The defense paradox of poe2

I've seen a couple of posts asking for defenses in general to be stronger. Buff life, buff evasion, buff armor (that is already strong if people didn't realize) and similar

Apparently, the goal of those posts is to make every defense as strong as the current energy shield or even stronger than that, but in my opinion we should be asking the opposite. The problem that buffs to defense creates is how does the player die when defense is as strong as it is?

The answer to this problem is quite simple: add a bunch of nonsense. When you can't kill the player the normal way, the only way this will happen is if you add on death effects hidden by bad visual clarity, one shot mechanics, straight up buff monster attack which also negates the purpose of buffing defense in the first place, etc

So to kill the player, the game has to cheat with things no one likes and complain about all the time, otherwise there's no challenge whatsoever when the player is for all intent and purposes immortal when the game is playing fair

If we want a more engaging and challenging endgame, defense can't be buffed. This is the only way those cheap mechanics can be removed from the game

My suggestion is to nerf the ceiling of defense (especially energy shield obviously) and make attacks more telegraphed instead. Every monster attack should be avoidable and clearly visible

Honestly, at this point I don't think this or anything similar will ever happen, it's probably too much work and many if not all monsters would have to get a rework

I will still enjoy poe2 regardless since it already turned into my favorite game, but always with a "it could have been" in mind

We still have the problem that attack and clearing the whole screen before mobs and bosses can appear will always be better than defense though, but that is a whole new rabbit hole

With the 0.3 patch, stackable elemental ailments are designed to kill you even if your resistances are at 75%+110. The game is still riddled with defensive flaws. If you're not playing Mirrors or +100 div builds, you're going to die a lot. We're almost at the end of the 3rd league. Energy Shield is still our only refuge. Armor, Eva, and Deflect are still insufficient for basic defenses. The game inevitably pushes you to play Armor+ES and Evasion+ES.
And let's not forget, we don't have Flasks, which significantly contribute to instant defense or instant attack like in Poe1. Charms, on the other hand, are inadequate items that only provide utility. And we can still equip a maximum of 3...

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JoTua#1329 a écrit :

And let's not forget, we don't have Flasks, which significantly contribute to instant defense or instant attack like in Poe1.

I'm not too sure what's the argument here. Poe1 is designed around flasks existing, poe2 isn't/doesn't have to be. Giving player flasks would, again, just mean that they need to give monsters a way to go around flasks. You create a solution but also create a problem

Just like how we weren't supposed to need one shot mechanics if defenses weren't so strong. It's just a matter of how you choose to balance the game

Critical Kill Damage is one of the best tool to ground strong builds developed by GGG.
And yes, this tool is reserved for Souls Games.
So I think everything is ok!

I am 100% sure that reason behind adding corpse explosions and other cheesy one-shots in the game is because of game fantasy and not to fck player up deliberately.
That being said, It is still true that these effects exist and are fcking players up, which interferes into defense mechanics and therefore influences its balancing.

Meanwhile 3k life warrior surrounded by enemies drinking coffee:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFHj8FTYJ40

Yes, this guy is probably geared very good, but so are people with more then 15k ES one-shotting bosses and clearing maps off-screen.

Me, as a 12k ES players (gear is about 10 div worth) still die in juiced maps. Especially bosses with lots of +1 level for map boss are a real challenge for me. And even juiced expedition monsters and some rares are really troublesome for me. I don't die often, but I die. I don't feel overpowered at all, just a little bit more safe then others. So the question is: Is ES really that OP? I don't think so, because it doesnt make you immortal and still requires you to look at what you're doing. But is it good? Yes, it is in a good spot. And that's where armor/evasion or Life in general should be too. Builds like the one in the video show that you can survive tons of stuff with just 3k life. As an ES user, I couldnt survive a like the ones showed in the video.

2 things i wanna add ;

1- Dodge Roll is suicide at the end game especially maps has % att+move speed for monster. After dodge roll the moment where your character stands up usually all hits happening at that time. I tried this intently and %100 of time hitted either one shot or reduce my hp to like half depending on hit.


2- Deflection is wrong introduced stat. % chance to block %40 damage is bad design. However if they would have make it %100 chance to deflect % X damage is reasonable. Let's say instead of deflection chance stat , Deflect amount of damage half of your evasion rating.


I played Lost Ark when it was it's prime and its dodge roll (space bar) was intent to save you from dying and debuffs with a 5-6sec cooldown. I believe GGG can add that too with cooldown.


Regards.