Feedback on 0.2.0g (from a negative reviewer)

Here's what I've done today to test the new patch.

I made a new Witch and started from scratch to see how the game feels now during the campaign, and let me tell you... It was rough...

Why Witch? Because I think the game should be fun with every class and not only with the new best thing. I like Minions so I went with that.

The first thing I noticed was the changes to loot quality because at the very first boss, THE BLOATED MILLER, I got 1 Alchemy and 1 Exalted Orb. The rare drop however... It was trash, a TWO HANDED MACE that soon became a regal shard :(

I continued my journey killing every rare and doing every side quest to ensure I got all the loot and skill gems I could get. I found some magic chests that guaranteed me a magic item each. If only those items were not Quarterstaves, Bows and Crossbows, maybe they could have been an upgrade to my gear.

Atm, I have most of my gear white and blue and all my rare drops so far have been unusable, neting me a total of 3 regal shards.

My next boss is THE RUST KING and I'm looking forward to see my next guaranteed rare drop which turned out to be a rare Withered Wand + 1 Exalted orb!!! I'm so excited because no matter what mods that wand has, it will surelly be an upgrade over my blue one, right? WRONG!

The fight was tough but my Contagion + Unearth + Skeletal Warriors setup did the trick and killed the boss!!!
But, to my surprise, as soon as the boss died so did I! I got killed by who knows what and stood there looking at that beautiful Yellow Withered Wand that would never be mine because the loot is lost once you die, and as I realized that I could not kill the boss again (With the first kill bonus to loot) to try my luck at upgrading my gear from the ground loot (which is a lot more fun than checking vendors, I think).

My blood started boiling and my mind was already focused on the frustration that it is to play this game.

I really thought I would change my review from negative to positive when I saw the patch notes but unfortunately I can't recommend the game yet when all it does is frustrate me.

I really love GGG as a company and I know that you can do better but 0.2.0g still isn't it.

I just wanna finish by leaving some ideas that might improve the game.

- Introduce Lesser Currencies to the campaign (i.e. Lesser Alchemy Orb, Lesser Chaos Orb) that can't roll higher tiers. This way, crafting at lower levels will feel less painful because these currencies have no value at end-game. This encourages crafting early on and removes that bad feeling when using an exalted orb on a low level item.

- Add a quest to introduce new players to crafting. Maybe have a crafting bench, like those in Betrayal that have a countdown timer but without the timer and ask the player to craft a certain item using the currency provided by the crafting bench.

- Leave the loot on the ground even if the player dies or let the player try to kill the boss again without losing the 1st kill bonus.

Or maybe they could just implement proper loot drops? Crazy idea I know. This holding one hand while they tie your other hand behind your back while they whip you with their free hand is crap. Be a good little robot exile and we will give you a treat at the next town. It is like they are trying to be the Blues Clues of ARPGs.

There seems to be an over-reliance on frustration mechanics in POE 2. Yes there's more loot now but it's 90% useless loot. It's amazing how many items you can pick up and there's just nothing for you. So you get millions of gold but gold is practically worthless. Gamble at the vendor for items 40 levels below you, check the other vendors and their items are also massively under-levelled and worthless. If you can't trade I don't know how you keep pace with the difficulty. Tried recombining, another frustration mechanic, watch things go poof. Stats that only exist to break your upgrading. I need a new weapon but what hope do I have of getting one?

Or maybe they should just cancel trade and balance the game to fit the new mode?