Path of Exile 2is a difficult game, magnitudes harder than its predecessor. Combat requires a lot more tactical thinking, more thought about skill combinations, and a much slower pace in general. While I think there are still some changes that have to be made for PoE2 to reach its full potential, I’m so impressed that Grinding Gear Games was willing to really test and change the ARPG formula.
I think the switchover from PoE was always going to be a bit of a shock: I’d become used to clearing maps quickly with a build that has had dozens of hours of thought put into it, and it was obvious that a new game was going to introduce its own learning curve. What really took me by surprise is how often I died, even during the very early stages of the game. Maybe there needs to be a small difficulty tweak during those early levels, but I don’t want it to go too far in the other direction. As it stands, my first character, a Monk, struggled to get going even against The Devourer, one of the first bosses you fight in the game.
After a couple of hours bashing my head against the wall with the Monk, I rerolled to the Mercenary and managed to clear fights a bit easier - the playstyle just suited me more. However, it felt like the damage I dealt to enemies didn’t stay on pace with the difficulty scaling as I progressed. I thought maybe it was a problem with my build - and because it’s a new game I didn’t want to just copy someone else’s build - so I started to experiment.
The biggest problem I ran into was a lack of loot. In Diablo 4 and the first PoE, loot drops felt pretty common during the main campaign, and each drop was rewarding - a real upgrade on your existing kit to make impactful changes to your character.
In Path Of Exile 2, I was finding loot drops a lot less regularly. I’m all for PoE2’s focus on crafting as one of your main sources of progression, but I’d also love to see more crafting materials and better drops overall. The difficulty level feels well-tuned, but it falls down when I start to think it’s not about the difficulty of boss mechanics or mob density, but about the fact my character just isn’t doing enough damage because I’m using level five or six gear—it’s the best that’s dropped so far for my level 16 character. It’s a shame, because I think the boss fights are one of the best parts of the game.
GGG has released a new patch for the game that increases rare item drop rate and improves the dodge rolling mechanics to help you get out of those tight corridors full of mobs.
I completed most of Act One as a solo player but joined up with some friends before we got to the end. The final boss fight is absolutely superb. It’s mechanically challenging and, despite wiping a few times, we didn’t really get frustrated. Our failures were easy to recognise and everything was telegraphed in a way that meant we knew what to do differently next time. I won’t spoil more of it as I know some players haven’t had a chance to jump in yet, but it left me and my pals beaming. We are so excited to see what comes next, and for any future content GGG plans to add to the game.
What Can Be Changed
Beyond the difficulty spikes and lack of loot, my biggest frustration with the game are the large, sprawling maps. I spend a lot of my time backtracking to areas I’ve previously visited. A lot of the filler mobs have large health pools which makes revisiting areas nothing but a meaningless chore.
Likewise, now that I’ve started to clear harder content in the endgame - and I’m still just learning the ropes - I’ve noticed that sometimes I die immediately with the cause of the death very poorly telegraphed by the game. With no death recap, I’ve got no clue what has just destroyed me. I’d love a way to analyse what sort of attack or damage type has just melted my character, so that I’m better able to change my build or gear for certain maps.
Path Of Exile 2 is still in early access and I think it’s an excellent foundation. It’s a very different game from the first, and that’s not a bad thing. Both games will likely have dedicated playerbases in the future, especially if GGG continues to support seasonal content for the original. That’s an impressive feat. Two games with two different(ish) audiences, both enjoyed for different reasons.
Path Of Exile allows you to blast through maps with ease, with plenty of loot drops and generally little to think about once your build has reached full potential. The road in Path Of Exile 2 is rockier, slower, and harder to navigate in general—and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. PoE2 is ultimately more rewarding.
