Path of Exile 2

[Daehawk]

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/205666/path ... -announced

The trailer and gameplay videos make it look interesting.

[Lordnine]

This sounds a bit more like a stand-alone expansion than a typical sequel. A bit odd in a free to play game. I'll give it a shot for sure on release as I enjoyed the original a lot.

I wonder how it will fare against Diablo IV. The original POE really capitalized on a more traditional Diablo experience compared to D3 but since DIV is returning to its roots a bit it may have a harder time finding an audience.

[rittchard]

This sounds a bit more like a stand-alone expansion than a typical sequel. A bit odd in a free to play game. I'll give it a shot for sure on release as I enjoyed the original a lot.

I wonder how it will fare against Diablo IV. The original POE really capitalized on a more traditional Diablo experience compared to D3 but since DIV is returning to its roots a bit it may have a harder time finding an audience.

I suspect it will come out long before Diablo 4 so that won't be an issue.

Agree it looks and sounds like an expansion rather than a sequel. Did I understand correctly it uses the same engine and the endgame is the "same" as the current version somehow? Kind of a disappointment for me overall if that's the case, but I'm sure I'll still play the crap out of it lol.

[Torfish]

Finally found this post. Copying my comments from the random video game post...

Early access is out on Friday. This looks to be 'the dream' ARPG game. Could be game of the year material even though it's early access. Last year I finally figured out POE 1. Everything clicked and it quickly became one of my favorite games. I put in over 500 hours in the past 12 months.

Since I'm still having a blast with POE1, I'm contemplating not playing POE 2 early access and wait for the full game which will probably be in about 1 yr. They are only releasing the first 3 acts with a lot of the end game. I probably won't hold out because I'm weak. I'm going to try.

I fully expect the game to take off big time and it could become a rare generational game where it brings in the masses long term.

[YellowKing]

I'm strongly considering early access only because I never bought the Diablo IV expansion (which I had completely planned on getting). Considering just throwing that $30 towards PoE instead.

[Butterknife]

I'm actually going to wait a while, even though I have thousands of hours in PoE and it is one of my most favorite games. I guess I'm a bit disappointed by their design goals. Not all of us want to play keyboard piano when we play games like this -- I play games like this to relax. PoE2 seems to be forcing every build to be multiple constant buttons presses -- even a summoner. Also they've done away with my favorite type of skills -- brands.

[GreenGoo]

After my recent time with Grim Dawn, and some nostalgic look backs and Diablo I and II, I've been seriously considering Diablo IV. But I kind of hate Blizzard now (and this is definitely a lesson about the "can do no wrong" view of a corp. My Steam account is worth thousands. Always a concern) so I'm avoiding Diablo for the time being.

I will take a close look at PoE2 when it leaves early access. I heard nothing but good things about the first one, despite never playing it. So good word of mouth plus a renewed interest in ARPGs has me very interested.

[rf2000]

The is free to play after early access. There is like no risk to check this game out then since it won't cost you a penny. I think I'm to going to play it now which will cost you $30 to play in early access. Sounds like THE game for ARPG. Haven't played POE1 but really got into D4. Anyways, I want to support the developers if they are putting out quality stuff.

[baelthazar]

After my recent time with Grim Dawn, and some nostalgic look backs and Diablo I and II, I've been seriously considering Diablo IV. But I kind of hate Blizzard now (and this is definitely a lesson about the "can do no wrong" view of a corp. My Steam account is worth thousands. Always a concern) so I'm avoiding Diablo for the time being.

I will take a close look at PoE2 when it leaves early access. I heard nothing but good things about the first one, despite never playing it. So good word of mouth plus a renewed interest in ARPGs has me very interested.

With the new expansion and some patches, I would say Diablo 4 is FINALLY where end-game Diablo 3 was. For the first time ever, I managed to complete all the season objectives and get all of the cool extra (and optional) aesthetic items (there is no gameplay effect of the optional stuff). What I like about D4 now is that it captures the addictive "find a cool unique and build your character around it" that D3 seasons did. Although I do find it ironic that you put tons of hours into a game in order to find a way to play less of it (i.e. do things faster, kill more things, make it trivially easy). The loot seems better, the progression seems easier, and the skills feel more impactful. I think the patching and expansion really helped.

What I still don't like is - if you want to get all the cool vanity gear, you have to pay for the battle pass (or use the free one from buying the expansion). Yuck. Also, the story is still a little silly, but the expansion at least feels more like actual stakes. Versus the other one, where the name of the game is Diablo, but almost all of the prime evils (including our title man) are absent for some horned dominatrix with unclear goals and daddy issues.

I am probably going to jump in on PoE II at some point. I never gelled with the outright wild complexity of the original one, but the new one looks very promising.

[Skinypupy]

I was watching a preview of PoE2 last night. It looked pretty interesting…right up until they showed that utterly absurd skill tree.

That was quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in an RPG.

[YellowKing]

I messed around with it a bit tonight. My only regret about spending the $30 is now I have a new game I want to play right in the middle of Metaphor: ReFantazio and the upcoming Indiana Jones.

I dabbled in Path of Exile; I never got very far into it and like a lot of others I was turned off by the complexity. PoE2 so far, however, is a ton of fun. The graphics are insane for an ARPG.

The biggest thing I'm having to get used to is that it's not as click-spam friendly as D4; you can interrupt your own actions, and some of the animations take a bit of time to play out. So if you're not careful you can wind up interrupting yourself unintentionally. However, once you get used to the slower pace, the combat becomes much more tactical.

I started out with Mercenary and got him to Level 6, but started having second thoughts about playing a ranged-only character. So I rolled a Warrior and will give him a few levels to see which I like better.

[GreenGoo]

I was watching a preview of PoE2 last night. It looked pretty interesting…right up until they showed that utterly absurd skill tree.

That was quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in an RPG.

Now I'm even more interested!

[Skinypupy]

Oh, I’m certain it would be a huge draw for lots of people.

I’m not one of them.

[Daehawk]

That huge skill tree from the first game is the only thing that turned me off to the game.

[GreenGoo]

Oh, I’m certain it would be a huge draw for lots of people.

I’m not one of them.

To be clear, I'm not going to experiment randomly. I will definitely use other peoples' ideas/builds/theories.

[YellowKing]

It's also worth pointing out that the giant skill tree is all passives - so it's not like you've got 20,000 weapon skills to choose from. None of them are "bad" per se, and it's pretty easy to decide whether you want to focus more on offense, defense, evasion, attack speed, etc. It looks far more complex and intimidating than it actually is.

[Torfish]

Yeah, well I decided to dive in but only on the console (PS5). I'll wait for the PC version on full release. Probably in a year.

Having a great time with the warrior. Load times on the PS5 are almost instant which is great. Using a controller feels good and natural. My only gameplay impression is it's a different experience action wise compared to the original. It's much slower. I've only started though.

The huge skill tree is a draw for me. I love figuring out builds. I play about half and half between my own build and on-line guide. My first character will be built from my own concoction.

Lots of config options to customize. I'm likely going to increase the text size cause I'm getting older.

[naednek]

I was watching a preview of PoE2 last night. It looked pretty interesting…right up until they showed that utterly absurd skill tree.

That was quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in an RPG.

I booted POE1 for like the 10th time but never played it much level 2. Yesterday I saw the skill tree and it was so overwhelming. To be honest, I loaded up a character I created a long time ago that was level 2. I didn't remember what class he was and I couldn't tell what part of the tree I should use. So I'm following a random guide and see what happens.

[GreenGoo]

Can you respec in POE1or2?

If not, yikes.

[naednek]

Can you respec in POE1or2?

If not, yikes.

in POE1 I got a scroll to refund one point. I don't know if you can reset all

[YellowKing]

You can respec in PoE2, it just costs gold.

[YellowKing]

I'm still having a blast with this, 5 hours in. However, I did experience one crash to desktop, and I've heard others in chat say they've experienced it as well. Welcome to early access, I guess.

I'm not following any guides, just putting points into nodes based on what I'm feeling at the time. If I feel like I'm a bit squishy, I'll up an armor node. If I feel like my DPS is lacking, I'll throw a point in melee attack. It's not rocket science, and I haven't felt it to be overwhelming at all. I haven't had much trouble with bosses so far just following that philosophy.

I will say (and again, I have very little experience with PoE1, so forgive me if this is stating the obvious), this is a MUCH slower aRPG than Diablo IV. Combat is slower. The feel of leveling progression is slower. Loot drops and gold are WAY slower. Combat is less about spam clicking and more about evasion and using skills at the right time. I can see where this could be a turn off for some, but I'm really enjoying the more challenging, mindful gameplay.

It's going to take awhile to figure out all the nuances, but so far I'm just winging it and still having a great time.

[GreenGoo]

Good.

[Torfish]

I completely agree with Yellowking. You can't go into POE 2 expecting to mow down enemies after an hour of play like POE1 and D4. Treat it as a new game experience.

It's more like Diablo 2 when it comes to killing enemies and bosses.

I hope the devs keep to this gameplay and don't bend by upping character damage.

[Hyena]

I completely agree with Yellowking. You can't go into POE 2 expecting to mow down enemies after an hour of play like POE1 and D4. Treat it as a new game experience.

It's more like Diablo 2 when it comes to killing enemies and bosses.

I hope the devs keep to this gameplay and don't bend by upping character damage.

Yeah, second this. My witch get stomped by a couple of the mini-bosses, but my melee tank mopped the floor with them. Squishy means SQUISHY on this one...but still fun. Causes the need to do bit of level grinding to improve survival chances, but still fun stuff.

[YellowKing]

Having now played Warrior, Sorceress, Mercenary, and Witch, I'm gravitating towards Witch as my favorite so far. I didn't like the crossbow reloads of the Merc, the Sorceress was fun but felt too squishy, and while the Warrior was great and the one I played the most, I could never really get comfortable with his skill rotation.

The Witch reminds me a lot of my beloved Necromancer from D4, which is why I think I'm gravitating towards her. You get the magic of the Sorceress but with minions to tank so you don't feel as fragile. Also, spreading Contagion on a big bunch of mobs then watching them melt is super fun.

One thing I didn't realize is that money is shared among all characters. So my Witch came in with 9k in the bank from my Warrior, which I used to stock her up on life regen items. That has made her virtually indestructible in the early going.

[Montag]

I have been playing a minion witch - which is totally different from my normal play style. There were some issues on the 1st couple of days, but it has been fairly stable. Whentag is my name.

[Skinypupy]

The description for the $30 game on PS5 says you get:
- 300 points
- Early access to PoE2

Does that mean this is currently an early access version? Or was that some sort of “5 day head start” thing when it launched?

[YellowKing]

It's an early access version. Only 6 of the (I think 12) classes are available, and it only goes up to Act 3.

[Skinypupy]

Ah, thx. I thought I might give it a spin (ridiculous skill tree aside) because I do generally enjoy ARPGs. Don't do early access though, so I'll wait.

[Roman]

ridiculous skill tree aside

This is what is keeping me on the sidelines here - however I do remember hearing/seeing a more slimmed down skill tree for us?

I do love me some hack and slash D&D gameplay though..... resistance waning.

[GreenGoo]

Lots of positive buzz.

[YellowKing]

The skill tree really isn't as intimidating as it looks. As I mentioned, they are all passives so you're not having to learn a bunch of new skills or anything. Hot button skills are handled through a different mechanic.

For starters, all classes share the same giant skill tree, so most of what you're seeing you won't even use (even though you have the opportunity to dip into another class tree if you choose, which is cool). Your class will start out on one branch of the tree with two distinct choices. For example, Warrior can go down an Offense path, or a Defense path. You're not locked into those, and those branches connect to each other down the road, but it simplifies your decision making process starting out.

The little nodes are travel nodes that offer small bonuses - +5 to an attribute, or 3% increased offense, stuff like that. The mid-sized nodes are Notables, and those typically offer a larger one-time boost, and may affect more than one stat. Even deeper into the tree you run across keystone nodes which are the largest, and typically offer a huge positive but also a downside.

What I typically do is look at all the Notable nodes in my vicinity, then start building a path to the one I want, choosing the travel nodes that seem most appealing along the path.

While it seems overwhelming looking at the big picture, the decision making process is very simple. You'll typically only have a handful of nodes to choose between, and if you're aiming for one particular Notable or Keystone node, your options might be limited even more. What's nice about it is that you always have the opportunity to "shore up" perceived weaknesses in your build. If you feel like you're too squishy, find a defense path and start putting points into it. Feel like your DPS is lagging, find a path that boosts damage and throw points into it. As long as you're generally heading in the direction of the bigger nodes you want to grab, you really can't go wrong. And as mentioned, you can always respec (for a gold cost).

I can definitely understand not wanting to do early access because the content is limited compared to the full game and they'll be doing a lot of tweaking and rebalancing along the way. But I wouldn't let the skill tree be what turns you off. PoE2 appears to me, at least, to be much more newbie-friendly than PoE1.

It's also worth noting that the 300 points you get with the $30 early access fee is equivalent to $30 in store credit. So technically you're breaking even on the cost, if you're a microtransaction type person. I was happy to pay it just to support the developer because I think they're making an amazing F2P product, but it is nice to know that same $30 can be used to pick up some cosmetics or stash tabs.

[Skinypupy]

Thanks YK, that's helpful. I looked into it a bit more and am actually pretty interested in giving it a shot at some point, once its out of Early Access.

[Roman]

Thanks YK, that's helpful. I looked into it a bit more and am actually pretty interested in giving it a shot at some point, once its out of Early Access.

Agreed thank you! That is very reassuring!

[YellowKing]

I will give one word of warning for brand new players that didn't play PoE - inventory size is SMALL. Like, super small. Like pick up 7 or 8 items and you're opening a portal back to town again small.

It's obviously by design, but it is very jarring coming from Diablo IV. There are a couple of reasons for it from what I can tell. 1. Loot simply doesn't drop as frequently in this game compared to D4. Instead you'll be salvaging for shards, etc. to improve what you already have more than you will be finding brand new gear. 2. You're really not meant to pick up every piece of trash on the ground. It's just a gameplay style shift.

I REALLY struggle with #2, because I like to get every single gold piece on the map if I can. But I'm starting to realize the game doesn't really reward completionists who want to cover every square inch of the map, kill every enemy, and loot every item. It's much more about going where you need to go and grabbing what you need to grab. Anything outside of that isn't necessarily "wasted" time, but it's very much a case of diminishing returns.

[Cylus Maxii]

Playing PoE2 quite a bit. My Monk is up to level 45 and is maybe half through Act3. I'm having a blast.

Boss fights are a ton of fun. All have their challenges and rhythms, and they can be very different experiences with different classes and builds. Some are frantically paced and very exciting. You definitely need to learn the phases and the tells for the moves. If you play in parties, mechanics will adapt and you will see some stuff you never did in single player. Not all bosses are required to progress the story. But some of the optional ones will give rewards like permanent bonuses. Your main map (not the overlay) has icons for the areas that you've explored that show if there are optional bosses. If the boss skull icon has a plus sign on it, it gives some reward like that. Note that some of these require side mission to get the rewards. If you skip bosses and go back later, you may just mow them down if you have leveled enough.

So far the levelling has been pretty steady so long as I was fighting in areas no more than 5 levels lower than my character. Some areas are easier for my character build and style and I tend to work them a little bit. There are definite break points in the acts as to the gear you need to have. Also, there may be changes about what skills are effective due to changes in things like armored mobs and elemental resists. If you go to a new act and have a very hard time, its likely your gear. Also note that each act has a discount on your elemental resistances as you progress. You will be tuning your build a lot as you move through the areas and the story.

Game has some sort of Delirium modes that I haven't touched yet. Also has trials that start in Act2 that will unlock the ascendancy (subclass) stuff. My Monk is an Evoker ascendancy that specializes in lightning and frost attacks. The trials have a choose your adventure mechanic like Slay the Spire. Some of the areas are timed combats or races. All damage from mobs and traps deducts your honor resource. If you run out of honor you fail the trial. Completing further trials unlocks more points to spend in the Ascendency skill tree sections.

As far as building your character, you may want to look at the stat requirements for the gear you want to use - especially for things that seem to be associated with your class like weapons. That will give you a rough distribution ratio for your base stats. Almost half of my stats are from gear tho - so its very flexible. Note that you will have stat requirements for the skills (powers) you want to equip and use in combat (spells, attacks and buffs). These will change as you level the skills (separately from your character). So be careful when you level skills so you don't end up improving them past the point you can use them. Some skills also go up in mana cost as you level them, another thing to watch. If you do mess up, no worries - you can use another uncut skill gem to make a new copy of that skill. The same is true of the support skills you slot into your skills.

Oh - and a note on levels - they don't scale the same between your character, their skills and the gear. My level 45 monk has gear in the required player level of 20-30 range. The max that currently drops where I'm at in Act 3 is maybe 32 ish. My skills are all around level 9. The uncut skill gems at level IX and X are pretty uncommon. I haven't seen a level XI yet. But you can expect that mobs the same level as you (the level of the area is listed on the main map) will be a good challenge and give great XP.

[Cylus Maxii]

I will give one word of warning for brand new players that didn't play PoE - inventory size is SMALL. Like, super small. Like pick up 7 or 8 items and you're opening a portal back to town again small.

It's obviously by design, but it is very jarring coming from Diablo IV. There are a couple of reasons for it from what I can tell. 1. Loot simply doesn't drop as frequently in this game compared to D4. Instead you'll be salvaging for shards, etc. to improve what you already have more than you will be finding brand new gear. 2. You're really not meant to pick up every piece of trash on the ground. It's just a gameplay style shift.

I REALLY struggle with #2, because I like to get every single gold piece on the map if I can. But I'm starting to realize the game doesn't really reward completionists who want to cover every square inch of the map, kill every enemy, and loot every item. It's much more about going where you need to go and grabbing what you need to grab. Anything outside of that isn't necessarily "wasted" time, but it's very much a case of diminishing returns.

Its hard to clear areas since they will repopulate and partially reset if you die. Also, there are definitely areas that have respawns. FWIW - they did up the drop rates very noticeably in the patch this morning. Drops seem to be linked to the are and the amount of XP you are earning. So farming under-leveled areas is a complete waste of time unless you are running with somebody else. Then the game has some sort of level adjustment for your player power and the table works OK so long as you in areas good for the party leader.

[YellowKing]

Still having a lot of fun with this one (finally made it to Act 2), but yeah it's definitely early access. Got another CTD this morning only one room away from finishing a trial that was mandatory to continue the story progression. That's frustrating. May have to set it aside until a few more stability patches.

[Edit] I do want to clarify that it's not a bug-riddled mess by any stretch of the imagination. For early access, it's pretty smooth. I've got 20+ hours in and I think I've only had 3 crashes. The only other hiccup was one night with some pretty extreme lag. Other than that it's been pretty smooth sailing. They are making big changes with each update, however, so if you don't like volatility and being a guinea pig for balance issues, it may be worth holding off until release.

[Torfish]

No more crashes on the PS5 since the last patch.

Starting to get the hang of the game... slow game play. I had to get POE 1 out of my system which is a much faster pace game.

I'm enjoying the numerous boss fights. I average about 3-5 tries to beat them. They gain full health when you die.