[Megathread] Path of Exile

[Trifle]

I'm actually playing the game for first time since it released in like 2013 or whatever

I'm surprised people are complaining about difficulty, I'm literally melting everything with my scion.

I'm having the opposite problem. I just spam my lighting orb and aggro totem and melt everything. My HP and mana also barely move. It's stupid easy. Like actually boring easy.

I'm kinda new too, except I played a bit last league as well as this one. I mostly agree with you, the game does seem pretty easy... until it's not. By which I mean last league I got up to act 9 or something and was still steam rolling 99% of the content, but then I'd just randomly get 1 shot out of nowhere or get some unbeatable combo of mods on a rare. Sometimes I legitimately don't even know what killed me...

[Edge-]

I'm assuming you're going Iron Reflexes? (Spell Suppression can only roll on items with Evasion. You can craft a little bit onto non-EV bases, but I don't think it was very good.) The eastern bit of the Duelist section has the Courage passive which grants 10% suppression if you've hit an enemy recently, if that's not too far out of the way maybe that can help a bit..

Not specifically, but it's an option if I need more defenses. Between fortify (17 stacks only, but still helpful) and Champion nodes (10% reduced taken, enemies deal 20% less) I should have decent baseline reduction, plus some nice block from my staff to help a bit. Unfortunately for where I'm going (top left for all the staff nodes) there's no way I'll have the points to get anywhere near Courage. I might just do a

Sometimes I legitimately don't even know what killed me...

This will never change. Outside of bosses, most of the time you instarip there's so much screen clutter that you'd basically need to do a frame by frame look at a replay to hope to figure it out.

[Coldkil]

Uh, i didn't know they added skills that are basically about throwing potions around and play without a weapon! I'm totally going to make a Poison Concoction Pathfinder.

EDIT: i migrated everything to standard just for the sheer amount of stuff i have stashed in there. AT least i can make use of all the stuff i have there - and i don't have season time constraints nor feel i'm losing time in something that doesn't work.

I think i just always have taken the game the wrong way. Despite being overly "complicated" i feel very comfy in playing it like this. Hope PoE2 with the reworked socket/skills comes soon (which is literally my only gripe with the game right now).

[Edge-]

Uh, i didn't know they added skills that are basically about throwing potions around and play without a weapon! I'm totally going to make a Poison Concoction Pathfinder.

EDIT: i migrated everything to standard just for the sheer amount of stuff i have stashed in there. AT least i can make use of all the stuff i have there - and i don't have season time constraints nor feel i'm losing time in something that doesn't work.

I think i just always have taken the game the wrong way. Despite being overly "complicated" i feel very comfy in playing it like this. Hope PoE2 with the reworked socket/skills comes soon (which is literally my only gripe with the game right now).

Poison Concoction is strong, but IIRC doesn't scale super well into endgame without some serious investment. Very good "starter" build though since it scales very well with germ level. PoE is super comfy though once you get over the initial "knowledge-hump", I love me some other ARPG's but PoE just does "killing tons of mobs and playing with loot" right.

Anyways, now I'm remembering that bee-lining my atlas passive tree to some harvest nodes vs. getting some map focused ones first may not have been the best idea. Forgot that I seem to always run into issues progressing for some reason. Now stuck on the yellow hump. I can do the lower tier yellow maps...I'm just not getting any to freakin drop >.<

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile...with_the_uber/

lol @ cast on death for league meta

[Morae]

I google a bit, but didn't find any answer and only a few people saying this happening to them. Anyone else doesnt have chests in labyrinth? I mean those chest where you get the items that disable or do things when you fight izaro?

They seem to have disapeared?

[Edge-]

I google a bit, but didn't find any answer and only a few people saying this happening to them. Anyone else doesnt have chests in labyrinth? I mean those chest where you get the items that disable or do things when you fight izaro?

They seem to have disapeared?

Oh the mysterious chest things? I haven't the foggiest clue. Haven't noticed them in labs (only done my first 3) but honestly I've always skipped them. I'll try to keep an eye out whenever I feel confident enough to do uber lab.

Edit: Big win, finally killed a mana siphon enemy. Just required killing literally every mob around it and spending 5+ seconds trying to get "inside the donut" so I could begin cycloning, losing 2/3 of my life in the process and praying he didn't hit me once more.

Yeah, that's a big 'ol nope. I'll just skip those guys forever moving forward, unless GGG can figure out something with them that doesn't make them pointlessly annoying/difficult for literally on reward.

Edit 2: I get that GGG has a different idea of what they want from the game vs. players - players want super zoom zoom with showers of loot, GGG wants a slower, more difficult game - but they really need to do something about their testing. I ain't blaming QA - QA tests what they're told to and if they were directed to focus on ensuring mods were all working then mission mostly accomplished (lighting totem shit that follows you around notwithstanding). But they really need to either expand with more outsourced QA to do more gameplay testing, or figure out how to bring in more normal players to test somehow, even if that means they have a bit of a leg up on league knowledge compared to the general public.

So much shit should have been caught with in a few days of "general balance testing" from the broken lightining traps to how easy it is for Blight to get totally bricked etc.

At least Chris is still performing his role as the focus of all hate and anger admirably, saving the team that actually built this league (same team that builds all the other things we actually enjoy!) from the absolute nerd-rage going on right now. Chris is the best tank.

Edit 3: Well I'll be...I know I died a lot but I thought I died more when I was doing some dumb shit while leveling! (including like a dozen deaths to one specific rare I was determined to kill on principle) 60 deaths isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be by yellow mapping, and I'm not dying very much anymore now that I've got a bit of gear and at least some defenses going (nothing strong, but at least something). At around 100K enemies killed too, since you can check that now. That's not bad at all.

[Mojo03]

I'm kinda new too, except I played a bit last league as well as this one. I mostly agree with you, the game does seem pretty easy... until it's not. By which I mean last league I got up to act 9 or something and was still steam rolling 99% of the content, but then I'd just randomly get 1 shot out of nowhere or get some unbeatable combo of mods on a rare. Sometimes I legitimately don't even know what killed me...

That's happening a bit too now in Act 5.

It's like, I melt 98% of stuff, but that other 2% has crazy hp and/or 1-2 shots me.

The balance in this game is so wonky.

I'm not sure if I'll be playing much longer.

I def don't love the game and doesn't have a great feel overall to me, but can see the appeal of the game I guess. It kind of has a lot of different ways to play and deep systems.

I think I'll probably beat all the acts once to see em and then not play POE anymore until POE 2, which apparently will be out 2024 now...

[Coldkil]

Poison Concoction is strong, but IIRC doesn't scale super well into endgame without some serious investment. Very good "starter" build though since it scales very well with germ level. PoE is super comfy though once you get over the initial "knowledge-hump", I love me some other ARPG's but PoE just does "killing tons of mobs and playing with loot" right.

Agree - and as for Concoction it's basically a poison build. It's not that doesn't scale, it's just that the damage is not all frontloaded so it's just objectively slower (though new masteries help a lot for mapping, bossing is fine). The only "bad" thing is that's not that easy to setup a dual 5/6link for map and bosses just swapping weapon setup. Meanwhile i had in stash Dendrobate and Embalmer Mitts so as soon as i reach the level/stats required i'm getting a huge spike in damage.

And summoning @kaminaris, while i don't usually agree with you about PoE i agree that the new update doesn't feel really harder if you're playing a well thought/meta build. Maybe at the beginning it's a little harsher cause the buffs to act1 and 2 without all the tools you get later on, but in the end it's nothing really gamebreaking. And at endgame it's the usual "what oneshotted me from offscreen" thing GGG doesn't seem to care much about.

[Gorsameth]

The problem is the gap between meta and everything else.
If the game is feeling fine playing as the OP busted Meta spec then it will suck balls for everyone else. And PoE has a TON of possible skills, and only a handfull of meta builds.

GGG needs to stop worrying about what the top 1% is doing and allow everyone else to have fun to.

[Coldkil]

Imho it's not really possible to fight the meta - either you embrace it and the game revolves around it (while you constantly shift things to shift the meta) or you make the game basically easier so the meta isn't as relevant anymore (if everything can oneshot the last boss, then the meta has no impact).

The major problem is that since PoE has so many synergies and interactions between a lot of systems, there's very skillful people who always find a way to "break" the game.

As i said, the only things i don't really like about the game at this point is the gear/sockets/links/skill system (which is being solved with PoE2) and the fact there's random unpredictable oneshots that can happen anytime. At least would be good to know what happened to me. For the rest, even as a casual/baddie like me, there's a lot of stuff to put my hands on and i always have fun returning for a while.

[Gorsameth]

Imho it's not really possible to fight the meta - either you embrace it and the game revolves around it (while you constantly shift things to shift the meta) or you make the game basically easier so the meta isn't as relevant anymore (if everything can oneshot the last boss, then the meta has no impact).

The major problem is that since PoE has so many synergies and interactions between a lot of systems, there's very skillful people who always find a way to "break" the game.

As i said, the only things i don't really like about the game at this point is the gear/sockets/links/skill system (which is being solved with PoE2) and the fact there's random unpredictable oneshots that can happen anytime. At least would be good to know what happened to me. For the rest, even as a casual/baddie like me, there's a lot of stuff to put my hands on and i always have fun returning for a while.

Or option 3, have the difference between Meta and off meta builds not be so massive.

But as you say, there are so many interactions and synergies that compound to cause this gap.

[Coldkil]

Or option 3, have the difference between Meta and off meta builds not be so massive.

But as you say, there are so many interactions and synergies that compound to cause this gap.

Exactly. It's kind of a hole they dug themselves into and keep digging. I'm fine with it at this point - i'm not playing leagues anymore and just have fun with random characters in standard. I don't even trade, i could start if i want but ultimately i stopped caring. Hell, i never reached true endgame - i have never seen shaper, elded or maven or whatver endboss they added. Mostly because i like to go blind and try stuff out - even it it ultimately fails, i'm having fun.

This time is a first i am following a guide - i want to see what the real difference is (and as you say, it feels pretty hefty even while leveling).

[Edge-]

Yo the fuck? Sentinel crafting is looking fuckin bonkers, kinda looking forward to messing around with it eventually. But sadly I'm a smoothbrain in this game and usually suck at crafting so will not be good at this, either.

But jesus, level 4 enhance mod? That's nutty.

[Fenzha]

I just started the new league and I have a sentinal that already scares the hell out of me.



Barely out of act 1 and this thing turns half a zone into stuff that can kick my ass.

[Edge-]

I just started the new league and I have a sentinal that already scares the hell out of me.



Barely out of act 1 and this thing turns half a zone into stuff that can kick my ass.

I wouldn't fuck around with sentinel too much while leveling, until you get your build "working" a bit. It's a big damage/life increase for enemies even if it drops pretty damned good.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

https://i.redd.it/c10v3v1dqzz81.png

Yo the fuck? Sentinel crafting is looking fuckin bonkers, kinda looking forward to messing around with it eventually. But sadly I'm a smoothbrain in this game and usually suck at crafting so will not be good at this, either.

But jesus, level 4 enhance mod? That's nutty.

Haven’t started the league yet so I’m just going off the prerelease stuff but wasn’t the crafting suppose to just be smashing two items mods together? Or is it like the harvest crafts that give you items of a different type but with similar mods but it keeps the type and has unique mods?

[Edge-]

Haven’t started the league yet so I’m just going off the prerelease stuff but wasn’t the crafting suppose to just be smashing two items mods together? Or is it like the harvest crafts that give you items of a different type but with similar mods but it keeps the type and has unique mods?

Yes, smash together two items and it combines the mods...but also has a chance for new mods to appear. It's like combining sentinels, most of the time you get mods/rarity based on what you put in (2 rares always returns at least a rare, magic + rare can return a magic), but sometimes you'll get unique sentinels randomly, and new mods that weren't on either "base" sentinel you smashed together.

I think the mods it picks are "random", don't know the exact mechanics as I haven't looked too deeply into it.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Yes, smash together two items and it combines the mods...but also has a chance for new mods to appear. It's like combining sentinels, most of the time you get mods/rarity based on what you put in (2 rares always returns at least a rare, magic + rare can return a magic), but sometimes you'll get unique sentinels randomly, and new mods that weren't on either "base" sentinel you smashed together.

I think the mods it picks are "random", don't know the exact mechanics as I haven't looked too deeply into it.

Ah so it pretty much has a chance to exalt the item while combining the two.

With any luck the methodology will be figured out in a week or two when I start up the league, having something to throw all my lower shields into for once should be nice.

[Edge-]

Ah so it pretty much has a chance to exalt the item while combining the two.

Not really. Largely it respects the existing mods from what I can tell (so if you somehow have two sick items, one with only prefixes and one with only suffixes) I think you can slam them together and basically guarantee those rolls, with a chance for mods to roll from whatever unique pool of new mods have been added.

IIRC Chris talked a lot about how it was basically like genetics. Most of the time the results are reasonably predictable within a range, but occasionally you get "mutations" with unpredictable results.

With any luck the methodology will be figured out in a week or two when I start up the league, having something to throw all my lower shields into for once should be nice.

I fully expect this to be all mathed out and shit in a week or two. Not sure how much/if I'll engage, but sadly it doesn't seem like recombinators are very rare/valuable right now so they're only useful for bulk sales : /

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Not really. Largely it respects the existing mods from what I can tell (so if you somehow have two sick items, one with only prefixes and one with only suffixes) I think you can slam them together and basically guarantee those rolls, with a chance for mods to roll from whatever unique pool of new mods have been added.

IIRC Chris talked a lot about how it was basically like genetics. Most of the time the results are reasonably predictable within a range, but occasionally you get "mutations" with unpredictable results.



I fully expect this to be all mathed out and shit in a week or two. Not sure how much/if I'll engage, but sadly it doesn't seem like recombinators are very rare/valuable right now so they're only useful for bulk sales : /

Ah so it’s even better then just a chance for a exalt then as you can mix and match pre/suffix’s.

I’ll probably get a ton of use out of it given how much I play shield throw and that I normally end up with a tab of various 2000-2600 armour shields that I hang onto for rerolling.