Before diving into my review, I want to say that I absolutely loved Path of Exile 1 and have spent countless hours enjoying it. Naturally, I was excited to dive into Path of Exile 2, and after investing over 300 hours, I initially enjoyed the game as well. Unfortunately, my perspective shifted drastically after just one day.

Here’s what happened:

When I logged into my main character (Infernalist), which I had painstakingly leveled to 94 and invested most of my playtime in, I discovered my account had been hacked. Nearly all of my valuable gear and items were stolen. I immediately reported the issue to support via email and forums, hoping for swift action.

While investigating, I managed to track down the hacker myself by searching for my missing items in the trade market. They were openly selling my entire setup. I provided this information to support and even posted about it on the forums, asking the moderators to block the hacker from selling the stolen items.

To my shock, my forum posts were removed, and I was put on probation for requesting action against the hacker. Not only was I robbed of the time and effort I’d invested in the game, but I also felt silenced by the very team I turned to for help.

The email response from support was even more frustrating. After receiving a generic, copy-paste reply, my account was locked—effectively punishing me for being the victim of a hack. As I browsed the forums, I found that many other players had experienced similar situations: accounts compromised, reports filed, and then locked out by support.

This entire experience has been deeply disappointing. It feels like being kicked while already down. Instead of offering meaningful support, GGG’s response added insult to injury.

Until there’s a significant change in how these situations are handled, I cannot recommend Path of Exile 2 in its current state.

Edit:
I am still locked out of my account, with no response from support despite multiple follow-ups. To make matters worse, players on the forums are reporting being locked out for weeks without any resolution or updates. This lack of communication only adds to the frustration and leaves me questioning GGG’s commitment to resolving such critical issues.

Edit2:
It’s the start of a new year, and I’m still locked out of my account with no response from support. The wait continues.

Edit3:
For those seeking more details about similar account-related issues, I recommend checking the "Help and Information" section on GGG's Path of Exile forum. Many players are sharing their experiences there, which might provide additional context regarding the current situation.

Every time I start doing good in the endgame the game reminds me that I'm trash, that my build is trash, that I'm a garbage player, failed husband and father, and that I should be fired from my day job.

10 out of 10, would recommend

After 225 hours+ played on a single character, Path of Exile 2 is in my opinion, already a staple in the ARPG genra even with the flaws it has currently.

My cons would mainly be the endgame which can feel tedious at times, and punishing to a point where it is not hard, but simply annoying :
- single try pinnacle bosses is lame, it forces you mostly to go on youtube and spoil yourself to learn the boss before even trying, because it took you X hours to farm for your single try and of course, you don't want to waste this chance.

- Waystones favorites has to be in the game.

- Tedious layouts on certain specific maps (yes I'm talking about you, Mire and Hidden Grotto, just to name two).

- Waystones sustain feels off, you start with a strong feeling where you are having a hard time doing you atlas talents, and end up with almost too much waystones even without notable nodes increasing their drop chance (which would be fixed with a waystone tab anyway).

- Allow us, in any way, to navigate our passive skill tree more easily. You’ve blocked the middle of the tree, which caters too much to what your class can do. If you want to play a ranger summoner, you would have to waste 10, 15, or even 20 levels just to reach the summoning nodes. Maybe "gate" nodes who would teleport you somewhere else could be a good idea to navigate the tree with fewer wasted talent points.

- I will not talk about drop rate, items balancing, class buffs and nerfs, as it is still an EA and easily fixable because it comes down only to numbers. Exept for one thing : ITEM RARITY ON GEAR HAS TO BE DELETED. Simple as that.
It is mind numbing to know that it affects not only gear drop rates, but also CURRENCY drop rates. It should come from "juicing" your waystones, towers and atlas passives. The current state of this precise stat, catters you way too much and sends you into FOMO mode if you don't run it on your character. Even 100% rarity, which is low compared to some, is night and day.

- Crafting needs to be implemented better and in a more polished way. For the moment, if you are new and poor, it comes down to gambling by using your exalts and praying you'll have a good modifier. The "real" crafting comes with omens, which cost an arm and a leg, and is a priviledge unlocked only for those who can spend tons of currency to buy them.

- Please GGG, try to work and developp the PoE Trade website directly into the game. We shouldn't have to go out of our way so often outside of the game to sell and buy what we want. The currency exchange is a huge step in the right direction.

Aside from perfomances, a few crashes and what I wrote above, I'm having a blast.
Game is fun and engaging. Character power is still very much where it should be. Bosses are the best I've seen in this kind of games.
The recent patches showed that the devs are listening for the moment. PoE 2 has the potential to be the greatest ARPG ever created.