Path of Exile 2 will have a pause-and-respawn mechanic

[Henrik]

Jonathan has just confirmed in the latest Zizaran interview that Path of Exile 2 will have a pause-and-respawn mechanic. By pressing escape, you can instantly pause and respawn to avoid death from boss mechanics. This trivializes bosses, removing any real threat they pose.

In softcore, where the only penalty for death is XP, this feature feels unnecessary. It primarily impacts hardcore mode, but what’s the point of hardcore if you can just pause to dodge boss mechanics? The argument “just don’t use it”, is stupid, the feature will be abused.

This could influence boss design. Either bosses will be built around the assumption that players can pause, leading to one-shot mechanics, or they won't be, making encounters mindless and overly simple.

I love Path of Exile and have always disliked log-out macros, but I understood their purpose. Lag or desync could kill you, so having the ability to disconnect was a necessary evil. In Path of Exile 2, however, pressing "escape" will pause your game, and the game will automatically pause your instance if it detects lag/de-sync making log-out macros obsolete. With lag no longer a threat, I see no reason for this to exist.

I’ve seen many people argue that escaping a boss encounter should be an option, but at that point, why even bother with hardcore mode? If you want the freedom to avoid death, just stick to softcore. At the very least, this feature should be tied to gameplay mechanics, like requiring a few seconds for the portal to spawn, instead of being instant.

https://youtu.be/jJZhhHnkIIk?si=yWSpguT-obQt-Iz-&t=11
https://youtu.be/4lB3TM5FrsY?si=O9pE5Veiy3GeW5GS&t=779

[Charnel]

Ohhh nooooooo...anyway

[Lumiere]

Are you sure this option isn't disabled in hardcore modes?

[DarkFenix]

And this offends you... why?

You can't pause in multiplayer, only when you're playing alone, so this doesn't affect you at all. Personally I think it's fantastic that an online game has a pause function, it's funny how many long overdue QoL things GGG are giving us.

As far as using it to escape bosses goes, maybe they'll add a delay, or something. But maybe not, I don't see any reason to penalise people just to soothe some sweaty boy's bruised ego. People want a get out of boss free card? Why not let them have it? Stop being so salty and serious, let people enjoy themselves.

[zaratan4o]

I doesn't trivialize anything. It's mainly so you can actually leave the boss and not be stuck there, with only option being death.

Boss HP and whole fight resets if you leave, so you still have to beat the boss in one go from 100% HP to 0.

They already disable certain things, like swapping items, during boss fights. If it's really a problem, which I doubt it will be, they can disable pausing while fighting a boss too.

It doesn't seem like the greatest idea, particularly in hardcore, to go fight a boss - which you can't always know if you are ready for or not, and have no way to back out. Only resign to death.

No one will sit there and keep pausing and unpausing to "dodge" mechanics and "trivialize" the boss. It wouldn't even work mechanically, in most cases. Certainly no one that is any degree of competitive and doesn't want to make the boss fights twice as long and waste a lot of time.

It's a minor concern at best. This is also a testing phase, so many things can change during the beta. Wait, play, see.

I do like difficulty and consequences, but I doubt this will be much of an issue. And if it somehow is, they will adjust it.

[Orb of Me]

The pause-and-respawn mechanic in PoE 2 raises valid concerns, particularly when it comes to softcore and hardcore modes. In softcore, where the penalty for death is minimal, having the ability to pause and respawn feels unnecessary and diminishes the challenge, making it harder to maintain the game's intended tension.

In hardcore, the whole point is to offer a risk-reward system, where death is permanent, creating real stakes for players. Introducing a "pause-and-respawn" feature undermines this by removing any sense of permanent consequences. If players can simply escape a boss fight and come back later, what’s the real point of having hardcore mode at all?

Also, while lag and desync are genuine issues in PoE 1, the fact that PoE 2 can automatically pause the game if it detects lag makes the escape mechanic redundant. It raises a deeper question about whether certain features are being included for convenience or because they genuinely enhance gameplay. If the devs are concerned about players avoiding death through external means (like log-out macros), it's counterintuitive to implement a feature that allows players to bypass boss mechanics at will.

Tying the feature to specific gameplay mechanics, like requiring a delay before respawning or introducing some cooldown, would make it more acceptable. At its current design, however, it risks trivializing challenging content and weakening the core essence of what hardcore mode stands for.

[Henrik]

Originally posted by Lumiere:

Are you sure this option isn't disabled in hardcore modes?

Zizaran asked if using the respawn mechanic would result in death in Hardcore mode. Jonathan replied with "no," implying that it's available in Hardcore.

[Henrik]

Originally posted by DarkFenix:

And this offends you... why?

You can't pause in multiplayer, only when you're playing alone, so this doesn't affect you at all. Personally I think it's fantastic that an online game has a pause function, it's funny how many long overdue QoL things GGG are giving us.

As far as using it to escape bosses goes, maybe they'll add a delay, or something. But maybe not, I don't see any reason to penalise people just to soothe some sweaty boy's bruised ego. People want a get out of boss free card? Why not let them have it? Stop being so salty and serious, let people enjoy themselves.

It doesn't offend me? I just want the game to be the best it can be by criticizing a stupid decision that they hopefully will second guess?

And no, you can pause, Jonathan confirmed that your instance will be paused if you press escape. He said it will be instant, and please stop talking out of your ass and watch the interview.

[FloRyu]

But did you beat the boss without taking dmg, jumping on one leg with monitor off ?
Not a big deal for me , yeah you can pause solo and in coop, you still have to kill the boss in one go

[Henrik]

Originally posted by FloRyu:

But did you beat the boss without taking dmg, jumping on one leg with monitor off ?
Not a big deal for me , yeah you can pause solo and in coop, you still have to kill the boss in one go

Yes, but it's more about hardcore, and how it will affect it. Essentially being able to pause the game, and click respawn to checkpoints means you can cheese the boss, and avoid deaths you would otherwise not be able to avoid

[Lumiere]

Originally posted by Henrik:

Originally posted by Lumiere:

Are you sure this option isn't disabled in hardcore modes?

Zizaran asked if using the respawn mechanic would result in death in Hardcore mode. Jonathan replied with "no," implying that it's available in Hardcore.

Ahh, I see.. Well i'd have to agree with you. It doesn't quite make sense to add a feature like this in hardcore.

[Kopejka]

Originally posted by Henrik:

Yes, but it's more about hardcore, and how it will affect it. Essentially being able to pause the game, and click respawn to checkpoints means you can cheese the boss, and avoid deaths you would otherwise not be able to avoid

most people don't play hardcore or care about it so it won't be such a big issue

[Brian9824]

Whats the big deal? If you have time to pause to dodge a bosses big attack you have time to roll away from the attack.

[Tictactucrac]

I’ve seen many people argue that escaping a boss encounter should be an option, but at that point, why even bother with hardcore mode? If you want the freedom to avoid death, just stick to softcore.

Who are you to dicate how people should play a single player game and how devs should program it ?

If YOU don't want the freedom to escape boss fights, YOU shouldn't use the feature, end of the story.

[みさかりん]

Originally posted by Henrik:

Jonathan has just confirmed in the latest Zizaran interview that Path of Exile 2 will have a pause-and-respawn mechanic. By pressing escape, you can instantly pause and respawn to avoid death from boss mechanics. This trivializes bosses, removing any real threat they pose.

In softcore, where the only penalty for death is XP, this feature feels unnecessary. It primarily impacts hardcore mode, but what’s the point of hardcore if you can just pause to dodge boss mechanics? The argument “just don’t use it”, is stupid, the feature will be abused.

This could influence boss design. Either bosses will be built around the assumption that players can pause, leading to one-shot mechanics, or they won't be, making encounters mindless and overly simple.

I love Path of Exile and have always disliked log-out macros, but I understood their purpose. Lag or desync could kill you, so having the ability to disconnect was a necessary evil. In Path of Exile 2, however, pressing "escape" will pause your game, and the game will automatically pause your instance if it detects lag/de-sync making log-out macros obsolete. With lag no longer a threat, I see no reason for this to exist.

I’ve seen many people argue that escaping a boss encounter should be an option, but at that point, why even bother with hardcore mode? If you want the freedom to avoid death, just stick to softcore. At the very least, this feature should be tied to gameplay mechanics, like requiring a few seconds for the portal to spawn, instead of being instant.

Watch this video: https://youtu.be/jJZhhHnkIIk?si=yWSpguT-obQt-Iz-&t=11

Did you also know if you use that "pause and respawn" you lose the chance to kill the boss? Maybe watch more about that info since it was also stated with Zizaran's interview.

Context, Zizaran was asking "What if we cannot defeat the boss, do we just die?" (not exact words). If you watch the earlier part on that interview and if you were listening, and they also said this in earlier interview and reveals, you die once in these bosses, you lose the chance and you have to find them again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lB3TM5FrsY

1:19:20 is where he answered this.