my limited understanding, I accidentally bought a wrong helmet with armor and energy shield. Then I slowly transitioned my build. Day by day, my minions got stronger. I struggled through fog fights, my minions kept dying, so I searched the passive tree for resistances. Their damage was low, so I kept pushing. A few days ago, I finally bought a +3 minion gem. That was such a satisfying moment. But I can’t seem to feel that again.

Now in 0.2, the passive tree has “innovation”—ha. Fewer gem sockets—ha. If you think this will improve new players’ Souls-like experience, then I don’t know what to say. But all I wanted was a simple, relaxing loot-based game. A game where I feel happy when I find a unique item I’ve never seen in my stash. A game where I can push my build to the endgame and enjoy it. A game with a busy market so I can actually sell what I make.

Even as a newbie, I wanted to work hard to make the gear I dreamed of. I wanted each 2-hour session to actually give me something real. I wanted so many things... sigh. Life is already stressful enough. Can’t a game just bring me a little joy?