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[Shining Sunshine]

Man, I'm getting absolutely nothing from Merveil runs.

Seems like they nerfed drops or something because I used to be able to get a unique ever 5 runs in Nemesis with the same rarity.

 

[PhoenixDark]

remade my Scion, quickly beat Act I and found two legendary items. Definitely improved my armor this time with some lucky drops. These invading bosses...jesus. The main one that fucks me is the guy who throws bear traps and has a fire attack.

Also found a +14% quality Spectral Throw. I almost want to just put it in my stash just in case, but I haven't had any close calls so far. Getting a good, somewhat fast 2H weapon pretty much makes you unstoppable in the early game as a Scion.

 

[Rufus]

Yup. Do the IPD recipe periodically unless you've naturally found upgrades.

Weapon + white/blue/rare rustic sash + whetstone = blue weapon with x% increased physical damage. The higher the belts rarity the higher the IPD bracket.

 

[Kammie]

Man, I'm getting absolutely nothing from Merveil runs.

Seems like they nerfed drops or something because I used to be able to get a unique ever 5 runs in Nemesis with the same rarity.

You know, I've been having exactly the opposite results lately. Not Merveil necessarily,but for example, the other day I found 5 chaos in Ledge within like one hour. The day after I found an exalt there. And assorted chaoses just in normal places.

Then just farming Vaal I got Snakebite gloves and a Wings of Entropy, and last night I got a Kaom's Primacy on a lvl 66 map. And uniques are dropping like crazy everywhere.

So I don't know if it's just me or what. My MF is pretty low, too.

On another topic, recently I gave up the illusion of ever 6-linking anything myself. So I've been farming Vaal and selling gems on my shop for alts, and it's really amazing how much currency I've been able to make. In probably less than a week I got about 12 exalts' worth of currency. Got about 18 exalts now, and will need between 30-40 total to get a 6L Quill Rain. It just feels so much better knowing you're making progress towards a goal than to gamble away every scrap of currency you get, to no results. I've spent the last two months just trying to fuse stuff and it was all wasted time, and it was really souring me on the game. I don't know why the devs keep insisting that this is fun. I'd rather be able to perfect a build to then move on and try to create another viable one.

I also took a chance and did like a 20-regret respec on my Quill Rain EB/Arctic Armour witch. I went all the way down to Iron Reflexes. Haven't been able to test the build much due to disconnects, but it seems like it paid off! Armor and AA synergize really well together.

 

[Rufus]

Flameblast Templar dead. Level 53. It was, appropriately, the Executioner this time.

Profound sadness. OTL

 

[Zynx]

I've hit another wall at Dominus Merciless on Ambush and it was suggested that I post my summon/fireball build here for suggestions.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-...Q0Ngk2Qva3d3z37DjauQi6-7sVeyK73zwH_Pd99f6gA==

I've posted my gear in a thread on poe because putting dozens of screenshots in a post here doesn't seem like a wise thing to do:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/843687

 

[Kammie]

I've hit another wall at Dominus Merciless on Ambush and it was suggested that I post my summon/fireball build here for suggestions.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-...Q0Ngk2Qva3d3z37DjauQi6-7sVeyK73zwH_Pd99f6gA==

I've posted my gear in a thread on poe because putting dozens of screenshots in a post here doesn't seem like a wise thing to do:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/843687

I don't know a thing about summoners so I can't help you directly, but most people only beat Merc Dominus in a group, and zerging with town portals. You're not going to be able to solo him unless you have a very, very solid build, and know what to do.

Edit: I'll say this, though. Almost none of your gear has life, and it's the one stat that should be on EVERY piece of gear, and usually as high a roll as you can find. Farm some currency, get on xyz, and get some replacements.

 

[TheFatOne]

Haven't played this game in a while. I'm looking for a class to start up in order to bankroll other characters the invasion league. What's a good class to use right now that requires no crazy expensive gear, and that doesn't require me to spend 10+ chaos orbs on gems.

 

[tiltnkirby]

Haven't played this game in a while. I'm looking for a class to start up in order to bankroll other characters the invasion league. What's a good class to use right now that requires no crazy expensive gear, and that doesn't require me to spend 10+ chaos orbs on gems.

I keep on saying it but searing bonds Templar, easy damage with an easy starting area as well as easy access to life nodes going forward. The gems needed are easily gotten from Templar quests and gear doesn't have to be great since it's the totems doing the work.

Trappers are also really easy to build and only need a few unique pieces of gear for end-game to round out some builds but you can still get away with so-so gear as you start maps since, again, it's the traps and the nodes doing a lot of the heavy lifting, leaving you to focus more on survival.

Spectral throw is also another easypezy build that doesn't take much to get off the ground, just the skill which is gotta at level one from a Scion character and a lesser multi proj gem (Quest reward for Scions/Rangers/Shadows and witches in act 2). And you always have the classical ground slam build, easy and boring but gets the job done time and time again.

Summoner is also pretty easy once it's off the ground but it's best to group up in the early parts to rocket yourself into mid game faster so your summons don't just die at the drop of a hat. While it's still soloable at the start, it's a big grinder till you are around the end of act 3 Cruel when the gems start to give big boosts to zombie HP as well as having a 4L.

Lastly, Lightning Arrow. It's lightning arrow, it does a ton of damage with shock stacks and really easy to get off the ground. You can put a crazy spin on it (Like the shotgun icewall to make lightning arrow proc twice with 100% pierce) but it's still lightning arrow shocking the crap outta everything. I'm not sure if burning arrow is good anymore but I do know arrow rain is in a few builds so you always got that as well.

Last minute add-on,

I've hit another wall at Dominus Merciless on Ambush and it was suggested that I post my summon/fireball build here for suggestions.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-...Q0Ngk2Qva3d3z37DjauQi6-7sVeyK73zwH_Pd99f6gA==

I've posted my gear in a thread on poe because putting dozens of screenshots in a post here doesn't seem like a wise thing to do:
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/843687

As Kammie pointed out in the edit, your gear has very little life on it and from your skill tree, you put a ton of points into fire damage (You picked up a lot of sub par fire damage nodes) while missing some summon nodes and are really lacking HP for Merciless. From what I can see, at just around 152% hp and gear with no other defense, you'll need to work more on HP and get that to at least 200% from the tree with more life on gear but you still have to pick up the other summon nodes around the map as well, so the next 20 levels is going to be spent trying to just finish summons and not life. I think one of the biggest things that's gonna suck going forward is the fact your tree is set-up in such a way that it'll take a lot of time to get to the important nodes now at level 68. You missed a big summon node to the left of Scion, a small one to the right of Scion, HP by CI at the top right, the notable HP node by the templar start to the left. One last little nitpick from your tree, I'm not a fan of minion instability anymore since the reworked summon nodes, everything now regens and life leeches that if they're at 33% during a fight, it's very likely they'll be able to heal back up once things settle down instead of having to resummon them once they hit 33%.

You are also using a staff instead of a 1h+shield so that's a bit less survivability but I understand why since that staff has +2 on fire gems and it should be okay since it's ambush and not invasion.

And the last point, no one does Dominus right away, just book it for maps and farm them and come back later on, not like you get anything from the quest.

 

[Corsick]

Am I doing something wrong or is the gear that I should be looking for as a Maruader tank low on dex/int requirements? I'm in Act 3 now and I cannot wear most of the upgrades I want because it requires more dex or int, yet I've been taking purely tank focused passives which means tons of strength. What gives? I always assumed I got small amounts of int and dex so I didn't have to waste passives on them.



This is the spec I'm using.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Am I doing something wrong or is the gear that I should be looking for as a Maruader tank low on dex/int requirements? I'm in Act 3 now and I cannot wear most of the upgrades I want because it requires more dex or int, yet I've been taking purely tank focused passives which means tons of strength. What gives? I always assumed I got small amounts of int and dex so I didn't have to waste passives on them.



This is the spec I'm using.

That just means you limit yourself to exclusively using armor based armor or you might be able to pull off armor/es. There are a lot of items that give stats, necklace is particularly the item for stat boosting, that could help you wear items.

You have armor passives too, so dex armor would not be optimal.

 

[Corsick]

That just means you limit yourself to exclusively using armor based armor or you might be able to pull off armor/es. There are a lot of items that give stats, necklace is particularly the item for stat boosting, that could help you wear items.

You have armor passives too, so dex armor would not be optimal.

Yeah I have a unique amulet that gives me dex and JUST found a rare ring that gives 12 to all stats (I'm level 27 right now). It's been frustrating how most of my rare armor and weapons are requiring just enough int and dex to be unusable, though. I'll just have to pick up extra stats on other items as I go. I have a rare belt that gives me like 60 str total which seems pretty darn good for my level as well, so I've actually been somewhat lucky so far I think.

 

[Rufus]

STR: armour; INT: energy shield, DEX: evasion

Any combination of two has matching hybrid gear. The classes roughly correspond to this as well if you stay in their corner on the tree. Marauder is the strength class and hence pure armour class. It will be easiest for them to go a pure armour route using melee skills, but you can diverge wildly of course if you know what you're doing.

Your tree doesn't tell the whole story, but looking at it you rely mostly on armour, so you can prioritize pure armour gear over hybrid gear, which will have an additional INT or DEX requirement.

PS: Do look at the Leather and Steel node and think about picking up endurance charges maybe, you're two points away from two more charges. They are really good for armour based builds.

PPS: I hope you have a leveling plan with this. 100 point builds are around level 70 to 80, depending on quests, so aim to be mostly functional by then, i.e. have all the traveling done and picked up the most important nodes. I would pick up the Body and Soul wheel last, if at all.

PPPS: You should wait on going all out with armour nodes until you actually have a couple thousand from gear to scale with those nodes. Block chance, too. You can go easy on that. Get the easy and valuable nodes early, postpone the measly ones till (much) later. Prioritize life and damage before that. Since you're armour based you won't need to block as many hits.
Look at the defences tab in your character sheet. Under "armour" it will give you a mitigation percentage. Try to keep that near 50% and raise it above that once you're in Merciless. Keep your resists capped, since armour only mitigates physical damage.

 

[Zynx]

kammie, tiltnkirby, thanks for the tips - didn't realize that I should leave Dominus 'til later. I started to clear a few maps without problems until I encountered the Museum boss.

In hindsight, I realize the 3-node fire cluster I took isn't all that great, even though it was a pretty nice boost at ~lev 20, but is there a better alternative to taking the fire nodes on the way NW from the Witch starting area? I'm also looking at some of the minion clusters you've mentioned - but at least from my current concept of what I'm doing, I'm only looking for minion life and resists, not damage, since that primarily comes from my fireball.

As for the "next 20 levels", I'm not even sure I want to play the character that far, given how long it takes to level now. However, I do have 5 unspent skillpoints, and all 18 of my refund points available. What changes would you suggest that I make with them? To be frank, I'm not really that attached to my minions now, since I've come to the conclusion that it's safer to have a tanky character than a tanky frontline which might or might not protect you.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Yeah I have a unique amulet that gives me dex and JUST found a rare ring that gives 12 to all stats (I'm level 27 right now). It's been frustrating how most of my rare armor and weapons are requiring just enough int and dex to be unusable, though. I'll just have to pick up extra stats on other items as I go. I have a rare belt that gives me like 60 str total which seems pretty darn good for my level as well, so I've actually been somewhat lucky so far I think.

Gotta trade. You got great EV/ES gear? Trade it for currency then buy Armor gear.

 

[tiltnkirby]

kammie, tiltnkirby, thanks for the tips - didn't realize that I should leave Dominus 'til later. I started to clear a few maps without problems until I encountered the Museum boss.

In hindsight, I realize the 3-node fire cluster I took isn't all that great, even though it was a pretty nice boost at ~lev 20, but is there a better alternative to taking the fire nodes on the way NW from the Witch starting area? I'm also looking at some of the minion clusters you've mentioned - but at least from my current concept of what I'm doing, I'm only looking for minion life and resists, not damage, since that primarily comes from my fireball.

As for the "next 20 levels", I'm not even sure I want to play the character that far, given how long it takes to level now. However, I do have 5 unspent skillpoints, and all 18 of my refund points available. What changes would you suggest that I make with them? To be frank, I'm not really that attached to my minions now, since I've come to the conclusion that it's safer to have a tanky character than a tanky frontline which might or might not protect you.

Ah, sounds like you want summons to be a distraction instead of the main part of your build, if that's the case, a simple set-up of spell totem with summon skeletons and faster casting will work wonders for you to keep the enemies at bay long enough for you to finish off anything that may come your way. With a bit more tank, searings bonds will melt a lot of stuff so I think you can drop that incinerate totem, don't know what you can add for it to support it but giving it more HP/resists isn't a bad start, I believe increase burning damage gem works on searing bonds so maybe look into that to make sure it does, you already got a ton of +fire and element from the skill tree so I think that already should make bonds wreck face, look out for fire resist but you already know that since you got curses to help with that. I also think I saw a fire pen gem somewhere, you can always get another one for searing bonds and slap that on there if it's not killing everything that looks at it in 2-3 seconds.

As for where to take your build, I don't know, on one hand you got a lot of fire stuff going on and it seems to be working with zombies to act as a frontline buffer but with the totem slot being taken up by incinerate and maybe soon to be Searing Bond, you can't use a spell totem for summon skeleton fodder, leaving you to self cast skeletons that only last for 20 seconds each pair, instead of casting fireballs. That leaves you with only zombies and it looks like you also don't have spectres gem'd in as well, so zombies it is. Most of your minion passives are in fact there to max HP of the summons to act as meat shields so if you're happy with that we'll just leave it. Because you're not really a summoner, just using summons as a shield and maybe a land mine with instability, I think one of the first things that should be looked into is all the life nodes near by that can be gotta in a timely manner. Left of Templar (5 SP to finish) and the node by CI (9 SP to finish) are the closest ones, if both are taken will bump you up +70 str and to 208% hp, enough to be passable in later maps given you have more life on gear. Now the problem, I don't like going for both, as you leaves you stuck trying to go half way into both areas and getting nothing from it since you're already such a high level, so we'll need to decide which area to walk deeper into and what we get from it. It's 5:30am as I'm writing this so I'm not going to think this over too much so I'll leave that to you, instead copping out with a list of the pros and cons as I can see them now, add more as you like:

Going both CI HP node and templar nodes:
+ 14 SP to get up to 208% and 70 str will solve the problem in only 9 more levels.
+ You're right next to a +ele damage node by templar, more damage ain't bad.
- Once both are taken, you'll have about 5 more points to use before your build is "done" and any progress on the skill tree come to a standstill.
+ In 5 points you can get one of the other HP node clusters on the way to shadow for an extra 24%, bring you up to 232% HP.
= Any extra points can be used to pick up the other small HP cluster by shadow or work into getting crit/cast time/the hp nodes in the middle of shadow

Going deep into templar, forgoing shadow side:
+ 5 SP to get 24%hp and 20 str
- Going down Marauder will take you about 18 SP before you reach another +hp node. Ain't happenin'
- Slim pickin', nothing else to pick up besides small fire/ele damage nodes and ES.

Templar Side node into Scion:
+ 5 SP to get 24%hp and 20 str (Total 176%)
+ only 6 more SP after that to reach the Scion HP cluster, 8 nodes for 52%HP. 19 SP for 76% (Total 228%)
+ Right by Sentinel for more resist/armor/eva
= another HP cluster only 7 SP starting from the Scion HP cluster that passes through Sentinel.
- Build has long since been done, everything after the cluster is just gravy. With only HP to look forward to but a lot of it if taken to max level as you travel from Duelist to ranger.
+ Surprise upsides, dex travel nodes to help your massive lack of dex to level Lesser multi gems.


Deep into Shadow, forgoing templar:
= 4 SP to arrive at the CI area HP cluster, 5 more SP to finish. 9(10 if dex is taken)SP + 32% with 50 str and a nearby 30 dex node for gem leveling if needed.
+ Two more 3-node clusters of HP within 2 SP from last HP cluster if both are taken another 10 SP(19 total SP used) is required for an extra 48% hp. (Total 232%) Build is doner then well-burnt meat.
+ Next to shadow so you can grab the +fire notable or more HP in the middle of the tree, also some +crit rate or even +spell damage ([-]I don't think sear bonds takes from spell damage)
+ A cast speed node by the CI HP cluster is there, can always pick that up if you wanna go faster.
- You were so close to that templar ele damage node and life cluster, it'll haunt you for as long as you have this character. ([+]Could fix that by respecing a few points, like the +fire damage(immolation) cluster above witch start and the minion damage node by lord of the dead to start taking the templar area HP and elementist).

Anyway, hope you come up with something that you'll enjoy playing for a bit longer, I'm going back to sleep.

 

[Zynx]

Wow, thanks for going all that trouble to lay out those options for me. One thing I've definitely realized the way you described things is the overarching importance of +% max life - when I was deciding on my own what paths to take, I was considering a little damage here, a little life there to be roughly comparable, but you've made me realize that they're clearly not.

So far I've taken the nearby templar life nodes, now I'm still mulling on whether to go towards the big scion life circle or towards shadow with my respec points and the future points I earn.

The funny thing is, I went and bought a higher level raise zombie gem and along with about the 250 hp I got from the additional life nodes I just took from one of your suggested paths, it's solved most of the problems I've been having for now.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Guys, serious attempt on World First Atziri Invasion kill.

http://www.twitch.tv/willywonka_hc
http://www.twitch.tv/morsrageng

Willy is running quad curse, quad spectres, half auramancer.
Mors is running Righteous Fire build, and the other auras.

Edit: Willy RIP in peace ;_;

 

[Zynx]

Just watched that guy RIP.

All those auras and specters...

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

reeeeeeep

 

[Shining Sunshine]

MORS DONE IT!

 

[Rufus]

Havoc (or HVR or something) apparently beat him to the punch.

 

[Kammie]

MORS DONE IT!

It was pretty tense, she almost did him in a couple times!

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Havoc (or HVR or something) apparently beat him to the punch.

Yeah by like 2-3 mins or something lol.

HVR used a lot of portals on a the fight and Mors used one. HVR was really sketchy in his fight. Full spellblock OP though.

 

[tiltnkirby]

Wow, thanks for going all that trouble to lay out those options for me. One thing I've definitely realized the way you described things is the overarching importance of +% max life - when I was deciding on my own what paths to take, I was considering a little damage here, a little life there to be roughly comparable, but you've made me realize that they're clearly not.

So far I've taken the nearby templar life nodes, now I'm still mulling on whether to go towards the big scion life circle or towards shadow with my respec points and the future points I earn.

The funny thing is, I went and bought a higher level raise zombie gem and along with about the 250 hp I got from the additional life nodes I just took from one of your suggested paths, it's solved most of the problems I've been having for now.

You're welcome. PoE is less about killing everything in half a second and more about surviving, more so with the current overarching threat of desync'ing. Normally you want to aim for at least 200% on ranged characters, 250% on melee (HAAAAAAAAAA melee on invasion HAHAHA, you may want 40000%hp for that). Remember, that everything that gives HP, be it leveling up, gear or STR, that it's all given a boost from your total %hp nodes. Just having 200% hp gives you +24 HP every level, instead of 8 and a simple +10 str node now gives 15 HP. Since you're on the softcore league, 200% should be alright for you as you grab more damage but it never hurt to get a few more nodes if you feel the need to later on.

Also, you'd be surprised at how little damage nodes you need a lot of times and can be passed up in favor of HP as you work on moving around the tree. It's tough to know how much you really need for some builds, but generally, I aim for 70-80% increase around the first 30 levels as I travel around the tree setting it up for the important things, mainly grabbing HP or mana, if needed.

Oh right, forgot to talk a bit about flasks. Last point then, a ruby flask for reflect mobs and a granite flask with +% armor during duration should round out your build nicely, along with a bleeding flask and shock, fuck bleeding and shock.

 

[Corsick]

Are there any good low-mid level farming areas? I've heard perhaps the docks or warehouse might be nice and I have a level 33 tank marauder right now in need of upgrades. I have a 1 hand axe that does 10-18 physical and 1-23 lightning damage. I'm almost certain that's woefully underpowered for my level. I even read something about cruel Hillock/Ledge farming at level 35 but I'm not sure if that's a thing anymore or ever was. Thanks for the previous help by the way, it's much appreciated.

 

[Rufus]

You should grab the best white axe you can find (equip) and then sell it to a vendor with a whetstone and a blue or yellow rustic sash. They will give you the weapon back, but with an x% increased physical damage roll, the higher tier the belt, the higher the IPD roll.

 

[tiltnkirby]

Are there any good low-mid level farming areas? I've heard perhaps the docks or warehouse might be nice and I have a level 33 tank marauder right now in need of upgrades. I have a 1 hand axe that does 10-18 physical and 1-23 lightning damage. I'm almost certain that's woefully underpowered for my level. I even read something about cruel Hillock/Ledge farming at level 35 but I'm not sure if that's a thing anymore or ever was. Thanks for the previous help by the way, it's much appreciated.

Docks is still fine to grind. Ledge is still a good grinding spot as well, don't remember Hillock being a place to grind since I always rushed ledge anyway.

 

[Cerity]

Hillock is an okay place for farming currency, you can do a run in easily less than a minute so it starts to feel repetitive a lot quicker than the ledge or the docks e.t.c

 

[PhoenixDark]

Just a couple weeks ago I was worried that the new patch+D3's new patch would lead me to arpg burnout. But so far I've pretty much only been playing PoE. I'm pacing myself though, so I don't get tired of the game as has happened in the past.

What's a good primary attack for a Scion? Right now I'm going for a Spectral Throw build, with Cleave as my primary attack. It's solid for mobs but not great for bosses obviously. I'd imagine Double Strike is the most popular, with a Multistrike support gem.

 

[Kammie]

Quit the game today, just finished uninstalling it. I tried actually playing my Frenzy/Lightning Arrow build for the first time since the expansion, and the new leech mechanics don't even allow me to single-target anymore. 20/20 Leech or 20/20 LGOH doesn't work. I am literally dying in 69 maps. Not returning until this is fixed.

Hate to say it but the people balancing all the mechanics in this game are pretty incompetent. The balance is all over the place, and any time they try to fix something they end up bricking builds. Except now it's not even specific builds--it's everyone who depended on either life or mana leech in some form.

Looking forward to playing something that's actually properly-balanced now. Only regret is that I spent nearly $200 on this. I'm seriously in disbelief as to how bad this expansion was overall.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

You should grab the best white axe you can find (equip) and then sell it to a vendor with a whetstone and a blue or yellow rustic sash. They will give you the weapon back, but with an x% increased physical damage roll, the higher tier the belt, the higher the IPD roll.

Waaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!

 

[Quixzlizx]

Quit the game today, just finished uninstalling it. I tried actually playing my Frenzy/Lightning Arrow build for the first time since the expansion, and the new leech mechanics don't even allow me to single-target anymore. 20/20 Leech or 20/20 LGOH doesn't work. I am literally dying in 69 maps. Not returning until this is fixed.

Hate to say it but the people balancing all the mechanics in this game are pretty incompetent. The balance is all over the place, and any time they try to fix something they end up bricking builds. Except now it's not even specific builds--it's everyone who depended on either life or mana leech in some form.

Looking forward to playing something that's actually properly-balanced now. Only regret is that I spent nearly $200 on this. I'm seriously in disbelief as to how bad this expansion was overall.

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vaal_Pact

 

[Tom Penny]

Just a couple weeks ago I was worried that the new patch+D3's new patch would lead me to arpg burnout. But so far I've pretty much only been playing PoE. I'm pacing myself though, so I don't get tired of the game as has happened in the past.

What's a good primary attack for a Scion? Right now I'm going for a Spectral Throw build, with Cleave as my primary attack. It's solid for mobs but not great for bosses obviously. I'd imagine Double Strike is the most popular, with a Multistrike support gem.

This build is pretty darn good. I actually switched from POE to D3 to take break go figure.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/690708/page/1

 

[Kammie]

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vaal_Pact

Yeah, but using leech should not mandate that I change my entire build and do a 30-regret respec into a particular passive node.

Leech has been in the game forever, it worked fine, and it was broken by this change. I put in my hundreds of hours to get my leech gem to 20/20 and have it be a viable form of survival. I refuse to respec due to GGG's poor design decisions. I've done it before, and I'm not willing to keep doing it.

Nerfs and breaking things are a *HUGE* issue in this game. They're so afraid to get rid of legacy items, citing the amount of effort people put into getting them, but they change gems and the tree and ruin builds *all* the time. I'm just tired of it, honestly. If they get their shit together I'll just revisit sometime in the future, but I seriously doubt they will. They're too stubborn when it comes to their design decisions.

 

[Quixzlizx]

Yeah, but using leech should not mandate that I change my entire build and do a 30-regret respec into a particular passive node.

Leech has been in the game forever, it worked fine, and it was broken by this change. I put in my hundreds of hours to get my leech gem to 20/20 and have it be a viable form of survival. I refuse to respec due to GGG's poor design decisions. I've done it before, and I'm not willing to keep doing it.

Nerfs and breaking things are a *HUGE* issue in this game. They're so afraid to get rid of legacy items, citing the amount of effort people put into getting them, but they change gems and the tree and ruin builds *all* the time. I'm just tired of it, honestly. If they get their shit together I'll just revisit sometime in the future, but I seriously doubt they will. They're too stubborn when it comes to their design decisions.

When they redo the passive tree, they refund everyone's points so they can redo their builds. Also, I'm guessing most players start new characters for the new leagues. I guess they don't care too much about breaking Standard characters.

 

[Kammie]

When they redo the passive tree, they refund everyone's points so they can redo their builds. Also, I'm guessing most players start new characters for the new leagues. I guess they don't care too much about breaking Standard characters.

They offer free respecs but the free respec system isn't good. You should have 12 hours or something after your first respec to test the changes, and be able to revert if not.

They nerfed the scion life wheel so I had to go north into witch territory, otherwise I'd have lost out on a bunch of life. Of course, no one had any idea at this point that leech was nerfed so bad to the point that it's unusable. So basically I unspecced out of the Vaal Pact area, and would have to go back but end up at like 3600 life? Just to *test* if I can survive like this, which I probably won't since that's too little life...

I like the game a *lot* and want to see it succeed, but it's just madenning to see them drive it into the ground. So many people have quit already, and the numbers just keep rising. They put out an expansion where they advertised the boss nonstop, and less than 1% of the playerbase can get to her since she's gated behind RNG... and they make it so you have to farm low-level zones to get to her, and people then keep resetting Sarn to farm corrupted areas... and their botting system bans them for eight days! It's like they don't even consider what they're implementing in the first place.

And the big addition is an RNG gem when everyone is sick of the RNG. I tried it a few times and the only thing it did was brick my items, and I decided to never use the gem again. That's the same experience most people have. It was fun the first few days to see the possible results, but ultimately it just ends up being something you'll never use due to the risk.

Anyway, maybe someday the game will improve. Let's not kid ourselves, it's still basically in a beta state. I'll just go play something else and maybe someday I'll be pleasantly surprised when I find that they've listened to player feedback.

 

[Rufus]

Kammie, this is why it's pointless to stick with a character for so long. All these changes add up over time and if you're not prepared to buy regrets and maybe gear to make up for them you're going to have a lot of "fun" re-creating the status quo. Standard and HC are dumping grounds and for people to test new content, nothing else. GGG really don't care what happens there ultimately. It's all about the new leagues.

As for the Vaal Orbs, they're a risk reward thing for people who're sitting on a lot of good items that they don't do anything with. Last league I had amassed several stash tabs full of uniques, a lot of doubles. This time around, I'll be Vaal Orbing any doubles. If you're not prepared to brick your GG item, don't fucking use the russian roulette orb on it.
A straight path to higher numbers is a recipe for boredom.

Waaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!

They've added a bunch of recipes these last few months. You should look at the page on the wiki to see what's possible. There's even one for spell damage.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Their expansion has been a bust for me too. Plus the desync is still there. Died to it and I had /oos bound to a mouse button just in case.

 

[BumperLips]

If anyone can invite me to the guild (I mainly play Invasion):

IGN: FlamePoops

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Leech was too powerful imo. Nerfing leech, and nerfing Vaal pact was known to come.

In nemesis, all players would do is just facetank with a ton of leech like it's not even dangerous.

 

[Gaming Truth]

I agree. The game has to constantly evolve. As they observe things breaking the intended balance of things that they didn't consider (800+% facebreakers, life leech, IIQ/IIR, etc.), their choices are to leave them alone and continue to watch people breakdown their game or to address the situation.

The former was exemplified by Diablo 3. Clearly, the auction house was a grand mistake, but they waited a year (and all the yummy service %$'s they collected) until they had lost enough population before they "addressed" it.

I continue to enjoy this game and just got three new players in as of this season!

 

[Corsick]

Is there any guide to the economy and differing values of currency items? I'm having a difficult time understanding how good some of the rare items I'm picking up are and how valuable some currency items are as well. Trading also seems a bit opaque, I need much better resistances and I'm finding act 3 cruel to be very tedious because of that, but don't know how to effectively trade to improve my gear.

 

[Gaming Truth]

Is there any guide to the economy and differing values of currency items? I'm having a difficult time understanding how good some of the rare items I'm picking up are and how valuable some currency items are as well. Trading also seems a bit opaque, I need much better resistances and I'm finding act 3 cruel to be very tedious because of that, but don't know how to effectively trade to improve my gear.

Not exact (it's somewhat player driven), but currency values: www.poeex.info

If you're finding Act 3 to be tough, I'm assuming the two resistances you're feeling are Chaos and Lightning. Lightning can be taken care of by rings with lightning resist (and passives). Chaos, ick. I mean, there are chaos resist passives, but you should try to find gear with them instead, or just avoid taking damage. I'm assuming you're on normal, so telling you to put points into Chaos resist so early into your build could be a bad thing

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Is there any guide to the economy and differing values of currency items? I'm having a difficult time understanding how good some of the rare items I'm picking up are and how valuable some currency items are as well. Trading also seems a bit opaque, I need much better resistances and I'm finding act 3 cruel to be very tedious because of that, but don't know how to effectively trade to improve my gear.

Economy is dynamic, so it's hard to pinpoint the worth from one week to another. I think in most cases 2 alch = 1 chaos, then a lot of lower worth currency can be traded to an alch through vendor. You really have to watch trade chat to see what the trend of currency exchange is at.
At the start of the new leagues, Exalts were worth 20 chaos, now they're 30 chaos.

As for determining the worth of an item, it's pretty easy especially when you gain a lot of experience with builds. You'll start to see what items would be used by which builds.
Then the item's worth is determined by how many stat match the build.
If an item has Life% and ES%, it's only good for hybrid defense builds, which not many people play. Something with high life or high ES, then 2 high resist is worth a lot, but people may pay for items with just 1 resist.

As you get higher level base items, you unlock higher tier of stats. Higher level items can also roll low stats of its kind, so you use this website to see how high items can go.
http://poemods.com/

It is difficult, but that's the fun of it. Economy is extremely dynamic because of build diversity and currency diversity, so you just gotta research what people are building and selling to price your own things.

 

[Rufus]

I wonder if the leech situation could be adressed with the reduced skill cost nodes. It's telling that I've never considered them, I suppose. Not that I would like to spend passive points on something like that, but they're there for a reason.

 

[Tom Penny]

Is there any guide to the economy and differing values of currency items? I'm having a difficult time understanding how good some of the rare items I'm picking up are and how valuable some currency items are as well. Trading also seems a bit opaque, I need much better resistances and I'm finding act 3 cruel to be very tedious because of that, but don't know how to effectively trade to improve my gear.

Best thing I ever learned for currency because exalt aren't going to fall out of the sky. Grab all 6 socket items ( 7 jewlers ) and anything 2 linked red, blue, green ( chromatic ) when vendored

Vendor items then..

Orbs of Alteration can also be traded to vendor for Jeweller’s Orbs which can further turn into Orbs of Fusing, so even these easily obtainable orbs have value in higher numbers.

Fusings always have value..that's how I got all my exalt lol

 

[Chorelz]

I'm going to play this again when it hits steam.

the beta was kind of "meh" for me.

Yeah i feel you man, it was the same for me but i think i will give it another chance might change my opinion.

 

[PhoenixDark]

The game is being played by 12-14k people daily, and is top 15-20 on Steam. I wouldn't say it's struggling despite the hardcore focus. But I do agree the game's design choices are veering into territory that will restrict growth.

 

[V_Arnold]

It is one thing to extrapolate the game's success/popularity based on playing only on Standard (even if your results will be plain WRONG, and highly subjective).

It is another to refuse to see the list of changes and not using the free respecs "properly" in a hardcore game like this. You could NEVER, at any point of this game's history, go into the game and build a character ad-hoc, ignoring the strategys flaws or the current meta. Never. Why would this time be different?