[Megathread] Path of Exile

[Fencers]

I kinda love this patch. I keep rolling new builds and like the overall direction here.

Played my warrior a little more (not dual-wielding, sorry). Prism Guard is the truth. The armor rework has been good for me so far. I tanked the Act bosses straight up. Blocking 99% of their attacks is awesome. I just have to watch for ground stuff. But it is not too bad, as I got the ability to stun shit in basically 3 hits.

But what I am really enjoying is melee Amazon. I love it! I blew through act 1 and half act 2 in about an hour & change. Wind Dancer, Thunder Leap, Elemental Sunder. Feels phenomenal!

[KrayZ33]

The game keeps crashing every other hour or so though... I wish it would stop doing that.
Obviously it happened while I did my 3rd trial and when I relogged back in I was outside...

It's not even that I can't do it again, but they take so long to complete and I just don't want to... lol.

Btw. How do you handle maps and the "required loot" to play them.
The Waygates and the Tablets.
How many do you loot?
I usually stop playing here because all these currencies are getting on my nerves and this time again, I can't handle it.
I feel like I have to the map-tab and I hate that idea.

[Fencers]

Btw. How do you handle maps and the "required loot" to play them.
The Waygates and the Tablets.
How many do you loot?
I usually stop playing here because all these currencies are getting on my nerves and this time again, I can't handle it.
I feel like I have to the map-tab and I hate that idea.

I am not sure what you are asking here. There are really only two currencies. The waystones & tablets. Waystones are maps, and tablets are the modifiers.

You get these all the time once you are in the final areas of the game. I personally loot all of these items (for my main or alts), but some people only loot within one or two tiers of the content they can handle.

[PenguinChan]

It's like night and day trying to play a melee focused Warrior and then just playing literally anything else that's mid-range or ranged lol. It's like an uphill battle to tank things and fight while everything else just avoids that entirely and dodge rolls and backs up from harm. Maybe I'm just bad, I can progress fine but the amount of 'fun' I have playing Warrior vs anything else just seems so lopsided.

I'm sure there are some very valid and possible Warrior builds in end-game though.

[Fencers]

It's like night and day trying to play a melee focused Warrior and then just playing literally anything else that's mid-range or ranged lol. It's like an uphill battle to tank things and fight while everything else just avoids that entirely and dodge rolls and backs up from harm. Maybe I'm just bad, I can progress fine but the amount of 'fun' I have playing Warrior vs anything else just seems so lopsided.

I'm sure there are some very valid and possible Warrior builds in end-game though.

I play with a shield and am using armor break/explosion skills. I have Hammer of the Gods, leap slam and the spiral hammer thing to break up big packs.

I found that I need to be aggressive against packs. I leap slam in, stun a bunch, drop the hammer, and then usually shield charge the big guy to knock them to the ground. 1 or 2 tap armor break and blow up whatever is around me.

I play like a big bully. Pushing, stunning and basically breaking mob clusters. I am in Act 4, SSF. No deaths.

[KrayZ33]

I'm using the armor break version too but I don't understand how it's calculated

50% armor break on heavy stun.
And then I have 85% in additional break.

So the reason why I'm not getting it, sometimes they are fully broken (100% achieved), and then sometimes they aren't.

So do I need 50%+50%, or 50% + 100%?
Are there "resistances" to armor break or something?
I don't understand why it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't

[Fencers]

Are there "resistances" to armor break or something?
I don't understand why it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't

Yes. The ability to break armor is relative to the target armor and the ratio of your individual hit to that armor value. This is further modified by the rarity of the monster being hit. Its triple for white/blues, and double for rares, and 1:1 for bosses.

When a monster has fully broken armor debuff, they have 0 armor value relative to the next physical damage hit they recieve plus an additional 20% physical damage taken.

A monster can have physical damage reduction that is applied regardless of their armor state (this applies to you as well).

For example, a monster with fully broken armor will take 20% more physical damage from the next PHYSICAL hit, but a monster may also have innate or area modified physical damage.

If your hits are delivering damage that is not physical, the armor breaking status will have less effect. As only the physical damage of your hit has any boosted effect.

Enemies can still evade, deflect and block as well.

Just because you dont need accuracy for melee strikes, doesn't mean the monsters are being hit, per se. It is somewhat like how in Morrowind one can "miss" even if the model rigging plays a hit animation - because this outcome is entirely mathematical.

- - - Updated - - -

Gotta say, I think the campaign is coming along nicely. I actually am really enjoying the campaign. Act 4 is a banger. I still think Act 2 is confusing. I always get lost in those maps of Act 2. But Acts 1, 3, and 4 and the interludes are great!

Rolled a minion (yes, this is like my 5th character in 4 days) witch. Minions are popping off!

I am very much enjoying POE2 right now and this (to me) feels like such a big step in the right direction (IMO) for the game. I like this kinda tense combat. When the abyss goes crazy and I am dancing between 7-8 mobs in melee, animation canceling, active blocking, dodge rolling, and so on- this works for me.

I am an enthusiast of fighting games (Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, Rival Schools, etc.) and finesse-based arcade-action games (Ninja Gaiden, Final Fight, Narc) that feature high mob density or complex actions. So take from that what you will as to why this combat is pushing my buttons in the right sequence.

[KrayZ33]

That moment when you have a good item and your pricing was off.


(this was 1 second after putting it in, or rather the game locking it, are bots botting?)


Welp, 1 Divine.

[Fencers]

I also totally changed my mind about sprinting! I love it!

They still need to clean up the ground clutter in later acts, such as the jungle/tombs. However, the fact that this has such a degree of finesse in using sprint is HIGHLY enjoyable and demonstrates superb game design.

What I didn't dial into immediately with sprinting was animation canceling the sprint to juke at either the start or stopping point of the sprint. I am now able to actively sprint inside mob packs. I can sprint/weave right in the thick of combat without getting knocked down. I don't even dodge/double dodge roll anymore. Again, I like very mechanically complex games in general.

Whenever I hit dodge, 99% of the time, I keep the button held down to take off into a sprint at the end of the roll. I have become adept at immediately continuing my sprint (moving out of AOEs/projectiles) or animation canceling to pivot attack or block. I actually think sprint is sort of OP - because you can now make any ground target attacks trivial to move out of, regardless of distance, with dodge into sprint. Since you block everything aside from the red attacks, how can these bosses do damage to you anymore?

Those double big spider guys inside the abyss pits that shoot the fire projectiles? I can sprint weave between their projectiles with ease without getting hit. In fact, I think it trivializes their threat because they can't pivot as fast as the player. That means I can beat their ass for like 5-6 hits and stun lock the mobs or AOE blast the entire room, pivot, blast again, etc.

There is no way to get that kind of uptime in damage if you didn't sprint pivot. The sheer mechanical power.

[Edge-]

That moment when you have a good item and your pricing was off.


(this was 1 second after putting it in, or rather the game locking it, are bots botting?)


Welp, 1 Divine.

If you're unsure of price - list it on a traditional sale tab vs. a merchant tab. Let people spam whisper you and you can be that asshole that reprices : )

[infinitemeridian]

I really wish they would add a sort function to this game, incredibly annoying that there isn't one.

[KrayZ33]

If you're unsure of price - list it on a traditional sale tab vs. a merchant tab. Let people spam whisper you and you can be that asshole that reprices : )

Yeah... I think that one was way, way better.

It had everything and I thought "oh this is most likely my first divine".

+2 skill to projectiles
+life (100+)
+cast speed
+40% max energy(!)
+something that was usable (can't remember)
+resi

I should've just overprice it by factor 10 instead, just to test the waters.

I really wish they would add a sort function to this game, incredibly annoying that there isn't one.

I agree. But that's on purpose so you spend money.
One tab for one thing, it's the only way.

I'm mixing jewels with runes and what not and it's a mess.



If it would just sort itself by type... I'd be happy.
This is actually taking so much time away from the game.

[Fencers]

But that's on purpose so you spend money.
One tab for one thing, it's the only way.

No. Its part of GGG design philosophy of weight and friction. Non-sorted inventory and bank space existed before purchasable bank tabs with auto-sort. All the major devs and founders of GGG either spoke in interviews or on the official forums of their preference for weight in the inventory & bank space prior to purchable tabs as well.

In a recent Tavern Talk podcast with Brian Weisman, a GGG founder, he specifically talked about why GGG decided to have the inventory and bank to work as it does yet again.

Path of Exile 1 & 2 are the most ethically monitized games on the market. Almost all the design of the game is intended and made with their philosophy in mind first. The company has openly annexed ideas or implementations for monetizing that would contradict the philosophy of the game.

[infinitemeridian]

LE epoch has auto sorting and it works just fine and doesn't ruin anything about the game. Give us options, there is zero reason to not have it. It's an arbitrary friction that adds nothing to the game and they would only stand to gain from adding it.

[KrayZ33]

No. Its part of GGG design philosophy of weight and friction. Non-sorted inventory and bank space existed before purchasable bank tabs with auto-sort. All the major devs and founders of GGG either spoke in interviews or on the official forums of their preference for weight in the inventory & bank space prior to purchable tabs as well.

In a recent Tavern Talk podcast with Brian Weisman, a GGG founder, he specifically talked about why GGG decided to have the inventory and bank to work as it does yet again.

Path of Exile 1 & 2 are the most ethically monitized games on the market. Almost all the design of the game is intended and made with their philosophy in mind first. The company has openly annexed ideas or implementations for monetizing that would contradict the philosophy of the game.

Nah.
It's company talk.
Sort should exist, no reason it shouldn't.
People who are crazy can just not press the button if they think their items and their 5 million currencies become more meaningful that way, or whatever.

This is quite sheepy.



Why do tabs that auto sort exist then (like actual sorting, not just "this item goes into this tab"), and I need to pay money for them.
Guess their "philosophy" didn't last long or at least didn't survive the trial of money.
The sort they use however is "bugged" and simply doesn't work. (see uncut gems, which sorts them weirdly)
Seems like they have trouble implementing it and that's about it.

[Gorsameth]

LE epoch has auto sorting and it works just fine and doesn't ruin anything about the game. Give us options, there is zero reason to not have it. It's an arbitrary friction that adds nothing to the game and they would only stand to gain from adding it.

Lesson 1 about PoE. Its a game designed to make you suffer.
And that includes the UI

[Fencers]

Nah.
It's company talk.

Yes, its the company Grinding Gear Games' stance as current.

One may not like it or disagree, but it is one they have held before it was possible to buy tabs. For a decade plus.

Sort should exist, no reason it shouldn't.

Entirely personal opinion.

Why do tabs that auto sort exist then (like actual sorting, not just "this item goes into this tab"), and I need to pay money for them.

When they first added the auto sort bank tabs, the functionality was limited and players asked for expanded options. If I recall, it was just 1 or 2 tabs at first. They obliged slowly over the years by adding more the community requested. We didnt get them all at once.

Guess their "philosophy" didn't last long or at least didn't survive the trial of money.

Yes, they do change their stance. Trade, multuple support gems, etc.

Having a specific reason and philosophy of design doesn prevent them from either changing their minds or altering their stance. Things they have done continuously.

They may add a sort button one day. But just like in-game asynchronous trade, until that day the company still maintains their view of auto sort is based on the weight of the inventory.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3839265

[Nzx]

Gotta say, I think the campaign is coming along nicely. I actually am really enjoying the campaign. Act 4 is a banger. I still think Act 2 is confusing. I always get lost in those maps of Act 2. But Acts 1, 3, and 4 and the interludes are great!

...

I am very much enjoying POE2 right now and this (to me) feels like such a big step in the right direction (IMO) for the game. I like this kinda tense combat. When the abyss goes crazy and I am dancing between 7-8 mobs in melee, animation canceling, active blocking, dodge rolling, and so on- this works for me.

I agree and I think 0.3 at launch instead of what we got would've been a completely different community response to this game - but, I do think there's still too much lift and shift from PoE1 into what is now a completely different game. The maps are way too fucking big, even with sprint. The campaign straight up just takes too long and there is no chance I'm spending another ~18 hours to get a character into maps. Some of the map modifiers (even boring stuff like chilled ground) that are fine in PoE1 because of the options you have to deal with them are tedious and frustrating bullshit in PoE2.

Like, a campaign that takes a long time is fine, but not if the whole game is designed around an infinite endgame like PoE1. "Weighty" complex combat is fine, but not if you lift a mechanic like Breach straight out of PoE1 that requires you to zoom and blow up hundreds of fodder mobs quickly. Even the endgame atlas system would be fine, but not if the expectation is for you to run hundreds if not thousands of maps, because it takes far too much time and clicking just to physically open one at this point. Let me control-click a bunch of nodes in a row and when I right click a waystone in my hideout it automatically opens the next one in the sequence at my map device or something.

tl;dr I just think they need to hard commit one way or another. I enjoy PoE2, it's a fun game - but in it's current state it's not a sequel to PoE1, it's a different game. If you want the maps to be huge and for each one to take 5+ minutes, reward the player for engaging with it in that way. Let/make players prepare for each individual pack, make each incidence of combat take 30 seconds, but give the player the equivalent rewards from those combat sessions to what they would get in 30 seconds of blasting in PoE1. As it stands right now white mobs (for example) are as rewarding or less than they are in PoE1, but they are more scarce AND more difficult AND require more effort from the player to kill, and that feels bad.

[KrayZ33]

I also don't enjoy mapping.
I'd honestly rather have the Diablos rift system. I just don't see the appeal.
Same goes for the towers.
I guess it allows you to farm currency of a specific type more directly?
I don't know, the atlas is just so unnecessary in my opinion.
I'm lvl 83 and a little burned out from doing it... and I don't know what else to do to be honest.

The Trials are so long as well.
If you get like 4 gauntles back to back (with the traps etc.) you just don't want to live anymore.
And the Chaos one has so much walking too when you go from stage to stage and overall that oone feels very "dry". You aren't fighting in there all that much.




This is just my opinion obviously, but this game's peak is the campaign and the way it does its world building.
The bosses, the atmosphere, the voice acting, it's all really great for an ARPG. Some campaign steps could have been shorter or more interesting with more sidequests or events, but the experience overall is very great as you get to explore lots of different things.
Even though the story is sometimes a bit questionable (i.e. how the beast is basically escaping 4 times in a row the same exact way), I still like it

[Fencers]

The maps are way too fucking big, even with sprint.

I think some areas are still too big for the speed and pace of POE2 as well. Though I am finding sprint to be a big boon to making the areas feel not so sloggy.

The dreadnought, Windswept Jungle, Grelwood, Red Vale, Farm Lands, Venom Temple, Mastodon Graveyard, Siren Caverns, the filthy temple, and so on are much faster now. At least in my experience, I have found many areas to be far less a chore to traverse.

I can blast through some areas in just 4-5 minutes in Acts 1 and 2. The areas that take a while are the twisty village layouts with narrow walkways and some of the massive open desert areas. Those still suck. For me, sprint has been a tremendous boon to speeding up the pace.

It takes me about an hour & change to clear 1 act and a few areas of the next, depending on build. I haven't been "stuck" in any act for more than an hour or so. "18 hours" seems a bit long and possibly overstated a bit.

That said, some of the interludes are long. That can make things feel like you are dragging when many players are ready for the endgame by the second interlude chapter/quest. The maze one, the second interlude I forgot the name of, that is a slog.

All these maps need refining, admittedly. Maybe there are too many areas, too. Like we don't need a huge forest, a huge farmland, and a huge burning village back-to-back-to-back. POE1 had areas like this, too. Over time, GGG condensed some areas or just got rid of interconnecting, time-waster areas - the temples in Act 3, the waterways in Act 5, the caves in Act 2, the canals in Act 8, etc.

Some of the map modifiers (even boring stuff like chilled ground) that are fine in PoE1 because of the options you have to deal with them are tedious and frustrating bullshit in PoE2.

I think charms are a better solution than flasking. However, GGG miscalculated (IMO) how players mitigate ailments in PoE1 and only offered a flasking substitute in charms. Where in POE1 I have auras and crafting options aplenty on top of gear for dealing with these effects, but these are pitiful in POE2 by comparison.

GGG should reconsider their approach to flask & charge generation, IMO. As well as the types of flasks we can carry.

I really don't need mana pots on my minion or warrior build, but I am carrying around these useless flasks for most of the game. Just seems not well thought out from either a mana pressure or utility POV.

Like, a campaign that takes a long time is fine, but not if the whole game is designed around an infinite endgame like PoE1.

I somewhat disagree. I think the campaign length is fine as current. I also think it is a smart idea to have a strong campaign that is meaningfully satisfying apart from the endgame. If GGG refuses to add skips to the campaign, then they should make the campaign have a satisfying progression that gives you a solid experience.

I occasionally play through the campaigns of Undecember, Inquisitor Martyr, D2, Wolcen, Viktor Vran, Grim Dawn, and (especially) TQ1. I like the way those games build you up throughout their campaigns. Even if their respective endgames, such as they are, may be lacking or nonexistent.

If I am forced to play a campaign, make it interesting. I want to skip POE1, Torchlight, and LE campaigns because they are unchallenging, and meaningful build progression only happens after the final acts. I do not feel that way about TQ1, D2, GD, etc, and I don't feel that way about POE2. I get a lot of satisfaction from the growth of character/build power in POE2, just going from the opening areas to killing King of the Mists and Count Geo.

Weighty" complex combat is fine, but not if you lift a mechanic like Breach straight out of PoE1 that requires you to zoom and blow up hundreds of fodder mobs quickly.

Half agree. I think they should ease up on porting POE1 mechanics until they can meaningfully change how they operate as Abyss or come up with new ones.

Blight in POE2 will be a nightmare. I fucking know it. I can barely handle Blight in POE1 now. There is no way the POE2 equivalent doesn't melt your PC into slag.

I think GGG is being lazy with some of these ported mechanics. Rouge Exiles, kinda neat, but not that great, different, and are often disabled due to bugs. Loot box, same thing. Wisps, same. This all needed to be better thought out or left out, IMO.

Even the endgame atlas system would be fine

Eh. I still think this needs a ton of work. Delve is just a bad idea for the primary endgame. I say that as a Delver.

Simply, I do not want to map like this in the endgame. Infinite mapping doesn't gel well with "boss hunting" either, IMO. Too many steps, forever to load, crashes occasionally, tons of bad layouts and dumb ass modifiers. I sorta hate endgame. Or rather, I resent the endgame.

Also, the Atlas tree is garbage.

Total endgame overhaul would be my preference. Toss it all out and start anew.

but in it's current state it's not a sequel to PoE1, it's a different game.

Ehh. This is not good.

If GGG is going to keep POE1 and POE2 alongside each other for however long, then it is a good artistic and business decision to make these products appeal to different demos and be different. Two things, such as franchise media, can have many similarities & commonalities and still be part of the franchise and apart from the other.

POE2 = POE1 remaster would make sense if POE1 went away as planned. But that ship sailed, and they are just making a different type of game within the franchise they created. That's fine. We still have POE1.

If you want the maps to be huge and for each one to take 5+ minutes, reward the player for engaging with it in that way. Let/make players prepare for each individual pack, make each incidence of combat take 30 seconds, but give the player the equivalent rewards from those combat sessions to what they would get in 30 seconds of blasting in PoE1. As it stands right now white mobs (for example) are as rewarding or less than they are in PoE1, but they are more scarce AND more difficult AND require more effort from the player to kill, and that feels bad.

I am not sure about this. A lot of it is balance and playstyle.

The balance of the game is all over the fucking place right now. Well, since 0.2, honestly.

I have played a Titan, Amazon, Lich, Chalupa, and Stormweaver in this league so far. 3 are in maps. I will finish the others this week. There is a huge difference in the efficacy of these builds.

What I 1 tap on Amazon or Chalupa might take several slams on Titan or playing Rachmaninoff concerto 2 on Storweaver. That's not an issue with monsters, per se. But the respective class power and how these things interact with gear, and so on.

Balance is not very good.

- - - Updated - - -

Same goes for the towers.

I don't know why they are so attached to towers. At least, Mark admitted the towers are not working quite as intended. He said they are open to removing them in the next endgame patch. Towers are dumb. Delete them, IMO.

The Trials are so long as well.

Still my least favorite thing about POE2. Besides feeling like I am ice skating unless I tweak each skill individually, of course. So annoying. Annoying by design, in some respect, too. Ugh.