Extreme Paranoia of Runners and Game-Breaking Builds?

I've noticed they went quite the opposite direction in populating their maps as tehy did in Prophecies (opinion). Almost every mob that has degen will stick a good 6-8 on you no problem.

Ferndale is a good example. After clearing it the first time and having a choice of 3 exits, I chose the Conservatory. Afterwards, not wanting to have to clear it two more times, I eventually was able to make it to the Shrine, after several tries. Running up to the third portal (where the Dredge npc is) really blows. Not only do you have 6-8 degen, large amounts of popups that put the scorpions and jade to shame, but also quite a few mobs that seem to be able to knock you down with an arrow shot (not sure which skill it is).

The popups are really getting annoying in the Kurdzick territory, though.

The game is beautiful, but having to fight everything more than once is tedius at best. I like fighting and clearing and area and then maybe running it after that. It almost seems as though they are paranoid that the campaign will be run like most of prophecies (the other extreme) and that someone will find another 55hp-equiv uber build.

I dunno, maybe it's just bad memories or their diablo 2 past. I like a challenge, but the popups especially are no challenge when fighting. They just annoy the shit out of me. When running they basically take away just about any possibility of resting along the way..

Does anyone else find the popups annoying or am I just blowing it way out of proportion? Well I mean I find them really annoying regardless, but does anything else think they went overboard?

I find it annoying. It's probably one of the few cons in the FPE.

Yeah, don't get me wrong.. The rest of the game seems to be great so far.. Just those issues, which really dig into you..