[Megathread] Path of Exile

[BeepBoo]

so you're commenting dismissively on something you don't understand? why?

Because in my simple mind, all grinds like this are the same. Time required to hit critical mass is time required, doesn't matter how you slice it.

ok so do you actually want to have a discussion or are you just here to be dismissive/shitty towards poe players? if it's the latter then *mod hat* you can see yourself out. if you want a genuine discussion i suggest reframing things a bit and maybe asking questions instead of providing uninformed commentary

I did both, and I obviously don't mind poking people who like things I dislike, especially if I get to catch them complaining about it. It's childish and also very obviously not a fool-proof "gotcha" because it relies on the same type of logic "well if you like the cake why don't you just eat the whole thing!?" and I'm well aware of that, so I'll cut it out if it really bothers you that much. Side note: I personally REALLY miss the toxic early 2000s of video games and having little kid insult shitfests. I digress.

Fencers answered my actual questions below, so I'll respond to them.

That's cool. That is not POE 2

Only reason I'm even in here is because it could have been and I thought it was until they actually took the time to explain their end-game vision. Now I'm just here to talk shit about the game like I do wow until they finally release the damn thing so I can play my paladin with a sword going through the full campaign once then move on.

I am using the term creative here because, while not a bug or an outright exploit, players simply figured out how to do something on the verge of an exploit. In truth, it was never gonna last. And most people knew it was borderline. However, it was massively popular during the Holiday break, so inflation and a lot of players set up their temples over the break.

Yeah, but what I find odd is the backlash that seems to be happening because of it. I've done plenty of "borderline exploit" things in a multitude of live service games, especially in wow (nothing ban/punishment worthy). I've never once been surprised when it gets hotfixed and retroactively cleaned up, nor am I ever surprised when I don't get any form of compensation. Just the name of the game IMO.

[Fencers]

Only reason I'm even in here is because it could have been and I thought it was until they actually took the time to explain their end-game vision. Now I'm just here to talk shit about the game like I do wow until they finally release the damn thing so I can play my paladin with a sword going through the full campaign once then move on.

I am not sure what you are talking about or how this relates to the topic at hand. I do not play World of Warcraft at all.

Yeah, but what I find odd is the backlash that seems to be happening because of it.

How familiar are you with the POE community?

There have been many such "adjustments" to POE1 and 2 over the years. The community always flips their shit- Heist league, Legion league, Kalandra league, et cetera.

I've never once been surprised when it gets hotfixed and retroactively cleaned up, nor am I ever surprised when I don't get any form of compensation. Just the name of the game IMO.

People are adjusting to the adjustment to find new edge-case farming strategies as of a few hours after the nerf.

The middle-ground snake temple holders (such as myself) were simply salty they didn't get the chance to reap the benefits before it was shut down. I was ready to reap like many others when I returned from vacation!

Few were surprised though. This has happened many times before.

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Ziz just put up a video explaining the mid-snake temples and fat snake temple disparity. For those who weren't really keeping track of the economy.

[rogoth]

What makes it bricked? I know nothing about the current league mechanic, but it sounds like people can just spend more time to get it back to as powerful as it was or whatever. Or just make themselves more powerful as usual, at least based on me reading that comment saying "added like another 50 hours to locks."

So I remain confused. I'm not okay with grinds at all, aspirational or otherwise. I want the grind to be getting the requisite mechanical skill to gitgud and then steamrolling things with said skill while maybe having to entertain gear upgrades as a means of the game dev controlling pacing and area/boss access.

OTOH, POE nerds love months long grinds of repetitive activities to slowly build their way to OP snoozefest blasting builds to... just have it reset again on them. Is reverting/negating 50 hours of progress not something that routinely happens? Or is it just that it's mid-league?

the way the temple works, is you place pathways and rooms in a grid, the 'optimal' way to build this out was to make a huge snake of rooms that never connect to themselves, then you use the medallions that you get from clearing rooms to upgrade the rooms to level 3, previously, once you do that to enough rooms that's when the drops start flowing.

with this set of changes, they have done two things, nerfed the number of drops for fully juiced temples, which is fine, nobody really cared about that part of the hotfixes, it's the second half of the changes that everyone is up in arms over, because what GGG have essentially done is destroy the majority of players chances of ever getting a temple they can farm for top tier drops because it's now impossible to build up your temple.

so the ultra casual players are barely affected because they won't have any sort of temple setup that matters, the high end where people already have temples fully built aren't affected because they already have everything set up and no longer have to worry about the changes (outside of loot drop nerfs) as they can maintain their temples easily, these changes literally yank the ladder up behind those who got rich from this event, and frankly it's a huge tone deaf change that ruins so many players games because it invalidates dozens of hours of gameplay out of nowhere.

[BeepBoo]

I am not sure what you are talking about or how this relates to the topic at hand.

It relates because you said POE2 isn't a skill-based progression game. I was saying the only reason I'm in this thread instead of being absent like I was the entire existence of POE1 is because POE2 originally either directly or inadvertently appealed to me with how they positioned the game as slower more intentional, more combo-based combat vs POE1's shit-tier design.

I do not play World of Warcraft at all.

When I said "paladin" I mean POE's "paladin" (aka templar). POE2 best "release" with templar and swords done in addition to the full story.

There have been many such "adjustments" to POE1 and 2 over the years. The community always flips their shit- Heist league, Legion league, Kalandra league, et cetera.

Bigger bitches then wow's community, then. But, I'm not surprised that people will take any opportunity to gamify the system when it takes so much TIME just to get to broken status. I'd certainly do it, because my desire is always to get "full build" then burn out on whatever game it is.

[Fencers]

When I said "paladin" I mean POE's "paladin" (aka templar). POE2 best "release" with templar and swords done in addition to the full story.

I see. This is what confused me. I thought it was a WOW thing.

Bigger bitches then wow's community, then. But, I'm not surprised that people will take any opportunity to gamify the system when it takes so much TIME just to get to broken status. I'd certainly do it, because my desire is always to get "full build" then burn out on whatever game it is.

Well, ARPGs are all about economics in the trade league endgame. That is the entire reason to play trade- to compete economically.

As Steelmage once said, "If I could get a divinie every time I punched myself in the nuts, I would speedbag my nuts."

[BeepBoo]

That is the entire reason to play trade- to compete economically.

Only reason I play trade is so I can buy items instead of farming for them. By unscrupulous means if I'm being honest. No issue turning my real-life gold into game gold. Time doing shit I don't like to make money to get things I want all comes out of the same bucket in my mind, despite game companies hating... ahem... sellers.

[Khaza-R]

Only reason I play trade is so I can buy items instead of farming for them. By unscrupulous means if I'm being honest. No issue turning my real-life gold into game gold. Time doing shit I don't like to make money to get things I want all comes out of the same bucket in my mind, despite game companies hating... ahem... sellers.

So you've established you don't play the game currently or know what you're talking about. And you don't even like the fundamentals of practically every ARPG. So why are you here again?

[Edge-]

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3902772

Reverted the previous change made to Juatalotli's Medallion made in Hotfix 13. This Medallion can once again be placed on almost any Room in the Temple and is no longer restricted to Tier III rooms.

and everyone (who cares) liked that change

[Fencers]

Only reason I play trade is so I can buy items instead of farming for them. By unscrupulous means if I'm being honest. No issue turning my real-life gold into game gold. Time doing shit I don't like to make money to get things I want all comes out of the same bucket in my mind, despite game companies hating... ahem... sellers.

Okay. You do your thing, buddy.

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and everyone (who cares) liked that change

I care... but I scrapped the temple I was building already. Well, not totally. However, GGG is about to get a bill for this whiplash I am receiving!

Edit: Also, let the record show, that when we needed him, Chris delivered. Again.

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Okay, we're back. Snakes are go.

[Yriel]

Could you maybe seperate the POE and POE2 Threads? I only play POE2 and it's really difficult to seperate the posts...

[Fencers]

Oh mama, we are juicing! The temple is so good.

Even after I blew up a good portion of my scuffed temple, it is still way better than raw dog mapping. At least till 0.5 endgame changes...

[Edge-]

Could you maybe seperate the POE and POE2 Threads? I only play POE2 and it's really difficult to seperate the posts...

Reasonable request and makes sense at this point, it's been a year now and while the two share a lot they are different games.

Made a new thread and will link to the other game in each OP. I can't separate out all the PoE2 discussion from this thread but please keep discussion in this thread to PoE 1.

Use this thread for PoE2 discussion: https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...ath-of-Exile-2

[Fencers]

I am fine with this.

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3905372

I am knee deep in POE2 and loving the Second Wind PL at the moment. I even rolled a new Toxic Rain build on Sunday in Keepers.

I got a lot to get through and I think POE1 and 2 need some more space between leagues.

[Edge-]

I've been hankering for some kinds SSF-friendly minion build. Haven't spotted anything yet, but I'm poking around.

[Nzx]

I think the thing that keeps me coming back to PoE1 is that the classes, the skills, the passive tree, the ascendancies, and all of the uniques are (to an extent) independent of each other. Every time I think about playing PoE2 it's like "wolf druid" - okay, that's the same rigid set of four or five skills with the usage of each one already designed by someone and run over by the balance team and whoever else, like a WoW rotation.

It's really made me think about how much I love the design direction of PoE1. Some of my favourite builds over the last however many years have been bleed bow gladiator, burning arrow golementalist, FRoSS last league, and probably my all timers are CL9s tri-stat stacking hexblast miner or EB CoC. Some builds are phys hit cyclone slayer, which I'm sure were intended designs, and that's fine. But some builds are a combination of so many different individual pieces working together to make something that, if it was planned, doesn't feel like it was - and that is the type of shit that keeps me coming back to a game.

PoE2 is like buying a Lego set and then following the instructions and putting together the thing on the front of the box. PoE1 is like having a chest full of Lego and building whatever the hell you want. As a result, 2 feels like you're playing an on-rails, linear experience curated by the developers, and PoE1 feels like you've been given free rein.

[Fencers]

Mr. Llama and Chris Wilson going deep on D2, POE and game design. This is another Chris Wilson joint.

[Fencers]

We're back, baby!

Legacy of Phrecia returns to Path of Exile on January 29th


https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3907351

Start Date: 1PM January 29th PST (Jan 29, 2026 3:00 PM (CST)
End Date:1PM February 19th PST (Feb 11, 2026 3:00 PM (CST)
Based on: Keepers
Platforms: PC and Consoles
Standard and Hardcore Solo Self-Found versions available.
This event is not voided. Items and characters will transfer to parent leagues at the end of the event. Upon migration, your characters’ Ascendancy points will be respecced and you'll be assigned one of the core Ascendancy classes.


In the Legacy of Phrecia event, all the 19 Ascendancy classes you are familiar with will be replaced with new ones. Become a Servant of Arakaali and raise spiders to fight alongside you; use the powers of nature itself as the Daughter of Oshabi or just ascend into a Harbinger - this event manifests the wildest ideas of our design team into reality.

If you didn’t play in the original Legacy of Phrecia event you can check out the Ascendancies here. Do note that there have been some balance changes that will vary from this and will be available in the patch notes prior to the event.

Idols will also be making a comeback! Since the last time we ran this event, we’ve added a new set of modifiers for the Settlers League and Atlas Memories, but disabled modifiers for Breach. Craft a unique endgame experience by mixing and matching mechanics together as you see fit. With the new Asynchronous trade system getting your perfect set of idols has never been easier!

In addition to this, we’ve also sprinkled a few extra twists into the mix. To start with, every area will have a random number of map modifiers, with this number scaling up with area level. We’ve removed many modifiers from the pool that would brick builds, such as reflect.

Campaign bosses, as well as some Pinnacles have also developed a few new mechanics for you to overcome. All unique monsters will also enrage on low life.

[Edge-]

OH SHIT BABY, FUCK YEAH

I should look into actual builds, but literally since the moment I saw the post on the site I've been cooking the dumbest Galvanic Arrow of Energy & Lightning Arrow Totem Paladin ever.

25% increased elemental damage taken
level 26+ versions of all three elemental auras
Consecrated ground (should help much with sustain even if i can leech a lot, also ditch-able if wanted)
40% increased magic utility flasks
20% increased aura effect

get a big mama jamma phys bow, convert the remaining phys not converted by skills via glove implicit and cold mastery (and getting more phys as in the process)

decent chunk of bonus ele/bow damage, lots of crit/crit damage

haste for comfy, grace, HoIce for bonus clear comfort/damage

frenzy manaforged arrows with assasin's mark on hit for rares/bosses

this is a really, really dumb, bad idea that i'll probably ditch pretty quickly. lordy be i'm excited, though. we need more whackiness like this, gonna even play trade again

just a shame it doesn't even last a full month : (

[Khaza-R]

I loved the last Phrecia event last time. I'm hyped.

I hope they buff some of the weaker ascendancies tho

[Fencers]

Idols & Async trade. We will never juice harder.

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Int Stacking Whisper Fusilade. I am giddy with excitement. The entire build came to me in my dreams.