Path of Exile 2 on Steam
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Path of Exile 2 is a next generation Action RPG created by Grinding Gear Games. Set years after the original Path of Exile, you will return to the dark world of Wraeclast and seek to end the corruption that is spreading. Path of Exile 2 is a free-to-play online multiplayer game.
  • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    10 months ago

    As someone who last played POE when it was an open beta over a decade ago, what’s the difference between POE 1 and POE 2? Or I guess since POE 2 hasn’t come out yet, what game mechanics/systems are they going for in POE 2 that will be different from POE 1?

    • dead [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

      In this new video today, they announced that POE 2 will have WASD movement instead of mouse click movement. The skill system is being reworked so like you still have links but like sockets will be shaped differently or something. It stood out to me in the trailer today that the new classes will have like attack patterns. I think it said that the one class is going to have combo points that you build up by attacking and if stop attacking, you lose the combo points. Then it said there was another class that was inherently slow that needed to time the attacks at a certain rate.

      Also I am under the impression the POE 2 will have much less loot. GGG tested this out in 3.19 Kalandra league and people hated it. Kalandra league had one of the worst player retentions of any league. Then in 3.21 Crucible league, they introduced a separate game mode called Ruthless Mode where there are much less drops than the normal game play. Still very few people play ruthless mode and even none of the twitch streamers are willing to play it. The loot pinata aspect of the game is one of the more fun parts in my opinion, so I don’t like the loot reduction concept.

      In my experience with POE, the game is about trying to play in ways that were unintended. Finding things that you weren’t supposed to do and then doing them for the maximum amount of benefit. “Exploit early, exploit often.” I try to make a character that has as much damage as possible so that I can kill things without having to do any mechanics. I don’t want to learn fight mechanics. I just want to kill everything in 2 seconds.

      I think overall, GGG is trying to make POE 2 into more of a souls-like game. I’m not sure that I will like POE 2. Fortunately they have said that POE 2 will not be the end of POE 1, both games will still receive expansions and continue to be playable.

      The next POE 1 patch comes out on December 8, I made another thread about it.

      • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        4·
        10 months ago

        I think overall, GGG is trying to make POE 2 into more of a souls-like game. I’m not sure that I will like POE 2. Fortunately they have said that POE 2 will not be the end of POE 1, both games will still receive expansions and continue to be playable.

        I noticed in the trailer for the character showcase, the merc rolled out of the boss’s attack. The roll didn’t seem to consume any mana, and it didn’t even seem like it was a spell. I dunno if rolls are a part of modern POE 1, but maybe that goes back to what you said.

        • dead [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
          4·
          10 months ago

          Around 4 months ago at Exilecon, GGG announced that all characters would have an ability called Dodge Roll by pressing the space bar. POE 1 does not have this ability. POE 1 has numerous movement skill gems that can move or teleport your character in various ways, and most of these skills also deal damage. In ruthless mode all of the movement skill gems are removed and you are given 1 movement skill called Quick Step.

          I think GGG wants POE 2 gameplay to be slow. I would not be surprised if there was no movement skills or very few movement skills. I think this makes it more souls-like.

          https://clips.twitch.tv/PopularDelightfulCoyoteFUNgineer-VHKhGi8wHCXDcbl1

          I’ll show you one of the fastest builds from the current league in POE 1. This build triggers a teleport skills called Lightning Warp every time you shoot a bow.

          Lightning Warp + Tornado Shot
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtU5mT1B0I0
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgmcRF_ILRI
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWmXYHBqUpY

          • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
            4·
            10 months ago

            Yeah, I can see why they want to tone it down. It reminds me of the two major mods of D2: PD2 and MedianXL. PD2 is mostly just D2 with rebalanced skills and modern ARPG features like maps while MedianXL is random shit flying across the screen. It’s pretty much impossible to satisfy both type of players since they want contradictory things. I guess the game devs see a similar thing within the POE community.

            • dead [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
              2·
              10 months ago

              To me, Path of Exile game play begins outside of the game. The game is not just playing the game itself, but reading the wiki and using character planner software to find interesting or unintended interactions. The game is as much about discovering what is possible as it is about playing the character that you came up with.

              The character planner software is called Path of Building. There are so many different moving parts in Path of Exile, which leads to many, many build possibilities. Path of Exile is basically an engineering game. It feels to me like Path of Exile 2 is removing the engineering element from the game.

              The videos that I posted showcases a possible character build outcome after hundreds of hours of planning and preparation. The guy who came up with the build secretly planned it for over 2 years and spent weeks at the start of the league creating gear to make the build work properly. Most players of the game will never reach that point but I like that it’s possible. Path of Exile feels like a game with endless possibilities.

              Also the build in the showcase is built for one very specific game play style. It is built only for very quickly clearing map zones with moderate difficulty monsters and that’s basically all it can do. This build would not be able to do uber bosses, sanctum, heist, delve, delirium, simulcrum, labyrinth, etc. There are some builds that can do all of the game modes, but there are specific builds that specialized for each game mode.