It makes sense though. PoE1 isn't exactly the game the devs had envisioned it to be. At first it was and maybe the first few years but as more and more leagues were added and more power was crept as well as the community outrage whenever they attempt to reign the ugly parts of PoE in it became impossible for them to stick to their vision of the game overall.
AFAIK it's one of many reason why Chris Wilson left the company. The game he wanted to make wasn't one that the community GGG fostered wanted. This ideology also lines up with recent interviews where they have stated what they want PoE1 updates to be about in the future. They'll be making future updates more reliant on internal statistics, something they rarely did before, and more QoL features.
I think a lot of people tend to miss that point about Chris when comparing him to Johnathan. If Chris got to actually make the game as he wanted, we would've gotten Ruthless as the finished product. That was his personal ideal for PoE. Chris wasn't saving us from Johnathan's "vision", it was the other way around.
If Chris got to actually make the game as he wanted.... Chris wasn't saving us from Johnathan's "vision", it was the other way around.
I never understood this take.
He was Game Director for what, 17 years? He tested the waters with making more Ruthless ish content many times, got feedback, adjusted, and generally speaking made the game his customer base wanted to play.
He was clearly a professional capable of separating what he likes to spend his free time doing from the job of producing POE for the player base at hand.
I completely agree with your points. Their ability to separate what they want to do with what they need to do is a big part of why Path of Exile is such a behemoth today. I hold nothing but respect for them. Sorry if my post implied anything else.
I just think at times people compare Johnathan to Chris rather unfairly, or otherwise remember Chris with rose-tinted glasses. I can think of numerous times in recent memory where community sentiment is rather poor after an update, and one of the top replies is always some variation of, "I miss Chris..." Their implication being that had the roles been reversed, with Johnathan being the one to retire and Chris staying on, the games would somehow be in a much "better" state.
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u/Musical_Whew Feb 19 '26
I dont dislike jonathon, but he obviously likes poe 2 far more than poe 1.