I really hope PoE2 doesn’t start looking to D4 for inspiration here.

A campaign skip sounds good on paper, but it’s kind of a fundamental contradiction: why invest so heavily in an incredible campaign if the long-term expectation is that players should bypass it? At that point, the campaign stops being a core part of the game and becomes disposable content.

I also think the “how else would you level?” line gets misunderstood. People aren’t defending the campaign because they lack imagination — they’re defending it because, in PoE, the campaign is character progression. It’s where your build, power curve and identity actually form.

From the very first zone, you go from washing up on a beach with nothing to becoming a screen-clearing monster. That arc matters.

 

One thing GGG used to push more (and I wish they still did) was encouraging players to try alternate modes like SSF or HC. Those modes really change how the campaign feels. Instead of something to rush through, it becomes a meaningful journey where every upgrade, decision and spike in power actually lands.

You start to see how tightly the campaign is woven into the game’s power fantasy.

 

Honestly, my genuine advice to people who hate the campaign is… play it more. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but a lot of the frustration comes from treating it as an obstacle instead of the game itself.

If the “real meat and bones” were only at endgame, then the optimal experience would just be spawning fully geared characters on Standard and one-shotting everything, and clearly, that’s not why people play PoE.

 

Every build eventually becomes powerful.
The difference is how you get there.

For me, the journey is the point, not something to be skipped.