Mana problems

Mana still feels bad, even after the buffs

There are already plenty of threads about loot, combos, and other issues (which still feel like a problem to me), so I’ll keep this one focused purely on mana.

I played the entire campaign using Gas Arrow, and I had to keep the gem at level 7 the whole time. If I leveled it up, I simply couldn’t sustain the mana — despite having only three support gems linked, with around 60% mana regn, 32 mana on kill, and a bit of mana leech on the bow. I was forced to use a mana flask every 1 or 2 packs, which just isn’t fun.

I know mana got buffed this patch, but it still feels out of touch. Constant flask chugging isn’t engaging gameplay, and stacking mana regen or leech just to make a skill usable doesn’t feel rewarding. Especially when we’re already juggling resistances, stun and freeze thresholds, and more.

It feels like there's a long checklist you have to complete just to make a build functional—before you even get to the part where the game is supposed to be fun. I understand that Gas Arrow costs more than some other skills, but leveling a gem should feel like progress, not a punishment.

One of the worst parts of both POE1 and POE2, in my opinion, is how many boxes you need to tick just to be ready for mapping. And POE2 might be even worse. In POE1, you could ease into maps through the tiers. In POE2, you jump into maps and immediately get destroyed if you’re not already "checklist-complete".

Great post OP. I totally agree, in fact, I instantly logged off after doing my first waystone in endgame today because of how ridiculous it was. All my gear is so old from like 20-40 levels ago and I'm not even kidding in the slightest. I barely have any currency even though I saved a lot of it from the campaign

I've decided to step away until maybe 0.3.0 release. I don't understand why they nerfed everything into oblivion instead of just nerfing the overpowered builds and buffing weak builds (like warrior, acolyte of chayula, chronomancer, and even mercenary somewhat)

I had so much excitement for this patch only to be given everything we never asked for. Hopefully GGG learns from these mistakes going forward

The problem (in endgame at least) is that the damage nerfs are so bad, you have to have your gem level to 25 to even scratch the mobs. and at level 25, my Frost Bomb costs 1500 mana - an utterly ridiculous amount. No one wants to play like this.

I'm having the same issue with cold caster. I cast 3 frost wall and 1 frost bomb and I am out of mana. My skills are level 24. If they were not I wouldn't even be able to map at all. I'm so sick of hearing I need mana that I don't even want to play that character anymore. I don't want to shut off alerts/voice as there are some I do want to hear. I've even considered setting my keyboard up to just hit the damn mana flask every 2 seconds. Also I have to leave map every 45-60 seconds to fill it , because killing things does not fill it enough for how much you need to use it.

They need to just remove the +skills and integrate the damage in without raising the mana costs. It's like speed on boots where if you don't have it , the item is worthless, because it feels required.

I've gotten many of the mana regen nodes and have conservative casting on the passive tree to lower costs 16% and it is still awful.

The best solution would be to remove +skill levels from gear entirely.

Currently all pieces that dont have +skill level (that can actually have it) are worthless, which is a big problem imo because it makes dropped gear and crafting much more rng and its not enjoyable to just have 99% of your dropped/crafted wands be useless because they dont have this stat.

The secondary issue is that it completely nukes your mana costs so you spend 80% of your mana casting 1 spell, but if you dont have them then your damage is trash. It just creates a unnecessary problem that isnt especially fun or challenging to solve.

I would add that I think its good that its not like it is in poe1 where mana is completely pointless, it should be something you have to solve in your build but I think its not well designed currently where your mana costs just go trough the roof and I think skill levels on gear is the biggest issue.
A more fun approach would be if they greatly reduced mana costs and mana regen and the challenge was more on the side of increasing your mana regen, this would also make mana flasks more important. And you would better feel the impact cause increasing your mana regen would have a great impact on your dps, unlike where its at now where you cant even use your spells.

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SpaceFoxyFū#3839 が発言:

I had so much excitement for this patch only to be given everything we never asked for. Hopefully GGG learns from these mistakes going forward

+1