Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[Syt]

Yes, they are. Maybe it's just me.

Saw an announcement that drops of logbooks and Expedition re-roll currencies are increased in maps.

[FunkMonk]

Just got to maps and haven't had any logbook drops at all.

Gotta say, not really feeling this league. Maybe it's just my build but I'm not really enthusiastic about countinuing playing or even rerolling another build, even though I have over 1 ex available to use on trade.

I think I'm done until the next few leagues rework the Atlas and the endgame.

[Syt]

I'm doing this build, and I'm enjoying it a fair bit so far, but I also take it very slow: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3145653

[Syt]

One crappy thing people on Reddit noticed is that when you do the crafting re-rolls with Rog there's a catch. Whenever it says it will remove the lowest suffix/prefix, or reroll and keep the best result - this means level requirement, NOT tier of the prefix/suffix.

This means e.g. if you want to modify something for life and resistances (e.g. armor) then you would probably want to avoid those, as resistances and life tend to be lower on the level requirements. For some later game weapon crafts this could be quite cool, though, or if you're good in life/res.

[frunk]

I've been enjoying the league for what it's worth, although for not any big reasons.  I like that SST, one of my favorite skills, is finally viable without the threshold jewel.  I like playing the league mechanic, laying out the dynamite, although the rewards are meh.  I don't need dozens of new currencies, and I definitely don't need even more ways to get or craft equipment.

I'm looking forward to trying out an Elementalist Bow character, and I definitely want to try out Explosive Concoction once I get any decent unarmed drops.

[Syt]

Well, I made it through the campaign and earned two new achievos:



Of course I died on the second map because I underestimated the old rituals after playing quite conservatively the entire run.

Time to go back to softcore - this was quite stressful as it is.

Also, playing a character that splits the damage between physical, fire, cold, and lightning, plus requires leech, plus is an evasive build there were a lot of remnant modifiers in Expedition I had to skip just to be safe.

[FunkMonk]

I've been playing Project Diablo 2, a mod of Diablo 2 that has some QoL improvements and some rebalancing, and I feel at home. Gives me a sense of character progression without the zoom zoom economy to worry about or the huge swings in skill rebalancing. I recommend it if you're a little burned out on PoE and like a slower combat model.

[Iormlund]

Chris sort of announced yesterday some fan project the top brass is working on in their own time: Hard Mode (or masochistic mode). Basically PoE but with drops drastically reduced, so you'd still be sporting blues by the time you get to Kitava (you won't).

Apparently it's the inspiration for the latest nerfs, and will be spun off and released as a separate mode/flag in the next league (so you can play any combination of standard/hardcore, trade/SSF and sane/masochist).

[Syt]

[FunkMonk]

I guess the idea is to make their own bad version of the game while everyone else plays the good version of the game?

[FunkMonk]

This and the player outcry over the 3.15 changes makes it seem like GGG don't really know how to fix their game or can't communicate their vision of it.

I'm a little worried POE 2 will be really bad at launch.

[Syt]

It seems that they're surprised that their game is now heavily balanced around fast clear speed. With huge hordes of enemies, screen filling battle effects, and unpredictable enemy modifiers (that you will have no time to check) the best strategy is to wipe the screen before they hit you. Even with high defenses in multiple layers the damage output of enemies becomes such that a slow play style will get you killed all the time. On top of that you have multiple league mechanics that are built around fast clear speed (Incursion, Breaches, Legion, Abyss, Ultimatum, Delirium ...) or have such enemy densities that you can die in seconds or fail if you don't kill the guys fast (Rituals, Expedition if you go for many mobs, Heist escapes, Blight ...). And we're not even talking about bosses with one shot kill abilities yet.

Considering this, I am baffled that their solution is to nerf player damage and speed.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, the game seems directionless atm, broken even.

[FunkMonk]

It seems that they're surprised that their game is now heavily balanced around fast clear speed. With huge hordes of enemies, screen filling battle effects, and unpredictable enemy modifiers (that you will have no time to check) the best strategy is to wipe the screen before they hit you. Even with high defenses in multiple layers the damage output of enemies becomes such that a slow play style will get you killed all the time. On top of that you have multiple league mechanics that are built around fast clear speed (Incursion, Breaches, Legion, Abyss, Ultimatum, Delirium ...) or have such enemy densities that you can die in seconds or fail if you don't kill the guys fast (Rituals, Expedition if you go for many mobs, Heist escapes, Blight ...). And we're not even talking about bosses with one shot kill abilities yet.

Considering this, I am baffled that their solution is to nerf player damage and speed.

Yeah I agree with all of this.

I like the idea of slowing the game down and making it more tactical, but the way they're going about it seems confused and rudderless. Nerfing the player without rebalancing the mobs and making bad skills actually useful was baffling to me in 3.15.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah, the game seems directionless atm, broken even.

Yeah. The game is definitely bloated and directionless right now. The league content cycle has made the game into a hodgepodge of different mechanics that don't fit with each other or haven't been meaningfully updated in ages. The game is not focused on intelligent combat or rewarding itemization, it's focused on content and getting players to buy MTX and supporter packs.

I would really like for GGG to just cool it on new leagues for a while and just fix their game but then they would go broke so what do I know.