Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[FunkMonk]

Bye bye Blizzard. 

[frunk]

Here's a gameplay sample that I just watched.  2:40 shows the new skill gem socketing.  It looks like two handed weapons will hold room for 4 active skills, chests 2 and head, hand and foot 1 each.  I'm guessing that isn't adjustable and that one handed weapons/shields hold 2 each.

So it sounds like Orbs of Fusing will go away or be repurposed and Jeweller's Orbs will become needed for gems.  Hopefully they won't adjust the odds of getting a 6 socket down too much.  Crafting to get 6 sockets isn't too bad, 6 links are a huge pain.

Overall it looks like an awesome set of changes and I look forward to it, as well as what other adjustments they'll make that they haven't revealed.  What are the odds of a passive skill tree total revamp?  Ascendancies still a thing?

[FunkMonk]

19 new ascendancies for 38 total  I think they mentioned that Lab will be removed, though. Or maybe repurposed?

PoE 2 looks beautiful. GGG may actually get to the point where they match Blizzard at presentation and game feel. At which point there may be no reason at all to play Diablo 4.

I'm hoping they are both great games so they can keep pushing each other into innovating and improving the genre.

[Syt]

I, for one, wouldn't mind to see the Lab go. Easily the worst part of leveling a new character. Esp. the Uber Lab.

[frunk]

I, for one, wouldn't mind to see the Lab go. Easily the worst part of leveling a new character. Esp. the Uber Lab.

I hated it at first, but over time it's become a mere annoyance.  The biggest reason being they improved performance and reliability, so at least it doesn't crash or freeze in the middle of it anymore.

[FunkMonk]

I haven't played PoE much over the last few months but this is pulling me back in.

I can't get over how good PoE 2 already looks. 

[frunk]

I haven't played PoE much over the last few months but this is pulling me back in.

I can't get over how good PoE 2 already looks. 

Well you'll have to wait at least a year before PoE 2 hits.

[frunk]

They mentioned that you can push the experience from one skill gem to another of the same type.  Does that mean I could level up, say, 4 Arc gems with supports on my alt weapon set then take all that experience and throw it into another one to turbo level it?  I'm guessing they might reverse how that works, push the sockets of a skill gem into another of the same type.

I know the next two things I want to throw money at GGG for.  PoE 2 beta access and a skill gem storage tab.

Items having locked socket color until a late level/mapping currency drop.  I think that'll make hybrid gear (Eva/ES, Armor/Eva, Armor/ES) more valuable when leveling, since it'll allow off color skill gem usage.

Right now I only care about the defense type late in leveling (Act 6+) since setting up your offense is more important.  Now I might be pushed into ES just because I need to run a couple of blue gems.  Seems a little weird but probably doesn't matter too much in practice.

[FunkMonk]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-11-16-path-of-exile-mobile-announcement-is-mindful-of-blizzards-disastrous-diablo-immortal-reveal

"Mobile fall guy"

[frunk]

Watched the Act 5 Kill Kitava race.  1 hour 2 minutes from the start.  Damn.

[frunk]

Thinking about PoE 2 and how socketing works, they should make a clearer split between Skill Gems, Support Gems and the two layers of socketing.  Maybe call Support Gems Shards, and Gem sockets Facets or something.  The interface looks like it should make it obvious where things go, but it should be reinforced by a stronger terminology split.

[Syt]

Following a zombie/exploding skellies build. Level 83, finished tier 5 maps, still waiting for a 5 link. 

[Iormlund]

I've barely played lately, but we got together last night and bagged our first Shaper Guardian (Phoenix dude). Also Vaal Temple.

Might step up a little bit this week and try to kill Shaper, seeing how the Atlas is going to be changed in a couple weeks.

[frunk]

I took a break for 2 weeks after getting a T13 Elder.  I was aiming for T10 or 11, and had previously beat a T8 without difficulty.  I beat the guardians (including a T14) without too much difficulty.  I got the Elder down to 15% before running out of portals.

This weekend I tried again after all of my 6 link was up to level 20.  This time I got the Elder down to 10%.  Sigh.

[Iormlund]

Bagged both the Chimera and the Hydra down easily, but the Minotaur got us.

I'd probably downed it on my own, I think. He got me just once but my mates had consumed all the portals. 


Next league is due in 3 weeks. I guess a bossing build will be ideal, but I've been toying with a Fireball Ignite Elementalist Golemancer. Fantastic clear, and Fire Trap takes single target to tolerable levels.
A Bleedxplosion Glad would be a much safer bet, though...