Does anyone want to join the hexbear POE guild?
this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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are POE2 genders locked to classes again? I like playing as STR women characters in RPGs and I remember in POE1 you could only play thin, dex or int based female chars (because buff women don't exist)
unless im mistaken about POE1?
just found out about Scion (the only strength woman char in POE1) and then promptly found out they're specifically not bringing her across to POE2
i just wanna be a girl and swing big weapons :((
The gender of the class is locked, but you can use any skill with any class and all of the classes use the same skill tree but start at different locations. The most popular build of this current expansion of POE 1 was to play the Ranger class as melee.
In POE 1, each class had more access to a specific attribute, like Witch was Intelligence, Marauder was Strength, Ranger was Dexterity. Scion is a hybrid class in POE. In the trailer for POE 2, they showed that you can change the attribute node on the passive tree so that any class can specialize in any attribute. So you could choose to be a witch but then stack strength.
Each ascendancy has a special focus. The trailer shows 6 ascendancies in the early access which are women: Stormweaver (lightning abilities), Chronomancer (time manipulation, this is new idk), Deadeye (projectile abilities), Pathfinder (poison and potions), Infernalist (fire abilities), and Bloodmage (blood magic). At first glance, Deadeye looks to be an ascendancy that is meant to be played only with bows, however the class actually benefits all projectile abilities including projectiles created by spells and melee weapons.
It's hard to say right now what builds will be possible because of limited information. Many of the most powerful builds in POE 1 were from using classes in unconventional ways, like by having the Maurader be a spell caster, having the Witch fire a bow, or having the Ranger do melee attacks.
you can use any skill with any class and all of the classes use the same skill tree but start at different locations
wow! i hate it!
PoE classes were gender locked, although you were fully allowed to fuck off across the skill tree and build a 2H strength ranger or whatever
And then ascendencies were added as class-locked skill trees and made that harder to pull off
reckon that will carry over to PoE2? or do you think I'll be able to basically route around the dev intent for the class designs?
I only just now remembered they were even making PoE2 when I saw this thread lmao, couldn't tell ya
You're correct sadly. They did mention that they had considered adding gender variants a while ago.
For what it's worth, you don't have to play the attributes of the class. The new ascendancies they showed for the Witch seem like they will work just fine for melee, especially the infernalist which has ignite skills; that will definitely work best with skills that hit big and slow, so you will have the chance to make a strong and chunky witch if you desire.
how much do you reckon classes matter then? Shame that there really isn't that much variety in the fem body types, but if classes are loose then i suppose it's something
I was really looking forward to PoE2, but I was working under the assumption that would be something they'd fix but it really does feel like women characters are locked down to specific class tropes :/
how much do you reckon classes matter then?
Just as much as they do in PoE1. They only determine where you start in the skill tree and what ascendancies you can choose from, but you can still get to any point in the skill tree regardless of starting location, and the ascendancies seem to be designed to be very generic such that the Warrior ascendancies are the only ones that are specifically for melee. All the other ascendancies are super general and they will be playable with any given archetype (well, maybe a melee deadeye is gonna be hard to justify but I'm sure there's melee skills that launch projectiles like Molten Strike or Lightning Strike in POE1). The Sorceress ascendancies also seem fairly generic and will probably work fine for elemental melee builds, but you'll probably have to use quarterstaves instead of maces because all the mace skills that are gonna be in Early Access are physical or fire themed, while Sorceress needs other elements to get full use out of her ascendancy.
Also keep in mind Huntress hasn't been added yet but she will be a spear wielding class (you can, of course, use any weapon type on any class but she's themed around spears) so that might kinda be closer to the fantasy you mean.
More slop for me 
game looks fun but the weird depictions of Aztecs doesn't excite me and I thought it was interesting that the cheaper support packs are for the Indigenous looking people but the highest paid on makes you into a crusader. I have never played these games but it feels like some weird colonial white supremacy undertones
I made an effortpost reflecting on some of those issues. I don't expect POE2 to really improve on the ubermensch themes sadly.
FWIW though, some of the main enemies of the POE1 campaign are thinly veiled Christofascists so as much as the game depicts Aztecs in a very cringe way, it at least throws shade at fascists too.
nice that sums up the vibes I was getting just from this one video. the gameplay does seem enjoyable but my tolerance for that kind of narrative is pretty low these days
The early access has 12 class ascendancies. They are promising to later have 36 class ascendancies.
The early access campaign has 3 of the 6 acts completed. In the early access, you will level 1-45 in Act 1-3. Then from level 45-65, you replay Act 1-3 but with levels scaled. Then at level 65, you enter the endgame ie exploring the atlas.
The early access POE 2 end game has over 50 bosses, over 400 monster types, and 7 playable end game systems. The atlas system is entirely reworked.
Any in game purchases that you made in POE 1 are transferred to POE 2 and vice versa.
My account was banned because I used a stacked deck opener... No regrets lol. Not sure if I'll end up playing again, but might play with my friend on PS5 if he ends up liking it at all
All of what they showed looks really, really good. The new atlas system perfectly addressed some of the main issues in poe1: being incentivized to run the same layout repeatedly, the linear nature of progression that feels the same each league. In fact, a pretty important change here is that waypoints are detached from layouts, meaning you can always run a desired map even if you're not sustaining high tier waypoints. That means they can make map sustain meaningful once again, unlike the situation in POE1 where ever since Conquerors of the Atlas map sustain has been completely trivial.
Also very interested in the new ascendancies. Infernalist for the Witch has Pyromantic Pact, which transforms mana into a new resource that fills as you cast skills, instead of draining, but deals the sum of your life and ES as damage when you fill your infernal flame reserve. I don't know if this will work with Mind over Matter, but if it does it opens up some interesting possibilities for builds that have 0 life investment and simply coast on infernal flame taking the hits. If it doesn't work with MOM you can still do some interesting things such as using barrier invocation or cast when damage taken (if it exists) to trigger spells upon filling your infernal flame, which could cost enough mana to trigger themselves again and start a loop.
The Blood Mage also seems strong and more straightforward. One skill gives 1% increased crit bonus per 20 life, and another lets your ES from body armor also grant life. This seems like a pretty strong interaction with anything that gives guaranteed crits (I believe they showed a support gem that does this), so you could attempt to build into nothing but defence and still have respectable damage from so much crit bonus. Could be a good ignite build, since ailments are calculated based on hit damage instead of base damage like POE1 so crit probably increases the ignite damage.
Chronomancer, Chaos Monk, Gemling Merc, etc all also look very cool, can't think of any crazy good build ideas yet.
Sanctum and Ultimatum (TOTA later according to Q&A? hype!) for ascending is awesome. I can't wait to rage at ultimatum screwing me as I try to ascend for the 4th time. Also can't wait to do sanctum in maps again with a character specialized for it in POE2 combat.
Extra comment: I haven't seen the full Q&A so they may have addressed this, do maps only spawn 1 mechanic now? It's fine if they can only have 1 since it seems that individual maps will be shorter now, but if so it seems like there might be a problem when more mechanics from POE1 and future POE2 leagues are added. Also, the map device has 4 slots, yet the new tablet system seems to replace the function of scarabs or sextants so what do those do? Quite a lot to still learn.
Edit: checked the reveal again and maps definitely can have multiple mechanics on them.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: