My FIRST TIME Playing Path of Exile 2! - ExileCon 2023

Mike was over in New Zealand last week after kindly being invited out to ExileCon by the lovely folks at GGG. There he had a chance to try out POE 2 on and off the stage and has some initial thoughts you won't want to miss.
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[@Preachgaming]

Hey Folks, quick one today, Mike wanted to give his thoughts and some additional information regarding what he got to see of Path of Exile 2 while he was down under at ExileCon last week. We'll have some behind the scenes coming up on the website very shortly. Access to everything is here: preachgaming.com/get-premium/ and you get everything for $1 or its included when you sub to our twitch channel, any support is deeply appreciated in helping us keep the lights on and paying for my mogstation habits.

[@VanByyrg]

I'm sorry, but can you give a clarification on the content regarding the trip to ExileCon - Will this 4 minute video be the only thing that will not be kept behind a paywall? I am quite confused about the plans regarding this, if there are any of course, just seemed so random

[@Grimbonez]

Did something go wrong with this upload? Seem like it ends right when it starts lolol

[@raid.leader]

Was there supposed to be gameplay at the end of the video?

[@boogiebong]

I watched was it Mathil's video about the con and I thought I heard "Preach" in there. I kinda dropped off of PoE in the recent years but still keeping up with it, playing random leagues now and then. Seems like a really fun event!

[@hail_2_u321]

By looking at the character inventory. They gave everyone trash weapon that's why it slowed down, Kripp rolled a rare weapon then he 1 shot most mobs.

[@Deminese2]

its also because the rares have not been balanced yet for poe2.

[@KamiSlayer86]

HYPE!

[@ichitensho7075]

omg ty for this , i was scared when i saw the footage that it would be like d4 and im glad its not the case

[@LockieNZ]

If I'd known you were down here, I would have come bought you a beer!

[@WeFailAtMw2]

They literally said that it's not going to be as fast as PoE1, and that they want to move away from the "teleport everywhere and blow up your entire screen"-gameplay.

[@AeloaLionheart]

Anyone know where to get that Eater of Worlds T-shirt from?

[@Jdemonify]

from exilecon I assume, or their website.

[@nopainnogain4147]

That melee combat looks satisfying as hell.

[@barsham7881]

not if it will end as poe 1

[@johnaldjensen4617]

i read this comment before the vid started playing and it got me slightly excited, then the very first clip the melee is like turbo jank with flat sound design 😅 quite the opposite of satsifying

[@Asin24]

I personally hope it's slowed down a little. Not to a huge degree (maybe 10 perhaps 25% slower then current PoE at most), but being made with evading attacks in mind and how the game looks to play it seems like it's meant to be at least a bit slower compared to what it's like in PoE 1.

[@michaeltingen1076]

Hyped

[@ragnnohab]

Can't wait to watch all the meltdowns at launch.

[@___IG]

Was that the end of the video lol?

[@RevXSavage]

Yeah I didn't attend but I watched both cons and when I saw people saying ruthless, i said clueless because they CLEARLY from the sidelines not being at the event itself stated it was intentionally difficult for the con. Now some things may be gone such as quicksilver, ok sure but we dont know what other tools were getting. They even said theres tools to improve dodging. We don't know what those are. Even with the new league patch notes theres already flames because no real buffs, but also there wasnt any real nerfs other then vengent cascade going into a gem and were getting sentinal back, new gems, prior league improvements via atlas passive nodes. There will be plenty and its fine. People forget they said they are primarily focusing PoE2 and I would rather them do that. I'm good getting less content if in the end we get the best of both worlds of PoE1 and PoE2 once the push has concluded. But super awesome you were there Preach. Love the fact you got into PoE from watching you for years in WoW. Just bravo and keep doing what you're doing.

[@timokampwerth1996]

As long as they give players an alternative to playing through the story each and every league with every single character I'm fine. I'm willing to have an open mind about every change they want to implement but that's a must for me.

[@SnarkyLesbian]

Slow, methodical, impactful and meaty Soul-lite PoE looks absolutely amazing!

[@MrUltracet]

i fully agree, im a bit sad to hear it's just going to be that gigga speed clearing that i don't like about the first one.

[@craynak]

Dude I hope they make a ruthless version with these amazing graphics, it’s so beautiful, I don’t want to zoom, zoom everywhere. It feels more impactful.

[@georgisaksson7500]

Hmm, what was i suppose to enjoy !! 😮😮😂😊

[@Renemu]

I was so happy for a few seconds cause I thought they slowed it down , but alas .... :( My only 2 gripes with the game is doing the whole story on every single char , and the "zippy" nature of endgame ... while combat in this vid looked increadible

[@mr.q337]

I actually hope they slow it down, and you have a reaction time to dodge out of the attack. Instead of like in PoE 1 basically try to hit them before they hit you kinna thing =)))

[@BukovTervicz]

I need dis!

[@NickMK]

All the devs of all the games love Preach

[@kn0bhe4d]

The ones who are confident in their product at least, and know it's not got intentional bad design.

[@Mesisir]

I would prefer it to be slower Sadge

[@MD-ee2fq]

I had hoped that poe 2 would play a bit slower. I will try it out nonetheless but i probably wont stick with it if that is the case

[@sddulloo]

If this info is accurate, the poe 1 will be the game for you. See after seeing the demo i was like meh. No quick silver. Dark soul mechanics. Etc. Il try it but not for me. I thought well maybe as they're splitting the game in 2, poe1 would be for zoomers and poe2 for boomers. Turns out it may be the opposite. Chris is incharge of poe 1 as well so it kinda adds up.

[@RavenL1337]

@@sddulloowere in hell do you fucking think poe1 will be slower thaat poe2? I mean poe1 is SOOO FAST! That for poe1 to be “slower” that poe2 it must be that POE2 is 2 times FASTER that poe1!!!

[@Raderion77]

Straight off the bat you said some things , that aren't correct. Poe2 won't be as fast as Poe1, they said during the ceremony, that it will be a little bit slower.

[@lasingle24]

It's funny because slower is a plus for me. These games usually start looking silly when it goes too fast. That's the major turn off for me in this genre. I have fun initially then when it's no longer methodical and skill leaves in place of builds I have to stop.

[@SCHTRAM]

I'm the complete opposite. Slow just doesn't work for me in the end game. Or rather, I want it to be a choice. If i want slow methodical id like to go bossing. If i want to farm like a madman I want braindead godmode fly through maps.

[@themanhands5599]

I agree, but I'm not going to pretend it has anything to do with skill. I just lose interest when the point is to max movement speed and fight a difficulty that you can one-shot big groups with aoe. Farming has always been rewarded with kills/hr, meaning optimal is lowering the difficulty until your gear can fly through. I get bored. It starts feeling like 1's and 0's instead of my character braving the depths of baddies for the good of the world, or whatever.

[@lasingle24]

@@SCHTRAM Good point.

[@raimondibro]

So then play hardcore. 1 death, build tanks and use your mind. If you're not playing hardcore then it's not worth it to complain about slow, methodical, and intelligent gameplay

[@raimondibro]

@@PatchesFlannigan wrong person? I can't wait. Or do you struggle reading basic words? Must be an idiot or something

[@ardabaser1349]

Well I was very into the slower more dark soulsy combat where you can just die at any moment if you are not paying attention but it is fine either way for me. I just don't like how people don't want the sequal to be different.

[@Giferis]

wtf? where's the 20min gameplay???

[@63Limar]

That sucks, I wanted maybe not as close to poe2 demo but maybe middle ground between poe1 and 2

[@hub1986]

it's literally 1 year from beta testing what did ppl expect GGG have earned ppl trust it's just a showcase. Welcome back m8 btw

[@OzFugazi]

love the recap and thoughts.. the overdone facial expressions for pic though..a bit much and overused. ty.

[@ASpaceOstrich]

One wonders if the gamer is so much better when slowed down, why that isn't how they're designing it in the first place. Cause I definitely think I'd prefer it in a slower, more deliberate pace.

[@raimondibro]

12 years of updates introduces power creep and speed. The speed is fun and will be there in poe2 after a couple leagues

[@KevsShwaShwa]

Hopefully leveling is quick and you don't have to slog yourself through a story that's not great... even if it is... repeating the same exact 20 hour+ grind just to get to the good stuff is awful.

[@TKnightTea]

TBH they should slow POE2 (keep as shown at exilecon) , the POE1 speed in late-game is broken beyond limit.

[@sddulloo]

I think they are doing the opposite now. Poe 1 managed by chris wilson will become darksouls 27. And poe 2 run by some other dude will cater to the majority. So if slow is for you then in a year or two poe 1 will be there to serve

[@Tidalx]

@@sddulloo poe2 is dark souls, poe1 is an actual arpg

[@sddulloo]

@@Tidalx thats what i thought too, but that was before i watched this video

[@moosecat00]

I was kinda hoping it was going to be super slow. I was hoping that the enemies would be the dangerous part of the world, not the modifiers on the enemy.

[@Xerdar36]

It reminds me of Diablo….

[@thiagobadin5331]

But it will be good instead. D4 most problably will have a much better story arch and how it is presented by AAA cinematics etc, HOWEVER Poe2 will have much better gameplay, amazing endgame, infinite builds choices to choose from and still a good story. On top of that, Poe developers always adds leagues on top of leagues in their games, so the game will just get better and better. Meanwhile, D4 will almost 100% have a number of bad expansions and pay2win elements added overtime, making the game worse and the gap between the two games larger.

[@ghostyuki-kfpinquisitor1038]

It was based largely off Diablo 2 iirc (PoE1)

[@HumanThoughtExpression]

Sounds like you are new to ARPGs, POE is the spiritual successor to Diablo 2.

[@ragnnohab]

Dead on arrival. The time for this game to come out was a month ago when the outrage mob weren't quite sure why they hated Diablo 4, every day that passes is just one more day streamer audiences move onto something else to cry over.

[@Screamingmanta]

You sound like alot of fun.

[@BreatheMusic]

​@@ScreamingmantaRight? What a party pooper. Game is gonna be fine. Sheesh.

[@naweedock]

@@BreatheMusic i'm betting the dude is going to play the game as soon as he can. anonymity is a bitch sometimes, we won't be able see how he and many others will backtrack irl

[@BreatheMusic]

@@naweedock Of course he is. Those who talk the loudest are the ones who love whatever they're complaining about the most. If they didn't care, they wouldn't be vocal about it. Just keep moving if it doesn't appeal to you.

[@leonardceres9061]

look poe admittedly says they basically only want no lifers who like to sit and theory craft characters all day and want a super complex system. Sorry that doesn’t sound fun to me. Which is why I never played 1.

[@Paradox4g]

Just look up a build and run it like every other game. You don't need to theory craft yourself. If you're just copying a build, there's nothing complex about the system other than the skill tree appearing daunting.

[@whatareudumb]

they didn't say that at all, and not only that, it's possible to play casually. I know players that play no more than a few hours a week and still progress through the league.

[@VanByyrg]

PoE2 makes drastic changes to the game to attract a more casual audience, I have no idea where you heard "poe admittedly saying" that.

[@hkr667]

PoE players be like: "No waaay anyone can play PoE, just hop in, you don't need to prepare anything!! All you have to do is look what the current viable builds are, follow this levelling guide and then grind 600 hours to get some gear crafts. Like we said it's eeeeaasssy, noob friendliest game ever!"

[@Anonymous-mp2ln]

Just focus on life and the damage type of whatever skill or spell you focus on. It doesn't take much thinking to get through the main story.

[@ademord]

Idk but now when someone tells me “dont worry it will be this and that” i am done with the game Immediately. After Baldurs Gate 3 all other games are a joke and child’s play to me. AAA needs to step it up big time.

[@booksnbooze7796]

I'm sorry, the showcase just wasn't very good. I get it, they slowed it down. Fine. But now we're left with a taste in our mouth that is distinctly NOT POE. We got no passive tree shown,(except a small section) no new Ascendencies shown, and gameplay that was slower than Diablo 2 ACT1. Not good. Not good at all. They should be further in development. if they wanted to showcase the slow footage during the event, then fine, but the players should have had builds that allowed them to play faster/ To really show off some power. We didn't get that and, as such, PoE 1 showcase looked more fun than 2. Sad.

[@midkraft7279]

honestly, interesting that you were the only one that i heard about that describe that much indebth about just how much different than it would be in reality, these things that i am about too bring up,i have not heard from the others, even though i have heard their post exilecon reviews and takes, please give me timestamps too videos if i missed this though: gonna play as fast as poe1, pretty sure they did not say that word for word on stream. i did not hear from the live presentation that they reasoned about it "what we would be missing when we are hyper speeding through the maps", but that might just be an extrapelation thing. i also did not hear that they hampered you with gear drops. i think the only takes i heard about "being at that gear level at that point in the campaign" was other streamers take on it, and not something they comunicated too the twitch audience (this i might be wrong on though). i heard nothing about that they took this approach because people had too good chars on exilecon 1.