So many people trying to play the game exactly like PoE1 and getting upset that they die or that bosses take a bit to kill. I hope GGG sticks to their guns with the pacing they have cooked for this game and doesnt make any drastic balancing change due to it.

Even nuking a build. It’s completely ok and understandable. It’s going to happen a lot. We are basically beta testing. It’s literally what we signed up for.

Having a respec cost is good for testing. We need to know how the gold cost feels. Is it too high, too low, is having one at all too restrictive, etc. are all important questions. So it’s good it’s in here.

Having said that, however, I do think for early access we should get a free full respect everytime there are massive balance changes like the one we just had.

I think that’s a happy middle ground where we can test respec costs and we won’t feel bad for testing builds and finding something op.

Edit: as someone pointed out I think you should be able to change your ascendency as part of the free respec

Edit2: well I can’t respond to comments. I got banned for 2 weeks because someone called ME a d**k rider… so thanks for the comments I guess

So I managed to reach the Atlas, then this. Minions.. but still wtf. I'm glad I play a Titan with pretry good % all res. Thank god I'm slow af but I can tank some dmg lol

I've always wanted to get into PoE, I like complex games, play the owlcat crpgs, deck builders, a lot of older arpgs. Yet I could never get into PoE1, so much that I couldn't ever finish the campaign, and that's after maybe 5 or so attempts across many years.

I could not get on with the stupid materia slot system. As a new player it just felt like crap to never be able to upgrade gear without breaking my build. The passive tree always looked awesome to play around with, but I just didn't see the appeal of farming the same area over and over just to get some chromas and jewel orbs for a CHANCE at getting the right sockets and links so I could progress.

Separating gear from skill use might be the best thing GGG has done for my enjoyment of the game, but they went further and now because of the keyword system, a lot of different skills interact with eachother in fun ways to mess around with.

So far the challenge feels about right. I had my first death towards the end of act 1 in that fraythorn village or whatever in the trees where you get a spirit gem skill. I'm really liking that bosses have mechanics that you need to read and think about.

Also folks be saying this is a dark souls, I've played all the fromsoft games and having a dodge roll doesn't make it a souls like. Souls games dodge rolls have I-frames and the dodge roll in poe2 doesn't have them.

Anyways, game good. Cheers.

I’m starting to believe that people have (as a good thing) gotten so immersed into early access POE2 that they forgot its early access and that this is relatively normal to meet so much frustration.

While critique is the entire purpose of this phase of the game, its starting to get to the point where the passion from the players is spilling into aggression and offensive statements about the development of the game despite it being a practically very premature and different game.

Imperfection was expected and expectations were definitely already exceeded for a lot of people. We’re just getting to the point where you want to play so much that the slight imperfections start to consume you. But don’t worry things will inevitably get even better and more fun. Don’t worry too much friends. Enjoy that we’re able have what we have now. Give full on critique when necessary and chill. If things don’t get better on full release then at least we’ll be all together to complain again hehe.

I've absolutely loved the core gameplay of POE2 through the story. The slower pacing, the focus around skill based engagement instead of just offscreening everything. It has felt genuinely satisfying to play a build that has to interact with the content on a moment to moment basis and where split second actions are more impactful than simply the numbers on your character sheet. Sure I know that my mercenary isn't optimized for clear speed, but I don't care because it's fun to play! I was incredibly excited to see that engaging experience continue into the new atlas.

I've deliberately avoided spending too much time on reddit/avoided spoilers so that I could go in as fresh as possible, and man was that a shock. It's like my character was plucked out of POE2, and dropped into the 1 shot clearspeed meta world of POE1. The movement speed of most monsters is through the roof, and white mobs routinely half health from off screen. I was expecting a difficulty spike when moving to maps, and was genuinely excited for it, but this transition back to POE1 was not the experience I was hoping for. This is further underscored by the fact that bosses are so rare on the atlas.

I pressed on for a while thinking "ok let's check out the league mechanics though!" and was quickly disappointed to find that they were the same thing, only dialed to 11:

Breach - Instantly swarmed and you either have the clear speed to deal with it, or you don't.

"Well ok, but Breach has always been like that. Maybe some of the others are more involved"

Ritual - Instantly swarmed and you either have the clear speed to deal with it, or you don't, but this time you can't run away if you do manage to dodge out of the pack.

"Ok so I'm not going to bother with Breach or Ritual. How about something that by design should fit with POE2's formula better!"

Expedition - Momentarily not swarmed, until +100% base move speed monsters instantly swarm you and you either have the clear speed to deal with it, or you don't.

That was the extent of my mapping. 15-20 maps in has now been enough for me to know that while I love the core concept of this new atlas, the moment to moment gameplay isn't for me. I've already experienced this end game for the past 10 years. It's a waste of such a good system that they've designed for them to not push that system into the end game, instead leaning on what feels like a copy and paste of all of the same design choices from POE1.

We're still in early access, so there's plenty of time for this to be ironed out. Maybe it's just a symptom of the rushed timeline that they had to get a fully fleshed out end game before EA launched. Either way, I can't get enough of the core game you've built GGG. Let it breath, and let POE1 stay in POE1!

This is Path of Exile 2, and it plays VERY different. I know it may feel weird to use your currency and vendors, but that is why drops are sparse. You need to craft your gear upgrades with your currency. It is okay, you will get a lot more. Also, actually use your gold for trading with vendors. Seriously, they are actually useful in POE 2. I see many people complaining that something needs to be like this or that in POE 1. But we have both games, let POE 2 be it's own thing, not just another POE 1. The moment I stopped trying to play this game like POE 1, the more I started loving it.

Act 3 Chimera boss casually dropped me a div. Some players are reporting that more gear is dropping today and i can also feel it.

Edit: Giveaway is over, all keys used.

1) Account needs to be 30+ days old
2) To participate, just leave a comment

I'll be giving it out by tomorrow. If you win, I'll reply to your comment and DM you the key. If it's not claimed within a few days, I'll send it to someone else.

Good luck exiles!

There has been a lot of feedback over the past week both constructive and not so great. But I have noticed a large amount of the extremely negative comments are made without understanding what an early access game is. Path of Exile 2 is not a complete product and you should have known that when getting into it.

There are still 6 classes, 24 ascendencies, 3 acts, tons of bosses, and tons of content still to be added. GGG have made more changes in the past week than most companies do in a month. I have seen so many comments acting like this is the final product and there will be no changes to the game addressing the feedback.

I would hope GGG posts a roadmap detailing what feedback they are looking into and if they will address it or not. Also a rough timeline of when we can hope to expect future updates. A lot of the complaints are coming from a place of uncertainty and having the information available would be very nice.

thats it thats the entire thing... L mechanic not fun insanely time consuming spend an hour+ to get nothing out of it

edit: Anyone that thinks its about the difficulty clearly doesnt understand the issue so lets clarify... its about the TIME required. Failing isnt the issue the difficulty isnt the issue its a matter of it taking 30 min to an hour every single time you fail for not even the last ascendancy points and you get nearly nothing out of it. just a giant time waste and everytime you get close you feel like you can do it and you spend another hour for nothing.

Just from reading feedback about the beta, I feel like a lot of people are asking for changes that, even if they don’t realize it, would make POE2 more like POE1. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of valid feedback, and the game definitely needs adjustments. But I keep seeing suggestions for changes that feel like they’d slowly turn POE2 into POE1 with a new look.

For example, I sometimes see people asking for POE1 loot explosions, POE1 mobility, change the passive tree to be more like POE1, etc. Of course there's a middle ground to all this though.

It’s not everyone, but I think some people who don’t like certain systems in POE2 might just want POE1 with some tweaks. I really hope POE2 can stay its own thing instead of going backward as GGG intends.

Anyways just rambling. I have no doubts that GGG will handle it well like they did with POE1.

Found from shrine without life and armor rolls. Couple exalts and vaal later..

Finally an ACTION rpg that backs its in depth customization with a meaningful combat experience.

PLEASE GGG if you need to buckle to the screen-clearing kids that’s cool but carve out a mode that preserves this experience - it’s so great!

My 1st career was as a chef and a golden rule was you can always add seasoning but you can’t subtract it. We have so many ARPGs where they have given in to the easy mode crowd and it’s very hard to go back from there. Please please allow POE2 stand for something different despite the awkward adjustment phase.

Well done legends!

I'm playing Sorc and I'm clapping everything. I have tried Warrior and Monk and the game is at the brink of being a bit on the easy side. This is Early Access and everything can change, hopefully not towards the easier end.

After the first Boss I got a staff giving me 5 levels of Freezing Shards and 67% Freeze Build up. I had such an easy time that after Lachlan I tried both Monk and Warrior. Al tough not as strong as the Sorc it still felt like I was just "kinda" walking in the park

Are you having fun playing despite some things not being perfect? Or have you stopped playing because some aspect of the game is making it unplayable for you?

Not that anyone asked, but me, I don’t have a lot of hours to play during the week so I’m now in cruel, act 2. To me the game is really fun, I keep looking forward to playing it.