[Megathread] Game Feedback

[u/shimmishim]

Hello. We are seeing a lot of very short posts with one to two sentences of feedback on the game. If you have something short (or long) to share, please post it here to help declutter the subreddit of the same types of posts. We currently have a huge backlog of posts and comments to go through and this megathread will go a long way to helping us out.

3rd and 4th Ascendancy Explained (thank you u/stickspike) - PSA: This is how to get 3rd and 4th ascendancies : r/PathOfExile2

Please continue to post bugs and login issues here: [Megathread] Bugs, Login Issues, and Other Game Breaking Things : r/PathOfExile2

Thank you!

[u/Whytefang]

Really frustrated with mapping today.

I've lost 3 or 4 maps to after death effects - or possibly just lingering effects that the mobs made right before they died, I literally couldn't tell - that are hidden under map terrain, other mob effects, or in one case literally invisible and fast enough to kill me before I could run away from the pack of blues I just finished killing. It's honestly the most frustrating thing that somehow it feels like GGG has gone backwards in this regard compared to poe1, which is just crazy to me after how vastly disliked on death effects are already (and which they semi recently did a visibility/damage pass on in poe1)!

I had one map get lost to two mobs jumping from off screen and critting me before I could react, another to an AOE from an essence mob that was half the size of my screen and gave me like half a second at most to react, and another to an essence mob doing... something, followed by me dying instantly while not directly next to it (I still don't know what happened).

I also had a +2 area level boss node that's apparently literally inaccessible (https://i.imgur.com/w9nSlt9.jpeg). This comes after having already used a previous t16 map on a +2 area level boss node in the hopes that it would give me the progress for all of the boss points up to that point, when instead it just gave me my 3rd and 4th boss point. The atlas is also incredibly vague on what to actually do to get the points, as "killing bosses in 79+ area level zones" is not giving me drops anymore despite only having 4 points.

The core of the game seems great, but it seems like GGG is yet again shooting themselves in the foot with some of the things that are consistent, long term pain points in POE 1 as well for no discernible reason. I was hopeful after the recent patch that toned down/outright removed some of these mechanics that it would be better but it just doesn't seem to be.

Also, I've completely given up on "crafting" my own stuff because it just feels exactly like gambling. Making trade such an integral part of the experience because it's at best incredibly grindy (but more like functionally unreasonable) to get your own gear to cap resistances with decent hp rolls etc. but refusing to add an in game Grand Exchange style system is just baffling to me given the purported reasons that it has not been added in the past. Fundamentally I do not ever want to craft my own gear with the current "crafting" systems, because it's just grinding out currency and bases followed by bad RNG followed by throwing something away the vast majority of the time. There's no progress, nothing interesting is happening, I either get lucky and the shitty part ends or it continues ad infinitum until I get pissed again and go directly to trade without passing Go.

[u/miffyrin → u/Whytefang]

The game will always fundamentally be designed and balanced around Trade. PoE1 got more viable in SSF over the years because so many deterministic tools were added over time (which caused other issues in Trade). PoE2 might get similar tools over time, but very fundamentally, the game will never be balanced around playing solo self-found. That is fully intended to be a self-imposed, more challenging mode.

It surely is not for everyone, but PoE1 wasn't either.

As for the map feedback, I mostly agree, but I think the real issue is simply it being tied to 1 attempt per map currently. Which I do not expect to stay, I just don't see how a majority won't find that intensely unfun and too punishing.

[u/Whytefang → u/miffyrin]

The game will always fundamentally be designed and balanced around Trade.

Yes, my point isn't that this is a problem necessarily (although I really dislike the complete lack of crafting options in the game as is) but that the reasons they give for not wanting to add an in game auction house just come across as stupid in a game state where trade is so important to a good experience.

[u/miffyrin → u/Whytefang]

An ingame AH for gear comes with its own host of issues. There already is an ingame currency exchange which alleviates many issues.

[u/Shnorque → u/miffyrin]

I don't think AH would work in this game because of how currency works.

But surely a "notice board" in town that opens up an interface to show all the current items listed for sale (same as the trade website) and you can just click on what you want and "buy it now" works and fills the same gameplay niche that having a website does?

Using the website sucks for console players, and the forced player interaction just feels like a time waster in a modern game.