140 hours in, thoughts on the game

So after a bit of time playing i thought I would post some thoughts on the game. I only played PoE1 a little bit, I already have more hours in PoE2 than PoE1. Im a big fan of D2, i feel the game did the loot "Slot Machine" the best of any ARPG out there to this day. PoE2 feels very similar.

Overall I love the game, it bring some serious D2 vibes. Not just from how the loot works but also going through the acts.

1) Act 1-3 feel incredibly like D2 and I love it (biome wise)

2) The way loot works in general feels good (similar to D2 I feel)

A) The Campaign was amazing.

Pros:

1) I enjoyed the difficulty level through the campaign. I hope they keep it this way through the last 3 acts.

2) The sound and visuals were great

3) The maps did feel a little big so having everything reset when you dies but i feel like the new checkpoints have made it better. It was a good change.

4) Having the icons on the map for the things to get in each area was incredibly useful.

Cons:

Honestly there isn't much for cons here, not that I can think of anyways. The Campaign was easily my favourite part of the game.

B) The Ascendency:

I like the concept but I feel like it needs tuning. I think there should be checkpoints for if you die, you go back to X room. Going all they way to the end, dying, and losing your token to enter sucks. Only once I started over leveling for them did they feel better. I do like how there is valuable items inside to make currency with, it makes it desirable to go farm it.

Trial of Sekhmas:

1) I am truly not a fan of the honour system. I feel like the trial would be just fine without it. Maybe they could find a way to just let you use less potions? IDK. Not a large fan though.

2) For the actual objectives inside of it, I find them fun

Trial of Chaos:

1) This has been my preferred option to play due to no honour system. I have enjoyed it tbh.

2) The corrupted items you get are complete trash and really shouldn't even be part of it. The Soul cores are nice though.

C) The Endgame is enjoyable.

Pros:

1) I have enjoyed using the atlas. I like how to can see a corrupted tower(which will help you find citadels) off in the distance in the fog and plan out what route your going to take.

2) I like how you can put the tablets in the towers to buff the areas in the atlas, its a cool mechanic.

3) The talent trees for maps is a really cool idea

4) I enjoy the different types of events in the map. Gives it some variety

Cons:

1) As much as I like setting a goal to get to a corrupted tower I feel like we need more MAIN goals to head for. Only like 1 or 2 more I would say or else it could be too much, just for a little variety.

2) For the talent trees, I honestly have no idea how to get talent points in most of them. Iv done a ton of T15 maps and the only other points iv gotten are boss ones. Maybe the game could use a better explanation on how to acquire these talent points. Or maybe its obvious and it just went WHOOSH over my head. IDK.

Example for expeditions: It says Defeat Olroth. Iv done quite a few of the events and never seen him. I have no idea how to get him to spawn.

3) For the different types of events, some just seem super underwhelming. Expeditions is one of them to me at least. maybe there is a trick to beefing them up if you blow up the stones in a particular order?

4) Im probably in the minority here but I did always enjoy D2 farming of the campaign areas/bosses. I do wish those areas where more viable to go back to and farm in the endgame. not sure how they would implement it though.

5) The whole 1 life per map is pretty rough. I understand they want people to actually build defensives and I dont disagree. But it still sucks. Maybe have it so if you die in a map all the mobs despawn. you can still go back and get your loot on the ground but there is nothing left to kill and you still failed the map.

D) Item Rarity:

I love D2, I like Magic find. I do not think Item rarity should affect currency drops though. It did not effect rune drops in D2. IMO Item rarity should just do what it did in D2, increase the likelihood that a base drop will roll as a higher rarity.

E) Crafting:

Jesus, it feels so bad. It just seems to random. I know D2 you could cube things and a random item popped out, but this feels worse than D2. Maybe D2 had less affix or tiers of affix that could be on a item so it was a higher chance to get something useful. idk.

But my god crafting is awful. This needs work for sure. Maybe have orbs that act like a Chaos orb, but target certain groups of affixes to re-roll to something of a different affix. EX. removes a physical modifier and replaces it with a non physical modifier. Its still very random but at least you can target specific affixes you dont want on a item. I could be wrong on this, but something in crafting needs to change.

F) Trading:

I know trading gets a lot of hate in this game and I get it.

But the only thing I compare it too is D2, and my god its light years better than D2. Having to great a game with the name SHAKO 4 VEX and wait there until someone joined. Some times you couldnt even fit the whole trade description in the name so 1/2 the time is was a guessing game on whether or not people will understand it. It made me never trade in D2, it was so frustrating.

To me, trading in this game in perfectly fine. The website makes it easy to look up what you want with what stats you want and you just click a button to /w the person. Sometimes they dont respond but you just move on.

This is just my opinion on trading in PoE, I know many do not feel the same way and that's fine.

I could see trading being very annoying for console players and that probably does need a look at.

G) The End:

Anyways, I just wanted to say i am thoroughly enjoying the game. It does need some fixes IMO, but overall the devs have knocked it out of the park. And the fact that its early access while the game pretty much feels complete is huge. I look forward to the new classes and ascendancies. Also im pumped for acts 4-6! im gonna guess Act 4 will be a hellish looking area with lava, Act 5 will be Cold winter area, and Act 6 IDK. :)