PoE2 Feedback After Some Time Played – Feels Restrictive and Sluggish
After spending a decent amount of time in PoE2, I wanted to share some feedback and see if others feel the same way. Overall, I'm still playing and trying to enjoy it, but certain aspects are really dragging down the experience for me:
- Maps feel quite empty. There's often too little density, and the lack of consistent rewards makes them feel unrewarding.
- Movement and combat feel slow. Compared to PoE1, everything feels a bit clunky and less responsive. This might be a personal issue due to comparing it to PoE1.
- Atlas passives take too long to acquire. Progression through the tree feels sluggish, and it makes early to mid mapping feel unrewarding.
- Expedition vs Delirium tree progression seems unbalanced. Getting Expedition points is fairly easy, while Delirium requires full Simulacrum clears to even start progressing the tree. Feels a bit unfair considering how much harder Delirium content is.
- Crafting feels worse than ever. It's almost entirely RNG. Recombination is a nice addition, but combining desired mods and high tiers gives you a <3% success chance. That doesn't feel good. Fracture orbs are a step into the right direction for a more deterministic approach to crafting.
- Wisps often lead you on bad routes and don’t provide enough rewards to justify following them, especially compared to other league mechanics.
- The dopamine loop is missing. There's not enough "wow" factor, loot explosions, or satisfying moments.
- Everything feels overly restrictive. It seems like every mechanic has to come with a downside, and it just stacks up to create an exhausting experience.
- EU servers have been a mess. Disconnects on a daily basis.
- The only reason I’m having some fun is because I’m playing a one-button LS Amazon build that deletes everything. If I weren’t, I probably wouldn’t stick around.
Anyone else feeling the same way? I really want to love this game, but it feels like too many systems are built around slowing you down and punishing you for trying to play efficiently.
Comments
This is path of the slug
"Atlas passives take too long to acquire"
And is even worse if you die while doing the boss that grants you the atlas points, bcs rn if you die it doesn't count as cleansing the corrupted nexus even if you still have portals left
I think everyone have 4 corrupted nexus nearby the starting location of the atlas map, and after that you need to traverse farther to get more atlas points, so essentially if you fail you are severely behind other players who didn't die while doing the nexus bosses
Felt this way since Sunday of release
While I also compare it to poe 1 and think there is a lot missing, idk if I agree with empty maps. In t15s even if they are just magic I find myself always blasting. Might just be because of deadeye ms tho
Keep in mind in EU disconnects are not the only issue. It goes like this: you clear a map, the game crashes or disconnects, the map is not completed, the waystone and the loot from this map that was in your inventory are just gone. Basically you are playing an ARPG that can any moment delete the loot you got in the last 5 to 10 minutes of playtime. This is unacceptable. I had never had the disappearing loot problem in 0.1, though I did have disconnects.
It’s okay, LE tomorrow. Get some rest, it might be fun :)
When Im playing the game, I actually have no real issues with how the game feels or plays (playing Tactician Grenadier). The gameplay feels crisp to me. I never feel like I dont have control of my character minus ailments.
My problem comes with how sluggish and long the campaign feels. Playing it once every three months is fine. I just dont want to make a new character because I dont want to play the campaign again. Make the campaign faster and smoother. Making it more difficult isn't going to make it better from a perspective of somebody who really wants to make 2-3 characters a league.
After that, my next biggest complaint is the skill tree. It just feels boring. I've NEVER stared at the skill tree in PoE1 for twenty minutes and found nothing that I wanted to take. That has happened in this playthrough 3-4 times recently. Why so many random downsides? Why butcher attack speed? That feels TERRIBLE from a gameplay perspective. I love complexity, but this is needless.
When Im playing the game, I actually have no real issues with how the game feels or plays (playing Tactician Grenadier). The gameplay feels crisp to me. I never feel like I dont have control of my character minus ailments.
My problem comes with how sluggish and long the campaign feels. Playing it once every three months is fine. I just dont want to make a new character because I dont want to play the campaign again. Make the campaign faster and smoother. Making it more difficult isn't going to make it better from a perspective of somebody who really wants to make 2-3 characters a league.
After that, my next biggest complaint is the skill tree. It just feels boring. I've NEVER stared at the skill tree in PoE1 for twenty minutes and found nothing that I wanted to take. That has happened in this playthrough 3-4 times recently. Why so many random downsides? Why butcher attack speed? That feels TERRIBLE from a gameplay perspective. I love complexity, but this is needless.
Maps feel quite empty. There's often too little density, and the lack of consistent rewards makes them feel unrewarding.
I really don't understand that. I play lightning amazon. I clear the whole screen with one spear and if it's a corrupted map another screen full of mobs will appear instantly. How much more mobs do people want and why? I would be happy with 25% of the mobs we already have in endgame. At that point the game might be playable without having to delete the whole screen in 0.1 seconds. I don't like running 4 screens without seeing an enemy but the packs should be way smaller. It wouldn't change anything for the people deleting the screen but it would allow for a slower gameplay for the people who enjoy that.
I agree with a lot of your other points like whisps, servers and crafting though.
zzzZZZZzzzz
The bigger issue is the game is just way too easy. Not only is it so slow you barely need functioning motor skills to play it, everything dies in 1 shot.
I can't take seriously any criticism of combat, to be honest. I really hated PoE1's combat, which made me essentially not play that game at all. I prefer the slower pace of everything in PoE2, and the two games will have entirely different player bases. Personally, I don't wanna play PoE1.5. This hybridization would be a huge mistake, and I don't think GGG will ever go this route. They said over and over again that PoE1 will remain for the zoom zoom dopamine blasters. These players will never be happy with 2.
I'm enjoying 0.2 a lot since the last few patches. Build diversity is great, progression feels smooth on trade league, and Atlas was greatly improved.
You might also really enjoy LE in a few days. ARPG players are eating good in 2025.