Fate of the Vaal is one of those systems that sounds tidy on a checklist, but feels rough the moment you're actually playing. You're in a map, you've finally found your groove, and then the game asks you to step out, clear a separate zone, and pop back in like nothing happened. On paper it's "variety"; in practice it's a hard stop, the kind that makes you start thinking about logistics instead of monsters. It doesn't help that people are already juggling crafting plans, stash space, and PoE 2 Currency decisions mid-session, so adding another forced detour just piles onto the mental load.

Why the Detour Stings

PoE2's combat is slower and more intentional, and that's the point. You're meant to read attacks, commit to movement, and earn every clean clear. But that pace means your "flow state" is fragile. Once you break it, getting it back isn't instant. You notice every backtrack, every corridor, every little dead-end you didn't care about five minutes ago. A side trip can be fun when it's optional. When it's effectively mandatory for value, it turns into a chore you do because you'd feel silly skipping it.

It Highlights the Wrong Things

The weird part is how loudly it advertises the sequel's friction. In PoE1, speed covered up a lot. You could bounce between activities and barely feel the seams because movement was snappy and the game practically shoved you forward. Here, the seams are the experience. You'll catch yourself thinking, "Wait, why am I loading out of the map again?" It's not even the time loss by itself. It's the stop-start rhythm that makes each run feel less like a run and more like a set of errands.

Endgame Motivation Isn't There Yet

And when the endgame doesn't have a clear long-term target, these interruptions land even worse. If you're chasing a defining pinnacle boss or a big, obvious milestone, you'll tolerate detours because you're still moving toward something. Right now, a lot of players are building characters for the sake of building them. That can be fine, but it changes what "fun" relies on. The moment-to-moment needs to feel smooth and rewarding. If it's not, burnout creeps in fast, because the game starts asking for patience without paying it back.

I'm not saying side content should vanish. It just has to respect the tempo PoE2 is trying to set. Make the Vaal objective integrate into the map, or let it stack so you can do a few in one go, or give a cleaner choice to opt out without feeling punished. Anything that keeps players fighting instead of commuting would help, especially when people are already planning upgrades and watching their resources like a hawk, including when they look up PoE 2 Currency for sale options to keep their build moving.