GET RID OF XP LOSS! Not fun at all, bad game design!

Here's an improved version of your text with grammatical corrections and enhanced readability while keeping the original frustration and tone intact:

I'm stuck at level 87 and can't get past 42%. Every time I attempt a new level, I die either due to unknown factors or because I'm playing with a controller and it always puts you in undesirable situations, one particularly frustrating death happened when the damn bell spawned behind the foundry boss, and my attack auto-targeted it, sending me into the lava. Very fun, right?

On top of that, I sometimes get disconnected because controllers lose connection intermittently. This has led to situations where I’m mid-fight, get disconnected, and return only to find myself dead. Sometimes, I don’t even know what killed me.

The game often becomes erratic with frequent stutters, especially during fights. These stutters are a death sentence, one second, I’m fine, and the next, my health drops to zero in an instant for reasons I can’t even figure out!

I spent around 400,000 gold respeccing everything to go CI. While my character improved slightly in some ways, it became worse overall, I lost significant damage, my evasion and armor dropped (I’m playing a monk), and now I’m far less tanky. I had to try it because I couldn’t figure out what was one-shotting me, but now I’m stuck and can’t afford to go back.

To make matters worse, the game penalizes you by taking 10% of your XP every time you die. On top of that, you lose your waystone, and finding another level 15 one is an absolute pain. I can’t make any meaningful progress anymore. Who thought this was fun?

This is becoming a dealbreaker for me. I only have a few hours to play, and the XP loss, combined with the punishing mechanics, is making me want to quit. I’m not enjoying the game anymore. Every time I find a level 15 waystone, I feel frustrated instead of excited because I know it’s only a matter of time before I die to something completely out of my control.

To top it all off, I’ve spent more than half my currency and gold trying to go CI, and it didn’t even make things better, if anything, it made them worse. Now I’m stuck, and all the progress I made over three weeks has been completely destroyed by these not fun and extremely punishing mechanics.

Its staying in the game, devs made it clear with the announcement

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Mashgesture#2912 เขียน:

Its staying in the game, devs made it clear with the announcement

I do not understand why they will not create another league for more casual players, one with no penalties, no respec costs, and fewer punishing mechanics. Keep the current and Hardcore leagues as they are, but add a separate league for players who cannot dedicate countless hours yet still want to enjoy the game.

The current system is a frustrating experience and no longer fun. Diablo 4 was disappointing, and I had high hopes for Path of Exile 2, but these punishing mechanics are a complete deal breaker.

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leoviale#3633 เขียน:

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Mashgesture#2912 เขียน:

Its staying in the game, devs made it clear with the announcement

I don't understand why won't they create another League for more casual players that has no penalties, no respec cost, etc.
Keep the current and Hardcore leagues as they are, but make another one for us players that can't spend countless hours playing, and still want to enjoy the game.

Maybe they don't want more casual players here? I dunno but PoE 1 is more casual game, why not try that?

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Sakanabi#6664 เขียน:

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leoviale#3633 เขียน:

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Mashgesture#2912 เขียน:

Its staying in the game, devs made it clear with the announcement

I don't understand why won't they create another League for more casual players that has no penalties, no respec cost, etc.
Keep the current and Hardcore leagues as they are, but make another one for us players that can't spend countless hours playing, and still want to enjoy the game.

Maybe they don't want more casual players here? I dunno but PoE 1 is more casual game, why not try that?

I did try it and quit for the same reasons. On top of that, it is far more complex, and honestly, I do not want to spend days relearning how to play a game after months or years of not touching it. I have 42 yo man, I have work and family to take care of too. I play games to actually disconnect and have fun, not frustration.

When I saw the Path of Exile 2 announcements, it seemed like they were trying to appeal to more casual players. With everything being revamped from the ground up, I thought they might address these frustrations that casual players often experience.

Creating separate leagues would be the simplest solution to keep everyone happy. Unfortunately, it seems that is not the direction they are taking.

The game is not casual friendly. Far too much of the game forces you to visit websites or watch videos on YouTube since the game itself fails miserably at teaching or guiding you at all in terms of the complex mechanics behind everything. This is just extremely poor game design. They eluded to that on the livestream, but it was an understatement. On top of that its punishing - especially once you get into mapping.

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Renegade_Archer#1313 เขียน:

The game is not casual friendly. Far too much of the game forces you to visit websites or watch videos on YouTube since the game itself fails miserably at teaching or guiding you at all in terms of the complex mechanics behind everything. This is just extremely poor game design. They eluded to that on the livestream, but it was an understatement. On top of that its punishing - especially once you get into mapping.

This was exactly what bothered me about the first Path of Exile. If you did not follow a meta or near-meta build, it became impossible to progress or enjoy the game. Eventually, the XP loss is what completely ruined it for me.

It seems like the same issue exists here. Oh well, I will not spend any more money and supporting a team on something that clings to such a closed-minded approach when the problem could easily be fixed with solutions like separate leagues. There is no point in keeping the game frustrating and punishing just for the sake of it.

How is it bad game design. I've seen a lot people throwing around this term but no one is expanding on it.

So how is it bad game design and what is good game design?

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hboi#6131 เขียน:

How is it bad game design. I've seen a lot people throwing around this term but no one is expanding on it.

So how is it bad game design and what is good game design?

It depends, but let us use the mechanics mentioned above as an example. Punishing systems like XP loss, loss of maps or waystones, and trials become bad game design when most deaths result from things outside the player’s control. These include hitches, poor controller support, disconnections, unexplained deaths, one-shot kills, or lag and rubberbanding. Such mechanics create frustration and feel unfair, driving many players, myself included, to quit because there is no progression, only wasted time.

These systems target a narrow audience. For more casual or regular players, and I spend a lot of my free time gaming with over 350 hours in PoE2, they create resentment instead of enjoyment. Constantly worrying about losing scarce XP because of uncontrollable factors is more torturous than fun.

Take the waystone system as another example. Requiring players to farm waystones just to progress feels unnecessary and punishing, because death mean having to AGAIN, go back and lose progress since you have to find it again hopefully. On the other hand, I enjoyed the campaign because it allowed retries after failure without severely punishing me.

The respeccing system is another issue. It costs a ton of gold to respec, which discourages players from testing or changing builds. In my case, I wasted three weeks of progress because my build change left my character stuck, and now I cannot revert. That is not fun or rewarding, it is frustrating.

These are just examples of bad game design. Are they critical? I think so. If some players enjoy these punishing mechanics, that is fine, but they are not for everyone. A lot of recent forum posts reflect similar frustrations, showing this is not an isolated sentiment.

Just git gud man:

Respec bad build to a good one. Change gear to a better one. Don't play high-tiered maps if your current gear and build can't apprehend them. It's not hard to progress here.