Frustration with the Overly Fast Combat – No Room for True Challenge

Honestly, I feel disappointed. The game’s current pace is way too fast, and it completely kills any sense of real danger or tactical decision-making. It feels like I’m just zipping through content, spamming abilities without needing to think. There’s no tension, no meaningful challenge — just speed.

I understand the goal might be to attract a broader, more casual audience, but without depth or stakes, players like me won’t stick around. I want fights that make me pause, breathe, and plan. Please consider the long-term impact of this design direction.
Key Areas for Improvement:

Combat is excessively fast-paced – it leaves no room for tactical choices or meaningful decisions.

Enemies lack deadly, readable patterns – most mobs feel like filler, not real threats.

Lack of build diversity for control or positional play – almost everything revolves around mobility and spamming.

Progression feels too linear and safe – there’s rarely a sense of real danger or risk.

No real high-difficulty mode – even late-game content doesn’t push players hard enough.
Hardcore doesn’t feel hardcore — and that’s frustrating

As someone playing Hardcore, I expected real danger, tension, and punishment for mistakes. Instead, I’m flying through zones with barely any threat. The game still feels like softcore with a health bar. There’s no fear, no pressure, no need to adapt or think fast — just go, go, go.

I’m honestly frustrated. Hardcore should demand respect from the player. Right now, it just feels like a checkbox, not a meaningful experience. That needs to change if this mode is going to matter.
Boss fights lack real threat or presence

One of the biggest letdowns for me is how underwhelming boss fights feel. There’s no weight, no atmosphere, no fear. Bosses often feel like slightly larger mobs with more HP, not true encounters where you need to study patterns, dodge with precision, and fight for survival. It doesn’t feel like I’m battling a powerful foe — it feels like I’m just going through the motions.

For Hardcore especially, this is a missed opportunity. Bosses should be the heart-pounding climax — not a speed bump.

How far are you in the game

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nice bait :rofl:

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“Meaningful combat!”

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Not sure if you’re joking or not… but to say things like: “Lack of build diversity for control or positional play – almost everything revolves around mobility and spamming.”

I am not sure how many hours you’ve had into this game but that is not true. Maybe if you are just sticking to top tier builds, sure? Even that’s a stretch. The whole “no high difficulty” also suggest you’re just basically playing it safe. I dunno, doesn’t seem like you’ve actually played a lot.

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No game can cater to every playstyle. I don’t agree with your opinion, but we probably expect different things from the game.

Just to understand a little better , what games do you normally enjoy? How many hours , how far have you get on corruption and on how many builds? Have you done all the harbingers? And the pinnacle boss?

To me LE fills what I need in an ARPG , something where I can chill or have fun , but still have a lot of build choices and enough depth to play several different characters and if I want to push a character I have plenty of challenges.

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Jonathan, stop it!

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Jonothan, stop. Get some help.

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to be honest the game DOES have meaningful combat. BUT its gated behind having good gear to begin with.

i recently killed a harbinger at 150 corruption. his hits are stupid. 1hko’s me. but if i recognize his pattern, it becomes more of a routine where he barely can hit me with his heavy hitting attacks.

I currently have just concern about the same thing, that combat will not feel good. I need WASD and high corruption in order to check it. Quite possible that I will agree after, that combat in LE is mostly just meaningless spamming of abilities, not sure yet.

Oh no! Jonathan is here we need call Vision Watchers to save us!

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I’m curious to know the OP’s experience and corruption level.

The LE combat (on several classes) seems more meaningful and varied than throwing lightning spear over and over and deleting whole screens mindlessly with one button. The very nature of skill-point-trees means speccing a utilty skill does not take away from your damage skill. Is there unrivaled flexibility? No. But there are a bunch of viable builds with different playstyles, and some options in each.

There are many criticisms I can make of LE. but this is not one of them.

Easy solution for you, go play POE Season 2. It is so slow and boring it will be right up your alley.

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Which builds have meaningful combat, in your opinion? I thought blademaster will be fun, but it feels mostly just like blindly doing combo rotations, with very little reacting to what monsters are doing. Well, when there are 50 monsters on the screen, it probably can’t be anything else.

just chiming in. i m using a melee lich. my defenses are not too great but fighting harbingers can get me killed a little too easily. BUT if i actively move out of the way i can defeat him.

once i get WASD movement i think i should be able to do this even more accurately

Seriously it’s an ARPG it’s not an MMORPG - I used to have to study videos for hours as an off-main tank in WoW for fights that would take 30-45 minutes (it kinda sucked haha). If you want a different playstyle there are plenty of other games out there lol, sheeeeeittttttt.

Most of the time you don’t fight harbringers though. Routine mapping has to feel good, otherwise it’s waste of time imho.

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i would contend that for trash mobs and mapping in general, the game can be more zoomy. but once bossing comes around it should be more deliberate.

deliberate combat against trash mobs is a good way to quickly burn out

Depends on player’s preferences. For people like me, zooming is the fastest way to get bored and quit.

Ah, so you’re after that slow, methodical, moment-to-moment gameplay. Riveting stuff. Might I suggest Grim Dawn or Wolcen? They specialize in that ‘barely staying awake’ pacing you seem to be looking for.

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