Solo caster in poe 2 on potd?

[Phyriel]

I didn't participate in beta but I heard voices that casters got very handicapped in terms of casting speed and generally need to be put behind a wall of tanks now to do anything. Do you feel it's gonna make soloing the game as casters impossible or just as in poe 1 it will just take some slow and careful early game before you can grow into something than can hold on their own? 

[fgalkin]

As of right now, with the long casting times and the new interrupt mechanic, it seems nearly impossible. However, changes are coming in the next patch, so we shall see then. 

[Phyriel]

Thats unfortunate, I really enjoyed soloing as wizard in PoE 1. But I can't say I'm surpriced as after I finished poe1 with solo wizard on potd I went on and thought "hmm so 1 wizard was possible, it was challenging at times but I turned out to be insanely powerful later so lets try 6 wizards for some crazy fireworks" and well... game just exploded with how easy it was so if I were to think about party balance then I'd say its a good change in PoE 2. Would be kewl tho to have an option to go solo even if it was very hard. But then there is a difference in "fun" factor that comes from challenge if the challenge is purely mechanical hassle of slow casting and high interrupt or if the challenge is "I'm alone with limited resources for big chunk of the game". I liked that in PoE 1 solo that u had tools to get thru early mid game but u needed to use those tools exactly how u're supposed to, including placement, efficiency of spell area of effect and so on... later it turned into murdering hardest groups of enemies like Torn Bannerman in 2 freezing rakes but oh well... thats why you play the game right? To get that sense of achievement at some point. 

 

P.S maybe that's why I played solo with different classes mostly in the end... because party difficulty became way too easy for me due to its imbalance so yea... maybe they are making the right choice there. But then again if they trade caster solo viability to get a better party balance and we will end up with OP solo melee classes as a result then they wouldn't achieve much in party balance regard would they? I mean they sort of would as even if you roll a party of 6 OP solo classes u're still environmentally handicapped in narrow corridors and door ways where you can't utilize 6 melees. It was different with 6 op casters where you build one as door blocker and 5 nukers that shoot aoe pure death on alacrity of motion so fast that you can't even manage that in real time ;p 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Phyriel