Last Epoch Feedback - 600 Hours Played (2+ Years)
Overall Impression: I’ve been playing since early access, and the 1.0 launch genuinely impressed me. The depth of individual skill trees is fantastic and provides meaningful build diversity, even with a limited skill pool of roughly 5 active abilities per build.
Campaign & NPCs:
The NPC dialogue system feels like placeholder content. NPCs repeat the same “we need saving” lines even after you complete their quests - there’s no acknowledgment, gratitude, or character development. They feel static rather than alive. The game’s lore has gaps, and I’d like to hear more voiced dialogue explaining the world’s history and how events unfolded.
I mean look at 10-15 year old games that give more dialogue options and more context form those NPCs…i was kinda disappointed.
Item Design Philosophy:
Some items are designed with trade-offs (power vs. restrictions). However, many of these “restriction” items don’t feel like interesting choices - they feel punishing. They are nice but not much rewarding as of now to build around. Each item has drawback, has usess but also is good overall.
Items that grant powerful offensive stats but completely disable other offensive mechanics feel like the devs are wishing a specific playstyle rather than letting players experiment. It’s a disconnect between what the developers want and what players want to try. Players want the freedom to build creatively - when players are happy, they spend money.
Reforged Set Items - Restrictive Implementation:
The ability to take set items and turn them into affixes for Reforged set items is a great concept, but the current implementation feels restrictive.
Current Limitations:
- You can only insert 1 affix per item
- Developers pre-selected which affix each set item becomes - players have no choice
- The system doesn’t allow for creative synergies or build experimentation
The Disconnect: There are items (like certain rings) that could enable interesting set-stacking strategies if players had control over which affixes they could apply. The current system prioritizes what developers think players need rather than giving players the tools to discover their own synergies and power combinations. This feels like another case of developer vision limiting player creativity instead of enabling it.
Season 1 - Nemesis & Harbingers:
This was a strong addition to endgame content. I particularly enjoyed Nemesis encounters over Harbingers.
What worked:
- Nemesis loot felt rewarding - if good attribute combinations existed, you’d get upgraded tiers
- The change from 90% adding random affixes to having LP chances on uniques was excellent QoL
- I wished both systems existed: one path for adding affixes, another with higher LP chances on unique items
Season 2 - The Woven Tree:
A utility update that adds targeting to your farming, but has consistency issues.
Problem:
- The opt-out percentages are inconsistent (100% for some mechanics, “reduced” for others like runes/gold/exp)
- If I want to stop spawning something, it should be a full stop, not a reduction
**Season 2 - Woven Echoes **
Power Creep vs. Player Agency: Season 2’s power creep wasn’t about raw stats (DPS/HP) - it gave players control over farming specific content and rewards. While this is a positive direction, the implementation feels burdensome and fragmented.
Integration Issues - Nemesis Tower:
The Nemesis Tower (sequential Nemesis fights culminating in a Prime Nemesis) only exists as a specific Woven Echo in monoliths. It’s a standalone, isolated mechanic rather than integrated into the core game. You must specifically target it through Woven Echo selection rather than encountering it organically. It would be nice in woven to have ability of these specific woven echos to be how often or how rare are using woven tree. There are easter eggs in there, i laughed but systems are standalone. Find a Woven → Find Cemetery → Place what you need or how many you need → Do that echoes → Rise and repeat. It should be as naturally find not here is a thing to place to…as random generation of sorts or something…
Champion Arena & Beast Nest - Fragmentation:
Both mechanics reward champion-exclusive drops:
- Regular/Woven Champions: Drop tier 1-7 champion affixes (random amount based on champions fought)
- Woven Beast Nest: Drops primordial champion gear (always tier 8) but requires fighting beasts instead
The Problem: Same “Woven things” to collect and manage. These feel like isolated checkboxes rather than natural parts of the game world. There’s no environmental integration or organic discovery - just menu selection. Again I need more champions that are not primordial…drop these woven echo…or i need primoridial version of same champion…drop this echo. Secondly ALL Champions are Sealed affixes and can’t be moved to legendary. Again this is restriction and not choose. Havehave Unique/Legendary Primordial item or have regular drop with Primoridal affix on. Sacrefice something…
Dungeon Obsolescence - Soulfire Bastion:
This dungeon has you kill mobs for special currency to gamble for loot.
Problems with Standard Version:
- Limited special currency prevents bulk gambling
- Shop inventory is scheduled/rotated - if the shop has 1 bow but you want 4, tough luck. One day might have 4 extra belts, another day 4 extra helmets, cycling by day or hours
- Items disappear from shop after purchase - no duplicate buying of the same item
- Skiping dungeon mobs and going to directly to boss will give you less “Special Currency” for a boss fight than a doing it normaly.
Woven Echo Version Killed It:
- Woven Soulfire guarantees Unique items 100% of the time For first buy only
- Makes the normal dungeon completely obsolete
- Removes any reason to run the standard version
The power gap between normal and Woven versions is so extreme that entire pieces of content become dead on arrival.
Lightless Arbor: I’ve already provided feedback elsewhere about this gold sink dungeon and its limitations.
Temporal Sanctum Its own problem…
Core Issue with Season 2:
The Woven Tree gives players agency over content and rewards, which is excellent. However, the execution fragments the game into too many isolated mechanics rather than integrating them into the core experience. New content feels like menu selections and checklists rather than discoveries in the world. Additionally, when Woven versions are dramatically more powerful than base content, it makes original dungeons and mechanics feel obsolete.
Season 3 - Beast Evolution:
The concept was exciting: fight beasts, gain their abilities, evolve them into more powerful versions. The execution fell short.
Core Problems:
- Limited uptime: Effect only lasts 15 seconds on enemies at 40% HP or below (rare/boss tier), with a 40-second cooldown
- Timing issues: If you bring a boss to 40% HP without the beast active, it feels like you never had it, you going to kill it without him. It was great promise but just feel short.
- More achievement than tool: Unlike the T-Rex pet (100% uptime boost), the evolved beast feels absent during actual gameplay. It should’ve beem YOU evolved this beast not it just a loot mechanic to select what drops and rewars are.
What worked:
- Concept of earning abilities by defeating beasts with those abilities
- Evolution system progression
The beast needs better uptime or different activation conditions to feel like a meaningful companion rather than a situational cooldown.
Primordial Items:
The “so powerful you can only equip one” design is interesting but uneven.
Issues:
- Power levels vary drastically between items
- Some feel genuinely powerful and build-defining
- Others feel underwhelming or situational
- Some would work better as set items rather than standalone primordials
Final Thoughts:
Last Epoch has incredible foundations with its skill tree system. Season 1 showed strong potential for endgame additions. However, Seasons 2 and 3 felt more incremental, with good ideas that needed better execution. Season 2 fragments content into isolated mechanics rather than integrating them naturally, and Season 3’s beast system feels more like an achievement than a gameplay tool. A recurring theme is the disconnect between developer vision and player freedom - the game shines when it lets players experiment and discover, but struggles when it forces specific playstyles or limits creative expression.