Last Epoch comparison

After 33 hours in Last Epoch this weekend, which is roughly how much time I spent in POE2 during 0.1, and a little more since. I'd like to compare my initial experiences with the two games. I think there is a lot this game could learn from Last Epoch.

There are three major takeaways; Loot, Skills, and Passives.

Loot
Last Epoch has fairly generous loot, regular unique item drops, and a robust loot filter and crafting system. I was especially impressed how little I had to replace my equipment. A lot more weight is put behind passives and skills, so you can easily get away with being under-geared, or leaning on unique gear to compensate. You also have more utility slots such as icons, allowing you more wiggle room to fix build issues.
The game is just easier, so there is less pressure to upgrade. However with crafting, you can easily fill out gaps in your build and get specific modifiers with little to no luck involved. Overall, loot was dynamic and fun, and easy to build around.

POE2 loot is horrendous. It is entirely luck based and stingy, as you search for a needle in an ever growing haystack. Crafting is a joke, that is as luck based and stingy as everything else. Coupled with being required to change out almost all of your gear every few levels, and you have a system the has you perpetually under-geared the entire time, making a slow and punishing game all the more difficult. It is by far in a way, the worst loot system I have ever experienced in an ARPG.


Skills
Last Epoch has something of a more traditional skill system, where you spend points to improve skills in specific ways, much like a branching passive tree. The main difference is that you can choose to specialize in a particular skill, as it tree is on the skill itself rather then the class. Allowing you to dive deep and expand upon your favorite skill. Adding more skills as you level, which allows you to build synergies along with your passive skills and gear. It's simple but effective, and has surprising amounts of depth. And it all comes quickly, so you can start building right from early levels, and that's great.

POE2 skills however are incredibly shallow. While the skills themselves at base might be more complicated and have more depth or interactivity then Last Epoch skills do at base. When you compare support skills to skill passive tree lines, it's not even close. POE2 essentially forces you to spread yourself thin, putting a little bit of passive support into every skill you have, that all levels up incredibly slowly together. Which isn't helped by the fact that most support skills often do little but simple numerical improvements. The depth of POE2 doesn't come until your dozens of hours in. So your stuck with the same boring build you started with for most of your play time. Depth beats breath any day of the week.


Passives
Again, Last Epoch is fairly traditional. Each class has specific passive skill lines, and masteries that allow you to specialize in a particular play style. They are however, largely bound to what that class can or cannot do. It's simple, but it works for what it is trying to do. At the very least, I never felt like any passive was wasted or didn't fit into my build. It's easy to get what you need, and ignore everything else.

POE2 passive tree is incredibly wasteful. It feels 3 times larger then it has any right to be, and is filled to the brill with crap that you don't need. As you constantly wade you passives you don't want, to get to the few things you do. It also lacks much in the way of peaks or valleys, but rather is a barren wasteland of meh. There is nothing to get excited by or want to build around, and you have to travel forever to get anywhere. This is a passive tree that tries to be everything to everyone, and ends up being nothing special to anybody. It both seem be as generic as possible, while also being as reserved as possible. And that combination makes for an incredible bore.


Overall
Last Epoch isn't really doing anything all that special or unique, but it does do everything all competently. And that is enough. It makes you feel like a golden god right from the get go, and playing into the strengths of the genre well.

POE2 is swinging for the fences, and by in large misses. It feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be. Trying to be something it isn't, and not playing to the strengths of the genre. It's slow, tedious and boring. I'm all for more challenge, but being stingy and punishing isn't it.
It's a game that simply does not respect your time.

Thank you for sharing this well thought out, informative post. I haven't played Last Epoch yet, but I'm definitely going to. My friends as well.

I'm hoping POE2 finds its footing. It promises so much

yeah i feel the same
i played when LE released over a year ago for 300 hours and then didnt start it because of other reasons and now with the second season it was the perfect time to show me that poe 0.2/10 is just not it. with my time i want to have fun when i play and LE is giving everything for that but poe 2 is not. well the only good thing about poe 2 is to read the forums and start laughing at the forum post of people defending it and saying how good it is while they had 10 hours in act 1 in 2 weeks and dont get that the endgame is where the game basically starts and not the story while leveling.. and then they start to talk bad the "toxic poe 1 people" and how stupid they are while without them, they would not be playing act 1 of poe 2

how about YOU go play Last Epoch and leave PoE2 to those of us who are enjoying it a lot?

having to actually do things to juice up loot and having to plan out builds is half the fun.
I do think the loot floor (lowest drops) could come up a bit in late game and that there could be more mechanics, but both these things will come with time as more weapons and mechanics arrive in updates.

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CerebralClown#7184 написал:

Thank you for sharing this well thought out, informative post. I haven't played Last Epoch yet, but I'm definitely going to. My friends as well.

I'm hoping POE2 finds its footing. It promises so much

Last Epoch is definitely worth the price. I've only spent a little time with it, but it's already given me plenty of build ideas and fun.

It's a game that is a good example of a simple idea done well. It has clearly taken notes from Path of Exile and other ARPG's, and is better for it.