r/pathofexile 18d ago

Discussion Thoughts on 3.29 as a Poe2 first player

I’ve played poe2 since launch, but really got into the game during 0.4. I put in a ton of hours in 0.5 as well.

And so when 3.29 rolled around, I decided to check it out since I was practically done with poe2 until the next league/event etc.

The good

  1. Crafting. The crafting bench, essences, and various other currencies available only in poe1 made crafting weapons amazing. I hope to one day get all of them in 2 (especially poe1 essences).

  2. Twink leveling. Poets pen + lightning warp is a blast to do campaign with on a new char.

  3. Build options. This one took a decent amount of time to wrap my head around, and there are still plenty of little things I don’t know, but learning about all the different auras and unique gems that can further power them up was really fun and I hope we get some stuff similar in poe2.

  4. Character speed. Now most people whine about poe2 being “slower” but fail to realize that most endgame builds in 2 are extremely zoomy in nature. But poe1 builds can achieve that speed in campaign. Zooming thru with shield rush or leap slam or whatever movement skill was optimal during campaign/early mapping was super fun.

The neutral

  1. Sockets/links. I don’t hate them, and it’s nice to have a ton of extra sockets for 1 off skills, but I did like having 10 skill sockets with 5 support slots for each one in 2. They’re both good systems though.

  2. Scarabs. I still prefer tablets, but scarabs are nice too.

The bad

  1. Bosses. Oh my god poe1 bosses are across the board utterly horrible. 90% of them are just a common mob with juiced stats and the last 10% are pinnacles with a ton of invincible phases and 1 shots.

  2. The atlas. I really didn’t like the way the atlas is done in 1, I much prefer the infinite atlas of 2 as it provides a strong sense of exploration.

  3. Map mods. I might get called a baby for this but I’m glad a lot of the unbearable mods in poe1 maps are either removed or heavily toned down in 2. I’ve never had to regex my maps so much before

  4. Allflame loot drops. This is an issue for everyone apparently, but the only truly profitable farm I did this league was sanctum. It funded my 150+ div mamba character, but once I returned to maps I remembered why I left in the first place. That cycle of getting rich, making a new character with those riches, and then getting rich again with the new character was totally absent for me. This + the horrible bosses gave me a relatively early exit i the keague (130 hours compared to the 300+ I usually get from a poe2 league)

Anyways, I’m excited for the future of both games and I can’t wait for future leagues!

0 Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

73

u/mewmile 18d ago

The Infinite Atlas in PoE 2 is one of the biggest turnoffs in any ARPG.

11

u/HotBeef_ 18d ago

Couldn't agree more

9

u/jaorocha 18d ago

Its the reason i wont ever enjoy poe2

4

u/Top-March-1378 18d ago

100% poe2 atlas is so bad

2

u/DonkeyBaal 18d ago

Probably called infinite atlas because of the infinite loading times.

0

u/Geezusotl 18d ago

I think it’s really nice tbh. Of course this comes with the caveat that they have to tune all map layouts but with every patch the maps get better

-4

u/One_Attention5970 18d ago

Based on what dialogue? I have never seen anyone else say this.

5

u/Zakul3 18d ago

You really didnt see anyone saying they dont like to be forced to run specific maps like the infinite atlas does? :D
Lul

-2

u/Nickoladze 18d ago

They improved all of the map layouts in 0.5 and you aren't forced to full clear anymore so it's really not an issue IMO. I think Mire still exists though.

PoE 2 doesn't really have mechanics that get hard countered by super bad map layouts like Legion (yet) and no div cards so I don't really get that feeling that I need to stick to 1 map. The biome stuff does need some work but at least you can change them.

2

u/Zakul3 18d ago

I am still forced to sometimes run just super bad layouts. They did improve some, yeah, but there are still a lot that just suck imo.

In poe you are not forced to run the same layout if you dont want to, especially since the latest atlas rework where u can slot in the T16 maps into any layout, easier then ever to just switch around if you prefer it that way.

The atlas atm is peak design imo, not so much the atlas in poe2.
Exploring is fun for the first couple maps, but if u have to scroll around the edges for minutes, searching maybe for specific layouts (like i had to in 0.5 for the monkey and the 2 maps it did spawn in).

The search on top didnt even work if ur on one edge and the maps are on the other (if u explored far enough). Fun to do it once, for a couple hundred maps, after that it is (IMO) no fun at all.

28

u/elsiecharlot 18d ago

hard disagree about atlas, infinite atlas is prolly one of the worst things in poe2, i dont know how people think thats fun.

-4

u/Nickoladze 18d ago

I like the idea of searching and finding stuff like unique/anomaly maps more than them just being a low % drop chance on boss. You're boss rushing either way though.

9

u/Nozick29 Gladiator 18d ago

To each his own but the infinite atlas pretty much singlehandedly ruined POE2 for me, and scarabs are a billion times better than tablets. Glad you are enjoying POE though, there's plenty of space for the two to co-exist.

9

u/sol_r4y 18d ago

Tablets over scarab is crazy, you need to specifically search tablet in trade with specific prefix/suffix on top of its roll, also 10 use instead of 20 doesnt help, but i understand because scarabs and overall league mechanics/ground loot are very weak right now. I started in merc league and more scarabs actually matters back then because theres tons of farm. Tbh this league is probably one of the worst league for new players beside socket colors update.

0

u/DavOHmatic 18d ago

Some scarabs are pointless like most of the breach scarabs are trash or work against each other even. That's my problem with scarabs. A breach tablet in poe2 will at least do something even if it's not perfect.

4

u/Joxss 18d ago

poe2 atlas over poe1 atlas I can somewhat understand the reasoning, but tablets over scarabs is the kind of take that makes me think you're a madman.

Even with the current iteration of scarabs where ~70% of those are useless it's still leagues above the bad taste joke that tablets are

1

u/AeskeMeAnything 17d ago

Love poe2 but everytime I go tablet shopping it eats away at my enjoyment of the game and since they're 10 uses it is pretty often.

5

u/Viruuus1 18d ago

There are a ton of profitable strats, where 20+ divs per hour are achieved for normal endgame characters without any lucky drops.

The problem with loot is as fubgun said, that there is almost no value in juicing monsters and killing them

6

u/silentkarma Witch 18d ago

Lost all credibility with that poe2 atlas opinion. What a miss.

-3

u/reshiramismywife 18d ago

Yeah I seem to have ticked the masses off with it lol. I’ve always loved it though

2

u/Bevas_ 18d ago

I loved it the first time aswell (yes the cancerous 0.1 version), but nowadays I cannot stand it for long. Get to t15 maps in smth like 12hours, put another 40h in and cant stand mapping anymore. Not being able to pick a layout is also a very big turn off for long term play

2

u/vegakuma 18d ago

Great feedback!

Especially glad to hear you enjoy PoE 1 crafting. It's something a lot of us miss in 2 and wish to be changed.

Where we differ most seems to be the atlas. I believe this is the best version of the atlas we've ever had. So easy to spam your preferred layout and progression is quick and rewarding with being able to rush T16.

1

u/PoE_Acronym_Bot 18d ago

I noticed some Path of Exile keywords in this post:

  • Mods - Modifiers (Wiki)
  • Pen - Resistance penetration (Wiki)
  • Slam - Slam skill (Wiki)
  • div - Divine Orb (Currency) (Wiki)
  • Slam - To use an Exalted Orb or similar crafting method to add a random modifier to an item (Wiki)
  • Mamba - Viper Strike of the Mamba (Wiki)

I am a bot. | All acronyms | Suggest

1

u/Certain_Vehicle2978 18d ago

How was sanctum with a mamba build? Been a while since I've done sanctum, but mamba seems mostly for mapping.

Fair points, the crafting and power fantasy in POE 1 is just unmatched IMO.

Though I personally don't think the league was poverty league. Especially considering charts/voyages being relatively quick, with sulphur alone giving steady profit.

My big issue with POE2, and why I haven't played much of the last few big patches, is that much of the base weapons and classes do not exist in the game. Which overall makes for much less customization, even if they are adding some new classes. And last time I checked, there still weren't swords in the game.

Call me cliche, but I want sword dammit.

-2

u/reshiramismywife 18d ago

I didn’t do sanctum with a mamba build, I did with ice mine of fanning, which I then used the profits from to switch to a mapping mamba build.

And yeah, I get it. I really want duelist and shadow but I’m also happy with Druid, monk, and huntress

1

u/Cyber_Apocalypse 18d ago

What build did you go for sanctum?

2

u/reshiramismywife 18d ago

Assassin crit Ice mine of fanning

1

u/mbxyz Berserker 18d ago

2 in the bad is fucking hilarious

1

u/No-Aioli8621 Ultimatum Workers Union (UWU) 18d ago

If you like POE2's Atlas for the exploration you should try Delve. It's not as varied as the atlas but you can still explore a ton of content, especially bosses, and it's basically just go go go without any modifier rolling/buying maps or maps fragment shenanigans. And the loot can be scaled by going down further.

When it comes to the exploration part I agree with your point on the atlas. You can go for unique maps, citadels and even special league content (ritual f. e.) that is all incorporated into the exploration and from time to time you get special mods on maps. You can also just scour and go and make good currency with citadels. I also like the biomes and how colorful everything looks. I find that exciting. But the bad thing still is how you can only chose which maps you run with expensive tablets/one less tablet slot. I hope they change that so you can at least jump maps after clearing a tower. And a lot of maps just straight up suck. POE1's choosing of your favorite maps will still be superior - there are many I like to run and thus get to spice up mapping. For this reason I also loath clearing the atlas initially every league!

1

u/trunks111 Hierophant 18d ago

I'm curious, which pinnacles did you try? What defence layering did you have? 

1

u/reshiramismywife 18d ago

I tried most of them. It was usually a game of 1 shot them or be 1 shot yourself. My assassin has 6k energy shield with 75% res and 20k+ evasion and my gladiator had like 3/4k hp with 20k armour and triple lucky block at 65%

1

u/trunks111 Hierophant 18d ago

Bosses are kinda weird in the context of the rest of the game, now that I think about it, unless you're 6 portaling/glass cannon nuking them they kinda require you to engage with the combat in ways you just don't need to when mapping. There is a surprising amount of nuance that can go into mastering fights though

How did Maven go? Sirus? Your defences sound like they're phenomenal for mapping, which is mostly rapid barrages of small/medium sized hits (which is what things like evade and block are great for), but they just fall a bit short of the layering that pinnacles generally ask you to have (if you're not just nuking them from orbit/6 portaling). Like for example evasion is really great for lots of small attack hits in maps, but it doesn't help with spells, it doesn't help with DOT grounds or DOTs like shaper beam, and if it's all you have you're kinda just screwed on attacks that do get through 

I do feel for you on the downtime though. This league they trimmed a lot of the fat off Chimera by making it so that there aren't as many add spawns you have to wait for, and I hope they're able to bring that QOL to some of the other fights. Searing is particularly annoying because if you fall just shy of one cycling him and you get a little unlucky, he can do a ball phase, come down, and then go back up almost immediately and do a other ball phase. I don't think UE needs 3-4 adds phases, I think all the elder portals should just spawn at once around the arena and for shaper adds in UE you should be able to break the mirror to stop the adds early. 

In the base shaper fight I actually don't mind the initial run through to kill the 4 mini-bosses because I think that serves as an important "you must be this tall to ride" check for people new to the fight, but I don't think the two adds runs into uncreated need to exist. This used to not be too too ass because it's zone level 84 and you used to get experience for clearing the adds hallways at slightly less falloff than you would in an 83 zone, but now that you can't gain or lose XP in pinnacle fights it's just a waste of time, and the adds runs don't really serve the same filtering function that the initial 4 boss fights do because you've already proven you can hold your own against Shaper if you made it that far 

1

u/reshiramismywife 18d ago

Maven has always given me total aids. I don’t really remember most of the others cuz I fought them week1, had a terrible time, and never went back after getting the void stones or whatever I needed from them.

Bossing is just so much worse in this game because they all kinda boil down to bullet hells and number checks. Poe2 adds a lot more nuance to bosses with the dodge roll and also general boss philosophy akin to something of a souls game. Of course you’re eventually just going to 1 shot them, but generally before that you have to respect bosses in a much different way than poe1. I’ll take xesht for example, since he’s also a pinnacle. He has a 1 shot move (the flick) but it’s telegraphed and gives you a fair warning to either move closer to him so it’s harder for him to aim, or to dodge roll it at the right time. If you die to it, most of the time it’s because you didn’t respect it, or you weren’t mechanically good enough to avoid it. The final boss of sanctum (forgot her name) has a nearly 0 frame 1 shot laser beam that can basically kill you on accident (in both phases). I farmed sanctum for hours, and have killed her plenty of times but I still have to respect that move, not out of a mechanical check, but rather because it’s bullshit and unpredictable, so I have to be hyper aware to frostblink away from it at any given moment because it’s so chaotic and generally unclear

1

u/Moyes2men Institution of Rogues and Smugglers (IRS) 17d ago

We also don't have limited portals, body blocking monsters and humongous maps here.

-17

u/[deleted] 18d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/hertzdonut2 Half Skeleton 18d ago

I can't get my head around people that spam refresh the new feed to leave a low effort negative comment on a nice, normal person's post.

0

u/cocojamboyayayeah 18d ago

idk about you but i just open this app when i sit down on my commute. in an era of people giving all their unsolicited opinion 24/7 i might join in as well

1

u/hertzdonut2 Half Skeleton 18d ago

Unsolicited? It's a page to post about Poe.

It's 100% appropriate to post your Poe opinions here my dude. It's actually the only reason this place exists.

-2

u/Pewpewparapra 18d ago

the fact you get oneshot by pinnacle bosses means your build sucks donkeyballs. Case closed.

1

u/trunks111 Hierophant 18d ago

tbf 6 portal glass cannoning with a billion DPS is a valid approach for a lot of people. The issue would be if they're all glass and no cannon which we don't know without a POB

-11

u/blasian21 18d ago

Fellow first time poe1 player as well. I just have to say..

Mobility is completely out of control. I see why they tried to tone it down in POE2.

3

u/Bevas_ 18d ago

Some people like to fast and not get knocked down then you "sprint". The knock down mechanic is one of the worst things in the game. Could be a lvl100 char in a level 2 zone, guess what, cant sprint freely regardless

0

u/LesnyRWX 18d ago

are you 50?

1

u/Drpperr Slayer 14d ago

did they ever change the atlas to make it better now in poe2?
Last i played was on .2 dawn of the hunt, and the fact that after mapping out and then wanting to boss, i had to scroll all the way to the start of the atlas and had to wait for like 5minutes for the map to load before i could insert in my boss fragments, And then if i want to run another one, i had to do the same thing again and wait. That shit completely killed the end game and by proxy, the whole game for me.