MegaMiners12: I would have never EVER guessed someone prefers dodge roll over movement skills.... what a world

RedSlugah: it's crazy to hear you saying that you felt tired after playing poe1 because for a lot of poe1 players, that was the exact feeling after playing poe2 endgame on the EA release

diablomix: Good review. Here's the thing about PoE 1 that most new players struggle with. The entire campaign AND white maps are the tutorial. All ten acts and white maps are about 2% of what the game has in store. And sadly that's when a lot quit - right before it gets brilliant It isn't until you hit L90 and mapping T16 that you start turning into a literal God. The farming combos, the powerful loot drops, the pinnacle bosses, the league mechanics - all come online as soon as you build up a God character. That's when the addiction sets in. The vastness of the endgame is one helluva drug. An endless sandbox of strategies, wealth, and power. No other game has addicted me more than Path of Exile 1. But it is a time commitment. A big one. Once you're there though, its hard to go play a slow slog like Path Of Exile 2 in its current form. You expressed it well in your review. Its hard for new players to even fathom being a PoE god when the campaign and early maps are basically for wet noodles. It isn't explained well in game unless you look up guides. But once you're in the 90's and blasting high tier maps it all clicks. Path Of Exile 1 is a masterpiece with an admittedly large barrier. But once you're there....

LeftysRage: To learn the crafting in PoE1, you simply need a Doctorate in theoretical particle physics, a Master's in quantum computing and maybe a backup degree in molecular biology wouldn't hurt. Jokes aside, I've been playing for years and still barely understand the full extent of it.

Norex7777777: over 1k hours in poe2 and you play poe1 without a build guide? clearly you havent learnt your lesson yet :D

Stellar_Lake_sys: as someone who's played poe1 for a few years now and played poe2 when it first came out with great excitement, to me poe2 is just painfully unfinished. poe1 has an endgame that just keeps having new things to try, whereas in poe2 I felt like once I had done the basic map progression I had seen almost everything the game had to show me. the campaign is so much better, but it's not where I'll spend most of my time, and poe1 just has so much more endgame complexity to engage with. I feel like I can hold all of poe2's end game systems in my head at once, and that's not a good thing for an arpg to me

alexsterling5788: As an over decade veteran of POE1, these critiques are all on point. For some context, the lack of tutorialization in POE1 is intentional! It helped form the community as people would discover things like vendor recipes (which you didn't mention and probably never encountered) and various other hidden secrets. As the game bloated and the community exploded, the lack of tutorialization is definitely one of it's greatest weaknesses, but in the early days was actually one of it's selling points!

I do hope you keep giving POE1 a try, I think you will get a kick out of the pinnacle content as those are the engaging bosses with real mechanics and became the foundation of boss design in POE2! I am with you though, can't wait for more POE2 goodness.

niconic3: So you like PoE2 because you can experiment with new things, but you dislike PoE1 because there's too much to do? Nobody is forcing you to meta craft all your gear or learn every league mechanic in the game. Take it slow. Play trade league as if it was SSF, but you can fall back on trade and currency exchange to fill in the gaps. Pick 1-2 league mechanics that look fun and learn them.

Nope_No_Thx: Movement/clear speed hits the dopamine receptors. It's why I can't with PoE2. Just full on blasting at endgame with 200% movespeed, clearing packs, it's so satisfying when your build comes together and you can just blast.

Nope_No_Thx: The game is good BECAUSE there is a lot to learn. That's why the game has legs, that's the reason for its longevity. Every league I'll wind up farming something different, in a different way.

TalkativeTri: i jump scared myself LMAO

simrock_: I guess it depends where you're coming from. 1500h into PoE1 SSF and I'm still learning and figuring out different crafting systems. Going into PoE2 it feels shallow and slow. At endgame it's missing the systems to make maps more challenging to require you to push your build further and crafting being near non-existent or just completely random is a major downside for me. Part of that is going to be maturity, though I doubt they're going to add as many options as there are in PoE1 and they do keep re-iterating that they do prefer the more random systems.

The dodge roll is one of the worst offenders to me, not because of what it does or how it works, but in the second order effects it has on design, because once everyone has it, there's a compunction to use it introducing split second dodge mechanics that just aren't fun for me personally when I'm just looking for a chill gaming session after work.

At the end of the day, the games are for different audiences and that's fine.

coopertrooper9679: I actually think the game being complex and overwhelming is part of the reason POE1 players love it so much. It sucks at first but as you learn the game you are rewarded for it immensely.

That loop of learning the game and carrying that knowledge into the next league and becoming more efficient/better over time is something I personally find very satisfying.

This is part of the reason I couldn’t get into POE2. Just felt like I had nothing to learn. Partly because I am a POE1 veteran and already know how these systems work but also because the game is simplified a ton.

I would probably love POE2 if I never played POE1.

borealeone: Biggest difference is that poe1 respects my time as ssf player (i can plan stuff ahead and deterministically farm almost all things), while in poe2 i never got 20level gem or6 link orb in 400 hours of 0.1, and 99.99% of my "crafts" had to be vendored (and i have good self crafted t1/t1/t3 armor etc thanks to meta crafting, harvest, fossils etc in poe1). Getting 6 link in poe1 is easier, sometimes you even get tabula or corrupted 6 link in campaign

Wyrade: The bad graphics might be partially because you have dynamic resolution enabled, which lowers all render resolutions trying to keep you at 60 fps with your current settings. You also have antialiasing off, so no edges are smoothened.

PoE1 simply needs a strong gaming pc to run well if you want better graphics.

Also it can reduce stutters if you check how much fps you are normally getting and set your foreground fps limit a few fps below that, so that your gpu has a little overhead left over for more intensive situations.

off-meta-michael: nice job narrating and editing dude! turned out really good! been getting into project diablo 2 myself....

ClaudeTaylor2005: Just so youre aware people that have played poe 1 for 9 years are still learning more about the game so dont think youre too far behind

kay6730: you can respec with gold aswell in poe1 ??

Frankleitor: I have around 4k hours on poe1 and atm 300 on poe2, I tried to play poe1 again for the new league since, in terms of arpgs I only played poe2, and I agree on everything with you, atm I think I'll just wait for the next poe2 content update, poe2 is just, obviously incomplete but I see the huge potential it has

dubleblitz: PoE 2 is like lemonade, easy to recommend and liked by most instantly. PoE 1 is Coffee. Very Strong Coffee. It may be bitter, but once you got over it the caffeine makes you come back for more.

Got another one: PoE 2 is like action figures, they look great and you can just grab them and play. PoE 1 is LEGO, you get all the parts and a suggestion what you should build with it, but you can build whatever you want. Even though it is more challenging and may produce builds that are not optimal to play with :)

I'll say give PoE 1 some more time. The late mapping experience and pinnacle bosses are on another level when it comes to loot explosions and difficulty. I advice you to stick to a solid build guide for that.

milddivine146: First time poe player after poe2 and i agree with some takes, yeah it is overwhelming but the poe communty is goated so many resources out there. I started ssf and in having a BLAST. I LOVE poe2 dont get me wrong, but the baby needs more time in the oven crafting systems and content wise. Cant wait to see both games grow and im SO GLAD GGG did NOT abandon poe1. Now i get why the community was so upset about update delays.

Good vid bro!

titanicjack6744: I really want to like POE2. (To the tune of I’ve put over 1300hrs into it.) But I don’t atm.

It has potential and I’m looking forward to seeing how it evolves but the endgame just plain feels aweful.

Ironically it’s been coming back to the current POE1 league and having so much fun that has restored my optimism for POE2.

bifacial605: WHAT can do human 1000!!!! hours in poe 2 with 3 league mechinics ?!?!?!?

Flyinshoe: Interesting take. I will say though getting to yellow maps is like barely scratching the surface of end game. Also if bossing is really important to you, you should have at least attempted to get to the first round of pinnacle bosses and tried to get through them. If you felt like your character was strong and you didn't need any upgrades, you'd be sorely disappointed if you kept pushing into harder content. The progression needed to advance your character through end game is unmatched and that's what makes the endgame so fun with so much replayability and you just dodged that whole experience. There are never ending stretch goals even for no-lifers that can invest unlimited amounts of time into the game.

Zaqster: POE 1 the story is in the NPC chat options since they didn't have budget or manpower/skill to do cutscenes. Also crafting with the bench has a quest pointing to it in the middle of act 2, so I'm not quite sure what he meant by getting it late. Maybe he just missed it.

daniyarkonkov9248: As someone who played poe 1 over 9k hours (hard to tell since I moved from steam to standalone) it has been my main game for over 7 years and it feels incredibly rewarding to go from not understanding the game to making your own build which can do high endgame content like ubers and full simulacrum clears. When poe 2 came out I barely managed like 100 hours and while the "sandbox" freedom is there, it just feels bad for me. Imagine you get off of a rollercoaster, go to bed just to see a dream where you try to run from something just to feel like you're running under water. That is my experience in poe 2 compared to poe 1 in terms of pace and generic movement. Also crafting something in poe 2 is just miserable imo which is sad, I anticipated it so much and even gave away 6 EA keys to my friends just to drop it a week later

Jul 07 2025

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