Closing Out 2024 with Path of Exile 2 Early Access Impressions

[@kitsand]

Balor has the best points. It's amazing how the rest were talking themselves around in circles about energy shield. The problem isn't ES is the best. The problem is that ES is the only way to even get close to solving the one shotting problem in PoE 2.

[@CyrilFrantzen]

Based

[@circaen]

This is true, & I do see Balor's point. Especially because you can literally make ES recover with health pots. They have done a poor job at making sure ES has a downside. It just does not as of now.

[@Kjarrigan1]

@@circaenincoming chaos damage and DoT is supposed to be the downside but there is a node that mitigates that completely xD

[@sinisasub85]

My favorite PoE guys in the same episode is always a win! 🤘

[@shadowjack2k]

Lots of great points from Neversink on GGG design intentions

[@DanboReviews]

Free cat at 1:12:33 😊 Fun podcast as always with some fun points especially around ES.

[@dizzydoooo]

You can’t sustain a game and there playerbase for more than a decade. That fact that Poe 1 did is incredible. At some point you have to start thinking about the future, and make a sequel or new game in general. Also, early release only being 30% of the whole game on league day 1 is insane. I love it

[@Hoenhime344]

1 portal has made me quit the game for the night FAR more than trying to figure out my defenses.... Balor is wrong

[@hfok]

I don't think MoM should take less damage before life, in fact, for the flavor, I think it should take more. Imagine: 120% of damage taken from mana before life. That would makes "over" have double meaning while making it less favour for its defensive value.

[@jakemartin5553]

This makes me think you dont actually understand what MoM is doing.. its redirecting X% of the damage you take to your mana.. it currently redirects 100% of the damage you take to your mana.. this allows you to use mana as your only defensive layer.. if MoM was changed to 50% (like in PoE 1) it would be a tremendous nerf (deservedly so) and it would go from the best defensive layer in the game, to just another defensive option for casters who have no access to armor/evasion. What you're asking for is an additional "you take 20% more dmg" mod to be added.. which is just a minor nerf (and it doesn't fit thematically at all).

[@99range92def]

The audience with the king maze issue is quite surprising considering i ran poe 1 ritual all league and faught the boss maybe 40+ times and the maze seemed to work perfectly fine the majority of the time.

[@iFoss]

"the majority of the time" implies there were times where it didn't work perfectly fine

[@TimoNausch]

Has GGG said they want to have ALL the classes for EA? My expectation so far is, that we get every base type with 2 ascendancies and then with the full release every base type gets its 3rd ascendancy

[@mcgruber]

Yes. The early access will slowly receive the entire game so it can all be tested. That is the point.

[@lordofchaosinc.261]

I think with many endgame encounters it should be like you encounter them reasonably enough if you don't wanna trade or just enjoy the game's content or whatever with an option to farm those if you buy tokens. They should just be reasonably priced in order to get there and not too rare in an SSF environment.

[@near3d945]

I dont know if my brother qualify as a casual since he play games a lot of ARPG"s especially ones that has slow gameplay. He took 30 hours just to complete act 1-3. He does all the side quest and explore most of a area.

[@Kliffa80]

mbx is spot on at 1:20:52 when talking about the campaign...the time investment is simply too much for me to be willing to reroll and that's a shame.

[@blackomega34]

For me I'm not willing to reroll 'cause nothing strikes me as super interesting especially since ascendancy is such a bitch to get. Like 'I want to try the chronomancer time freeze skill but that's fifty hours away unless I beeline to it and have my build be shitty because I didn't pick the strong early game nodes instead'

[@NicolasSound]

What Balor was trying to say is that ES is a Resource like life or mana its something thats depleteable. But by GGG's wierd definition it is.

[@adrianx8243]

What would we do without NeverSink omg thank you

[@PowerfulSkeleton]

Yooo, the Catmaster beard looks sick.

[@catmasterOP]

😆

[@jakemartin5553]

MANA: Nerf MoM to 50% redirect with 50% Less mana regen.. the fact that spirit exists is already an INSANE buff to MoM. Going CI + EB + MoM has no real dowside or opportunity cost currently (which is wild). ES: I think they should leave ES alone for now and just focus on buffing the other defenses first.. ARMOR: It needs to be simplified in a complete rework.. l think armor should translate to linear scaling PDR (factoring in character/monster level) up to maybe 25-40%.. then require exponentially increasing amounts of armor up to the max (whether that be 75% or 95%). Add a keystone that gives %ELE dmg taken as PHYS, with "you have X% Less armor." EVASION: you should be able to evade all ATTACK hits by default.. rework Acrobatics to allow you to also evade spell hits as well (with the 70% less evation rating).. You SHOULD be able to get at least some benefit from hybrid armor/evade.. but it it should be balanced so it's near impossible to cap out both simultaneously. ATT STACKING: this is more of a HoWA issue than anything.. Nerf the INT threshold on HoWA from 10 to 25 this is a 60% less damage nerf.. and it puts the gloves on par with the best rare flat damage gloves on the market at just 200 INT. Currently, if you have just 90 INT, No single item in the game can compete with the amount of flat damage these gloves give you (outside of maybe ingenuity belt while using flat dmg rings).

[@aarontylee7243]

I'm really interested in seeing if ggg can improve the state of melee with the current tools they have. Playing a warrior is super fun but it's just so much slower and harder than any ranged char

[@JohnnyRockermeier]

dude in the beginning talks about "new player accessibilty expereince" while talking abotu stuff that happens after multiple of hundreds of hours of play

[@evtimstefanov5441]

Visual clutter is a major issue and I'm not sure how they will fix it easily.I have cases where it's abysmal how bad certain light effects and particles mix and match (from both my skill and monsters' combined with terrain)

[@Kelfaso]

Energy shield should behave mor like ward in poe 1. That way it would be a defensive mechanic instead of a healthpool with a different colour

[@PowerfulSkeleton]

Question: Are logbooks meant to no longer be magic/rare'd? Feels very weird to run white logbooks.

[@MrRaja]

Cant we LogOut in the King of the Mist fight? and go back in the portal so we are back in the arena like it is in PoE 1>?

[@CypherOfSolace]

Neversink said exactly what i wanted to say to MBX, im ok with 1-2 characters per league. I'|| come back next league for the next character i wanna play. I got all the names reseved.

[@thornburg9170]

Excellent podcast. Why did you cut it off at the end? Everyone still seemed into it, I'm sure you could have gone another 30-40 minutes, if everyone still had time. Is the viewership really worse on a 3hr podcast than a 2.2hr podcast?

[@catmasterOP]

Generally I'd rather cut it off when everyone is still eager to talk and hear more, than to wait until everyone is depleted. It's like a general rule for gastronomy and showbiz I think, just keep the everyone wanting more vibes going. Specifically for this episode I would probably have preferred to go for another 20-30min but both Balor and myself had to leave on time because of other obligations. We'll do more episodes soon and once filterblade is out for PoE2 I am sure NeverSink will have plenty of time to join for another episode.

[@froggystrap1232]

Best panel lowkey!

[@WraeclastRoadhouse]

You actually do get a chance to see the arbiter move early. Jamanra does it in the first fight with him in A2. But yea if you missed that time you are screwed

[@catmasterOP]

That's what transferred my first character from HC to SC. It being earlier doesn't make it better if there isn't a good way to tell what the game wants from you when you're put on the spot.

[@WraeclastRoadhouse]

@catmasterOP yea i fully agree with that. Was just saying for most sc players currently they do get a chance to see it before, so i see what ggg intended but they just didnt hit the mark on the telegraph

[@gampie13]

well, if you have a good build, you don't get to see it then either

[@Itchybunny-ob9rk]

I hope they can nerf these things without completely removing Sorc from the game. I see people blowing up screens but my sorc didn't start feeling good until level 85 when I had a 10 div item drop that skyrocketed me

[@CyrilFrantzen]

Its not sorc that needs fixing its the insane scaling from items. Gaze amulet gets fixed and sorcs will think twice about eldritch battery. Lower the roof raise the floor.

[@Mark_T57]

Mbxtreme needs to learn to talk into the microphone....

[@karj_gaming]

2:01:43 so making POE2 worse to keep POE 1 alive, then? Very smart idea. 😂

[@KRX_]

I think people are not realizing how RUSHED this endgame was. The important parts of the game are great. The issues with PoE2 are trivial to fix, they just need time to rebalance and rework some of the details.

[@trijondee]

Well that is a very positive take. Another take is that ggg stand at a crossroad, where they either change everything in the direction of the tried and tested poe1 formular, or stick to their design guns, and throughfully eradicate all poe1 expectations and solutions. Both require quite some work to get there. The worst thing they can do is to keep the mix we have now.

[@jdodge80]

Best POE podcast.

[@voodoo1069]

Poe 1 also getting shafted on no new atlas stuff. Shaper, elder, sirus, maven, it is about time for something new but poe 2 keeps cock blocking us.

[@evtimstefanov5441]

Also I think regarding the gem system - we should be upgrading slots instead of physical gems because that opens up so much the desire to experiment with different skills and combinations that it's insane.I don't think it will take away anything from the game if you just upgrade your slots and eventually you have as much 6 links as you want / can.Many skills as said in the video don't even need every possible support gem (for now, this can change in the future once more are added)

[@Sidnv]

The atlas mechanic progression is something I've seen as problematic basically since week 1. Locking all mechanic progression behind t15+ bosses with single portal attempts is really bad design. It's too backloaded, making tier 1-13 maps feel pointless except as a way to climb the ladder, too rng gated, build constraining, and how rare the invites are makes it economically disadvantageous to attempt them the first time instead of just buying a carry. The poe1 atlas tree is honestly one of the best changes they ever made to the game and the current poe2 atlas tree has lost 90% of what makes the poe1 tree good. I also don't like mapping progression coming from killing pinnacle bosses, some points should be obtained by simply doing the mechanic in maps.

[@peterschelin]

One thing i really hate is that most content cretators cant be negative about poe. One examples is tri, saying hes not having a problem, trying to brush over peoples problems with the game. Sure, theres the reddit tards crying over anything, as usual. Ive got 300+ hours in poe 2 now, stopped playing 3 days ago, just nothing to do. Got a list of problems and shit i dont agreed with in poe 2. Mapping just fcking sucks. Maps are to big and empty with the current movement speed. Random one shots from mobs (monk with 2500 life and 2100 es) We need to be able to reroll map nodes. Most bosses die in seconds. Charms are shit. Citadels are non existance. Takes to long to go through campaign. Feels like they learned nothing from poe1 feedback. ( hoping its becuz its early ) Plz dont remove rarity! balance it! Some skills feels wierd (Ice strike) not dashing sometimes, feels like the character just stands in place and strikes the air instead of dashing. Why limit the number of skill slots so low? Im sure ive got somethings more to say but. With that said, i did like the game, more than i thought i would. But i dont really see me playing this over poe1 with the current situation with the game

[@gampie13]

tri is as close to the textbook definition of toxic positivity as you can probably ever get. If i notice him in anything, i hard block it, as I know I will only get gaslighting and positive toxicity

[@siffchopf22]

what?? 20-25 hours on poe2 first playthrough? no fucking way, way more

[@adrianx8243]

Adding to what Balor said they have been splits between Poe 1 and 2 AND I think they thought Poe 2 is better and poe 1 failed garbage so instead of porting all the good stuff from poe 1 they did things "better" and thats how the poe 2 garbage again mistakes happened

[@gampie13]

this so much, it's "the vision" ruining the game again

[@rubikmonat6589]

that discussion near the end about people getting that POE1 feeling with builds. That's because you like that and why you played POE1 so much. That's whay you enjoy. Other people are going to absolutely love a different endgame. You may not like it so much.

[@gampie13]

the main problem, is that poe 2 is expecting the player to have the tools of poe 1, while trying to limit you as if it's the campaign in poe 2. "skill" based gameplay, is antithetical to "stat" based gameplay

[@circaen]

I really have an issue with how the doing the campaign is framed. No matter what happens you are taking that character from level 1. There are no shortcuts for that. Once the full campaign is in & everyone has the 3 or 4 meta ways to level - the campaign will not be significantly longer than POE. There are a lot of 'complaints' I am hearing that come of as completely shallow as they are comparing POE 2 to a game that is 90% solved. The issue on ascendancies - I believe the reason they do not want you to be able to switch ascendancies is that they believe you should level the class you are going to play. I actually agree with this. I don't see it as any different than asking to change your class.

[@LPJMANGA]

my most gripe we need something else apart from maps for end game running maps all the time can be boring doing that with 6-7 characters i have i rather reroll more just for the campaign because thats more moving and engaging

[@VadimPakhutkin]

I just don't understand mbXTreme's take on replayability and trying out new builds, as if doing one league starter + one "proper" build per league is... bad? Dude sometimes I only do ONE leaguestarter and it's enough for one league lol (and I've played PoE1 on and off since 2012). How many builds do you need? ANd what for? Stop projecting your own needs, everyone can find what they enjoy in PoE1 and PoE2. Campaign replays are especially fun because the campaign is SO MUCH better than poe1's, and it's not even fully released, If you make the game more accommodating to changing your playstyles, then you might creep ever so close to Diablo 3 where you could change ANYTHING on the fly. And yeah it's still pretty fun, but it's not PoE. And Neversink is right: that's part of the whole season/league cadence that's both good for GGG financially, and great for me personally, because I'm definitely not going to play PoE for more than two weeks per season, I got tons of other great games to play.

[@voodoo1069]

I already do no damage taking a lot of the supports just made my skill heal the enemies lol so I personally found going over 4 links fairly pointless.

[@Tehblood]

balor + neversink are on it. at least im not alone.

[@kokorochin01]

MbX based with the GGG disappointment. 100% shared opinion. (And btw, I could design endgame systems way better than what they're doing right now in PoE2...)

[@thecasualexile123]

I hope GGG should slow down POE2 a bit and then upgrade the graphics and animation of POE1 and all of us will be pretty happy, i think.

[@tttt-dx2nu]

neversink better figure it out, theres a few competitors coming up

[@NhuQuynh-nv7fp]

GGG thinks players have all day to play like streamers lol

[@runslinganOG]

There is nothing i miss in poe1, for me its poe2 all the way from now on !

[@karj_gaming]

42:41 Nope. One portal is dogshit AND defensive options are trash.

[@IamMiaga]

I would like 3 portals.

[@CyrilFrantzen]

3 portals minimum

[@loampudl6533]

yep endgame is garbage as it is..

[@NhuQuynh-nv7fp]

It’s only early access … it’s not a full release … they’ll improve

[@gampie13]

@@NhuQuynh-nv7fp you are the reason every game never improves, with your toxic positivity

[@EAZUP]

One day you'll have a console guy on here. Or someone thats not hardcore no lifeers

[@dakotacouch5642]

Outside of wrecker of days I couldn't name another console player on any kind of platform.

[@EAZUP]

@dakotacouch5642 I've been looking for years, your right. Well, other than myself 😂

[@shadowjack2k]

it would definitely be nice to get a console perspective. Particularly on the UI and trade interface!

[@Theta40]

@@dakotacouch5642That’s because he is the only one. 😉

[@dangerussmc]

The campaign is less than 6 hours and you get to fight all the bosses you cry about not getting to fight in endgame.

[@CyrilFrantzen]

Meanwhile in our reality…..

[@DesmoxMyco]

No this single portal thing is trash. Y'all can talk around it all you want but it's garbage and not interesting or fun at all.