Path of Exile 2 (2024)

Path of Exile 2 arrived with significant hype, largely because Path of Exile has long been praised as a deep alternative to Diablo IV and the broader ARPG genre. I purchased beta access out of curiosity. The promise of more dynamic combat and updated visuals was appealing, especially given its accessible pricing model.

Initially, it works. The presentation is strong, the combat feels weightier, and the build possibilities appear expansive. But playing solo without a strict build guide quickly exposed a structural issue. Around the second act, the difficulty spiked dramatically. My character simply could not progress. The game effectively demands external research, optimized builds, and often trading to remain viable. That level of dependency on meta-knowledge is not something I find enjoyable.

Beyond that, once the first hours pass, the underlying structure becomes clearer. The entire system revolves around loot acquisition cycles. Character progression feels less like meaningful development and more like adjusting variables to increase drop efficiency. The loop resembles a slot machine: repetition, reward spikes, diminishing returns, and escalating effort to recreate the initial rush. Crafting systems compound this by layering additional randomness within randomness.

While the game does not aggressively monetize in the way some other titles do, the core design is built around compulsion loops. For some players, that structure is engaging. For me, it feels hollow. The breadth of systems is undeniable, but the depth often resolves into optimization of probability rather than creative expression.

I understand the appeal. But ultimately, the design philosophy behind it left me disengaged rather than impressed.

This game is just as bad or even worse than Diablo IV. The only ones who might enjoy it more are those who’ve already sunk a ton of hours into POE 1, but it’s absolutely impossible to compete against people who somewhat understand the game — even the experts still don’t fully get it because the game explains NOTHING. It expects you to just understand everything by default. And don’t even get me started on the latest update.

Sure, it could improve, but I played both major patches (launch and 0.2.0), and it feels like they’re only thinking about veteran players. They’re not welcoming to new players at all, nor do they seem to care about bringing in fresh ones.

As for me, unless there’s a DRASTIC change, I’m not touching this game again. I’ve got a character with 80% evasion and 75% resistance to everything, and I’m getting one-shot outside of end-game content. It makes no sense how things work, and even following guides doesn’t help much because no one — in or out of the game — can properly explain how the mechanics really function. It’s all just trial and error.

If you’re planning to play solo or don’t have a friend who really understands the game and can help you, please don’t spend A SINGLE CENT on this game. I’m begging you. You’ll suffer like I did for 150 hours.

It's impressive how refined and good this feels even in early access. I ended up spending almost 100 hours on one character. I went Titan Warrior who could eventually hold 2 handed maces as one handed maces. Which rules.

I played POE 1 for the first time recently during the Necropolis season and had fun with it. That gave me the necessary experience and understanding to have a good start with this playthrough. I avoided builds and guides until I reached the end game and started having some issues with clearing. First playthrough will vary significantly with difficulty. My damage felt pretty low and some boss fights honestly took me 10 minutes to beat. It was thrilling and engaging particularly how each boss has it's own mechanics and movesets. Making each feel like a spectacle. The game is also heavily balanced around dodge rolling which does make boss fights feel more like a dark souls game. On the Cruel difficulty though, I had a big enough power spike that previous bosses that gave me issues on my first playthrough were a cake walk. You don't need to learn mechanics if a boss just dies fast enough!

Once you hit about level 70ish you start losing XP when you die. This may be a turn off for the more casual gamers, which is fair. Especially since you'll firmly be in the end game. Mapping I have mixed feelings about. It sucks how much of a grind it can be to get started, whether that's you needing better gear via trading, or need to completely respec your build to make it viable. Not every class and build is viable in the end game. Even with max resistances, sometimes you'll just get one shot. Which doesn't feel great. But that's something that always happens in these types of games. I reached t14 maps and while trying to clear those maps I got unlucky and one shot multiple times resulting in me losing all t14 map tokens... this sucks because that means I need to grind through lower tiers to find enough tokens to either make t14 or get lucky... I don't really like this mechanic of RNG for end game progression, but ARPGs have always been about grinding.

Either way I was thoroughly entertained and challenged for nearly 100 hours. There's so much in this game already and they plan to add so much more. Including 3 more acts and more playable classes. It has issues, such as how poor armor is as a stat or how you rely on RNG to level up your skill gems (I do like how skill gems aren't tied to gear like in POE 1, but it does suck you can't just level the skill gems like you could in POE 1). The way to get Ascendancy points also feels poorly balanced. Some classes will have no issues with it because they are both ranged and deal heavy damage. Me being a big dumb mace wielding barbarian had issues. The main issue is with the mechanic of "honor" wherein you have a bar that drains each time you get hit. Given I'm melee, it's near impossible to kill enemies and not get hit... they have released some balancing which has helped, but in general my DPS doesn't feel high enough to be successful with it. I've unlocked 6/8 points and the last 2 felt attainable but I need to grind and get lucky with more tokens to even try it. I'm fine with challenge, I don't like how punishing failure is though. Having limited tries and losing experience only to have to grind for awhile to even give it another shot feels a bit harsh.

Still this feels like a real evolution from the original and beloved Diablo 2. The devs clearly love that game and have refined their own formula since the creation of POE1. What they offer now is a highly polished and varied experience that is deep and challenging.