My honest thoughts after 2k Hours in Path Of Exile 2

Hey GGG,
I wanted to share my experience with PoE2 and what I think is really good/bad right now.

First, I’ve been playing Path of Exile since the console release (Synthesis) and have played around 12,000 hours from this league onward in PoE1. I really loved playing PoE1 from the bottom of my heart. Sentinel was a tough time, but I don’t mind that. The Uniques, builds, crafting, and overall gameplay were so well balanced and awesome that I never considered playing anything else. To describe it more: a PoE1 league holds much more value for me than a GTA VI release.

Then PoE2 came out. The hype was unbelievable. The gameplay in my first hours felt fantastic, and the environment was beautiful. Sure, there were some problems, but it was early access, so I didn’t mind.

I don’t want to dwell more on League 1, because the game state today is quite different.

Patch 0.2 dropped. My friends and I looked at the patch notes and realized, “Oh oh, this looks like Sentinel smash hammer 2.0.” But we didn’t really care because, yay, new class!

When the patch finally dropped, the horror journey began. But I won’t get into issues that are already fixed (like no loot in the story).

Most of my criticism targets the endgame, so let’s get started.

#1 Map Rolling

I really, really hate rerolling maps in this game. In PoE1, you could alc, vaal, and go, and have your quantity/rarity into the implicit. How does it work in PoE2? Just buy 500 maps, alc them, exalt, and maybe you get +quantity and doubled rarity. If not, the map is basically trash (these maps are worth 120+ exalts on the trade market).

Eventually, after 400 maps, I finally rolled double rarity + quantity and could put my map into the map device. This leads us to:

#2 "Atlas"

I don’t understand what this failed monolith copy from Last Epoch even is. Let’s not talk about it, since it’s early access-related and can change every league. If I could choose the map layouts I want, that would be fine.

So I put my high-end juiced map into the map device, started the "Steppe" map, and began walking through it — until I encountered:

#3 Map Mods

Why is my character barely moving??? OH NO, I didn’t notice Temporal Chains!!
Seriously, what is this mod in PoE2? My 60% MS has dropped to -4%! This is ridiculous and should be nerfed or removed immediately. It doesn’t check skill, it doesn’t make the map harder — it’s just unplayable and boring to crawl around with -4% movement speed.

But the -4% movement speed didn’t come alone:

#4 Performance

While progressing through the map with -4% MS, I encountered my first lag spikes. I started throwing my Lightning Spear, and then lag started, like hell.

I pressed options on my controller to change the upscaling mode from NIS to Bilinear, and I could finally play — with Minecraft graphics. It stopped lagging, but I couldn’t see anything. And no, this isn’t a console issue, since other games in this genre handle this smoothly.

I’m not too mad about it currently because of early access, but I really hope these lag issues will be gone in a few leagues.

So, with Minecraft graphics and -4% MS, I entered my ritual encounter on the map, which brings us to:

#5 Ritual Encounter

I started clearing the ritual but couldn’t see anything because of the Bilinear settings. Still, I managed to clear it — or so I thought. But the encounter wouldn’t end.

There’s a stupid ground scorpion that spawns if you run directly over it. This is no fun. Please, make ritual encounters instantly attackable.

I cleared the rest of the map and Ritual Encounters, opening the ritual. OMG — a MIRROR OF KALANDRA FOR ZERO TRIBUTE! (Not really, but you get the idea).

I put my imagined mirror aside and went back to my hideout. After pondering it for hours and thinking about what I could do with it, I came to the conclusion:

#6 Crafting

Currently, there’s no crafting in the game — only gambling. There’s not a single item on the mirror market I would consider mirroring, so I decided to sell it and start a new build. This leads us to:

#7 Build Diversity

I sold my Mirror of Kalandra and started looking for new builds I could try with my currency, but there are none. Every build I check out looks boring and slow (except Lightning Spear on Class XY).

After hours of watching build previews on YouTube and Reddit, I thought: If there’s no genuinely viable endgame build out there, I might consider buying one of the chase uniques to push my current LS character to new heights. But then I realized:

#8 Chase Uniques

There are none. Temporalis? Nerfed into oblivion, unplayable.
Adorned? Also nerfed (-12 jewel sockets on the tree, yup). Maybe usable with Tabula? I haven’t tried it yet, but it could be interesting.
Rite of Passage? Cool, but come on, it’s just a charm.
Headhunter? It’s just 40 divines, not rare enough. But hey, we’ll take one.
Kalandra’s Touch? Yeah, let’s mirror those 1c rings. Nah.

In PoE1, my goal every season was to acquire a Mageblood — nothing special for many in our community, but it’s pretty hard to get one on console at league start, since even trade leagues are almost SSF.

Once I got my Mageblood, I could try so many beautiful, viable, and fun builds — I can hardly imagine the same here. It feels like every unique is trashy and not worth grinding or farming for.

#9 Final Thoughts

Path of Exile 2 has so much potential, but right now it’s really, really bad. There’s basically nothing to grind for. Maybe I’m just playing too much and these are personal feelings, but still...

The game has such energetic environment design, but all that energy is lost if I have to play with Bilinear graphics to avoid lagging like crazy.

Why are there no build buffs during the league? Nobody would blame you if you buffed weaker builds (everything except LS) during a league. I can’t imagine anyone saying, “Dude, why did they buff my build??” It’s early access — just open Visual Studio and buff all other skills by 50%, whatever. I promise nobody would care (maybe some RMTs, but they’re irrelevant). This would also speed up development in early access.

We’re in 0.2 after 6 months — what’s the plan for 1.0 after 30 months?

Please, GGG, do something to make PoE and PoE2 enjoyable again. I’ll keep trying out new builds from Jungroan and others, but please…

12.000 hrs...

thats some dedication here.

Yeah, agree with most of (I don't have graphical issues on PC tho)

Unfortunately there is many more problematic points. I can add a few.

- lvl82 maps in this patch are nigh non-existent, making leveling progress even slower.

- 10% exp penalty on death is still a thing. why? It adds nothing to the game but frustration

- armor still garbage and on top still gets a movespeed penalty

- stealth buffing volatile plants in 0.2.0g for absolutely no reason at all.

- the visual clutter is not compatible with meaningful gameplay. In some maps like vaal factory, blooming fields, etc. it is so overbearing that I someimes can't even see my warrior anymore in the fray

- Targetability issues for melee with auto-attacks against large enemies and being pushed around by them like crazy - like the huge skeletal boss in hidden grotto or the fettered monstrosity in cleansed maps.

- so many useless items. The problem before 0.2.0g wasn't loot quantity, it was quality. Why does the ilevel 83 2hand mace I found roll 2-7 to dire damage and 18 accuracy? Giving more drops is a bandaid solution that solves very little

"

AiMWARE_iSo#9941 написал:

How does it work in PoE2? Just buy 500 maps, alc them, exalt, and maybe you get +quantity and doubled rarity. If not, the map is basically trash...after 400 maps, I finally rolled double rarity + quantity and could put my map into the map device.

Or hey, I have an idea, what if you never ever did anything even remotely like this? Like dude what are you even talking about? Why would you play the game this way and who ever told you this is "how it works" in PoE2? Like not to be blunt but you've got to be absolutely awful at math to think you're being more efficient this way.

"

Why is my character barely moving??? OH NO, I didn’t notice Temporal Chains!!

Haha, I'm sorry? I'm sorry, what? You spent ALL THAT TIME rolling through 499 f'ing maps to arrive at the one you wanted to play and you "didn't notice" one of the affixes on it?

Is that really what I'm meant to believe?

Like why do people write these novels of feedback and then just toss in so much insane nonsense that makes it clear nothing they're saying can be taken seriously?

"

Kerchunk#7797 написал:

"

AiMWARE_iSo#9941 написал:

How does it work in PoE2? Just buy 500 maps, alc them, exalt, and maybe you get +quantity and doubled rarity. If not, the map is basically trash...after 400 maps, I finally rolled double rarity + quantity and could put my map into the map device.

Or hey, I have an idea, what if you never ever did anything even remotely like this? Like dude what are you even talking about? Why would you play the game this way and who ever told you this is "how it works" in PoE2? Like not to be blunt but you've got to be absolutely awful at math to think you're being more efficient this way.

"

Why is my character barely moving??? OH NO, I didn’t notice Temporal Chains!!

Haha, I'm sorry? I'm sorry, what? You spent ALL THAT TIME rolling through 499 f'ing maps to arrive at the one you wanted to play and you "didn't notice" one of the affixes on it?

Is that really what I'm meant to believe?

Like why do people write these novels of feedback and then just toss in so much insane nonsense that makes it clear nothing they're saying can be taken seriously?

You are clearly a casual player and i cannot see through the eyes of a casual player.

No, i dont rolled 400 Maps to get the one i want, but maybe 40 to 50.

"Like not to be blunt but you've got to be absolutely awful at math to think you're being more efficient this way."


Dude, watch Fubgun, watch every PoE Content Creator and dont talk to me, there's a reason why the Maps i wanna run are 120ex+.

"

Slart1bartfast#0332 написал:

Yeah, agree with most of (I don't have graphical issues on PC tho)

Unfortunately there is many more problematic points. I can add a few.

- lvl82 maps in this patch are nigh non-existent, making leveling progress even slower.

- 10% exp penalty on death is still a thing. why? It adds nothing to the game but frustration

- armor still garbage and on top still gets a movespeed penalty

- stealth buffing volatile plants in 0.2.0g for absolutely no reason at all.

- the visual clutter is not compatible with meaningful gameplay. In some maps like vaal factory, blooming fields, etc. it is so overbearing that I someimes can't even see my warrior anymore in the fray

- Targetability issues for melee with auto-attacks against large enemies and being pushed around by them like crazy - like the huge skeletal boss in hidden grotto or the fettered monstrosity in cleansed maps.

- so many useless items. The problem before 0.2.0g wasn't loot quantity, it was quality. Why does the ilevel 83 2hand mace I found roll 2-7 to dire damage and 18 accuracy? Giving more drops is a bandaid solution that solves very little

I agree with all of your points, but, the 10% penalty is probably a problem caused from visual clutter, i mean, if i could see something i could dodge atleast.

"

AiMWARE_iSo#9941 написал:

"

Kerchunk#7797 написал:

"

AiMWARE_iSo#9941 написал:

How does it work in PoE2? Just buy 500 maps, alc them, exalt, and maybe you get +quantity and doubled rarity. If not, the map is basically trash...after 400 maps, I finally rolled double rarity + quantity and could put my map into the map device.

Or hey, I have an idea, what if you never ever did anything even remotely like this? Like dude what are you even talking about? Why would you play the game this way and who ever told you this is "how it works" in PoE2? Like not to be blunt but you've got to be absolutely awful at math to think you're being more efficient this way.

"

Why is my character barely moving??? OH NO, I didn’t notice Temporal Chains!!

Haha, I'm sorry? I'm sorry, what? You spent ALL THAT TIME rolling through 499 f'ing maps to arrive at the one you wanted to play and you "didn't notice" one of the affixes on it?

Is that really what I'm meant to believe?

Like why do people write these novels of feedback and then just toss in so much insane nonsense that makes it clear nothing they're saying can be taken seriously?

You are clearly a casual player and i cannot see through the eyes of a casual player.

No, i dont rolled 400 Maps to get the one i want, but maybe 40 to 50.

"Like not to be blunt but you've got to be absolutely awful at math to think you're being more efficient this way."


Dude, watch Fubgun, watch every PoE Content Creator and dont talk to me, there's a reason why the Maps i wanna run are 120ex+.

So you don't actually have a "personal" opinion, but rather you just "reframed" some other individuals' points of view, interesting.

You expect every instance of a mechanic to be rewarding, because it seems you go in that direction, at least with your Ritual analogy.

Temporal Chains -> you don't like then you don't run it, simple as that, as you said is not dangerous in terms of death occurrence, but rather making you what it says it does: slower.

For build diversity is weird, because you said you search for the builds, not actually contributed to make your own, so isn't there, even if it was a small chance, a build to match your criteria? You just didn't come up with it yet, right? Or no one else did it (yet).

Maps roll, you said you play Lightning Spear right? Isn't this already clearing everything from 1 screen away, so what "danger" you can actually "feel" that are caused by the mods on the map? The mobs cannot even touch you.

Let's be honest: at this moment, it is entirely unenjoyable.

I am confident that 90-95% of people would agree. I do not include fanatics and those who lack a fulfilling life; they will always remain in the control group.

I prefer not to play at all and instead observe how the situation develops, rather than frustrate myself.

Right now, I prefer to focus on my professional field at work instead of hitting the keyboard because "someone developers had a great idea with this game" (read: patch 0.2)

Mirror of Kalandra don't worth a s.t bro! There is absolutly nothing to copying if you have to buy it first... Perhaps only rings but having 2 same rings sometimes destroys the defensive site.

Devs need to downgrade Mirror of Kalandra and make it just as Divs.

Form me one extremly RARE thing would be an orb that remove one spesific modifier of an item.(Not corrupted offcourse).

And one second GOD rare value would be an orb that would uncorrupt the corrupted items.


THAT IS NOT GAMBLING!!!

Please GGG, please, please, I beg of you, read the 1st and 2nd post carefully.

Oh, and by the way, you might have Temporal Chains on you... but the monsters don't seem to. It's just another iteration of fast mobs vs slow player.

Frustrating, disappointing.