I Love PoE. That’s Why This Hurts.

📜 GGG Forum Post – Feedback: Path of Exile 2 Needs to Feel Again


I’m Amelia W. Pendragon. I’m a Vtuber, a streamer, and a long-time fan of the Path of Exile franchise. I’ve played over 2,500 hours in PoE1 and 1,200 in PoE2. This is written with affection, not malice—because I want this game to thrive. But right now, it’s hard to believe in that future.

❌ Grievances From the Hunt
1. Balance Through Erasure
Some interactions feel completely untested. And instead of surgical fixes, GGG opts to gut entire mechanics. This kind of blanket punishment kills creativity. One offender shouldn’t mean death to a dozen archetypes.

2. Combo-Centric Design is Exhausting
The Primer/Payoff system is conceptually interesting—but when it becomes the only path to scaling? That’s not depth. That’s shackles. In a game this demanding, the idea of having to prep every drop of damage is a pacing nightmare.

3. Loot Doesn’t Keep Up
Especially on crossbow builds, you fall off fast if you don’t upgrade every 3–4 levels. But drops lag behind, and accessible crafting hasn’t filled the gap. The legendary PoE “loot loop” just isn’t firing on all cylinders here.

4. Campaign Feels Slower Than Ever
Yes, Act 3 saw improvements—but in general, PoE2’s campaign feels slower than Season 1. Movement is restricted. Combat drags. Progression feels choked rather than challenging.

5. Build Choice is Constrained by Fear, Not Fun
PoE1 let you tinker and succeed on sheer audacity. PoE2 punishes you for thinking outside the Primer/Combo box. If a player has to ask permission to be creative, the design has failed.

💡 Closing Thoughts
Path of Exile 2 is beautiful. But right now, it’s a cathedral without doors. We’re standing outside, admiring the architecture, while struggling to even get inside and enjoy it.

The ARPG genre thrives on player agency. On risk. On the rush. I’m begging you to bring that back—not just for the grinders and theorycrafters, but for those of us who dream in damage and dance in danger.

Still here. Still hoping.

🦊 – Amelia W. Pendragon

Well said. Bump for good feedback.

Spot on!

I just wish they would put the poe1 team back and put this back in the oven for a few years. Actually take the time to play their game. If they took the time to actually make a char to full endgame they would have an actual understanding of how bad it really is.

Lack of agency is currently the biggest weakness for me. I don't understand them saying that you don't need to use combos on other than tanky rare mobs or bosses. That's simply not the case. The swarming mobs in maps don't care about your combos.

All the smash abilities and ground effects just makes melee awful to play. I tried playing Bleed Amazon and I really tried to make Rake work for me. But as it's auto target locking and I can't feel myself controlling my character and I get stuck on everything, it just made me quit this league.

The loot is horrible through out the campaign and end-game. I don't understand why having some deterministic crafting for lower tier mods is so bad? I feel like getting at least the right mods to your items would be a start, they don't have to be the best mods. I just can't solve the problems I'm having on my character.

The economy is destroyed in 2 weeks and trading is horrible.. I see somewhat okey item I would like to buy but no one answers since it's listed for 1-5 ex.

I don't think GGG is playing the same game as we do or they grew out of ARPG genre.

I mostly feel the same, shared some thoughts on reddit.

You nailed it!