Path of Exile

If it's a video game it goes here.

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Tao
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

The game has been out for about 2 years so the new game smell has definitely worn off, which is why there isn't a lot of buzz here on the forum. Although as folks find the game for the first time or new mechanics are released this thread pops up again from time to time. Personally my issue with the game is while it can be quite fun, the fun parts tend to be buried under the large amount of minutiae. I liken the game to something a group of aerospace engineers would have fun designing. :D
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persself
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by persself »

Perhaps I should have said didn't receive more attention when first released.

You're right there are a lot of new/different mechanics from similar games, namely Diablo 3. However, I think it's precisely those differences that make PoE such a joy to play. Oh, believe me, there have been some growing pains as I learn all the nuances, but it's been fun learning nonetheless.

I would suggest those that found it too much to try to learn all the mechanics try the wiki, which is very good. And look back through this thread for my links to ZiggyD, who has some terrific tips, walkthroughs, etc.
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Daehawk
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Daehawk »

Ive always wanted a necro. Its why i made a witch a year or two ago but never played it. Now necros seem to be a good thing and Id like to try. Ive never really played PoE much. Not gotten far. They've returned all my skill points to me on my two characters..witch and duelist . But after looking online there seems a TOn of different necro builds to make. Ive seen a good one that has some type of flame beam and lots of minions.

Could someone point me to where I might find a good build guide for a necro. Or could you suggest what TYPE of necro to make? What minions to focus on? I dont want a necro of all things. Id prefer a focuses necro..one main minion type and a damage type for myself. Unless necros shouldn't bother with damage and just have minions do it all. See? Im lost and Ive only made the base witch.

This 10 skeleton 300% damage ones sounds interesting

But again Im lost. Could use a pro's advice. Im a big old Diablo 1 2 and 3 player but not PoE.
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Paingod
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Paingod »

Daehawk wrote:See? Im lost and Ive only made the base witch.
My only problem with this game is "Class Paralysis" - I end up spending hours looking through builds, and not playing. It's probably the reason I didn't play more. The last time I tried to play, everything had been changed and I just didn't have the drive to re-learn what I'd need for a good build.
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Daehawk
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Daehawk »

As this is the first time Ive really given this a go I have a weird question yet again.

I like to play it in small bursts...almost typed busts and that would be a totally different thing. So I play until I find a new waypoint marker and hit town and log.

This is my question. I get lost when I return the next day. Say I walk all the way east on a map and find the wp marker. When I use it to come back the next day is my next map exit generally still a little more eas? Or would it be just about anywhere as a random map has taken the place of the one from last log in?

Sometimes I log in and go in the wp and Im not sure where to go. If I did the map yesterday could the exit still be west? or is it more likely its still on the east side?
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KDH
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by KDH »

. Enlarge Image
... The Chinese Publisher, Tencent, has acquired a majority stake in Grinding-Gear-Games

They say they have fielded many other offers over the years, but they trust Tencent will allow them to remain mostly autonomous and will provide "the resources to make Path of Exile as good as it can be."
Spoiler:
Tencent has Invested in Grinding Gear Games
Our Chinese publisher, Tencent, has acquired a majority stake in Grinding Gear Games. We will remain an independent company and there won't be any big changes to how we operate. We want to reassure the community that this will not affect the development and operations of Path of Exile, so we have prepared answers to some questions you may have about this investment.

Why Tencent? Why not another company?
Tencent is one of the largest companies in the world and also one of the largest games publishers in the world. Tencent owns giant franchises like League of Legends and Clash of Clans and has a strong reputation for respecting the design decisions of developers and studios they invest in, allowing a high level of autonomy in continuing to operate and develop their games.

We have been approached by many potential acquirers over the last five years, but always felt that they didn't understand Path of Exile, or that they had other agendas (like signing users up to their services). Tencent's agenda is clear: to give us the resources to make Path of Exile as good as it can be.

Is Grinding Gear Games becoming part of Tencent?
Grinding Gear Games is still an independently-run company in New Zealand. All of its developers still work for Grinding Gear Games and have not become Tencent employees. The founders (Chris, Jonathan and Erik) are still running the company, just like we have been for the last 11 years. Going forward, we will have financial reporting obligations to Tencent but this will have minimal impact on our philosophy and operations.

Will Tencent try to change Path of Exile?
No. We spoke to CEOs of other companies that Tencent has invested in, and have been assured that Tencent has never tried to interfere with game design or operations outside of China. We retain full control of Path of Exile and will only make changes that we feel are best for the game.

Will Path of Exile become Pay to Win?
No. We will not make any changes to its monetisation on our international servers.

Will Grinding Gear Games prioritise the Chinese version of Path of Exile?
The Chinese version of Path of Exile currently has its releases a few weeks after the international version. We are working hard to reduce this gap so that they come out closer together (or even simultaneously), but are not planning to prioritise the Chinese version of Path of Exile ahead of the international version. We want to treat all of our customers equally without any of them being frustrated at missing features or delayed releases.

Will the Chinese version get some features ahead of the international one?
We develop almost all features on the international version. But sometimes, Tencent will request features that they want to try in the Chinese version that we don't plan to roll into the international version. If those features turn out to be a really good fit for both versions, then we of course port them back into the international version.

Will I have to have some type of Tencent account to log in?
No. Nothing is changing with the way you access Path of Exile on the international servers.

What's next for Grinding Gear Games?
A lot more Path of Exile! We are committed to our current schedule of four releases per year, and we have some really big plans for future expansions. If you like what we've done so far, you'll love what we're working on next. As well as multiple 3.x expansions in 2018 and 2019, we've just started development of 4.0.0, which is currently targeted to enter Beta testing in early 2020.



Posted by Chris
on May 20, 2018 6:12:07 PMGrinding Gear Games
subb'd
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rittchard
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Just giving this guy a little bump. There's a new league starting I think on Friday (Dec 7) called Betrayal, the site is updating right now so I don't know the details.

Regardless, the game has evolved a lot over the months/years, and I honestly believe it's one of the top ARPGs of all time. It definitely allows for greater creativity and complexity in play styles that no other ARPG has matched.

Unfortunately, while they've done some work to make it more friendly, it still has a fairly deep learning curve, and there's what I would call an invisible threshold that prevents players from embracing it fully. It took me about 4 or 5 re-starts to break through that threshold, and I suspect many players never will; the game just isn't designed that way. The good news is that if you have the patience (and luck?) to get past this, and if you really like this particular type of game, you can enjoy it for endless hours, and all for free.

I'll probably be starting up again on Sunday or next week, so if you decide to give it another chance, look for me on my account name: rittchard
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NickAragua
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, the "invisible wall" definitely exists. Last time I ran through it, I was breezing along, and then, suddenly, a couple of chapters before the end of the game, I suddenly start getting one-shotted every couple of minutes. Was it my crappy build? My lack of good equipment/gems? ::shrug::

Well, probably. Every once in a while, I'd team up with people for multiplayer and I'd be sitting there whaling on one beastie with a little wooden bow while the other guy would teleport repeatedly across the screen, spreading out some kind of neon-colored circle around each spot he'd hit, and everything on the screen would die pretty much instantly, with loot spraying out like candy from fifty pinatas after they'd been shot through by high-powered firearms. So, yeah, I suspect my builds were sub-optimal. I probably missed the "kill everything on the screen instantly forty times" skill gem. Must have been a rare drop.

I think the newest update will let you pay to set up your own league for your buddies to play through with various gameplay modifiers. Don't remember the details, because I'm not too inclined to go back.
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Lorini
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Lorini »

I and others call it Path of Excel. Too much for my puny brain.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Butterknife »

All this naysaying is really getting me down! I've got at least 2000 hours in this game -- it is my favorite! Can't wait for the new league on Friday. This game is absolutely not too hard. I still don't know most of the uniques, I don't know the interactions between certain damage types and what support goes best with what skill. There are a ton of "noob traps" in this game. I will suggest a few very simple rules to being successful in this game, and I will now share them with you young padawans:

1) Use a build guide. Seriously. You need to use the most popular builds for the current version of the game. Start with Blade Vortex, Arc Trap, or Sunder Gladiator (at the moment, version 3.5). This one tip alone can get you all the way to the end of the game and start you into mapping. I still only play by using a build guide. No matter how smart you are somebody smarter has already crunched the numbers, and following their guide is better than trying to figure out something sub-optimal yourself.
2) The absolute most important thing to find on any gear is the three main resistances -- fire, ice, and lightning. Ignore poison. Your first priority on every build is capping your resistances at 75%. As you go through the game you'll have to do this 2 more times, so keep checking your resistances and if they aren't capped, get them capped.
3) Your second most important stat on any gear is always health. You want 50+ on every piece of gear, then later 80+.

The end! You can be successful with just that small amount of knowledge! For ease of play however I would suggest the following two tips:
A) Download a loot filter. I use Neversink's Semi-Strict Loot Filter. This highlights the good stuff on the ground and hides the bad stuff. Way too much crap drops in this game and you don't want to see all of it.
B) Always have "movement speed" on your boots. You walk super slow without this, and it slows the game down.

With these few tips you'll be exploding screens full of monsters in no time!
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Lorini
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Lorini »

All the shit you have to track to buy anything, PLUS having to use an offline website to trade for anything, PLUS being told multiple times how you need to 'fail' a few times to 'get' the game, and I'm like totally out.

Thanks for the write up, I really do appreciate the effort. I just go on icy-veins for D3 builds, run one of them and I'm good to go :). And next D3 season there's going to be a gazillion billion builds and D3 should be even more fun and easy to play.

I would never say Path of Excel is a bad game, but it's not for me.
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rittchard
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

While I understand a lot of the criticisms leveled at this game, I still maintain it is the best in its class, and pretty much exists without competition at this point. There is no other ARPG that offers the same degree of customization and individual creativity. Does that mean you can create a gimp if you don't follow a guide? Yes, but it's up to you. And they offer plenty of opportunity to reverse decisions, yet every decision you make is impactful. As much as I've been a D3 fan, in comparison it now plays more like an arcade game compared to PoE. I've been playing on the Switch and it feels completely like a console/arcade game, I've barely stopped to look or care about the loot or anything about my build at all. In contrast, PoE I have to make decisions that matter within the first 10-20 minutes.

Now I'm kind of an oddball in that I actually enjoy the beginning part, in many ways I like it more than the endgame. I like starting from scratch and crawling my way to bigger and better things. I like when I find a combo or piece of gear that totally flips my efficiency. While I do look to guides as well, I prefer to use them more as "guidelines" and leave things open to my own creative choices, particularly during the early game. For my current character, I decided I wanted to do a Totem build. I picked one guide version to base it on, but the problem with many guides is that they are only focused on the end result, which leaves the majority of the early leveling up to you to figure out. In other words, they don't help newcomers or inexperienced returning players much; this is part of the "wall" for PoE, because even the help presumes you understand all the terminology and many of the nuances. What's really needed is a beginner's guide that bridges the in-game tutorial (which is so much better than the original game, but still leaves you hanging too soon) with the later guides.

In any case, I picked up a new skill they've introduced, which is kind of like a persistent pet that triggers effects when you hit stuff. I liked that thing so much, but I wanted to stay with a ranged attack, so I picked up "Spectral Throw" which allows you to throw a copy of your melee weapon. Luckily it still triggers the effect of the new skill. Eventually I picked up a totem and used that to cast the spell I had originally been casting myself (frostbolt or something like that). So I would drop a totem shooting bolts while I hurl my magic hammers at stragglers. Then I picked up another skill which I hadn't heard of before (don't know when it was introduced, called a "brand"). It latches onto an enemy and does damage from there. This thing was surprisingly doing much more damage than my other stuff, so I put it on my right button and presently I'm using a combo of the three skills. I love the way this just came together organically, and even though I know it may not scale as I get higher, I've had a blast just playing it the way I wanted to, purely on what sounded fun at the moment.

- - -

Anyway, a few comments about the new Betrayal League. They've added content that you can choose to ignore, and so far I haven't really figured out the nuances. But the gist is you encounter different boss-like NPCs from different factions and if/once you beat them you can choose to imprison them, interrogate or sometimes kill them. That then impacts who and what you will find and face later. Eventually it leads to a special item drop (veiled), and some of these can have an additional special modifier added to them through "unveiling". That's all I've figured out so far.
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Hipolito
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

I started playing Path of Exile over the weekend, starting a witch in the current standard league (Legion).

This is my first isometric action RPG since the original Diablo. I struggled to understand basic things like how to move from one map to the next. The game seemed very complicated and I thought I might abandon it. But after a few hours, things clicked and I became hooked. This is a beautiful, rewarding, well-designed game.

I'm going for a necromancer build. With my current gems, I can, in theory, summon up to 18 undead minions. (It's hard to accomplish this in the heat of battle, though.) My zombies are tough and do most of the killing. My skeletons are weak, but I can summon them at a distance to distract the enemy. My phantasms are randomly triggered and ephemeral, so its hard to gauge their effectiveness.

In 8 hours of play, I've reached level 14. The one time I've died was in the first trial of ascension. It was the first timing puzzle in the game, which threw me off. And I forgot how to use the healing hotkeys since I never needed them before, so I was killed by the floor spikes.

After the fight with Brutus in the prison, the game's difficulty significantly increased. The enemies are constantly grinding up my minions and setting me on fire. I should play more strategically now and focus on getting the life and resistance enhancements in the passive skill tree, instead of just chasing after whatever looks cool.
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rittchard
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Hipolito wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 9:30 pm I started playing Path of Exile over the weekend, starting a witch in the current standard league (Legion).

This is my first isometric action RPG since the original Diablo. I struggled to understand basic things like how to move from one map to the next. The game seemed very complicated and I thought I might abandon it. But after a few hours, things clicked and I became hooked. This is a beautiful, rewarding, well-designed game.

I'm going for a necromancer build. With my current gems, I can, in theory, summon up to 18 undead minions. (It's hard to accomplish this in the heat of battle, though.) My zombies are tough and do most of the killing. My skeletons are weak, but I can summon them at a distance to distract the enemy. My phantasms are randomly triggered and ephemeral, so its hard to gauge their effectiveness.

In 8 hours of play, I've reached level 14. The one time I've died was in the first trial of ascension. It was the first timing puzzle in the game, which threw me off. And I forgot how to use the healing hotkeys since I never needed them before, so I was killed by the floor spikes.

After the fight with Brutus in the prison, the game's difficulty significantly increased. The enemies are constantly grinding up my minions and setting me on fire. I should play more strategically now and focus on getting the life and resistance enhancements in the passive skill tree, instead of just chasing after whatever looks cool.
Welcome to the game!!!! Hopefully it will become your next obsession lol. Necro builds are a lot of fun. If you decide to go with Spectres, they are like a game in themselves, kind of like Pokemon you will want to get the corpses of the best enemies to make into your pets.

Feel free to contact me in game if you need help with anything, I believe my account is @rittchard If you post your account name I should be able to find you too in case I gave you the wrong name. I'm presently playing a character named Sparkritt in the Legion league. We have a very small guild in place and you are welcome to join or you may want to find a larger more active one.

Also side note: I am looking for whiteboyskim - I have him/you on my Steam friends list and I see him/you playing PoE but not in my PoE friends list.
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Hipolito
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

rittchard wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 5:30 pm
Hipolito wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 9:30 pm I started playing Path of Exile over the weekend, starting a witch in the current standard league (Legion).

This is my first isometric action RPG since the original Diablo. I struggled to understand basic things like how to move from one map to the next. The game seemed very complicated and I thought I might abandon it. But after a few hours, things clicked and I became hooked. This is a beautiful, rewarding, well-designed game.

I'm going for a necromancer build. With my current gems, I can, in theory, summon up to 18 undead minions. (It's hard to accomplish this in the heat of battle, though.) My zombies are tough and do most of the killing. My skeletons are weak, but I can summon them at a distance to distract the enemy. My phantasms are randomly triggered and ephemeral, so its hard to gauge their effectiveness.

In 8 hours of play, I've reached level 14. The one time I've died was in the first trial of ascension. It was the first timing puzzle in the game, which threw me off. And I forgot how to use the healing hotkeys since I never needed them before, so I was killed by the floor spikes.

After the fight with Brutus in the prison, the game's difficulty significantly increased. The enemies are constantly grinding up my minions and setting me on fire. I should play more strategically now and focus on getting the life and resistance enhancements in the passive skill tree, instead of just chasing after whatever looks cool.
Welcome to the game!!!! Hopefully it will become your next obsession lol. Necro builds are a lot of fun. If you decide to go with Spectres, they are like a game in themselves, kind of like Pokemon you will want to get the corpses of the best enemies to make into your pets.

Feel free to contact me in game if you need help with anything, I believe my account is @rittchard If you post your account name I should be able to find you too in case I gave you the wrong name. I'm presently playing a character named Sparkritt in the Legion league. We have a very small guild in place and you are welcome to join or you may want to find a larger more active one.

Also side note: I am looking for whiteboyskim - I have him/you on my Steam friends list and I see him/you playing PoE but not in my PoE friends list.
Thank you, rittchard! I may take you up on the guild offer. So far I've been soloing this, really taking my time to settle into the game. There's so much detail it can be paralyzing, but that's part of why I like it.

I haven't yet gotten any spectres, but I look forward to trying them. I want to be a necromancer who can command lots of minions while also lighting the place up with offensive spells. I haven't seen a build guide for this, though. Maybe it's an unrealistic goal.
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Tao
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

If you enjoy pet builds (aside from a Necro) I would highly recommend looking at a Templar (Guardian) Dominating Blow build. Awesome low cost starter build, excellent damage and excellent survivability. I tried a Necro over the course of multiple leagues using the Witch but after Act 5 they just became too squishy where as the Guardian just keeps trucking along. If you enjoy the theme of the Necromancer though I am sure you can find some viable builds out there.
"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 »

Keep in mind the build guides are typically leaning towards more experienced players, even the ones that say beginners are sometimes a bit presumptuous in how much knowledge they assume you have. While it can be more frustrating and inefficient, it can also be a ton of fun to experiment with different skills and skill combinations instead of having it laid out for you. The sad part of this game is that so much of the playerbase has been there so long it can feel like a very jaded environment. But the reality is, as I've mentioned before, this game offers more opportunity for creativity and build exploration than any other game ever has.

Off the soapbox, here are some tips I wish I had known about. I have over 300 hours played and I just found out one of these tips this weekend lol.

1 - Eventually you will likely want/need to get involved in trading or crafting, because the loot drops pretty much never give you exactly what you need. The website poe.trade is a good place to check for things you need. The "Chaos Orb" is a primary unit of currency, you'll see it referred to as lower case "c" a lot. The trade process is a little wonky, but later in the game it is well worth the effort.

2 - Be sure to save up all the "currency" that drops, that's any Scrolls and Orbs. At currency.poe.trade you can swap what you have for what you need. Now what I didn't know is that you can trade close to 1 for 1 an Orb of Fusing for a Chaos Orb. The good news is you can (eventually) purchase Fusing from one of the vendors in town (there's a chain of like 5 or 6 items starting with Scroll of Wisdom). I had long thought you could only get Chaos from drops, so I was always kind of annoyed by that. As it turns out, that's not the case, thankfully. There is also a "recipe" that allows you to directly trade for a Chaos from vendors, but this doesn't come into play until around lvl 60. It involves selling to a vendor 1 rare of each item type simultaneously.

3 - Also be sure to save and sell any 3 linked gear with a red, blue and green slot all linked together. These will become Chromatic Orbs, which are both useful and good for trading up.

4 - A filter like this: https://www.filterblade.xyz/ can be really nice to help keep your eye focused on the best drops. You can tailor it to your heart's content but I think it's good even as is, as it will make sounds and highlight certain drops.
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Tao
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

I respectfully disagree. I definitely enjoy the game and am nearing the 400 hours mark myself, however the passive tree and the myriad number of skill gems give a false perception that POE is all about freedom of builds. You can absolutely make some bad builds in POE, fun for awhile but bad. If you don't mind dying a lot or just want to run around the earlier levels blowing stuff up there are some interesting and fun skills gems and combinations but once you hit Act 6 you will need a solid build or are going to stall out quickly. You will also most likely not be able to complete the Labyrinth on Cruel, Izaro can easily one-shot or 2-shot players at this point. After ACT 10 it will obviously get exponentially harder. The Fact that there are hundreds of skill gems and over 1300 passive skills and yet there are hyper-specific build guides IMHO is telling. Again, not trying to say game isn't fun, I enjoy it quite a bit but you don't have as much build freedom as it appears at first glance.
"Don't touch my stuff when I'm dead...it's booytrapped!" - Bender Bending Rodriguez
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Hipolito
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

Interesting stuff, Tao and rittchard.

Some tips I'd like to add for anyone who's an even dumbasser noob than me:
- Hold ALT while mousing over an item for extra information.
- The most efficient rate of XP gain happens when you're 2-3 levels below the monsters. Press Tab and look at upper right for monster level.
- Even skill gems that you don't or can't use will gain XP as long as you have them in slots in the equipment you're wearing.
- Unless you're searching for something, don't feel compelled to explore every part of a map. Head directly to your objective. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time and hindering your progress. I'm using this step-by-step walkthrough to help stay on target.
- If you get a warning that your skill gem can't level up because you don't meet the requirements, and you dismiss the warning, you might wonder how to level the gem when you later meet the requirements. Open your inventory and look at the bottom for the level-up option.

My Necro is now level 23 and in Act II. I've got my FilterBlade on semi-strict and it's so, so helpful. I've been looking at some necro builds such as this one and this one. I'm following the latter one for now, though the former is a fun read and the author has an interesting medical reason for using that build.
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Tao
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

You also have two weapon load outs, think W key switches between them, so basically you can load up a second weapon and shield with skill gems then set it to your alternate load and they will still gain XP, they just won't be accessible to use as skills/spells.
"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 »

Tao wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 8:20 pm I respectfully disagree. I definitely enjoy the game and am nearing the 400 hours mark myself, however the passive tree and the myriad number of skill gems give a false perception that POE is all about freedom of builds. You can absolutely make some bad builds in POE, fun for awhile but bad. If you don't mind dying a lot or just want to run around the earlier levels blowing stuff up there are some interesting and fun skills gems and combinations but once you hit Act 6 you will need a solid build or are going to stall out quickly. You will also most likely not be able to complete the Labyrinth on Cruel, Izaro can easily one-shot or 2-shot players at this point. After ACT 10 it will obviously get exponentially harder. The Fact that there are hundreds of skill gems and over 1300 passive skills and yet there are hyper-specific build guides IMHO is telling. Again, not trying to say game isn't fun, I enjoy it quite a bit but you don't have as much build freedom as it appears at first glance.
Well this really depends on your definition of "fun" and/or "success" or whatever you want to call it. I know you are 100% correct about the "viability" of builds in terms of endgame content - but look at how you defined it: "You will also most likely not be able to complete the Labyrinth on Cruel, Izaro can easily one-shot or 2-shot players at this point." To someone new to the game that's essentially another language. I can say that after 300 hours I still have never completed either (but at least I know what you are referring to lol) yet I still love and appreciate the game mechanics. If you only think of the game in a certain way such as successfully navigating the most difficult content, then I agree there are limited options. But in the true sense of freedom to experiment, it is absolutely there for players in a way that it isn't for any other game of this type that I've tried. Really you could argue that the only reason it's known that certain combos fail is because collectively someone somewhere tried all of them out - which again points to the reality that the freedom exists.

Ultimately it depends on what you want to get out of it. For me personally, the "play" aspect is most important. That's why even though I will follow some details of an established build, I still allow myself the freedom to experiment with the passive tree and gear and alternating different gem combos to see how I like the feel. I know I will never have the patience to get to the "final" part of the endgame or have the build with the fastest map clear speed, but I'm totally OK with that as long as I am having fun.
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Hipolito
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

There is a sale on stash tabs going on. I bought a bunch of them to manage my messy inventory. I also bought the comics and the rebellion masks that are optionally bundled with issue 4 of the comics to make my witch look a little cuter:

Image

So after just a week of playing this free game, I paid as much as a new premium game would have cost!

The comics are tropey and brutal, but provide a good prologue to the game's story and help me understand the lore better.

My witch is now level 34 and in Act III. She's found her first Chaos Orb and Divination cards, fulfilled her first prophecies, and solved all six trials of ascendancy.

I've been running past most monsters, trying to let their level catch up to mine. My zombies kill whatever they can along the way. It's an odd way to play the game, but I seem to be leveling faster this way.

Also, while playing today, I got a chat message that someone delved to depth 1,950 for the first time. I haven't yet reached the point where I can delve, but it sounds like a big deal. Let's hear it for BOO_THE_BOSS!
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Just started my second character in Legion, decided to mess with Toxic Rain, which had dropped a little while back. As I am always a sucker for a bow build, I thought it was time to do one again. This is a relatively new skill that shoots out 5 pods, which explode like spores and each one does area/poison damage. At first it seems the delay of waiting for them to explode makes it less fun/effective than the traditional Rain of Arrows or Caustic Arrow, but after ramping up a little, this thing has been crazy. I know I'm still early on but I'm just tearing through stuff like there's no tomorrow. It's a little unfair because I had some starter gear but really nothing great. I'm waiting for the rug to be pulled out under me, but based on my experience with other builds, this one definitely looks like it's got some teeth to it.

Oh yeah, I just wanted to mention you can check stats on DPS for each individual skill you use by clicking on the skill in the character window; really cool feature. So far my numbers look really low but I don't know how they factor in area effects, etc. It's hard to believe I'm doing only 150dps when I can kill entire groups of mobs with 1 arrow shot.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

rittchard wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 2:36 pm Just started my second character in Legion, decided to mess with Toxic Rain, which had dropped a little while back. As I am always a sucker for a bow build, I thought it was time to do one again. This is a relatively new skill that shoots out 5 pods, which explode like spores and each one does area/poison damage. At first it seems the delay of waiting for them to explode makes it less fun/effective than the traditional Rain of Arrows or Caustic Arrow, but after ramping up a little, this thing has been crazy. I know I'm still early on but I'm just tearing through stuff like there's no tomorrow. It's a little unfair because I had some starter gear but really nothing great. I'm waiting for the rug to be pulled out under me, but based on my experience with other builds, this one definitely looks like it's got some teeth to it.
Cool! Which Act are you in?
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Hipolito wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:15 pm
rittchard wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 2:36 pm Just started my second character in Legion, decided to mess with Toxic Rain, which had dropped a little while back. As I am always a sucker for a bow build, I thought it was time to do one again. This is a relatively new skill that shoots out 5 pods, which explode like spores and each one does area/poison damage. At first it seems the delay of waiting for them to explode makes it less fun/effective than the traditional Rain of Arrows or Caustic Arrow, but after ramping up a little, this thing has been crazy. I know I'm still early on but I'm just tearing through stuff like there's no tomorrow. It's a little unfair because I had some starter gear but really nothing great. I'm waiting for the rug to be pulled out under me, but based on my experience with other builds, this one definitely looks like it's got some teeth to it.
Cool! Which Act are you in?
My main guy just finished Act 10 and actually made it through the second tier of the Labyrinth; I think that was my first time but I don't remember for sure. New guy is near the end of Act 2, should be in 3 soon.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

My level 38 witch has completed Act 3.

I can now raise a spectre. My current spectre of choice is the Tentacle Miscreation from the Lunaris Temple. It's like having my own machine gunner with its rapid-fire ranged attack.

Speaking of ranged attacks, I can now summon raging spirits. It's nice to be able to shoot flaming skulls that count as minions.

I completed my first Unbreathing Queen prophecy. That was a tough fight, and different from anything I'd encountered before because I had to constantly dodge enemy projectiles. Two of my zombies died, which is notable because they rarely die. My spectre died, too, so I went back to Lunaris Temple for another Tentacle Miscreation.

Now I'm off to Highgate. The comics mentioned a major incident at Highgate but didn't go into much detail, so I'm eager to see for myself what happened.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Act 4 can be a little tough towards the end, YMMV. BTW if you need any help with the bosses or anything, just let me know! Also, I got a good unique helm drop that might interest you, I think it gives +1000 to spectre hp or something like that and some bonus to minions. (Message to @rittchard )

My current build continues to be pretty incredible in terms of clear speed, even though the noted DPS numbers are still pretty low. I changed out Caustic Arrow for Scourge Arrow, which also does some weird thing with pods; in any case it's more fun. I've got a Herald of Agony aura and a Chaos Golem so I am doing crazy poison/chaos/AoE damage. The very beginning of Act 4 is one of my favorite spots to gauge my clearing ability. I knew things were going well when I tore through the first boss (Voll I think) and Nightwane, both of which generally can be a little more troublesome than previous content.

But... later in the act, I started noticing I was pretty squishy, so sadly I had to start focusing on +life and resistances, etc. Boooo what a buzzkill lol.

I'm debating on making an aura based character for my next experiment, although that could be kind of annoying to level up solo. We'll see.

- - -

That reminds me, just something to prepare for. At the end of Act V, the game gets quite a bit tougher. Not only do they give you a flat penalty to all your resistances, you also start to lose xp when you die. I don't think this is ever explicitly stated anywhere, so just beware. For your first time through, you are probably best off taking your time before actually killing the Act V boss. Act 6 can be a big slap in the face if you aren't mentally prepared.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

If you are enjoying Chaos and DOT damage this is a build I ran last league, it was pretty insane as well.

https://odealo.com/articles/soulrend-ba ... adow-build
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Tao wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 4:26 pm If you are enjoying Chaos and DOT damage this is a build I ran last league, it was pretty insane as well.

https://odealo.com/articles/soulrend-ba ... adow-build
oooooo Soulrend sounds sweet!!!! I hadn't even heard of it.

More builds to try wheeeeeee!!!!!! :horse:
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

I've started Act 5 and have played for 60 hours. My character is level 48. Some highlights since my last post:
- I ascended from Witch to Necromancer. Surviving the Lord's Labyrinth was tough. I died three times from the spike traps. It's hard to see the traps in the darkness, and often their patterns don't trigger until you're already running across them so it's hard to time your movement. Furthermore, each time you die in the labyrinth, you have to start from the beginning. When I finally succeeded, I had the Twice Enchanted prophecy active, so I had the opportunity to enchant two items instead of one. I was disappointed that both items had to be gloves.
- I capped my elemental resistances at 75% for the first time.
- Daresso's Dream is one of my favorite areas so far. It was neat running around the gladiatorial arenas as doors opened to unleash monsters, with the crowd's cheers and stirring music in the background. I liked the Daresso-Merveil lore too.
- I've delved a few levels in the azurite mines. It's intense down there!
- I found my first Blessed Orb and Regal Orb. I still have just one Chaos Orb.
- I joined rittchard's guild and now have the unique spectre-enhancing helm he donated, Wraithlord.

Still loving this game, but I wish the story was expanded upon a bit more, or more comics would come out to support it. There is so much potential here.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

New Season starting today in case anyone is interested in a fresh start, also adding some new tower defense thing which I didn't understand:

https://www.pcgamer.com/path-of-exiles- ... l-alchemy/
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Hipolito »

I logged in today hoping to start enjoying this new Blight league, but it looks like I can't do that with my level 60 Necromancer. Only new characters can enroll in a new league. This disappointments me because Blight seems really well-suited for Necromancers.

So my level 60 is stuck in Standard mode. I want to see her through the end of the story, not create a new character, so I'll stay in Standard.

Another complication is that I got a message saying I've been granted a "one-use full passive skill reset. If you allocate or refund any other passives before using this opportunity then it will be lost." I guess this means I that I can fully respec my character because of the Witch/Necromancer revamp. I was happy with my character and wish I didn't have to bother with this. It's going to take some time to figure out what's changed and what I want to do.

As a beginner and Necromancer, I didn't achieve much in the Legion league. I never succeeded in unfreezing all the Legion soldiers at a monolith, never completed any of the Legion challenges, and certainly didn't come close to collecting enough timeless splinters to create an emblem. But I had fun finding Legion monoliths, unfreezing as many soldiers as I could, and hunting down the unique ones. Legion raised my character from level 1 to level 60, so it will always be special to me.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Yeah unfortunately new League means starting over from scratch... but over time that becomes part of the fun. After you've run it a few times the early portion can go pretty quick. I've only played a few hours and I'm already at lvl 39 with my new Necro to be. She is leveling faster than hotcakes, I don't know exactly why as I haven't done anything special. I started out with zombies and fireball, really basic stuff and just got my spectres and golem. It could be because of the new Blight factor, which is the most I've played of a specialty since release.

The Blight content is essentially a mini-tower defense battle. It's similar in ways to Grim Dawn's Crucible Mode but even more similar to another recent game I played which had a very similar mode (can't remember which one though). Basically you just need to protect a thing from being overrun using your own character as well as towers that you pay for and upgrade. If you survive all the waves you get a nice chest which can include orbs or rares or even a unique. It's the perfect content for a summoner since you've got plenty of friends to help out. Since there's a lot of mobs spawning it's also a great way to get an xp boost. The interface is a little cluttered but all in all it's the most fun diversion content I've tried in PoE.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

You have to give these guys credit for keeping their game updated with new periodic content. The next League goes live on Friday March 13, looks like it could be a good one.

https://www.pathofexile.com/delirium
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Lorini »

Interesting that the next D3 season also starts on that day. Seems crazy? I'm sure many players would like them to be sequential and not in tandem.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Tao »

I saw that both new Leagues start on the same day, the 13th, I seriously doubt that is coincidental. I think Blizzard had there date first. :D
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Paingod »

I believe this is a formal statement of "Come at me, Bro"
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Lorini »

Paingod wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 7:54 am I believe this is a formal statement of "Come at me, Bro"
They are such different games, but I'm sure there's more than a few that play both. I only play D3, I don't like the trading aspect and the near mandatory build need of PoE.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by rittchard »

Lorini wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:44 pm
Paingod wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2020 7:54 am I believe this is a formal statement of "Come at me, Bro"
They are such different games, but I'm sure there's more than a few that play both. I only play D3, I don't like the trading aspect and the near mandatory build need of PoE.
I feel like they've made strides in both those areas over time, but I definitely understand the issues. A lot of people play SSF (solo self found) only, and are completely able to have a good time with the game. It's certainly more challenging but I think they actually like that. The trade system itself is a bit arcane, but once you are used to it, there's actually some good points. There's no bidding or haggling, at least I don't bother with that, and it's so commonplace now it's almost as if it were automated. I'm genuinely surprised but I have yet to have a bad experience with it, aside from often times people being offline even though the website says they are online.

As for the "mandatory build" aspect, I addressed that in an above post - it's really only the case if you are assuming a particular kind of endgame gameplay. I would argue D3 is similar in the sense that you really need the sets and best builds to get far in the late game. Maybe that's changed over time but I recall there was no comparison when I got my first set (as a season reward), I went from struggling in a rift to blasting through at top speed. In PoE, I have done many "off book" builds and have had a blast, even when I allowed myself to just experiment along the way. This last season, I intended to do an aura build for grouping, but turns out the people I wanted to group with either quit or far outlevelled me. Also I kind of picked the wrong starting class, but I went ahead regardless. I played almost all solo, first trying various elemental skills with the auras, then on a whim went for a more golem based build which I'd never done before. It required a few passive re-allocations and a few traded elements, but I ended up getting further into the game than I ever had before, all the way through the final Act and into some early maps. I took some ideas from other builds along the way, but there's no way anyone would consider it or the way I played it as a "mandatory" build, probably more the exact opposite like everything you shouldn't do lol.
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Re: Path of Exile

Post by Lorini »

The nice thing about the D3 sets is that it's easy to get a set for your first class in the season.
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