[Megathread] Path of Exile

[kaminaris]

Well I'm out. The PS4 version crashes so much, it's pretty much unplayable. The last time it crashed so hard I had to actually unplug the console. They made a post on their forums saying they don't even known why it's crashing, because the crash reporting on PS4 isn't sending them any useful information. So they're just guessing at this point.

I did make it through 4 or 5 heists before I gave up, and it really isn't something that I find fun anyway. Well maybe next expansion, if they can figure their shit out.

MTX crashes games. For example since a friend turned off his movement skill mtx poe stopped crashing.

And quite honestly, I haven't had crashes since first big patch. Like zero, null, none.
So there is definitely something wrong with hardware compatibility.

[Morae]

Any advice what to do?

I would like to come back to try poe again after several seasons. Yet, its always hard. I want to play strictly SSF. I destest trading.

Yet, poe is too complex. I cannot go in myself and expect to even get a proper build. I have to look for builds. Sure, yeah, there are tons of builds, but not ssf builds. I google for ssf builds. I get builds that start saying how ez they are and ssf friendly. Then they start to explain everything is ez because all can be acquired with less than 1ex price!! Thats because almost all builds seem to be made for non ssf and then just said its easy on ssf. Should I try to play without the specific items, its squishy build that does very little damage and dont get too far.

Even, if I spend more time and look for the actual ssf builds, I have very little selection to look for or I have yet to find ones.

If thats not enough, it seems people have started to use some program to show their builds. What the F? Is the game now too complex that I need to download a program to look at builds? At this point my interest starts to dwindle again and I have time to remember that "do i really want to play the game, if its this big effort?"

Opinions? Should I just ignore poe? Such large effort to even find a build. Then I'd have to setup program so I can actually follow the build. What if I dont like the build after I play it? Is it really worth the effort?

I feel the game is almost inaccessible.

[Fencers]

Any advice what to do?

I would like to come back to try poe again after several seasons. Yet, its always hard. I want to play strictly SSF. I destest trading.

Yet, poe is too complex. I cannot go in myself and expect to even get a proper build. I have to look for builds. Sure, yeah, there are tons of builds, but not ssf builds. I google for ssf builds. I get builds that start saying how ez they are and ssf friendly. Then they start to explain everything is ez because all can be acquired with less than 1ex price!! Thats because almost all builds seem to be made for non ssf and then just said its easy on ssf. Should I try to play without the specific items, its squishy build that does very little damage and dont get too far.

Even, if I spend more time and look for the actual ssf builds, I have very little selection to look for or I have yet to find ones.

If thats not enough, it seems people have started to use some program to show their builds. What the F? Is the game now too complex that I need to download a program to look at builds? At this point my interest starts to dwindle again and I have time to remember that "do i really want to play the game, if its this big effort?"

Opinions? Should I just ignore poe? Such large effort to even find a build. Then I'd have to setup program so I can actually follow the build. What if I dont like the build after I play it? Is it really worth the effort?

I feel the game is almost inaccessible.

The truth is if you are not playing competitively, you can do almost anything in this game. Fundamentally the premise and basics are simple and POE can be played simply.

Choose a style of combat you enjoy; ranged, melee, pets, etc. Then play around with skills as you level that fall into the playstyle you tend to enjoy. It is a forgiving game in actuality.

I have played SSF in standard with just random builds many times just for relaxed fun.

For example, I rolled up a Marauder a few weeks ago and found a two-handed weapon on the beach level 1. So I stuck with two-handed weapons and progressed logically along the tree for what I was playing; taking life, armor, and two-handed damage related nodes within reach of the starting path. Tried some skills here & there as I unlocked/acquired them, got a better two-handed axe, and suddenly I was playing a tanky two-handed axe dude using cleave. This was not an "optimal build" with all the meta-skills and links. I still progressed easily to the endgame, crafting my own gear and died in a map circa level 88 or so.

It was just a "fun" build, so to speak. I put no planning into it all. No meta-skills, items or build guide.

Don't confuse the league specific and competitive discussion in this thread and others as the only method or course of playing POE. Often, people are talking about and interested in maximizing potential within a short time frame; the leagues. This is fun too, of course, but if your block to getting into the game is POE is overwhelming that notion exists based on a misreading of these types of threads and online discussions. POE is still a hack & slash at its core and can be played and understood on that level as well.

[Beazy]

Any advice what to do?

I would like to come back to try poe again after several seasons. Yet, its always hard. I want to play strictly SSF. I destest trading.

Yet, poe is too complex. I cannot go in myself and expect to even get a proper build. I have to look for builds. Sure, yeah, there are tons of builds, but not ssf builds. I google for ssf builds. I get builds that start saying how ez they are and ssf friendly. Then they start to explain everything is ez because all can be acquired with less than 1ex price!! Thats because almost all builds seem to be made for non ssf and then just said its easy on ssf. Should I try to play without the specific items, its squishy build that does very little damage and dont get too far.

Even, if I spend more time and look for the actual ssf builds, I have very little selection to look for or I have yet to find ones.

If thats not enough, it seems people have started to use some program to show their builds. What the F? Is the game now too complex that I need to download a program to look at builds? At this point my interest starts to dwindle again and I have time to remember that "do i really want to play the game, if its this big effort?"

Opinions? Should I just ignore poe? Such large effort to even find a build. Then I'd have to setup program so I can actually follow the build. What if I dont like the build after I play it? Is it really worth the effort?

I feel the game is almost inaccessible.

IMO, if youre playing SSF, play on PS4. I like the controller more. But I like trading so Ive only done one season on PS4. But it was really nice with a controller.

[kaminaris]

Any advice what to do?

I would like to come back to try poe again after several seasons. Yet, its always hard. I want to play strictly SSF. I destest trading.

Yet, poe is too complex. I cannot go in myself and expect to even get a proper build. I have to look for builds. Sure, yeah, there are tons of builds, but not ssf builds. I google for ssf builds. I get builds that start saying how ez they are and ssf friendly. Then they start to explain everything is ez because all can be acquired with less than 1ex price!! Thats because almost all builds seem to be made for non ssf and then just said its easy on ssf. Should I try to play without the specific items, its squishy build that does very little damage and dont get too far.

Even, if I spend more time and look for the actual ssf builds, I have very little selection to look for or I have yet to find ones.

If thats not enough, it seems people have started to use some program to show their builds. What the F? Is the game now too complex that I need to download a program to look at builds? At this point my interest starts to dwindle again and I have time to remember that "do i really want to play the game, if its this big effort?"

Opinions? Should I just ignore poe? Such large effort to even find a build. Then I'd have to setup program so I can actually follow the build. What if I dont like the build after I play it? Is it really worth the effort?

I feel the game is almost inaccessible.

first of all the whole fun comes from discovery in this game. Actual gameplay loop is like other arpgs which isn't really complex (especially if most builds use 1 button).
If that discovery process is tedious to you then I advise to find other game.

Second, do not play SSF, seriously. If you hate trading just play normal trade league and dont trade unless you have to. For example you want to use some unique that is nearly impossible to get, in SSF you won't be able to get it without some hardcore farming. SSF is mostly for hardcore farmers. I really advise against SSF for new or casual players.

Third, it is perfectly fine to make your own build. But it is hard because of how complex stats are. This is also a part of discovery process.

And program is called path of building simply because its easy to share entire builds with it and theorycraft new ones instead of creating 10minute bullshit videos showcasing all the items, talent tree, notes, alterantives etc. But its actually really easy to use, just not so easy to install, however there is online version:
https://pob.party/

[kail]

Any advice what to do?

I would like to come back to try poe again after several seasons. Yet, its always hard. I want to play strictly SSF. I destest trading.

Yet, poe is too complex. I cannot go in myself and expect to even get a proper build. I have to look for builds. Sure, yeah, there are tons of builds, but not ssf builds. I google for ssf builds. I get builds that start saying how ez they are and ssf friendly. Then they start to explain everything is ez because all can be acquired with less than 1ex price!! Thats because almost all builds seem to be made for non ssf and then just said its easy on ssf. Should I try to play without the specific items, its squishy build that does very little damage and dont get too far.

Even, if I spend more time and look for the actual ssf builds, I have very little selection to look for or I have yet to find ones.

If thats not enough, it seems people have started to use some program to show their builds. What the F? Is the game now too complex that I need to download a program to look at builds? At this point my interest starts to dwindle again and I have time to remember that "do i really want to play the game, if its this big effort?"

Opinions? Should I just ignore poe? Such large effort to even find a build. Then I'd have to setup program so I can actually follow the build. What if I dont like the build after I play it? Is it really worth the effort?

I feel the game is almost inaccessible.

It's a game with much to learn. You could take it in baby steps or get a crash course with a myriad of videos. If learning a lot isn't your thing, POE isn't for you.

POB exists because there is enough complexity in character building to warrant the program and I say thank the gods someone decided to make it. Even this magnificent piece of software doesn't get total dps accurate for a handful of builds but it certainly helps do the math to know what support gems or skill points are worth using.

It's accessible, but not.some D3 game that hands you a set bonus to then grind out GR levels little by little. There is knowledge in basic mechanics (armor, ES, evasion) and endgame grinds (new leagues, delves, betrayal syndicate, etc).

[Gorsameth]

A lot of the complexity can also be ignored, which is helpful. Just don't care about crafting for your first league will save you a ton of headaches about having to figure out a dozen systems stacked on top each other. Sure it will push your powerlevel down a bit but not so much it should stop you from enjoying the game itself.

[Fencers]

I am kinda toying with the idea of a Lancing Steel/Shattering Steel build. I know it's going to be a mess but I was cruising last night and thought this could maybe work. I might go Duelist instead of Ranger though. Haven't finalized the full concept yet.

[bloodwulf]

Im hoping for far more than we are likely to get with this:

https://twitter.com/pathofexile/stat...30687707250688

The mechanic is all over the place. Too rewarding, then nerfed to being largely ignorable. DOORS because that is what this game needed. Heist NPCs getting stuck on corners so you have to constantly backtrack to releash them. Mobs casting aoe effects over the DOOR, preventing the NPC from opening the DOOR. Zero experience reward for doing even rare 80+ heists, yet one death will take away hours of work. I really struggle to stay enthused with this league and it's barely been any time at all.

[kaminaris]

Im hoping for far more than we are likely to get with this:

https://twitter.com/pathofexile/stat...30687707250688

The mechanic is all over the place. Too rewarding, then nerfed to being largely ignorable. DOORS because that is what this game needed. Heist NPCs getting stuck on corners so you have to constantly backtrack to releash them. Mobs casting aoe effects over the DOOR, preventing the NPC from opening the DOOR. Zero experience reward for doing even rare 80+ heists, yet one death will take away hours of work. I really struggle to stay enthused with this league and it's barely been any time at all.

The only real issue here are
some bugs with npcs,
massively undertuned rewards (even before nerf they were undertuned) and
massively overtuned mobs.

My 4M cyclone glad struggles with yellow mobs while 16 maps just slaps them in one go.
Doors are non issue with good follower gear, their AI is. Tho i wish there could be a limit of like 2-3 doors

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I am kinda toying with the idea of a Lancing Steel/Shattering Steel build. I know it's going to be a mess but I was cruising last night and thought this could maybe work. I might go Duelist instead of Ranger though. Haven't finalized the full concept yet.

I've found lancing steel is pretty good for single target but a bit annoying with the steel charges. my build is also based around shield throw because they scale mostly the same but with sword/axe investment you should be able to take it pretty far.

shattering steel was really good to level with as well with less of a problem with steel charges as it uses next to none likely good for aoe in maps though i haven't tried it.

champion is the obvious option you get a huge impale bonus then can mix in always having fort. better banners, or taunting so you don't need to worry about accuracy at all as long as you attack fast enough that one of the first hits will land or use a warcry.

[Fencers]

Shield Throw, whoa. I can not remember when was the last time I used that skill. There is some synergy there though, I see where you are coming from.

Part of the reason I think this Shattering Steel/Lancing Steel thing might not work well into the endgame is that it is so overly fussy. Though I haven't been looking at builds based around Shattering Steel much and did not start building my path for it either. I did like the clear speed while tooling about with it and think the skill itself has pretty good scaling potential.

[unfilteredJW]

Im hoping for far more than we are likely to get with this:

https://twitter.com/pathofexile/stat...30687707250688

The mechanic is all over the place. Too rewarding, then nerfed to being largely ignorable. DOORS because that is what this game needed. Heist NPCs getting stuck on corners so you have to constantly backtrack to releash them. Mobs casting aoe effects over the DOOR, preventing the NPC from opening the DOOR. Zero experience reward for doing even rare 80+ heists, yet one death will take away hours of work. I really struggle to stay enthused with this league and it's barely been any time at all.

We will get chris-splained we aren't playing the game right.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Shield Throw, whoa. I can not remember when was the last time I used that skill. There is some synergy there though, I see where you are coming from.

Part of the reason I think this Shattering Steel/Lancing Steel thing might not work well into the endgame is that it is so overly fussy. Though I haven't been looking at builds based around Shattering Steel much and did not start building my path for it either. I did like the clear speed while tooling about with it and think the skill itself has pretty good scaling potential.

I’m apparently a masochist because I have come back to shield throw every league even though I know it’s awful for single target.

Lancing steel kinda solves that problem with a weapon swap set up as they can use all the same gems though I have a kinda crappy sword I’m using for it at the moment. The main problem with it is that you pretty much have to wait half a second between using call of steel and attacking or it will mess up the steel shards and you will do way less damage, Kinda clunky.

Shattering steel uses way less steel charges though so it’s way smoother as even if you mess up the shards coming in the instant ones you get tend to tide it over.

If I was a reasonable person I’d just use swords and scale crit and swap between shatters and lancing steel instead of shield throw but alas I am not.

[bloodwulf]

We're now in the second week of the Heist league and the team is continuing to monitor your feedback and reported issues. In this news post we'd like to give you an update about some recently reported issues and to provide a general indication of what we're working on. Please note that a lot of the plans here are early and may change as they undergo development and internal testing.

Experience from Monsters in Heists
While there's currently no experience penalty on Heist monsters, we agree that in actual gameplay, they don't grant enough experience. We plan to significantly increase the experience that Heist monsters grant, with a focus on monsters encountered during Lockdown.

Heist Areas (in maps) are too long
We're going to standardise the size of Heists so that once you hit maps, they don't get any larger than the current Tier 1 size. You'll find a greater density of reward rooms in the higher-tier ones, of course.

Opening Job Doors in Heists
We have reduced the number of Heist Job doors along the direct path to the primary objective which need to be opened prior to Lockdown. We have also increased the speed at which Karst and Tullina complete the Agility Job.

There are some Heist Jobs that currently can't be sped up, but we're investigating the possibility of allowing this. In addition, some of the Heist doors have timing values that we'd like to make faster.

Observer Totems
Observer Totems, which can be found in Heists that require the Perception Job, increase Alert Level when you are close to them. One of the core issues is that it isn't necessarily obvious when you are approaching these totems or when you are in range of their Alert Level aura. We will be improving their visibility in a future update (both where they are and indicating when your Rogue specialising in Perception has made them vulnerable to damage).

Currently when a totem uses its Alert Level generation skill on you, your Alert Level goes up unless you kill it before it finishes using the skill. We will be changing it so that the skill essentially travels out in a wave that you can run away from or avoid. It will only increase the Alert Level if you are hit by it.

New Heist Bosses/Quests
We plan to enable two new boss encounters (and their accompanying questline) in an upcoming patch this week. Following that, we are aiming to enable another boss encounter (and questline) next week!

Heist Rewards
We have completed a large pass on Heist rewards. Our current plan is to increase the value of various reward types, such as Generic, Talismans, Metamorph and Harbinger. We want to provide further incentive to prioritising Reward Room Chests, therefore we will be moving some of the special rewards from Main Path Chests into Reward Room Chests.

Various Reward Room Chests will have a chance to drop Scarabs which match their respective rewards. We will be reducing the frequency at which Generic Reward Room Chests appear in Heists as well.

We have increased the Rogue Marker value of Heist objectives by up to 40% (based on the Tier of the Contract).

We have reduced the revealing cost for high-tier Blueprints by up to 15%. Alongside the increased Rogue Markers generated by running Heist Contracts, we expect that you should feel less strained by Blueprint revealing costs.

Additionally, we plan to change Blueprints to display all of the Reward Rooms that the Wings contain, rather than just the Reward Rooms that can be revealed. This way, you'll be able to see all of the potential rewards in a given Wing, giving you more information to decide whether you'd like to reveal a given Wing.

We are also considering some changes to how much you can extend the lockdown timer, such that it's still an effective strategy, but not one that trivialises opening all reward chests.

Portals back to The Rogue Harbour
There's a problem where returning to the Rogue Harbour can put you into the wrong Harbour, preventing you from returning to your Heist. We attempted to fix it last week but ran into some big problems and had to revert the fix. We have another plan for fixing it which we hope to deploy later this week.

Client and Instance Crashes
We aim to fix crashes as soon as possible, prioritising crashes based on how frequently they're occurring and how many players they're affecting. On Saturday, we fixed the most common client crash. We will continue to fix crashes as quickly as possible in our upcoming patches.

PlayStation 4 Crashes
The common client crash on this platform has the full attention of our engine development team at the moment.

Stash Tab Folders and Stash Tab Affinities
Stash Tab Folders are nearing completion. We will then be doing extensive internal testing. As soon as they're ready to go, we will be patching them in.

Stash Tab Affinities will take a little bit more time to complete, but we don't want to delay Stash Tab Folders. We're aiming to have Stash Tab Affinities released within the next few weeks.

It's critical that both of these features are implemented very safely and tested thoroughly, due to their nature.

Official macOS release
Since our unofficial release of an experimental macOS client immediately before the Heist release, we have been working on fixing commonly-reported issues. There are still a few important issues remaining, so we don't have a release date locked down yet. We'd like it to ideally be next week though.

The following commonly-reported issues are fixed and are awaiting testing/deployment:
Fixed a bug where Tullina could fail to open a Heist door in the Underbelly.
Fixed a bug where some Prophecies would trigger and be consumed in Heists.
Fixed a bug where Elemental Overload would not show its buff timer.
Fixed a bug which caused Grand Heists to sometimes fail to spawn an entrance to a Wing.
And many more - we'll post a preview of patch notes once we have them tested and assembled into a patch.

Thanks for making it through this long post! We'll continue to monitor feedback as these changes are deployed. We're likely to make additional improvements, and we'll keep you updated about those too.

Welp, asides from some of the obvious had to fix things (Doors, Map size, and Experience) they really are not fixing a lot. Portals are still on the waiting to be fixed. The rewards they are boosting are Talisman/Metamorph/Harbinger in particular is a bad take. Honestly they should just remove Talisman as a reward altogether. The new necks you can get Grand Heist + Anointments means you are gimping yourself by using a Talisman.

The fact that Ally AI is not discussed at all is disappointing. The allies we get are frequently stuck on everything, or busy fighting one mob while you are spamming a door.

Even GGG acknowledge doors are annoying, which is a plus, and have sped up some of them but admit some cant be fixed yet.

[Fencers]

The Job doors seem so obviously a problem. I was pretty okay with the area size though. Maybe a little more variable range in the size of the maps would help. I might be in the minority on this though.

[bloodwulf]

The Job doors seem so obviously a problem. I was pretty okay with the area size though. Maybe a little more variable range in the size of the maps would help. I might be in the minority on this though.

Some map the area is okay, then i get a map that is literally shaped like this

Start at X and end at Y
XMMMMY

Literally i had a map that i went down halls and then back up a parallel hall 3-4 times, with 5 total Job doors. This was a regular level 83 heist and not a grand heist. This also only had 3 reward rooms outside the target room. I am glad they are standardizing the size. I just wish they would eliminate some of the dead end nooks, because enemies never spawn there, and your allies just get stuck in them.

[Fencers]

Some map the area is okay, then i get a map that is literally shaped like this

Start at X and end at Y
XMMMMY

Yea, I dig that. Again, I can understand if I am in the minority but I am a whole map clear type of gal. I love it.

Literally, i had a map that i went down halls and then back up a parallel hall 3-4 times, with 5 total Job doors. This was a regular level 83 heist and not a grand heist. This also only had 3 reward rooms outside the target room. I am glad they are standardizing the size. I just wish they would eliminate some of the dead end nooks, because enemies never spawn there, and your allies just get stuck in them.

More seriously speaking, I think if they had a wider range of sizes and types for Heisting that one could exert a little more control over that would solve a lot of these issues. Fewer dead ends vis-a-vis more linear layouts or something similar.

[NoiseTank13]

I laughed for a solid 10 minutes when I read they are going to make Talisman's better.

I laughed for another 10 when they said they fixed Grand Heist portals but had to retract that fix.

[bloodwulf]

I laughed for a solid 10 minutes when I read they are going to make Talisman's better.

I laughed for another 10 when they said they fixed Grand Heist portals but had to retract that fix.

Only way they would make talismans better is by removing them completely. I ignore the chests entirely, i have 3 fucking talisman delirium orbs that i won't use, and people dont buy.

I 100% believe that GGG should in POE2 purge 3-5 past leagues. Just retire them completely so we never see them again. My top two for it are Talisman and Torment....