Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[frunk]

I picked up the last two specialty stash Tabs this weekend, so now I can rank them all.

Currency - Essential for any amount of play time.  The quality of life improvement for it is huge.
Essence - Very useful for organizing Essences, which can be a pain to keep track of otherwise.
Map - Handy if you get deep into mid tier mapping or higher.  Otherwise not really worth it.
Divination - Nice to have but not needed unless you are holding on to tons of cards that you don't want to redeem.
Fragment - Fine for cleaning up all the Vaal Sacrifice fragments, but not needed.

In general I would say a Premium Stash Tab or Premium Quad Stash Tab is better and more useful for the cost than Map, Divination and Fragment unless you play a lot.  So:

Play a little: Currency, regular Stash tabs if hoarder.
Play a lot but don't really do mapping: Add in Essence, convert regular to Premium, additional Premium Stash Tabs if hoarder.
Mapping a bit (low tier maps): Add more Premium Stash Tabs for space, maybe Divination.
Mapping a lot (mid tier maps): Add Map, Divination.
Map completion (high tier maps): Add Fragment.

I'm revising my opinion of the Map and Fragment tabs.  Both are much more useful now.  Maps because you want to keep a variety of maps for daily Quests and for getting to Elder.  Fragment because you can stick your Scarabs in there now.

[Syt]

I farmed an Oni-Goroshi. Took me 3.5 in game hours (0.75h of this is the actual fight with Hillock), plus waiting for the area to reset.

That is all.

[frunk]

I farmed an Oni-Goroshi. Took me 3.5 in game hours (0.75h of this is the actual fight with Hillock), plus waiting for the area to reset.

That is all.

Nice.  I think it took me 4 hours back when it was easier to get.  It's a lot of fun (Oni-Goroshi, not the farming).

[frunk]

I managed to full clear a Tier 7 map with 15% elemental reflect with my all Elemental damage/no reflect mitigation character.  I did switch to Soul of Yugul (reduce reflected damage by 25%), I'm not crazy.  I had to resort to dropping Cold Snaps, running away and letting the DOT kill things.  I had to be careful not to drop the Cold Snap directly on too large a group.  I was aided by the Enfeeble curse on my character from the map, otherwise I would have died.

[frunk]

Brands are pretty awesome.  Got a level 74 dropping Armageddon Brands all over the place.

[crazy canuck]

Brands are pretty awesome.  Got a level 74 dropping Armageddon Brands all over the place.

Just starting a brand build, omg is it fun!

[FunkMonk]

I've skipped this league because I've been too busy with real life in December and the first half of January. I'm waiting eagerly for March though 

[frunk]

I've skipped this league because I've been too busy with real life in December and the first half of January. I'm waiting eagerly for March though 

Yeah, I probably should have skipped this one, but it's been a blast.  I'm hoping March sounds less exciting so it's easier to skip.   

[Iormlund]

I don't care much for the League mechanics. I don't really enjoy how I can stomp over a map boss one second and be one-shot by the Syndicate the next.

The mechanics folded into core are golden, though. If anything this game has too much stuff to do. If only D3 had half as much content and build variety.

[frunk]

I don't care much for the League mechanics. I don't really enjoy how I can stomp over a map boss one second and be one-shot by the Syndicate the next.

That's generally how GGG does League mechanics.  Delve, Incursion, Bestiary, Abyss, Harbinger and older League content were all harder than the boss on an equivalent map.  The big difference is that Betrayal is lot more in your face.  Fortification and Research can be approached carefully, but Transportation has a pretty wide activation range and Intervention literally pops out of nowhere.

I've gotten used to running away when an Intervention pops up until I can take stock, and I try to attack Transportation at the head (approaching from the rear can be trouble).  I've found Fortification the toughest nut to crack since it frequently spawns with cramped quarters at the entrance.

As I've played more I've gotten better at building defensively as well.  My level 89 character has 6000+ Energy Shield, where previously I don't think I ever cracked 3500.

The mechanics folded into core are golden, though. If anything this game has too much stuff to do. If only D3 had half as much content and build variety.

Yeah, It's been a couple of years since I've even peeked in on D3.

[frunk]

I think I've finally found a minion build I'm really enjoying.  Last league I ran a Golem build that was neat but died in the endgame.  Now I'm doing a Dominating Blow/Herald of Purity Guardian with Auras out the wazoo (Haste, Discipline, Wrath, Hatred plus 2 Heralds and a War Banner) that is quite fun.

[FunkMonk]

Synthesis is the new league, coming mid March.

https://www.pathofexile.com/synthesis

In Path of Exile: Synthesis, you will encounter Cavas, recover his lost memories and chain them together to reach valuable rewards, new boss fights and crafting opportunities. Our March expansion contains the Synthesis challenge league, new items, new gems, a complete rebalance of spells throughout Path of Exile, an integrated version of the Betrayal league and much, much more.
Recover Lost Memories
To help Cavas remember his past, you will find fragments of his decaying memories throughout Wraeclast. Fight your way through the monsters that inhabit his memories in order to activate stabilisers before the memories collapse around you.
Stabilised memory fragments can be pieced together to navigate the void in Cavas' mind and reach his distant memories. But beware, these fragments can only be explored a limited number of times before they collapse completely, so plan your path carefully.

Distant Memories
Within Cavas' distant memories are many types of valuable rewards. As you progress deeper within the recesses of his darkest memories, his mind starts to synthesise encounters with dangerous and twisted manifestations
Decaying memories yield Fractured Items with broken mods that are locked in place. While these are not generally useful as-is, you'll find occasional Fractured Items that have excellent locked mods, resulting in much easier crafting.




The Synthesiser
In the Memory Nexus lies the Synthesiser, a powerful device that lets you destroy Fractured Items to create base types with custom implicit mods. These implicit mods are somewhat controllable by careful choice of input items to consume
Synthesis also contains a complete balance overhaul of all spells in Path of Exile, six new Chaos and Holy spells and significant incentives for hand-casting including several new support gems.

New Caster Archetypes
The new Holy Spellcaster archetype features Path of Exile's first Holy spells, including Divine Ire, Purifying Flame and Wave of Conviction. The Chaos Spellcaster archetype not only provides an easier introduction to Chaos spells with Soulrend, but adds many new tools to Path of Exile's existing arsenal of Chaos spells
In addition to Fractured Items, Synthesised Items and over a dozen new Divination Cards designed by our supporters, Path of Exile: Synthesis contains 16 powerful new unique items with a focus on impacting the way players play Path of Exile.






And much, much more...
Synthesis also includes many other improvements: The content from December's Betrayal expansion has been integrated into the core game, the layout of the Atlas of Worlds has shifted once again, and a lot of Path of Exile's music has been overhauled. Check out the full patch notes in early March for more information

[crazy canuck]

The new spell skills and the rework of spells sounds interesting - perhaps self cast will become viable?

[FunkMonk]

I'm interested in self-cast (or handfasting) but I'll probably just run a charged dash build as a league starter since I enjoy that skill so much. I skipped Betrayal so I want to try out some of the new skill interactions and item crafting too.

[FunkMonk]

I'm planning a charged dash crit Inquisitor as a league starter, but I'm also building in an option to use the new Wave of Conviction skill because I think it just looks really really cool 

All the new active and support skills look great, btw. Beefy damages and interesting interactions.