Path of Exile 2

[FunkMonk]

I'm still only lvl 21 with my starter, a 2-hander warrior. The idea is to go double 2-hander Titan eventually, or 2-hander with shield.

I've found focusing on defenses is vital when leveling. In poe 1 you could basically ignore defensive nodes until maps. Not so now. So I'm stacking armor, life, resistances, stun threshold, and focusing on my dodge roll timing. So I'm dying much, much less now, and when I do it's because of an obvious mistake I made, like being too greedy and getting surrounded by mobs or trying to lazily trade hits with a boss when they are almost dead.

I'm also exploding packs with the mace strike (basic default) skill linked to brutality and 50% more stun buildup. I'll hit one mob with that, almost always get a prime for heavy stun, and hit it with Boneshatter linked to increase AoE and 40% more damage on low life enemies. That with Herald of Ash deletes packs in two hits 99% of the time.

For bosses I'm using Perfect Strike after they get stunned. So I'm bashing them with whatever, I'll stun them, then unleash Perfect Strike. Usually kills the boss after a few hits with Perfect Strike linked to various damage supports, or faster attacks for QoL.

Game is fun yall

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, with everything except the witch, I took nothing but defensive nodes.  Not as necessary with the witch because of all of the minion defence surrounding her, but even still, I raced to mind over matter and have the spirit passive skill that allows me to pick up shield boosts.

Your description of how you played the warrior makes me want to go back and try a two hander rather than relying on my meagre blocking skills 

[frunk]

So I think you have to double the act to get how defensive minded you need to be compared to PoE.  In PoE I'm usually maxing my resists and starting to build my defensive layers around Act 4.  In PoE 2 it's tough to max resists by Act 2, but you do need to focus on getting them as high as you can.

[Iormlund]

Strange, my witch is the closest to a POE 1 fast clear type character. Raging spirits from fire wall, plus contagion, plus my revive minions, plus constant raising of zombies from corpses makes everything melt fast.

Once I unlock corpse explosion and work that into the mix this build will run even faster through the content.

The lack of DPS did not become apparent until Act 2 and specially Act 3. Even so I could clear ok, thanks to corpse explosion. But my Merc friend was doing two times the damage easily, and without needing corpses.

My Monk is now in Act 2 and the difference is very, very noticeable. I'm killing bosses in barely 10 seconds. Part of that is surely that I got a very good staff in Act 1, but still.

[crazy canuck]

I see, I have not gotten into act 3 with any of my characters - so what you are saying is I should switch out of my minion build now 

[crazy canuck]

Ok, I take it all back, I tried out the Monk and the clear speed was much faster, in part because of the greater mobility.

[crazy canuck]

Also took a lightening sorc to 30 and A poison archer to 20ish. levelling an ice sorc now.

The Ice sorc is my favourite by far.  casting nova on ice bolts is like doing creeping artillery as I move through a zone. Add in the delayed ice bomb for elites and bosses. 

The game doesn't seem so hard anymore as I learn the mechanics and how the skills should be used.  Although I think I would still find the warrior a challenge to play.

[frunk]

I've taken two characters to maps (Mercenary and Ranger) and played a few Acts with a Monk and a Sorceress.  Overall I love the game and I don't see myself ever going back to PoE1 unless they make significant improvements.  PoE2 still needs a lot of work though. 

The biggest issue I'm worried about is pacing.  They did two things to slow the game down, removed fast movement skills/movement boosts and significantly increased the size of areas.  I think one or the other would have been ok, but the combination makes the game drag and a lot more grindy than PoE1.  Act 3 is particularly bad in this regard (I'm looking at you Canal), and I'll be very glad when we don't have to repeat acts anymore.  Meeting the same monsters a dozen or more times in a row, with it going exactly the same way each time unless there happens to be a Rare involved gets...dull.  It's disappointing that they made areas so bland when the Boss design is so great.  If the zones were smaller or you could move quicker through the encounters it wouldn't be nearly as bad.

I didn't notice it that much with the first character I got to endgame, but with the second the shiny newness was gone and the fifth time through Act 3 really wore on me.

[crazy canuck]

I think what you're talking about isn't so much a function of the size of the zones as it is a function of repetitiveness. You are playing two classes to Maps that are range, and so they are going to feel.  Add to that the fact that they haven't introduced 2/3 of the acts yet, and so there is repetitiveness in seeing the same three acts three times before getting to maps.

I love the pacing of the game and the fact that the zones are large.  I came to hate POE 1 because it became a race through the acts to get to maps and then maps themselves became a speed race.  I really hope POE2 doesn't devolve into that sort of gameplay.

[frunk]

I think what you're talking about isn't so much a function of the size of the zones as it is a function of repetitiveness. You are playing two classes to Maps that are range, and so they are going to feel.  Add to that the fact that they haven't introduced 2/3 of the acts yet, and so there is repetitiveness in seeing the same three acts three times before getting to maps.

I love the pacing of the game and the fact that the zones are large.  I came to hate POE 1 because it became a race through the acts to get to maps and then maps themselves became a speed race.  I really hope POE2 doesn't devolve into that sort of gameplay.

The builds actually played very differently.  The Mercenary stuck with the shotgun skills plus freeze, so wants to get up close and personal to maximize damage.  The Ranger is a poison range build, so yes wanted to stay distant.  I've also spread out my gameplay a fair bit so it wasn't a matter of playing it all within a short period of time.

As I've said I'm ok with them slowing down movement, but the Act 3 zones are too large for that speed and lack of variety.  Make the zones smaller but with the same movement and I'm fine.

[crazy canuck]

The game came out what, three weeks ago and you already have two toons in maps.  Your idea of spacing out your gameplay is a very different thing from mine. 

[frunk]

Two quiet holiday weeks spent at home left a lot of time to play.