Solid Foundation for new beginnings, knowing history of GGG and being in Path of exile community since 2013 and after 3000h at first game, it is safe to say judging this game current difficulty / drop rates / damage numbers is IRRELEVANT AND NONSENSICAL. if you are giving negative for those you are judging too early for that is non stop moving caravan, game will improve.


GGG known for their rapid reaction to community needs, they have overhauled just released Leagues/Seasons in a week, these people are experienced developers who also play their game, that is how they get things right.

--Negatives--
as a "no-change" enjoyer. i'll be using Mouse & Keyboard instead WASD

-WASD felt too RTS macro-ish, constant APM(actions-per-minute) on keyboard felt too much instead of holding left click and moving around, only to press skills with keyboard, i can still move while using skills on old mouse style so literally no downgrade on my gaming experience.
-Ascension tied to old league mechanics i didnt like,
-new "mapping" seems restricted
-only single mana & flask avaible
-no movement flask being present
-world "resets" like dark souls games where if you die before looting the dropped item, you will lose it,
-i do like uncut gems systems buy i do also miss leveling part of it, it was fun little damage boost middle of adventure so its being gone
etc.
yet those "negatives" couldn't stop me enjoying the campaign and game it self as a Early Access product, NO DOUBT they will improve things. They already done the hard part a.k.a laying the foundation, now fun part begins a.k.a adding more and more fun and slowly with leagues building enjoyable product.

--What i liked--
-Graphics so crisp and beautiful.
-Art style mixture of Diablo 2 and Elden ring. (we have wolf + sword combo boss like Sif from Dark souls.. nice.)
-UI perfect! it does NOT overwhelm you like Ubisoft games and same time it does NOT hide usefull information behind buttons, like Diablo 4.
-Path of exile 1's shop was one of the most out dated part, you had to depend on videos. now with new inspection you can see what you are buying before hand.
-Pinnacle bosses being static helps with new movement system or classes like Grenadier Mercenary.
-Story is intriguing actually, when first one had "exile" atmosphere nailed perfectly fine, meanwhile this one able to capture Diablo 2 feeling more, at least to me, which it is fulfilling the void that lack of good Diablo 2 successors last 30 years, at this point i have only experienced mercenary, world building made me feel "unsignificant" which is very far away from "you are nephalem go stop ender of the world with nothing but ragged clothing". i already have some lore speculations like "is the hooded one our boy [REDACTED]? he kinda mentions familiar characters when you read additional talk opinions like... zana hmmmm".
-Some naming of npc's are interesting like Draven and Oriana.. well at least there is no Jinx right ? right ???, and there is Asala which is literally nationalist terrorist organization name but i HIGHLY doubt a video gaming studio from New zealand would be aware ot it, and done purposefully there is no way, it must be a unpleasant coincidence.

what else.. in summary GGG i did NOT let down, expectations are high for leagues, so far impressed.
you can call it "console version of path of exile".

AND GIVE Kamil Orman-Janowski some raise, MUSIC is way tooo good, themes like that Act 1 Boss "Geonor, The Putrid Wolf" was perfect. 10/10 there too.


at paid early acceess only steam side game peaked at 540k players, and after some tweaks and only 3 server restarts, everything were fine and smooth, so at real "free to play" release i could imagine to see numbers like 1m 600k or even higher, no one is safe for those numbers to be honest, but thats the reason why releases are so fun, struggle as crowd and spend time together as bunch of random people with who has objective while officials get no sleep, work tirelessly and sweat while fixing things, its like garage bbq party right before match begins outside of stadium.

Solid Foundation for new beginnings, knowing history of GGG and being in Path of exile community since 2013 and after 3000h at first game, it is safe to say judging this game current difficulty / drop rates / damage numbers is IRRELEVANT AND NONSENSICAL. if you are giving negative for those you are judging too early for that is non stop moving caravan, game will improve. GGG known for their rapid reaction to community needs, they have overhauled just released Leagues/Seasons in a week, these people are experienced developers who also play their game, that is how they get things right. --Negatives-- as a "no-change" enjoyer. i'll be using Mouse & Keyboard instead WASD -WASD felt too RTS macro-ish, constant APM(actions-per-minute) on keyboard felt too much instead of holding left click and moving around, only to press skills with keyboard, i can still move while using skills on old mouse style so literally no downgrade on my gaming experience. -Ascension tied to old league mechanics i didnt like, -new "mapping" seems restricted -only single mana & flask avaible -no movement flask being present -world "resets" like dark souls games where if you die before looting the dropped item, you will lose it, -i do like uncut gems systems buy i do also miss leveling part of it, it was fun little damage boost middle of adventure so its being gone etc. yet those "negatives" couldn't stop me enjoying the campaign and game it self as a Early Access product, NO DOUBT they will improve things. They already done the hard part a.k.a laying the foundation, now fun part begins a.k.a adding more and more fun and slowly with leagues building enjoyable product. --What i liked-- -Graphics so crisp and beautiful. -Art style mixture of Diablo 2 and Elden ring. (we have wolf + sword combo boss like Sif from Dark souls.. nice.) -UI perfect! it does NOT overwhelm you like Ubisoft games and same time it does NOT hide usefull information behind buttons, like Diablo 4. -Path of exile 1's shop was one of the most out dated part, you had to depend on videos. now with new inspection you can see what you are buying before hand. -Pinnacle bosses being static helps with new movement system or classes like Grenadier Mercenary. -Story is intriguing actually, when first one had "exile" atmosphere nailed perfectly fine, meanwhile this one able to capture Diablo 2 feeling more, at least to me, which it is fulfilling the void that lack of good Diablo 2 successors last 30 years, at this point i have only experienced mercenary, world building made me feel "unsignificant" which is very far away from "you are nephalem go stop ender of the world with nothing but ragged clothing". i already have some lore speculations like "is the hooded one our boy [REDACTED]? he kinda mentions familiar characters when you read additional talk opinions like... zana hmmmm". -Some naming of npc's are interesting like Draven and Oriana.. well at least there is no Jinx right ? right ???, and there is Asala which is literally nationalist terrorist organization name but i HIGHLY doubt a video gaming studio from New zealand would be aware ot it, and done purposefully there is no way, it must be a unpleasant coincidence. what else.. in summary GGG i did NOT let down, expectations are high for leagues, so far impressed. you can call it "console version of path of exile". AND GIVE Kamil Orman-Janowski some raise, MUSIC is way tooo good, themes like that Act 1 Boss "Geonor, The Putrid Wolf" was perfect. 10/10 there too. at paid early acceess only steam side game peaked at 540k players, and after some tweaks and only 3 server restarts, everything were fine and smooth, so at real "free to play" release i could imagine to see numbers like 1m 600k or even higher, no one is safe for those numbers to be honest, but thats the reason why releases are so fun, struggle as crowd and spend time together as bunch of random people with who has objective while officials get no sleep, work tirelessly and sweat while fixing things, its like garage bbq party right before match begins outside of stadium.