Why did you stop playing the game?

I don't think anyone at GGG actually plays the game through. Like SSF all the way to end game to level 95+. If they did and think the game is fun I applaud them. Testing something in isolation is not playing. Having dev mode to give you all the stats and items you want to test is not playing. Skills suck. Trying to combo them on paper seem cool but trying it in end game you'll die waiting to pull off the next skill. There's a fundamental incongruence here. They want slow "meaningful combat" yet everything is so punishing that you're forced to find the meta build to zoom and one-shot everything. Even then the loot/reward is ass so how do you expect players that are doing the slow "meaningful combat" suppose to get anywhere?

- Gameplay is too slow. Just global speed things up 2x and it'll be so much better. Faster movement, faster skills, faster enemies, etc. You can still have "meaningful combat" at 2x (at least) speed. With the game play speed right now it feels like playing a turn based game and the enemy always cheats by taking turn all the time.
- Crafting (aka gambling) sucks like everyone says.
- XP loss and losing the map on death is not fun. It's like every map is hardcore mode. Imaging starting up a new game and every time you die you have to start from the beginning. Part of what makes gaming fun is actually getting to retrying and getting better.
- Actually fix the things people are complaining about (many common things) rather than trying to sidestep it. For example, having to juice towers suck. Towers suck. Not because towers are not fun enough because there's not enough content in them. They just suck. The whole concept suck.
- Here's a biggie. Unwillingness to admit when you're wrong and fix the game but instead doubling down.

Stun mechanic. It's not fun to have your attack animations interrupted by any mob. I played minions this season just to avoid the mechanic completely, but I don't want to always play minions.

Optimization issues. Some maps run poorly even after months of EA. I'm plying on 13600k and it doesn't feel like it.

I quit playing because of GGG´s developers and how ignorant they spoke months ago in videos ....

The game has a bad taste because of them..

Not interesting enough combat. It just feels like really low quality, junky combat in comparison with games of other genres, for example many roguelikes. Well, any current ARPG is even worse in this area.

The beginning of the game is still a slog, The monsters in the beginning still are too tough. They are not hard, but I am getting asleep because they don't die quickly enough, thus making me feel bored right away whenever I start a new character.

I still feel claustrophobic the same as in POE 1, maybe because of too much objects and obstacles. I think they need to zoom out the game a bit more and I am having a headache with how the game looks and it's map design. The game is beautiful, it has nice artistically looking assets but how they design the towns or a village or a dungeon? I am not vibing with it. It looks like a mess. There is too much noise and the map looks a bit busy. Again this is just my opinion.

I am exhausted with the map design campaign-wise and endgame-wise. Not all though. The layout are horrible. It's funny because D2 is just as dark but the places or map doesn't exhaust me much. I find the Rougue encampment more pleasing to the eyes than Clearfell encampment. NPC's are better too in D2.

You may find this as a nitpicks of the world design but it really is what making me not enjoy the game much. I like the simplicity of D2 it is easy to the eyes and easier to traverse, even though the game is just as dark as POE in general.

I don't like the in-game UI too and the world map design. I don't have a suggestion but I think they need to tweak it. Because I think it is confusing to a newbie. I hate to say this but I think Undecember has a better looking UI

Because the build diversity right now is miniscule. Very few builds are fun enough to play and effective at the same time.

Under effective build I understand the build which will clear entire screen in one click ofcourse. That's exactly how you measure effectivenes with currently available endgame content. With this packsize on delirious maps with corruption and breach if you did not oneshot entire screen, then the entire screen will oneshot you. Plain and simple.

Effectiveness is the matter of investment too, so my builds were worth 500 to 1000 divines. And not with current absurd prices. With the prices around a month or two ago.

Still playing but:

1. XP gain after lvl90 is a slog
2. XP pen after death is just stupid
3. Drops are a joke especially gear!!!!!!!
4. You are forced to use trade to upgrade your gear and gear determines your whole power lvl!!!!!!!!!
5. Visual clarity is non existent :/
6. Some enemies are completely insanely overturned
7. Most uniques are just bad
8. Why we need identifying loot in 2025 (I don't want to pick up trash!!)?
9. In game loot filter?
10. Reset all passives button?
11. Skill balance, buff for useless skills?
12. More than 2 useful builds per patch maybe (Hi bleed builds and lightning spear :) )??
13. Better Ascendancy trial when?
14. Ascendancies without stupid nerfs and meaningful buffs when?
15. In game build/dmg test ???
16. Respec profiles??
17. Inventory management????
18. Servers SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and so much more.......

Communicate with the player base, inform us, implement patches, make this game awesome as it has potential but people are beginning to tune out, many other games solved many of the issues I mentioned!!!!!

XP loss (especially when you don't know how you died)

Trials

Undertuned abilities vs overtuned mobs.

Weapon tags. (why does herald of plague and herald of ash need martial weapons?)

Too much work for too little reward; Loot is crap, and leveling doesnt feel impactful.

Trials. oh my god, these are AWFUL - all risk and no reward

Trading. It's 2025, bite the bullet and put in a real auction house already.

Crafting. It's not crafting, its gambling. It's identifying with extra steps. It brings no sense of achievement. It's terrible.

Build Variety. What variety?

GGG. Their unwillingness to listen to any of this feedback because it goes against the 'Vision', never mind that the 'Vision' is blind in one eye and the other eye is farsighted.

ETA: XP loss on death. This is just pouring salt in the wound at this point. Why do you hate us, GGG?

1. performance in endgame maps
2. difficulty and monster density in endgame maps is too much imo
3. lack of goals in endgame
4. lack of updates since 0.2.1
5. the thought of having to complete trials again kills my motivation to start a new character (the 1st and 2nd trials are fine, but the others are unbearable)
6. navigating through the atlas is terrible at the current state and setting overlapping towers is a chore

I could go in great detail for every one of these but to summarize, the main thing that made me want to stop playing poe 2 is the difference between campaign and endgame, it feels like 2 completely different games but not in a good way

Like the game enters a weird loop where you need better equipment to be able to play maps, but you don't get good loot, at this point i feel forced to trade, but when i buy everything i want and need, i feel like i don't have a reason to play the game anymore