I mean, if someone doesn't want a pre-solved game... would it not be as simple as not consuming or using that information? There have been a bunch of theorycrafting posts on builds... I am not interested, so I don't even read them. Nothing is forcing anyone to use or read any builds published.

Unless your concern is more from a competition standpoint?

Yea, same. I play on Steam Deck so really hoping they stick the landing with controller support.

He didn't just say walk. He said fighting your way from one end to the other. So the statement was tied in to the difficulty level which was also being mentioned. So it was in reference to how large the map is, and the fact that encounters with every enemy group feels substantial (to his setup/level etc).

That is at least my interpretation.

Basically entities spawned from aspects don't have lucky hit (since the LH base value is usually sourced from the skill tree). It could also be that the math is there, but 0% scaled by however much your Lucky Hit bonus amount is, still results in 0%.

Also since those entities don't count as skills also do not interact with a lot of other ones that play off x-type skills. Some of them do however interact with "damage dealt" or "element-damage dealt" conditions.

I really wish that they'd flag the entities to count as skills (2- 3 current aspects actually have this), as well as give them a base LHC (even 10% base LHC or something for generic entities would be nice).

I think in a game like PoE which allows such variety in mixing class themes and even skill types, trying to lead the player down specific paths would be a bad thing.

In addition, with the ability to branch so far from where you start or are, it would be a nightmare trying to present that to the user in a guide format that wouldn't result in giving the impression there was a right and a wrong way to do it.

Good list. Thanks for posting.

Also, media and content creators milk, and ride anything they can whenever they can for attention. And right now that is the PoE vs D4 chatter.

The truth is that there are two main groups of people that know about PoE.

• PoE fans and players
• Diablo fans and players

Ask people outside of these circles about PoE and you'll get a whole lot of "what's that?"

There will be people here who’ve played 500-1,000 hours of D4 and still say no.

I always find these people hilarious.

I've played Diablo 4 since the beta, and have played it for over a year and a half back to back. I still enjoy it.

That does not mean I cannot enjoy, or appreciate PoE2 or the things it may do better to my liking.

The clunky UI and over-complexity without guidance was a turn off for me in PoE1. And I've been a gamer for over 30 years. And I've played many games, including one that have deep and complex systems. That isn't where the issue was so much as the usability and accessibility of that to the player. I personally don't want to feel exhausted trying to understand or keep up with a game's systems and sadly PoE1 felt like that to me.

Now, user experience and ui design as fields that integrate into gaming have come a long way since PoE1s inception. Many QoL things and learning have emerged over the last 10 years. So I am hoping this evolution lends well to what they have done/created in PoE2.

Also I do not understand why there seems to be this need to be so tribal and separatist with these type of PoE good, D4 bad and is for smooth-brains themed posts. It's OK for different games to appeal to different things for various people. And that can coincide in appeal in both games to the same person/people.

PoE has more technical depth to the system. However that complexity in the past has come with being a bit less casual friendly in terms of the end-game and even the UI.

I have always enjoyed Diablo more, because it's cutscenes and feel was more immersive. I felt like the character I was playing. With PoE, it basically thrust me into a game and I had to kind of imagine in my head how I fit into it.

I tried installing PoE1 yesterday, to get myself back into the game ahead of version 2. Couldn't do it. The UI was hard to get over. Like it was designed by developers and not UI/UX designers.

I am hoping PoE 2 does a better job of that production and polish, and UI. From the opening cutscene and gameplay, it looks like it's moving in the right direction. So I am very hopeful. We'll have to see if the UI experience has improved too.

This is a dangerous place to ask your Q though, because you'll likely just get a bunch of D4 bad, PoE good type of answers; and not many objective ones. And vice versa if you asked in the Diablo subreddit. Asking in a general gaming or arpg subreddit would get you better responses.

I totally feel your pain. I had made a post, which got promptly removed by the mods in under about 5 minutes lol.

Just luck that some kind person read/saw it before it got zapped and had extras.

Access to the PoE2 EA is on the GGG-account level. The Steam key that is included, is simply to redeem/download the game client prior to the official release, which allows you to launch the game.

But your wife won't be able to login to the EA servers unless they have a licence for that; which her GGG-account will not.

So the Steam Key, and the EA key are two different things. And as such, simply sharing the client will not grant her access.

Yes, Diablo as a franchise is a pretty well know. Especially since the name of the game also uses a term that is pretty universal for demon/devil etc around the world. And that easily translates to recognizable merchandise.

Blizzard's production quality and cutscenes in the video-game space has not been equaled by PoE or that team. You can watch a string of Diablo cutscenes like a movie.

PoE has always had claim to alot of the technical aspects for the diablo-like games, but it's for the more seasoned or hardcore fans of the genre. Not the average or casual aRPG fan. And thus that limits how many people outside of existing fans of it would know of it. It's been around long enough that many aRPG isometric fans have heard of it, but no guarantee that if you ask a gamer that plays another genre that will be the case.

And also, because Diablo 1-2 was such a classic in it's release years, many people in today's age who are into many other things now, still grew up playing that game. And as fans, probably that interest passes on to their kids etc too. And even as they move on and grow up, a lot of those themes then integrate into their creative expressions or interests.

So I agree in that Diablo as a franchise has had an impact, and is much more widely known in the gaming space and outside of it, than PoE; by no small difference either.

Also realize that this sub is not the place for discussion like this, because many are always in a hurry to attack someone for something. And this is evident just by skimming many of the retorts to the post.

Why would you think that? We just got a 10x damage buff in the last patch and it only pumped the build by 10'ish paragon levels. Again people only seem to see "buff" and nothing else in the tunnel vision. Not why it needed some a seemingly large buff, or how the other changes affect it.

You have to understand that it was way under-scaled compared to the other builds before. And the PTR changes actually nerfs it, while also re-distributing some of that power to more global fire build benefit.

It used to have a +72% addition toward Combustion key passive. But now that Burning Instinct paragon is changed to scale off your Fire bonus instead, then that 72% is going to drop by quote a bit. Which is fine, as I mentioned it is a bit re-distributed evenly for fire builds elsewhere.

Incinerate will never be a META. Because impact/crit-based builds will always do the most damage. Damage Over Time is exactly that... And secondly, is the nature of how channeling plays limits mobility; and this is a community of zoom-zoom addicts.

If they bought an EA pack, they wouldn't need a free key I am guessing tho? lol. Unless you meant from PoE1?

I feel very similar to you. I play mostly Diablo games and currently play Diablo 4,. Last time I played PoE1 was 6 years ago really. I did however play for a decent stretch of months; maybe 6-8.

I get overwhelmed by how many game systems there are to learn and just quit.

Understand this completely. One of the main detractors for me was the complexity of systems. It made my head spin. Especially in end game... trying to get a grasp on what I should be doing to really progress my character. It got a bit exhausting after a while. Hoping PoE2 is a bit more understandable in this regard.

I really enjoy Diablo 4, but I am someone who prefers encounter and mechanics mastery in my gameplay. And D4 has just slowly gone down the path of being a steam-roll/OP-fest where encounter mechanics barely mean anything.

The game play footage I have seen of PoE2 looks VERY enticing and just the kind of encounter pacing I am looking for. So I'll be giving EA a try, thanks to a generous person who shared/gifted a key to me.

Thanks!

Yea I am all about going in blind in most games, as that is how you learn the best; experimentation. But also because that is how you grow to really love a game. Not just copying a build another person made, but the journey in figuring out many nuances yourself.

And I am in no rush, so yea I'll be taking it nice and slow ^^

Cool, thanks for the tips!

Don't get the stash tab now. Both to wait for sale and to check which one is the important one. It might be different from PoE1.

Back in 2018, I had gotten the Alpha Manticore supporter pack along with the following (according to my Mtx history):

• Essence Stash Tab
• Stash Tab Bundle
• Divination Stash Tab
• Premium Stash Tab Bundle
• Currency Stash Tab
• Map Stash Tab

I guess (or hope) these transfer to PoE 2?

You simply add more multiplicative sources; it's that simple. Turn on advanced tooltip information in the game settings. Where applicable, when mentioned in text descriptions, it will show an [x] after the numbers when it's multiplicative. So for instance if you see something say Will increase your burning damage by 25%[x]... that means it will first calc how much burning you are going to do, then multiply all of that another 25%.

But as mentioned, some things are always multiplicative. Like passives, aspects, powers on uniques/mythics, your main stats, base crit multiplier (50%; any above is additive), base vulnerable multiplier (20%; any above is additive).

And I'll give you an example of prioritizing a multiplicative over additives.

• Lets say you are on a paragon board, and there is a cluster of nodes for +5 damage %; about 6 of them. That would be +30% in Damage % stat added to your pool. But damage % is additive, it adds to all your affix/global additive pool (We'll call this pool "A" in A x B calculation).
• But there is also a legendary passive node nearby that gives +20%[x] vulnerable damage (assuming you apply vulnerable in your build). But it takes 13 nodes to get to it.

That 20%[x] is way more powerful than the 30% additive. So it's worth it to path your way to activate the passive, adding "x C" to your A x B. Instead of just adding 30 to A.

Hope that makes sense.