Five Weeks into 0.2.0, POE2 is Down 93.2% Players All Time & 83.9% from Patch Launch

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Grohuf#4121 เขียน:

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ZungleBoogie#1892 เขียน:

Tell you what, if i wanted to play a "souls-like" game.. i'll play Dark Souls.


I wanna play a ARPG and try builds and loot gearing optimization if I wanted to get fancy.

POE1 established so much systems (with its failures from their release years ago that was slowly improved) but I still don't understand the direction of all the abandoned core-player-game interaction by choosing not to include them in POE2

Dark Souls is ARPG. If you want to play PoE1 or Diablo clone then write this.

well you're cooked if you're taking the time to comment how DS is a "ARPG" you know exactly what I mean.. and also DS its not a ARPG its a RPG

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Kraythax#2592 เขียน:

Wow some contentious replies. There are three primary groups in this game.

1. THe "fans" who think the game is fine and no problem. They use lots and lots of "copium" like "Its only EA" when GGG has been doing this for 12y and should know better. These people are constantly attacking people not for content but for superficial or personal reasons.

2. The this game is going the wrong direction crew. I am in this group. They are either long time GGG supporters or other well-intentioned players that are willing to speak up because they care about the game succeeding. They get attacked and flamed a lot, called all sorts of names but they are there to make the game better so they shrug it off.

3. Those that have left.

Group 3 has 95% of the player base from launch. I would say of those left, 80% are in group 1.

Yet the numbers keep going down.

It's honestly hilarious how Group 1 keeps blindly defending “the vision”, acting like it’s totally normal to lose 90% of the playerbase in just one month.
They keep repeating the same nonsense: “If you want zoom-zoom gameplay, go back to PoE 1.”
Meanwhile, PoE 2 is literally built on copy-pasted PoE 1 mechanics. Entire foundation of the game is still about speed-clearing.

You can’t take a game designed around zoom-zoom mechanics and suddenly force “tactical” gameplay on top of it.
It just doesn’t work. It’s like trying to turn a Formula 1 car into a tank — conceptually broken from the start.

You can’t dodge-parry a giant crowd of mobs moving at 200% speed and hitting you twice per second.
You can’t triple monster HP, neuter player damage, and still call that fun.
You can’t have build diversity when you’ve gutted 60% of the classes.

Go ahead — try Pathfinder with Concoction, Infernalist with Demon Form, or the Chaluya build.
It’s completely unplayable.

And please, don’t give me the “it’s just EA” excuse.
These builds worked, more or less, in 0.1 — still in EA, by the way. The only difference now is that they were destroyed by one stupid patch.

OP, the amount of threads you are making about how much POE 2 sucks is concerning. Have you considered just not playing it until full release? It doesn’t look like you’ve enjoyed POE 1 much, either, looking at your challenge history so maybe it’s not just a POE 2 problem.

I mean no offense and I don’t particularly care for POE 2, but come on, this is unnecessary.

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Kraythax#2592 เขียน:

Wow some contentious replies. There are three primary groups in this game.

1. THe "fans" who think the game is fine and no problem. They use lots and lots of "copium" like "Its only EA" when GGG has been doing this for 12y and should know better. These people are constantly attacking people not for content but for superficial or personal reasons.

2. The this game is going the wrong direction crew. I am in this group. They are either long time GGG supporters or other well-intentioned players that are willing to speak up because they care about the game succeeding. They get attacked and flamed a lot, called all sorts of names but they are there to make the game better so they shrug it off.

3. Those that have left.

Group 3 has 95% of the player base from launch. I would say of those left, 80% are in group 1.

Yet the numbers keep going down.

I'm in between groups 2 and 3. I'm want the game to succeed and be great, but can't copium so hard as group 1 does, the game has major flaws and it made the group 3 so atractive. There is other good games in the market to taste while PoE 2 isn't "finished".

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Galtrovan#5344 เขียน:

The problem with your entire post is that GGG implied POE2 was ready, with an expected 6 month EA window for feedback, and full release expectation of June 2025. And here we were are on the verge of June 2025, with a completely unfinished product: half the classes are missing, half the ascendancy classes are missing, all the existing ascendancy classes are garbage, the passive skill is terrible, there is no crafting (it's ALL gambling), items drops are terrible, item bases are missing, end game is terrible, monster density is terrible, movement speed is terrible, the skill gem system is terrible, zones sizes are too large, the campaign is too long, hunting for rares to get loot is terrible, along with much more not being good. Skill and monster damage needs balanced as well, but GGG couldn't even manage to accomplish this in the almost last 6 months either.

December of 2024, I said POE2 was in such a bad state that it wasn't going to be ready for 1.0 release until 2027. But given lack of progress over the last almost 6 months in accomplishing anything at all, it's going to more closer to 2028 before this game is ready. And this, the difference between what GGG implied the state of POE2 was at EA release vs the reality of things, is the reason for all our expectations going up in flames, the forum being on fire, and all the negative reviews. Additionally, there is also the fact that POE2 is not POE. POE2 is something else completely, nothing representative of what was originally revealed at the first Exile Con.

+1 That!
GGG promised something and so far has not delivered anything of sort. Chris bailing out from a back door without a farewell statement speaks value about PoE 2 direction.

Game is in a horrible state. There isnt much to say about it.

The Combat works for the Campaign and even there it might be fun to do once or twice then it becomes a slog. Everyone who liked it basically did it for the first or second time. Most other people simply dont like it.

> The number of lessons from POE1 Un-learned is just staggering

Sir you must've missed the Exilecon panel where Jonathan said he hasn't played PoE since Legion.

You can't unlearn that which you've never learned. We're stuck with a game made by someone who's last experienced a modern ARPG in 2016.

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KeiranPOE#4565 เขียน:

OP, the amount of threads you are making about how much POE 2 sucks is concerning. Have you considered just not playing it until full release? It doesn’t look like you’ve enjoyed POE 1 much, either, looking at your challenge history so maybe it’s not just a POE 2 problem.

I mean no offense and I don’t particularly care for POE 2, but come on, this is unnecessary.

I think he has valid points and there is nothing preventing him from making more threads about it. Youre comment wont change that and i dont think he cares.

If you wanna criticise him maybe criticise the actual points he makes if you disagree.
Just saying wait for full release is btw. not a good argument. For the simple reason that if you dont point out issues they wont get feedbakc on those issues and wont be able to change it or evaluate it at least. Even if the threads you make are duplicates. Every point of critique, unless its just insults, is useful.

Furthermore they already treat this Early Access like a full released game and it doesnt look good. If this 0.2 Patch is an outlook at how the full release goes, then yeah its not being a fun one.

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iAxX#0490 เขียน:

> The number of lessons from POE1 Un-learned is just staggering

Sir you must've missed the Exilecon panel where Jonathan said he hasn't played PoE since Legion.

You can't unlearn that which you've never learned. We're stuck with a game made by someone who's last experienced a modern ARPG in 2016.

That honestly staggering.

Okay found the interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cIO-yhfI4&t=2s

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Kraythax#2592 เขียน:

Wow some contentious replies. There are three primary groups in this game.

1. THe "fans" who think the game is fine and no problem. They use lots and lots of "copium" like "Its only EA" when GGG has been doing this for 12y and should know better. These people are constantly attacking people not for content but for superficial or personal reasons.

2. The this game is going the wrong direction crew. I am in this group. They are either long time GGG supporters or other well-intentioned players that are willing to speak up because they care about the game succeeding. They get attacked and flamed a lot, called all sorts of names but they are there to make the game better so they shrug it off.

3. Those that have left.

Group 3 has 95% of the player base from launch. I would say of those left, 80% are in group 1.

Yet the numbers keep going down.

I would add the 4th one: those who say they are part of a group but actions speak otherwise.

You demonstrated multiple times in your threads that you are not open to discussion, but open to validation. Anyone who doesn't support your claims is deemed as toxic. By the way you yourself use a lot of words that just fuel the toxic environment (in this forum/section), are you exonerated of those accusations?

You were presented with facts, solutions, you chose to not listen and, guess what, mock those who dared to even question your statements, and demanded videos, and when told that you are deflecting by having such a request because it has, literally, no use due to how this discussion went and your standing to always come on top at all costs, again you went and accused that they have ill intent.

Now you are trying again to dismiss and paint people who came with arguments against your gameplay and build decisions as not thoughtful as the bad people, the people who actually destroy the game.

And regarding your prestigious second group, very few people of that group actually come with actual feedback and reasoning, rest is just pseud-observational feedback driven by hateful emotions and recycling same ideas.

If you were so well-intentioned why didn't you propose some actual solutions? Any idea to help GGG (devs) fix the "mess" they made. Why didn't you take your time to write a well structured post where you would dissect the bad things and propose, again, solutions? Ah, is easy to just bash the game and the work devs made and call it insufficient, not worthy of anything good but shame, after all they are 1 on 1 with Tencent, right? They are sell outs now!

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KeiranPOE#4565 เขียน:

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iAxX#0490 เขียน:

> The number of lessons from POE1 Un-learned is just staggering

Sir you must've missed the Exilecon panel where Jonathan said he hasn't played PoE since Legion.

You can't unlearn that which you've never learned. We're stuck with a game made by someone who's last experienced a modern ARPG in 2016.

That honestly staggering.

Okay found the interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cIO-yhfI4&t=2s

Is there any chance of getting the time stamp for that comment? It's a two-hour long video. ='[.]'=

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enslavedemperor#5410 เขียน:

If you were so well-intentioned why didn't you propose some actual solutions? Any idea to help GGG (devs) fix the "mess" they made. Why didn't you take your time to write a well structured post where you would dissect the bad things and propose, again, solutions? Ah, is easy to just bash the game and the work devs made and call it insufficient, not worthy of anything good but shame, after all they are 1 on 1 with Tencent, right? They are sell outs now!

Honestly, its not players responsibility to make / propose solutions. Not only the solutions will most likely to be very biased, it also GGG responsibility to create solutions. Solutions that made by players will always leaning toward something that benefit them the most, be it on the spectrum of making the game slower, or in the middle, or in the fast zoom-zoom style. Players will thinking solutions based on their own perspective as a player, not as a company or development cycle-wise perspective.

And also there is already a solution which is to release 3.26 PoE 1. PoE 1 players can keep playing PoE 1, and PoE 2 players can stay with the current state of game in PoE 2. If you want chill braindead zooming gameplay, you have PoE 1. You want "tactical challenging, moment to moment combat", you have PoE 2. That was the plan, and it was received kinda well by the community back when they announce the separation between PoE 1 and 2.

And GGG is no longer a small company, Tencent owns 100% of GGG share and it is GGG backing. GGG should be held in high standard, and that means they are the one that should do most of the jobs in addressing player's feedback. Doesn't matter whether it is simply "game is bad" , or "game is good". That is still a feedback and its GGG job to dissect that sentiment on why it is like that, and how to improve it or maintain it.