From a completely new PoE player: Campaign seems too easy

Dear developers,

I am 40, I don't normally play ARPGs, only Diablo 1 and 2 in the childhood and a bit of D3 when it came out (one campaign playthrough on easy). In D2 I never went farther than Act 2. Never played PoE.

So the first worm boss I died twice to, but after understanding the importance of dodgeroll in this game every single boss until the Act 1 endboss was a breeze. I don't mean in a good sense. when I realize there's a bossfight coming I almost yawn, because there's no tension of dying. Every move is easily dodgeable, and otherwise your health just doesn't get chunked or even grinded down in any consistent way. If somehow a mistake happens then there's more than enough health pot always. The bosses are hyped up but they are then pushovers, which feels anti-climactic.

Act 1 endboss I died twice to, first time 5% health left on the boss, next fight he did the fog again with 0 health bar left (how does that work?). But at no point was I even considering changing strategy or anything, if he wasn't going down now, he was going down in the next try and he did.

Now I'm not a god gamer, far from it. Never played any Souls-like, except for Hollow Knight if that counts. I mainly play RTS and RPG.

But the mobs barely can touch me (evasion I guess). Even if I'm surrounded by like 30, I can dodge roll out, run and throw some bombs on on my way, load my shotgun, turn and blast away and kill them (playing mercenary, my own stupid build with shotgun blast and bombs, sometimes I used the high velocity rounds(?) as well).

I was interested in this game because I had heard that it would be more of a challenge, since I like it when a game doesn't work on autopilot. My time for games is precious, and playing a game just for the addiction of loot or incremental power increase is not motivating for me. I do like a reasonable challenge where I might have to take it slow and adapt to things.

So monster explosion simulator is not my cup of tea. I understand it might be different for others. But I felt like I had to give this feedback. Since the devs seem to have a different vision for this game than what I'm experiencing at least.

(And the whole crafting and enchanting shenanigans I haven't used at all yet, cause it is simply not needed. I find enough loot and am already blasting through, so why waste time on crafting? Honestly the balancing feels a little broken in that sense. I should be wanting to craft, otherwise it's just superfluous - perhaps until endgame, I don't know about that yet)

its not "hard" in a sense if you dont mind being patient and throwing time at problems

its "hard" in a sense that most players are not going to want to struggle for little gain and have to learn boss patterns or die over and over or spend 20+ minutes kiting a boss..

its the campaign most people dont care and there is little gain in playing the campaign.. all the good loot is at the end game. so people just want to get thru the campaign as fast as possible and for most people this campaign is frustrating and slow and grinding for no reason since everything you "get" in the campaign is useless as soon as its over anyway

Yes -- POE2 is ultimately a screen blast game like POE1 is. That's fine of course, it's a proven formula, they just didn't market it that way. My guess is they'll retreat from the 'meaningful combat' tagline sooner than later. Arguably normal Act 1 has something of a souls-like feel to it at least.

I'm confused: have you beaten all normal acts + cruel? It's too easy but you can't beat it without dying? Much of what you say about dodge roll is hyperbolic and more a reflection that armor +/or evasion is quite strong in acts (and falls off in endgame compared to ES stacking). I've played Mercenary the most and it's very tanky through the leveling process.

I enjoy the difficulty curve through normal acts. Unless you're playing an overpowered leveling build (or running with a ton of health) many of the bosses (most in Act 3) have 1-shot'ish mechanics so they're not nothing. Silverfist and Blackjaw come to mind immediately. If you're slow to react in those encounters you can easily die. Cruel always feels easier to me because you have most of your core skills + should have located some solid gear by that point.

Recall this is EA not a finished product. We'll see how the game changes with the next patch. GL2U.

Imagine how easy the campaign will become after you finish it few times.

This feedback is interesting.
You're saying "campaign", yet you only speak of Act I.
Yes, in nearly every game Act I is relatively easy (PoE I being an exception with two bosses right at the start that can easily kill you). Have you played any further and found it easy as well?

In my experience evasion can get a little dangerous once the enemies are a bit higher level - because you quickly go from 95% chance to evade to 80 or less, if you don't find gear, and they hit harder.

Maybe you also had a few lucky drops? If you don't find crafting necessary, you seem to find loot that you can actually use as is. I haven't played that much, but I didn't have such luck. I needed to use my crafting materials.

Anyway, have fun with whatever game you find you like best.

I only played Act I until now, but as you might understand from this post I'm a casual. While I do support games that I like with buying skins etc, I likely won't be putting hundreds of hours of playtime into this game. I rarely do for any game. Still, I feel like there is something off with the difficulty, when it is being marketed it as a thoughtful, harder game. I'm about to get bored to the point where I almost don't think it's worth my time. D3 made me do that, and I ended up hating the game and never playing again after the first playthrough.

As it was pointed out above, perhaps it's a marketing issue. I was under the impression that the game would require more thought, so far only thing I'm doing is dodging and blasting, and without danger, it feels like a chore.

Still, while my feedback may not be as important, I feel there are many people like me, who heard the good name of the game and saw the opportunity for a refined and different PoE experience in PoE2. I was hoping for a scrappier gameplay, since I had heard that PoE1 is about endgame power fantasy and this is different.

Weirdly I remember D2 being significantly harder than this. I remember getting into a wrong position being deadly, as well as the bosses if you attempted them without being prepared. I remember getting repeatedly rekt by the Act 2 boss, each time trying to get my loot back, sinking deeper and deeper into the sunk cost phallacy. And I loved that because it posed a real puzzle in a sense. It enriched my story of playing the game. I think potions being not unlimited also might have contributed to the difficulty. But it's too long ago, so I'm not even sure about that.

So far in this game if you dodge well in bossfights, your char could be completely naked. There is no statcheck hence no danger of dying. Even if you should screw up, the potion bottle feels like it's bottomless.

PS: I want to repeat that I never played PoE1 , so I come to the experience without any expectations or idea how PoE experience normally feels like, so I don't know if that's just how PoE is. This is feedback from a complete noob who grabbed the game off the shelf so to say, because he liked how it looked.

Did you finished whole story game (1,2,3 and harder 1,2,3)? to end up in the End Game Atlas Map?

I confirm: Crafting is bad in PoE2 it is more gambling...practically doesn`t exists and is based on Trade (that`s paradox)

"

Tuonela#5831 a écrit :

I only played Act I until now, but as you might understand from this post I'm a casual. While I do support games that I like with buying skins etc, I likely won't be putting hundreds of hours of playtime into this game. I rarely do for any game. Still, I feel like there is something off with the difficulty, when it is being marketed it as a thoughtful, harder game. I'm about to get bored to the point where I almost don't think it's worth my time. D3 made me do that, and I ended up hating the game and never playing again after the first playthrough.

As it was pointed out above, perhaps it's a marketing issue. I was under the impression that the game would require more thought, so far only thing I'm doing is dodging and blasting, and without danger, it feels like a chore.

Still, while my feedback may not be as important, I feel there are many people like me, who heard the good name of the game and saw the opportunity for a refined and different PoE experience in PoE2. I was hoping for a scrappier gameplay, since I had heard that PoE1 is about endgame power fantasy and this is different.

Weirdly I remember D2 being significantly harder than this. I remember getting into a wrong position being deadly, as well as the bosses if you attempted them without being prepared. I remember getting repeatedly rekt by the Act 2 boss, each time trying to get my loot back, sinking deeper and deeper into the sunk cost phallacy. And I loved that because it posed a real puzzle in a sense. I think potions being not unlimited also might have contributed to the difficulty. But it's too long ago, so I'm not even sure about that.

So far in this game if you dodge well in bossfights, your char could be completely naked. There is no statcheck hence no danger of dying. Even if you should screw up, the potion bottle feels like it's bottomless.

PS: I want to repeat that I never played PoE1 , so I come to the experience without any expectations or idea how PoE experience normally feels like, so I don't know if that's just how PoE is. This is feedback from a complete noob who grabbed the game off the shelf so to say, because he liked how it looked.

PS2: The bosses are creative and have cool designs. I don't want to say that there is nothing good about them,

If a pizza is marketed as "spicy" but you only ate the edge of it without the pepperonis, it wasn't wrongly marketed, you just did not experience enough of the product to make a reasonable conclusion.

That does not mean that the game will become harder for you, you could be someone with great skill and understanding and thus have no issues at all, but you get the point.

GGG wanted to make the entry into PoE2 more accessible than PoE1, so that's why the early game is this way, BUT the further you get, the harder it becomes.
Interestingly you mentioned the D2 Act 2 boss, which is kinda similar to the experience many ppl had with the PoE2 Act 2 boss.

That said. Ppl have different experiences for whatever reasons. Like, I joined the "Souls" community pretty late with "Dark Souls 3" and always heard "Yeah dude, it's so difficult and challenging", but then on my first playthrough, I killed every single boss (excluding Nameless King) on my first try, and was like "Incredible awesome game, but where challenge?". Then you have ppl who clear all Souls games without getting hit a single time...

Just keep playing if you enjoy the game so far besides the difficulty and you will probably get a more advanced experience compared to "only Act 1". It's definitely not like "Diablo 3", that was and still is... a joke.

Edit:
Oh, and a "funny" side note. You haven't played PoE1, so you can't know, but there is a boss in Act 1 called "Brutus" (not the end boss of the Act) who is basically the "noob filter". I mean, some would argue the Rhoas in Act are the filter, but the data suggested otherwise.

> only Diablo 1 and 2 in the childhood and a bit of D3 when it came out

You are actually more seasoned on ARGPs than most people.

The Campaign is easy, certainly, but it is full of skill gates that might come across as invisible to people that are used to the normal amount of ARPG stuff. And sure, you might be a bit rusty, but if you've played some diablo 2 and 3 you should at least have some awareness of elemental resistances, optimizing dps and dodging boss attacks.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it. I will play more and see if my experience changes. What I love about the game so far are the boss designs themselves, and that the kills feel very satisfying which balance out the lack of challenge with a bit of classic hack and slash fun.

Regarding having only having seen so little of the game so far, that's true for sure and I understand the point. But I also don't think I need 100h in a game to have a legitimate opinion about it. It would likely be an opinion that holds little to no value for hardcore fans, but I think it might be relevant feedback for the devs. For me a game either hooks in the first 10-20h or it does not, and for PoE2 it's a bit shaky so far.

The old adage goes: Listen to players' complaints, but not their solutions. So I don't know how I would necessarily change anything, or what even exactly the problem is (hey, maybe merc is too strong :) ). Or even if there's a problem at all... maybe it's just that my preferences don't mesh well with the game's design. Anyways, the devs will know whether to consider this or not, depending on their own vision and priorities.

Thanks a lot again for the respectful back and forth. The community surely seems nice!

"

That said. Ppl have different experiences for whatever reasons. Like, I joined the "Souls" community pretty late with "Dark Souls 3" and always heard "Yeah dude, it's so difficult and challenging", but then on my first playthrough, I killed every single boss (excluding Nameless King) on my first try, and was like "Incredible awesome game, but where challenge?". Then you have ppl who clear all Souls games without getting hit a single time...

Yes experiences are very individual for sure in these kinds of things. We can't see our own bias. So everything is just a data point in the end. :)