Path of Exile

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Torfish
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Torfish »

I’m going to start playing this for the first time. Any tips for a beginner? Planning to co-op with my son. I’ll probably also play a solo character.

I love D3 and Grim Dawn with hundreds of hours if not more. Looking forward to diving in with this for the long haul.
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Tao
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

I would say POE is closer to Grim Dawn that D3 in several regards. If you just want to dive in and blow stuff up any class/build should get you through the ten acts. You will most likely hit a few boss fights that might be a little frustrating to beat after ACT 5 but if you don't mind dying too much you should eventually be able to complete the fight. The passive skill tree can be overwhelming, I would recommend going for survival (health, resistance, energy shield) nodes in favor of more damage nodes for your first play through. Almost nothing about this game in intuitive but luckily there is a ton of information on the interwebs to be found. Resistances are monumentally important, again you can clear most boards and trash with just about anything but without proper resistances you will suffer against some of the bosses. The developers over the past year or two had really toned down the boss encounters but in a recent update they tuned them back up again, just an FYI. I jumped back in for the new Harvest season and one of the early bosses that used to take 20 or 30 seconds to beat nearly killed me and took a good 3 or 4 minutes, not impossible but I was wholly unprepared. Oh, and as your are following the story, if you clear every map along the way you will get a good six to eight levels above the mobs in short order which can make things deceptively easy so just keep that in mind. My last recommendation would be to decide on a class and play style, ranged, melee, elemental, physical, DOTS, crits etc. and then go online and find a recommended starter build that closely matches then follow the build guide for a while to get a feel for the game mechanics and maybe avoid some frustration.
"Don't touch my stuff when I'm dead...it's booytrapped!" - Bender Bending Rodriguez
Torfish
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Torfish »

Thanks. I’ll focus on survival and play all the way through. Planning to do the slayer guy with a cyclone build first. I need to learn how the gems and support gems work.
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Baroquen
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Baroquen »

So I've bounced off this a few times, but have enjoyed the ride somewhat.

I read about the current Heist season (?) and thought that sounded fun. I keep getting stomped on the intro first heist mission. I can get to the urn without issue, but get destroyed upon trying to escape. I've tried to run quickly, assuming the guards spawn endlessly. I've tried going slowly, to outlast the guards. Nothing works. What the heck.... kind of infuriating.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Am I just underleveled? Heist says level 2, I'm certainly above that by a handful of levels.
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Sudy
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Sudy »

Sorry I do not have an answer to that question... but since I've been playing Diablo 2, I've been thinking of giving PoE another try. Now that D2 is fresh in my mind and I've played deeper into it, maybe the things I couldn't understand about PoE like its itemization will make more sense to me. The video I saw of PoE "2" looks really, really good.

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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Tao
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

What primary attack skill are you using? As you have seen there are lots of mobs once you trigger full alert so you want something AOE. Are you making good use of your health potions on the way to the exit, also Quicksilver? Are you getting lost on the map while trying to get back to the exit, I had a couple of tense moments when I mistakenly ran in to a dead-end and started getting swarmed. I now make it a point to open the big map and plot my escape before I open the last vault and tab it open on the fly as needed. Are you using your movement ability (Dash, Frostblink, Smoke Mine) to get ahead of big packs and cover more distance quickly? For attack skills early on I would recommend Freezing Pulse, Smite+Ancestral Call, Frost Blades, Purifying Flames, Holy Flame Totem, Summon Raging Spirit to name a few. Try and stay away from single target attacks or channeled spells during the early Heists or attacks with long animations that will lock you in place. Early game Zombies can be pretty effective and there is no restriction on use by class, you just need the Gem and an open blue socket.
"Don't touch my stuff when I'm dead...it's booytrapped!" - Bender Bending Rodriguez
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rittchard
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

If anyone playing regular Heist characters (or I suppose any character) would like a guild invite, please post your character name(s) here and I will add you. I have a really loose/tiny guild with about 3-4 active players lol. The most useful thing is for the guild stash, if you need something simple like a particular skill gem or whatever, generally we can get it for you. If anyone is on they can definitely help you with most content as well.
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Baroquen
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Baroquen »

Thanks for the info Tao. Lots to think about there. I'm am most certifiably a newb with PoE, so I'm sure those suggestions will help. I was already using Freezing Pulse (I think). I definitely know where I'm going on the map. When I run, and try to get ahead of the mob, the locked doors make a bottleneck where I get overwhelmed. When I try to make a stand instead, usually at an unlocked door where I've cleared the "back" side", despite my efforts to pull a few at a time, eventually they overwhelm.

About to dive in and try again. See what other gems/effects I can use to boost my effectiveness.

rittchard - thanks for the guild info. If I get sucked into the game for awhile, I'll hit you up for an invite.
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Tao
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

You mentioned locked doors; just to be clear, you are taking along a henchman correct. Karst can picklocks and Isla uses a blow torch to cut holes. I haven't tried using Tibbs yet and I think more henchman become available later. I do realize even with Karst/Isla you have to wait a few seconds while they get the door open and the mobs can pile up a little while you wait. I know Rittchard and I tend to disagree on this point, but do you have a particular build you are working on? Haphazardly placing points in the passive tree can, in my opinion, lead to frustration when you come up short on life, energy shield or resistances. I know when simply going through the story the game can be a tad easy, I often times find I have 15 or 20 passive points accumulated that I need to spend without realizing but the non-story stuff like League events and Delves tend to be considerably harder so an extra few life or ES nodes can really help.
"Don't touch my stuff when I'm dead...it's booytrapped!" - Bender Bending Rodriguez
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Baroquen
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Baroquen »

Success. So the first "intro" mission (with Karst) was a lot tougher for me than the 2 random heists I had picked up along the way. The tactic that ended up working was dashing through the mobs, clicking to get Karst to unlock the door(s), buy some time with AOE while he lockpicks, and then back to dashing out.

What was weird was I went to do that in the next two heists I mentioned above, and there was very few guards tracking us. The random missions were much much easier. Anyway, now I've done one mission with each of the three starter henchmen (Karst, Isla, Tibbs). I have one more random mission banked and waiting for me. It's a little tougher level so we'll see if I notice a difference.

Re: builds - honestly, I don't care enough about the game (or most ARPGs) to worry about it. Last time I really cared about was when I ran D3 endgame rifts and torment levels and all that. Since I've never even stuck with PoE long enough to get through the actual game, I'm not too worried about it. But your point is noted - if I get frustrated later, I'll definitely read up on current builds.

Thanks again for the help!
Torfish
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Torfish »

Over the holiday break, I got the itch to go all in and figure out this game. I love Diablo and Grim Dawn, so why not.

After three attempts through the years, I never figured it out enough to even get through the campaign. The end game with maps has always interest me. The latest league has been generating some positive buzz.

I followed a build guide very methodically and slowly learned each new thing along the way until it made sense. It worked wonderfully. I made it through the campaign and into the early end game mapping. I'm totally hooked and loving it... finally. Following the build guide and learning the mechanics at each step before moving on did the trick. Took me a few days.

Now I'm learning the different leagues and other things, but I know enough that this game is great. Super deep and rewarding. Fits my tastes in gaming.
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rittchard
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Torfish wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2024 12:20 pm Over the holiday break, I got the itch to go all in and figure out this game. I love Diablo and Grim Dawn, so why not.

After three attempts through the years, I never figured it out enough to even get through the campaign. The end game with maps has always interest me. The latest league has been generating some positive buzz.

I followed a build guide very methodically and slowly learned each new thing along the way until it made sense. It worked wonderfully. I made it through the campaign and into the early end game mapping. I'm totally hooked and loving it... finally. Following the build guide and learning the mechanics at each step before moving on did the trick. Took me a few days.

Now I'm learning the different leagues and other things, but I know enough that this game is great. Super deep and rewarding. Fits my tastes in gaming.
Glad you are enjoying it, it’s definitely not for everyone! I’ve noticed the people who do get past the things that hold people back (mostly the “complexity”) get really hooked. Following a guide, but it has to be a truly good *beginner* guide (many guides are not beginner friendly), is really the way to go. Unfortunately even with all the changes over the years, the game is designed in a way that the earliest portion of the game is just not very friendly if you try to navigate it yourself. I don’t know if I’d call that “bad” game design, but it is definitely not particularly inviting to new players. The game balance is very odd in some ways - if you have the right gems/skills setup, it can be incredibly easy, but if you come in cold and are just experimenting with random things, it can be a struggle in the early levels.

The good news is once you get past that hump, there are many different builds that work well that are fun to explore, and as long as the base setup you are working with is sound, you can experiment from there with the details and not feel frustrated. At that point, the complexity people complain about becomes an asset in that the options are so extensive and deep.
Torfish
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Torfish »

rittchard wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2024 3:43 pm Following a guide, but it has to be a truly good *beginner* guide (many guides are not beginner friendly), is really the way to go.
Completely agree with that statement. You must have a very good guide on a strong build that will carry you through the campaign and the first few map tiers. It's a must, so you can learn the game. Seeing what works and why it works is key. I also recommend not only a build guide but also one that has a video (youtube) walkthrough from act 1 - 10. That's what I did and it allowed me to figure why things worked.

Crazy how hooked I am. Currently filling out my atlas and doing some trading to build up currency. I got my first divine orb drop!

Still learning the different leagues and some crafting details. Fun times. It's the dream end game depth.
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