Game and company direction

When Mark Zuckerberg's facebook was younger he made a saying,

"Move fast and break things"

as a company it may be easier and safer to keep both feet on the dry land and hang onto the safety, but moving beyond mediocrity into excellence takes courage, it take a group of creative minds willing to take risks in order to raise the bar and reach for something better then other people had the courage to reach for.

And interestingly enough that is the only road to the life of your dreams, rather than a life of regret.

GGG already achieved that with PoE 1 and Chris Wilson as THE Captain. It was new, it was fresh, there were alot of "uncharted" territory of fundamental game design. Fast forward from 2013 (the release date for PoE 1) to 2019 Exile Con, we got an announcement of 4.0 expansion that will forever change Path of Exile. The game will have updated graphics, fundamental gem system changes, new acts and new story, but still basically one game with new campaign. The fans are hyped and rightfully so.

Fast forward to 2021 Exile Con, we got more of Path of Exile 2 announcement, but it still the same game with updated graphics, new game system and socket system, new character class, but still on its core its Path of Exile 1.

However, Exile Con 2023 change everything with the announcement of PoE 1 and 2 separation. It still a shared platform that will have all MTX purchases linked, but the game will be way different, or so they say.

One of the premise of separating the game was that there were too much restriction when adding new mechanic like dodge roll or other "action-combat" system like combo into Path of Exile 1. People were hopeful, people were hyped, people were concerned, people were doubtful, rightfully so. But people trust GGG, that after all of the 10+ years experience in creating and designing Path of Exile 1, they will deliver the game, they will make Path of Exile 2 to be different than Path of Exile 1, to be more focused in action and combat rather than itemization and character building in PoE 1.

Sike, none of that actually happen because Path of Exile 2 still using Path of Exile 1 as the game design foundation which is itemization, but its half-hearted because they also want the game to be more "action-combat".

0.1 reveal major flaw of trying to mix meaningful, tactical action combat with Path of Exile 1 type of content like breach, delirium, ritual, offscreen attacks, on-death and ground effect, map modifiers that was tailored around PoE 1 power level, casino slot-style system that they call as crafting, absurd sudden spike in difficulty when entering maps because you only have 1 chance. Its like the game inherent all the annoyance and problems in PoE 1 and yet refusing to import the solutions.

No amount of copium and hopium will make PoE 1 design philosophy walking in harmony with focusing on action combat. If you want PoE 2 to be different and be an action combat role playing game, then start designing the game as an action combat game. Stop designing and tailoring the game around PoE 1 itemization, friction, and balance around trading.