Please let us play on our preferred aspect ratio in the next race

There is apparently a completely misinformed opinion regarding fairness in GGG.

I have played video games for 33 years and at a competitive level for as long as I can remember, including 2 games I played professionally. I have also been speed running roguelikes for 3 years before switching to Path of Exile 2.

In ANY competitive game it has ALWAYS been the case that better hardware constitute some sort of advantage. That is just an inherent attribute of e-sport. But I have NEVER experienced a game that forces players to play on inferior settings based on the idea of players having an unfair advantage from something like what aspect ratio they prefer to play on.

If your a marathon runner, I'm sure running shoes make a difference. But you don't see runners being limited by event organizers in what shoes they prefer. And you don't see runners that can't afford good shoes complain about unfair advantage. If you really think good shoes provide a significant advantage, and you care about the sport, you can just go buy a pair of good shoes.

It's the same when it comes to aspect ratio. Not a single competitive player is complaining about wider aspect ratios being an unfair advantage. And if they really believed it was a significant advantage then they can simply invest in a wider monitor themselves.

I personally improved my time with almost an hour compared to the first race where I could play on a wider aspect ratio. And this was generally the case among all the players that participated. So CLEARLY the aspect ratio doesn't have a significant impact on players performance compared to other much more impactful parameters.

Path of Exile 2 however looks SIGNIFICANTLY worse in a smaller aspect ratio and is MUCH LESS enjoyable to play as a result.

The logic behind limiting players aspect ratios is so completely ridiculous that it's baffling to me how that can apparently be the prevailing mindset at GGG.

Here are some reasons why this is so ridiculous off the top of my head:

#1. It's NOT a significant advantage to begin with.
#2. Even if it was, any player can invest in better hardware to make up for it.
#3. It's so oddly specific. There are many other improvements in hardware that make for much bigger advantages (especially FPS, ping and input latency).
#4. It's purely negative as any player without a widescreen is not negatively impacted by some players being able to play with bigger aspect ratios. But limiting aspect ratios negatively affect players that prefer to play this way.
#5. The speed running community doesn't have any rules regarding aspect ratios, so they clearly don't think it's a big deal.
#6. The game looks better and is therefore more enjoyable to play on a wider aspect ratio.
#7. The results from the two race events where wider aspect ratios were allowed in the first event and not in the second event CLEARLY shows that the wider aspect ratios allowed in the first event wasn't constituting any meaningful advantage.
#8. Angormus, the winner of both events, was playing on Ultra Widescreen before the first event, then went down to a smaller aspect ratio for the first event and then again down to the even smaller aspect ratio for the second event. Yet these "nerfs" are not affecting his performance in any significant way as he keeps improving and keeps winning.
#9. Player satisfaction would only increase by allowing wider aspect ratios as those that prefer it can choose it and those that don't can continue unaffected.
#10. Even if you are playing the game competitively it should still be an enjoyable experience. Imposing a change that lowers the quality of the gameplay experience when it constitutes such a negligible advantage makes no sense.

Please allow normal aspect ratios in your competitions. And please also allow wider aspect ratios (e.g. 32:9) for normal gameplay.