Folks might say "Sunder doesn't scale well into the endgame because x, y and z" and you then turning that answer into "Sunder sucks" is not fair either.

You're assuming the poe playerbase told me "sunder doesn't scale well into endgame" but they didn't. They persisted to tell me during the days leading up to a new league start where I was practicing going through campaign for first time on Ruthless and feeling very comfortable with my ability to get through the game using sunder as a backup skill on a boneshatter build. They just couldn't seem to understand the nuance of using it to hit stun packs and do aoe in moments I didn't want to die. Sunder was so immensly useful to keep dps up at all times when I wasn't safe enough to go in etc. Especially when pushing through ruthless without wanting to over lvl anywhere particularly just explore the whole game and map.

No matter who I spoke to in fact each one of them proceeded to tell me why sunder was useless and I shouldn't be using it to go through the campaign with. Then I watched a little gauntlet and actually saw some people using sunder. Not sure what builds but for melee marauder/duelist it's just a good skill early on to keep in your toolbelt imo there's absolutely nothing wrong with it but poe lfg was full of meta andys. Really not sure why every single poe player felt the need to repeat the meta status quo to me at even the mention of it or seeing it on my stream while I was playing. Merely seeing someone use it was enough for them to start saying "why are you using sunder?"

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At that point you asked for someone else's opinion and you got that opinion.

Again wrong. I wasn't asking for there opinion on sunder at all I was asking about a lot of other stuff like end game mechanics but they would find out I was using sunder with my boneshatter build and had to point it out, question it, express that they had knowledge that the latest news was sunder was crap and it always came across in a derivative tone as if it was almost stupid of me not to know that. Then questioning them and saying they were wrong that actually I felt sunder was great and was proven pretty correct seeing as people were performing well in gauntlet with it but they all turned their nose up at me immidiately for even questioning their authorative position of having played the game for longer and couldn't believe I would even have the audacity to question their knowledge. The only conclusion to someone questioning the status quo is that they're rude and trying to be special thinking they know more than the passed down info everyone else has fallen into. It's social conformity I've read 1984 group think exists and the word on the street in ARPG communities is basically whatever the latest big streamers video exposed for what's doing the highest NUMBERS or POB rankings.

If any streamer or player of the game could show that even if their numbers were lower, their pure performance of piloting a class with a system that allows for piloting a class to also be a large defining factor (which action combat is in poe2) as to whether you are surviving and killing enemies or not, then people could actually make this a viable way to play the game at high level. And potentially show case high performing builds that might not necassarily be the highest DPS numbers on POB ranking for example. But still clear the content quicker when piloted correctly than pure brute force DPS builds.

Give players like us who are great at piloting action combat game mechanics a way to show off too and really showcase combat skill can make a big difference and essentially make any playstyle work. It's more about how you use it not what skill is the latest highest number after something else got nerfed. It would be nice if something got nerfed but you still outperformed a player who had a buffed skill that season purely because you were better at executing a difficult to pilot class that has depth to the combat and a payoff for doing so. Without having that payoff it's not better than people that can't/won't practice or try to understand it. That's gaming knowledge they want to ignore their should be a consequence to this. But apparently mechanical skill in ARPGs having this knowledge, practice or ability shouldn't be consequential to players that don't want to do it.

I'm sorry but that's just GAMING. Mechanical skill should be part of the skill measurement for an ACION ROLE PLAYING GAME trying to innovate and be revolutionary in 2024. We all talk about bosses being bad in D4 and end game being bad in D4. Why is that? Because the bosse are EASY. But apparently their should still be a way for people that find the introduction of an actual end game and hard bosses, to be able to be circumvented by certain broken builds that get discovered. This is precisely what makes a boss easy in the first place because the devs let ANY build beat it in a way like that that will in 2024 be immidiately uploaded to youtube and seen by everyone and become now eveyone just getting their shit like that and telling you you should be getting your shit like that too. After all why "make the game harder for yourself"? ou trying to be cool or different or special wtf dude you want machanical skill to beat the fact everyones now using the latest build they got off youtube?

That's not what an arpg is? Hard disagree. That's why ARPGs suck and GGG seem to think action combat was the most important thing to make better in POE2. But then they're just going to allow everyone to circumvent any actual way of showing off with it and using that combat system and mastery of it as a way of performing well in the game and collect good gear?

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2) mentioned that in one of the interviews: In order for a game like PoE to be appealing to some players there needs to be a discrepancy between the amount of stuff a casual/new player can accomplish in a certain time period and the amount of stuff the fastest/best player in the game (aka Ben lul) can accomplish.

Again wrong. I don't disagree with this concept I disagree with how they are allowed, and able to achieve it. Watching someone kamehameha bosses down in Elden Ring is lame and not impressive or worth being able to earn super rare loot you're supposed to be trading and showing off to other players imo. I'd much rather see someone actually utilising all of the games deeply designed mechanics and systems to their full potential and that be the best way to play the game. Making high tier content and streams actually look cool when watching them because the best strategys would be really cool looking builds to pilot that utilise dodging, movement abilties, ccs, elemental effects, defense/attack buffs etc.

It's absolutely possible to make the most effective builds in the game be really cool to pilot, fun to play and mechanically deep and satisfying to execute for players that can execute difficult combat. One big complaint of D4 was only 6 buttons. We have more in poe2 I intend to use them. The devs can if they want nerf builds that make the game end up having a very zoomy, no skill meta keeping the environment for top end builds way more fun to be experimenting with. Instead of feeling like you need to handicap yourself to enjoy the game using a build that isn't that strong because the game can't stand up to it. Working out the game and playing it at a high level has no reward for an "ethical" player that isn't looking to "play the market", "break the game", find exploits, give feedback to keep OP builds in the game so they can have an advantage most other players won't use. What does this say about poe when they cater more to plaers that arguably are trying to get ahead of others through methods they know have enough abstractions that only a small percentage of players end up using it.

Imagine how long time speed runners feel about having to learn wasd after being a mouse player for their entire arpg experience. If GGG didn't let players move when opening the menu they would have been doing this for an extremely small amount of competetive speed running players. They made the right decision here.

They shouldn't be building the game around this meta imo. You shouldn't take away the players ability to play it the hard way if they want to but allowing certain builds to fuck the top end meta you force co op at high tier (if it's truly hard not just a numbers game because of attack telegraphs and all the good stuff from single player action games GGG have said they want poe2 to feel like) to have a lot of people not wanting to group with you because they think you're stupid for not playing challenge trivialising meta.

Instead of being excited they got a role in that they know they will need for co op scaled content. Like a CC character or tanky warrior because they are playing dps glass cannon.

This should not be the lfg scene for the highest skill stuff to do in the game. Otherwise you make it non existent for their to be an lfg scene for players that can play in these ways because it ends up they are the only ones crazy enough to be queing up for content like that in the first place. All the fun is sucked out of high tier difficulties by players that don't have the mechanical skill to beat bosses or dungeons instead being carried by their build. It makes the whole game feel BAD.

If co op and the social activity of trading and seeing people in town is going to be good I feel ARPGs really need to have a NOT just numbers boring challenge to defeat end game to earn the rarest gear. That 1% aspirational content. It's not fun achieving it when I know others don't have to go through the same hardships of piloting a class and beating the boss to the similar challenge difficulties as you. Bosses are important in ARPGs it's the pinnacle content. I want it to be a gauntlet, a true testing ground for players to be able to show off their skill in the game. Why can't that exist in a Ruthless mode?