[Megathread] Path of Exile

[Fencers]

more "we thought we had time but didn't" from the interview? i swear, it's almost like they're trying to prove the stupid greentext is true

Yeah. They organized the base items into a spread sheet, sorted by i.level and thought they would have time to make a unique for each. So that's why there were so few good late/end game unique. This is literally what Mark said.

I just... I will go barefoot if GGG hires me. Just let me organize all your shit.

[Edge-]

Yeah. They organized the base items into a spread sheet, sorted by i.level and thought they would have time to make a unique for each. So that's why there were so few good late/end game unique. This is literally what Mark said.

I just... I will go barefoot if GGG hires me. Just let me organize all your shit.

just how much content and how many systems went to the dumpster in the years this was in development, rofl

at least they're making up for it now, but it sounds like despite huge delays EA was still insanely rushed somehow

- - - Updated - - -

https://imgur.com/a/636gI2i

link to a screenshot of all the new ascendency nodes

no explanation for what many of the specific things does and all, but lots of good info.

penetrate for amazon seems based on local accuracy on the weapon otherwise that'd be absolutely batshit insane.

- - - Updated - - -

apparently the recombinator in the video is outdated

i didn't listen to the Q&A, but apparently the new version lets you select which mods you want to recombine on both items up to a certain limit (both min/max?), and the more mods you choose the lower the chance of a successful recombination. failed recombinations destroy both pieces of gear and give you nothing in return.

i am not sure about this and don't think i like the direction they're taking crafting, still

[Fencers]

I appreciate that Jonathan's comment of, "POE2 has a 65% chance of releasing this year" has become a community meme in less than an hour.

GGG make great games, but time management isn't their strong suit and has NEVER been so.

I wouldn't bet on that "65% chance", boys.

[Trifle]

i didn't listen to the Q&A, but apparently the new version lets you select which mods you want to recombine on both items up to a certain limit (both min/max?), and the more mods you choose the lower the chance of a successful recombination. failed recombinations destroy both pieces of gear and give you nothing in return.

Sounds like they're going the Korean MMO route.

[Edge-]

Sounds like they're going the Korean MMO route.

i mean...not really? risking destroying/bricking your items has always been a thing in poe crafting depending on what you're doing, this isn't really any different.

it just gives the player a level of control over the risk/reward, which is very in-line with ggg's overall design principles (which they usually follow)

[Trifle]

In PoE1, bricking is usually a minor risk with a well optimised crafting plan (for most crafts) and destruction has never really been a thing outside of a YOLO corruption.

I'm not really sure how fractured orbs will fit in to PoE2's crafting, since you can't scour them after you hit the right fracture are you meant to just spam chaos orbs after? You can't use greater essences with them. I think they want omens to be a big part of PoE2 crafting, which I haven't read up on much.

[Fencers]

What I find MOST frustrating, I just can't let this go, is the assistance runes are the same as the crafting bench, No they are fucking not.

Jonathan and Mark saying it's the same system because the expression of adding a +10 cold res rune to a chest piece has the same result as bench crafting while true is intellectually and functionally disingenuous.

When you bench craft a piece (especially in SSF and early trade), the cost of doing so is rooted in the mundane and necessary currency throughout the course of play. However, runes are entirely drop-based with no real circumvention or equivalent consumption of currency to the rune. Okay, that would be fine, if I was seeing runes at the rate of transmutes in POE1. But you do not in POE2, clearly!

Tossing a pair of boots on the bench, and slapping MS for a couple of augments we are already collecting along the way incentivizes the ground loot and currency in the same way GGG claims to be "fixing."

If I want to do the same in POE2, I need to get X or Y rune drop and match it to a base or item with an open slot. I can go through entire Acts in POE2 without seeing any runes. If and when a rune does drop, I might have just rolled or picked up some other shit off the floor.

I can't understand how GGG does not understand this and why players find this system regressive.

I do not often feel upset or annoyed with games in a serious manner. It's fun to air your gripes and make memes. But this entire conversation on GGG's end of the runes being the same as the bench grinds my gears.

[Dezerte]

The one thing that bothers me the most about PoE2 is the fact that the game is designed for WASD/twin-stick. I haven't been keeping up with updates and stuff, is this something GGG plans to address? (i.e. make traditional mouse-gameplay just as competitive and good as the aforementioned control scheme)

[Edge-]

The one thing that bothers me the most about PoE2 is the fact that the game is designed for WASD/twin-stick. I haven't been keeping up with updates and stuff, is this something GGG plans to address? (i.e. make traditional mouse-gameplay just as competitive and good as the aforementioned control scheme)

No, I'm fairly sure the intent is that WASD or twin-stick is the preferred/primary mode of play due to the additional control it gives you. It's pretty baked into the combat design, for better or worse. Playable with mouse only, but definitely a sub-optimal experience : /

[Dezerte]

No, I'm fairly sure the intent is that WASD or twin-stick is the preferred/primary mode of play due to the additional control it gives you. It's pretty baked into the combat design, for better or worse. Playable with mouse only, but definitely a sub-optimal experience : /

Meh, that's unfortunate. I can't really play WASD/twin-stick due to pain. Some archetypes still kinda feel good to play, like minions, but everything else feels bad.

[Fencers]

Jonathan and Mark say the intention at endgame when you have built up a character is for the game to be speedy. Hopefully, this puts to bed the, "Is endgame supposed to be fast?" handwrining. It is.

[Edge-]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtHF35GOZhw&t=7036s

soooooo

GGG didn't realize that lowering portals for juiced maps means you can't actually leave the map to sell/trade

They've got a week to figure out a fix before the patch ships

roflmao these fucking dudes, come the fuck on dudes this isn't the first game you've made -_-

[Fencers]

Changing shit just to change it. 6 portals did not need "rethinking". Arrghggh!

[Edge-]

Changing shit just to change it. 6 portals did not need "rethinking". Arrghggh!

just make bosses reset to full life so you can't corpse rush them and call it a day (which they already did IIRC?)

with how much slower leveling is the XP loss is already a brutal enough penalty compared to poe1 IMO

[exochaft]

Changing shit just to change it. 6 portals did not need "rethinking". Arrghggh!

I'm guessing it's akin to what Blizz has done when it comes to quite a few changes they made to WoW over the years: you get stuck constantly hyper-focusing on an issue or iterating for an extended period of time, and if one doesn't step back for a second the bigger picture gets missed. This can lead to missing obvious solutions, the solution already exists or existed but was missed/forgetten, or even over-iterating to make the problems worse (or even compound them). For example, if you have issue A you want to fix, you can start working on project B to solve the issue... but you can end up focusing on project B so much you lose sight of what it was originally meant to do: fix issue A. The more multifaceted and complicated the issues because, the easier this sort of thing can occur.

In the short term, this can happen also because you're spread thin or up against a hard deadline, which can cause slip-ups when it comes to something that seems obvious from an outside observer. Wouldn't be surprised if GGG is experiencing something like this. From their dev interviews, I could easily see the work and issues being so varied that it becomes easy to miss the bigger picture. On the plus side, GGG seems very open to explaining things and letting people test with them, which does allow third party observations to make critiques and comments that can help refocus their efforts.

[Fencers]

Zizarian trying to gas light people into playing Smith.

Nahhhh. I'm not falling for GGG class bait.

[Edge-]

Zizarian trying to gas light people into playing Smith.

Nahhhh. I'm not falling for GGG class bait.

if they allowed you to reroll ascendency i'd consider changing my titan into a smith for the memes, the ascendency seems conceptually interesting but functionally bad with the game as-is

[Khaza-R]

I am sure you'll be able to build something tanky af with smith but idk, just doesn't interest me much.

Lich and zon on the other hand. Wow.

[Cyclone Jack]

The more they reveal the more I think that the people making PoE2 have not actually played PoE1; and I think some of them may not have played PoE2 either. PoE2 screams "We can do all the things!" but there's no vision, no management. It's like there's 3 or 4 different game designs that they're trying to mash together. Why are they still working on skill interactions for early-mid game when none of those interactions are going to be worth spit in the end game where you just spam 1 or 2 abilities. They want crafting to be a big part of the game, but the crafting is wholly garbage, even with the useless changes in this update. And, as Edge pointed out, "What do you mean people will leave a map to sell stuff?" Like, really? Really!? /facepalm What is going on over there?

[Fencers]

It's like game design as free jazz.

Sure, pretty cool chord. But none of this comes together.