Just died on my HC character in a lvl 11 area.

[Jin]

I love HC in games, especially in aRPGs but this game is really pushing the limits. I have managed to get to act3, and died there (to the monkey). Well, I thought to myself, new approach just extensively outlevel and outgear every zone, one of the best ways to ensure survival in other aRPGs such as D2 or Grim Dawn or Last Epoch.

So I made a new HC character and ended up with a character that was significantly stronger than the last time I went through act1. By the time I reached freythorn my character looked like this:

https://imgur.com/a/leQkrU6

The boss in there managed to two shot me, probably chaos damage judging by the purple color of his attacks.

What I realized that second is, that no matter what you can not reasonably outgear and outlevel this game, and that's what actually keeps me addicted to these type of games. Making a character so strong, it will just melt enemies or face-tank bosses. So does that mean PoE2 is a bad game? No of course not, it's excellent for what it wants to be. But to me personally, this game will not make me spend 1000s of hours like those predecessors did.

The combat is excellent, and it really feels tactical and engaging to fight trash mobs. They are no push over, even with that character I had to engage the enemies carefully and not get surrounded. But bosses with their "dodge or die" mechanics are not the greatest fun, at least in my opinion from a HC perspective.

[TheMasterBlaster]

Originally posted by Jin:

But bosses with their "dodge or die" mechanics are not the greatest fun, at least in my opinion from a HC perspective.

that's... every boss in this game, and some of the rares are even worse.

I was overleveled for Act 3 with my witch, and as soon as I zoned into the area with the Viper, some rando big rare/boss and his goons (I don't know) spawned all around me from thin air with the smoke/ambush ability and dead in like 1 second before I even had a chance to react. I'm not talking about the Viper boss fight, I'm talking about the very start of that zone.

so yeah, HC in this game seems like a huge waste of time.

[Lumifel]

your first mistake was probably making a HC character so early in a EA and an unfinished game

[TrashPanda]

I think you mean dodge and die anyway mechanics, the dodging is far from perfect and even if you time it with the telegraphs the boss usually just auto targets you after the tele and one shots you regardless.

So it really doesn't matter how good you are at timing dodge rolls with bosses, they are designed to kill you regardless of your skill.

[LastTourniquet]

You mean you don't enjoy having to pay 110% focus any time an enemy even slightly stronger than a half-dead rat appears on screen? That's crazy, maybe your just having fun wrong.

On a more serious note, I can see the appeal but unless your playing a Meta build the boss fights are a slog. They have a ton of HP, often have attacks that you have to stop dealing damage to dodge, and if you get hit you better be ready to sacrifice a child to pay the medical bill because they hit like a truck wielding another truck as a weapon.

[Rogue]

No gameplay video, so... most likely skill issue. But you will eventually die unless you know all mechanics really well.

[Diomedes]

Originally posted by Rogue:

No gameplay video, so... most likely skill issue. But you will eventually die unless you know all mechanics really well.

There is a whole lot of bs that can occur in this game to make it ridiculous to doubt the TC. Hell it's still a problem going back into PoE1, where some random thing one shots you, this isn't new for GGG.

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Diomedes:

Originally posted by Rogue:

No gameplay video, so... most likely skill issue. But you will eventually die unless you know all mechanics really well.

There is a whole lot of bs that can occur in this game to make it ridiculous to doubt the TC. Hell it's still a problem going back into PoE1, where some random thing one shots you, this isn't new for GGG.

Prefer to "see" evidence rather than hear yet another conjecture...

[Supa]

I always left Freyhorn last. But the act 1 boss I can do with just 250 hp.

[Straker]

RIP Bozo :P

[Asathon]

Yeah, the game still has lots of balance issues. Thankfully they removed the exploding crystals or whatever it was, to visit it again on a later date. I've also enjoyed playing HC characters in the past, especially in D2 and some in PoE1, but this game, I have NO wish to even try... yet. It is what it is. Early access, extremely unpolished and unfinished game. I'm just glad I get to play it already. XD

[RawMeatDiet]

> What I realized that second is, that no matter what you can not reasonably outgear and outlevel this game

Kinda. I made quite a few hardcore chars and I must tell you, it's better to learn how to fight bosses and how to delete them, rather than just overlevel. IMO, you wasted time trying to reach lvl14 and played too defensively. If you play too defensively you are bad at taking calculating risks and taking big rewards, and also become just rusty mechanically.

I play warrior so... your life was too big for this boss, yes his big attack you can only tank once, so if you get hit go back and heal and then go back to hitting him. Trephina unique mace is very strong for ACT1-Act2 and would delete this boss.

Draven 200hp, Asinia 200-250hp, 300hp for this chaos guy but with good damage is enough. These are the healthpools I am aiming for when doing these bosses.

Sometimes you need to plan, adjust your build and strategy, overlevelling does nothing.

You will need to find a balance between facetanking and playing defensively if you want to play optimally.

> But bosses with their "dodge or die" mechanics

Well but you are contradicting yourself. He twoshotted you, not oneshotted. You got hit hard and stayed near him right? Why? Run away and heal to full.

[RYⱯN]

Originally posted by Lumifel:

your first mistake was probably making a HC character so early in a EA and an unfinished game

Huge mistake is making a game that just wastes time, but I digress..

[WhulfPack]

I will never understand people playing HC, and then complain when they die.

I mean, Lag, crashes, bugs, balance issues, rubberbanding, glitches. Dying due to my own fault is one thing. But all those other factors. I don't understand why people bother with HC.

[RawMeatDiet]

Originally posted by WhulfPack:

I will never understand people playing HC, and then complain when they die.

I mean, Lag, crashes, bugs, balance issues, rubberbanding, glitches. Dying due to my own fault is one thing. But all those other factors. I don't understand why people bother with HC.

Because POE2 is the best game ever made for online hardcore. You can pause and if you disconnect you will not die because the game has protection for that. So in POE2 you can only die due to your own fault and due to bad balancing.

[Millertyme]

Originally posted by Jin:

I love HC in games, especially in aRPGs but this game is really pushing the limits. I have managed to get to act3, and died there (to the monkey). Well, I thought to myself, new approach just extensively outlevel and outgear every zone, one of the best ways to ensure survival in other aRPGs such as D2 or Grim Dawn or Last Epoch.

So I made a new HC character and ended up with a character that was significantly stronger than the last time I went through act1. By the time I reached freythorn my character looked like this:

https://imgur.com/a/leQkrU6

The boss in there managed to two shot me, probably chaos damage judging by the purple color of his attacks.

What I realized that second is, that no matter what you can not reasonably outgear and outlevel this game, and that's what actually keeps me addicted to these type of games. Making a character so strong, it will just melt enemies or face-tank bosses. So does that mean PoE2 is a bad game? No of course not, it's excellent for what it wants to be. But to me personally, this game will not make me spend 1000s of hours like those predecessors did.

The combat is excellent, and it really feels tactical and engaging to fight trash mobs. They are no push over, even with that character I had to engage the enemies carefully and not get surrounded. But bosses with their "dodge or die" mechanics are not the greatest fun, at least in my opinion from a HC perspective.

Get all the gear and levels you want, if you don't avoid mechanics you will die.
Skill Issue