Path of Exile 2 in Early Access feels like the devs are trying to fix old pain points without sanding off what made PoE, well, PoE. The biggest relief hits fast: skills aren't chained to your gear sockets anymore, so you can swap a piece of armour and not watch your whole setup fall apart. You end up tinkering more, failing more, then landing on something that actually works. If you're the type who keeps an eye on trading and planning ahead, PoE 2 Currency talk pops up pretty quickly once you start thinking about what's worth investing in early.
Skills without the socket headache
The new skill-and-support layout changes the vibe of buildcrafting. In the first game, experimenting often meant buying, linking, recolouring, then regretting everything. Here, trying a new skill feels closer to "slot it in and go" than "rebuild your wardrobe." That doesn't mean it's simple, though. You still have to make choices. Supports, scaling, and resource management can bite you if you're sloppy. But the barrier's lower, and that's huge for players who don't want every test run to be a mini project.
Combat that asks you to pay attention
Moment to moment, the game pushes you to play, not just calculate. Dodge rolls, blocks, and clearer enemy tells sound like a small checklist, but in practice it changes how fights feel. You can't half-watch a stream on the second monitor and expect to cruise. Some folks hate that. They want the old "zip in, delete a screen, move on" rhythm. And yeah, the pacing can feel slower. But when a boss swing is readable and you sidestep it on instinct, it's hard not to grin a little. It's more physical. More reactive. Sometimes you mess up and it's on you, not a random one-shot you couldn't see coming.
Campaign, rewards, and the Early Access rough edges
The campaign's got more drive now, with stronger delivery and less of that "same corridor, different paint" energy. Gold also smooths out the early economy. You're not staring at your stash wondering if you should really spend an orb just to keep moving. Still, loot can feel stingy, especially after a sweaty boss win where the drop pile looks like it came from a trash bin. And the technical side? It's Early Access, so you'll notice the bumps. Performance dips, balance swings, patches that land hot and then get walked back. The difficulty spikes can feel like the game's daring you to quit, even when your build is decent.
What keeps people around is that the foundation feels solid, even when the tuning isn't. You can see the shape of a smarter PoE that rewards attention, planning, and a bit of stubbornness. Some players will always miss the old speed meta, and that's fair, but this version has its own pull once you settle into it. If you're jumping in now, you'll probably spend as much time adjusting your expectations as your gear, and that's where a lot of the conversation about U4gm and progression ends up living—right in the gap between ambition and the grind.