- 500k Players ? What happened ?

I haven't played in about 2 months and let me tell you why

- the game is supposed to be a polished, better version of path of exile 1 with improved systems and meaningful, methodical combat.

the graphics, effects etc. are great, and the game runs well. but the combat is somehow significantly less methodical than path of exile 1, and the game's systems aren't really better than path of exile 1. when I take a look at my path of exile 1 builds, most of them are like 4-5 button builds, but most poe 2 builds don't even have that many options to use.

the endgame system is pretty much beyond redemption, the fact that there are maps without a boss is nonsense and the tower system simply shouldn't exist. they created a problem out of thin air, and added towers as a solution to that, but why do that when path of exile 1's map system was fine anyway?

- build variety is terrible and balance is all over the place. about half the builds are based on howa, about half of the builds are based on archmage, and the rest are some minion garbage, or trigger 3000 comets in 3 seconds crap they'll delete soon, or some clunky ass 50k dps build like the one they showcased. use howa once and you'll see that every attack build HAS to use howa to be relevant. play an archmage build once and you'll see that every spell build is 20x better with it. the game needs like 500 more unique items to fix this, because unique items define and enable builds in poe 1, as it should be. almost every unique item in poe 2 is hot garbage though.

herald of ice being the only meaningful way to clear maps is just icing on the cake (pun not intended). slap herald of ice, polcirkeln and cold infusion on any attack build and suddenly you're clearing 3 screens even with the most garbage build.

adding swords/spears won't do anything if they don't take care of these fundamental issues, equipping a sword will merely be another way to use howa and herald of ice. this brings us back to the skill system, which also needs to be redesigned from scratch.

during early teasers and showcases, they mentioned multiple times that the support gems in poe 2 won't provide direct damage boost, but rather change the behavior of the skill and create synergies between the skills. looking at things like martial tempo, primal armament, scattershot, infusion supports, elemental focus, close combat, and many more similar gems, it turns out that was just a lie. I don't see why they'd just lie like this, so I assume they simply have no idea what they're doing and throwing things at the wall until something sticks.

another balance issue lies within the differences between different elements. why the hell would I try to build around fire damage if I'm not going for an ignite based build, when something like ice bite exists? this was obvious to everyone from day 1, so how is it possible that ggg couldn't anticipate this? take a look at some maxroll builds, even the fucking infernalist builds are not based on fire damage.

atlas tree is a joke compared to poe 1

doing alc+go is terrible compared to poe 1, and I don't think most of the casuals know how to juice regions

magic find is still an issue, magic find gear should only be obtainable in SSF

both CI/MOM are too powerful

the downsides on some of the passives/notables don't make any sense and shouldn't exist, unless we get ways to turn the downsides into upsides. levelled up? congratz, you have less attack speed now and your build feels worse to play. in what universe does this make any sense?

passive tree is super bland and boring, at least compared to poe 1. going to use gas grenade without using howa? your passive tree is predetermined and obvious, and trying to deviate from the obvious distribution can only make you weaker. meanwhile, you can do anything you want in poe 1 and still be as powerful, because there are 10 different ways you can make a build around a skill gem.

I didn't even talk about the garbage map layouts, some white monsters dealing more damage than map bosses, unnecessarily large campaign areas, the complete lack of crafting and many more stuff

all things considered, of course people are going to leave after a month or two, there's nothing to do in this game and as of now, it's one of the worst action rpg games on the market

Also some subset of players like myself have been pleading for a fix for the 7800X3d issues. I have the 7900xtx and 7800x3D combo and have tried everything including wiping comp, installing new windows multiple versions, all drivers and still cant play the game above FPS. I can play most other games on ultra so its not the comp. Posted mulitple threads on it as well as others and they get ignored. PM'd specs to devs like some forums state to do and no response. It would be nice if it was even a partial announcement that they are making it a top priority. So lack of concern for major issues does not make me want to support the game any further.

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Jixa87#1706 a écrit :

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alex_gorex#6787 a écrit :

In other words, if you just play, regularly but a little, you won't progress at all.

Are you new to Path of Exile? good to learn this early so you can decide if you want to continue. Most people don't learn this until way too late.
If you don't play regularly you will fall behind the market and your progress will slow.

This is horrible game design.

And funny to think thats normal or ok :D wtf. Thats insanely bad game design.

Many left because endgame is bad.

It is bad because:

A) gameplay = outdated boring 1-shot grind (basically POE1).
B) endgame goals = outdated uber-bosses killing with tons of gating.

POE2 wanted to be a new, next-gen ARPG, but so far it fails. This is just a big new POE1 league/update with new graphics and new acts. And one can check what playerbase retention POE1 leauges have.

If the game will continue to be POE1 copypaste, it will lose most part of newly attracted people and will have ~250k every economy/league on day 1 and 30k after 2 months. But maybe that is considered a success for Tencent.

😢 😭 😿 😢

I was sad too

I am thinking what will make me come back to playing this game; the teasers of things to come so far ain't it, let me tell you.

If they don't add acts 4, 5 and 6 while keeping the same (or worse, like with the tower change) endgame, 0.2 will be a skip for me. I cannot bring myself to go through the same campaign twice again (it's good, but...) and then hit the excruciating, tedious slog of an endgame.

I will keep an eye on the changes and once towers are scrapped and endgame completely revamped only then I will entertain coming back. GGG got my money, bought EA, bought my stash tabs and I got my money's worth already in my 300hrs+ run, so I am pretty sure GGG is not worried about a player like me and perhaps they shouldn't be. I'll let them cook and keep a close eye.

Gutting the "crafting" system and making it pure gambling makes gameplay for regular players like me (couple of hours 3-4 days per week) way too much trade-dependent. I want to have a chance to create something decent with crafting or to find something decent while im playing, but in the current state of poe2 for casual players like me the chances for something like this are very low and this is simply not possible, so I'll stuck in poe1 for now.

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Hellzepop#1985 a écrit :

Gutting the "crafting" system and making it pure gambling makes gameplay for regular players like me (couple of hours 3-4 days per week) way too much trade-dependent. I want to have a chance to create something decent with crafting or to find something decent while im playing, but in the current state of poe2 for casual players like me the chances for something like this are very low and this is simply not possible, so I'll stuck in poe1 for now.

Poe 1 crafting is the same slot machine i think. Just a bit more deterministic.
You can choose to pull the lever on the slot machine you want.
In Poe 2 they just removed the bench and some of the orbs to make it even more of a gabmle and a waste of time.

Poe 1 crafting is the same bad system, sligthly ''better''. Wouldnt call it better.

90% of players didnt know how to craft an edngame pice of gear after years of playing the game. Becouse its a bad system.

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intersept#1235 a écrit :

90% of players didnt know how to craft an edngame pice of gear after years of playing the game.

PoE 1 crafting is ssf/starter/low/mid level enabling. Thinking just from a high end game is elitist AF.

PoE 2 "crafting" don't enable nothing, until players get a stash full of bases, grind omens and currency... it still garbage to enable a build. Players still overly dependent on trade or extremely luck on SSF.

I believe most people don't want crafting to be deterministic, but to have a better chance to improve character/act level related gear. Also, most people don't want gamble and gacha game.

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intersept#1235 a écrit :

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Hellzepop#1985 a écrit :

Gutting the "crafting" system and making it pure gambling makes gameplay for regular players like me (couple of hours 3-4 days per week) way too much trade-dependent. I want to have a chance to create something decent with crafting or to find something decent while im playing, but in the current state of poe2 for casual players like me the chances for something like this are very low and this is simply not possible, so I'll stuck in poe1 for now.

Poe 1 crafting is the same slot machine i think. Just a bit more deterministic.
You can choose to pull the lever on the slot machine you want.
In Poe 2 they just removed the bench and some of the orbs to make it even more of a gabmle and a waste of time.

Poe 1 crafting is the same bad system, sligthly ''better''. Wouldnt call it better.

90% of players didnt know how to craft an edngame pice of gear after years of playing the game. Becouse its a bad system.

PoE1 low end crafting is actually possible and has a lot of options, and I am probably missing more:

Essence craft for guaranteed mod
Alt+aug for 2 desired mods.
Harvest reforge for a guaranteed mod.
Harvest swap res.
Bench craft 1 desired mod, or sacrifice 1 slot to craft 2
Fossil craft to add some determination of mods
Recomb is hella op to smash together desired mods. but temporary league mechanic

On top of that, you don’t need an infinite supply of bases to craft. If you get a piece of gear in poe2 with the wrong res you can’t even consider using it without sitting down and reconfiguring your entire gear set. There obviously has to be some gamba in the crafting or everyone would just have easy mirror tier gear. PoE1 crafting is probably confusing at this point, but the options are there for low and high end. Poe2 mirror crafting works fine, but the cost is insane. For the average player you just have nearly 100% gamble.