Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[frunk]

I've been having fun with my established characters (arc witch primarily), including a dual wield duelist build that was waiting for a respec.  56% block chance is pretty awesome.

Eventually I'll probably drop into unique hopping in the new league.  Playing a character until I get a unique they don't need/can't use, then switch to one that can.  The new standard league, Warbands, isn't grabbing me at the moment though.  There's no way I'm doing hardcore when I have a 1 1/2 year old running around.

[crazy canuck]

It's really fun to build your own character without relying on a build you find online and to see how far it gets before the game finally becomes too difficult. I'm hoping this guy can make it into merciless without too much of a hassle.

Yeah, that was a big part of the game for me when I was playing it.

[frunk]

I've got a Chaos/Bladefall Shadow character in the Talisman league that I'm really enjoying right now.  He's level 84 currently, which is 3 beyond my previous best.  I want to reach 90 both to say I've gotten there and to fill out a few more passives on the tree.  The grind really does get to you though.

Right now I can comfortably do Tier 6/7 maps or Tier 8 if the mods are easy.  Each map takes about 10-15 minutes.  At this rate I'm estimating about ten maps per level, but due to the exp scaling each level will require more maps even if you increase one for one on the Tiers.  It doesn't help that I've haven't gotten many higher Tier maps to drop.  Each death costs 10% of a level, so even one death on a map effectively wipes out any exp gain, and more than one sets you back.  Fortunately death is pretty rare now (Enfeeble is a great defensive Aura curse), but it does occasionally happen.

[frunk]

Burnt out at level 87.  The killer was when I was at 20%, gained 10%, died, gained 10%, died, died, died. Getting zeroed out after accumulating a sizable portion of a level is brutal.  I'm getting hardly any higher level maps, lower level maps put me to sleep (and cause me to do stupid things and die anyway).

The other killer was using the +20% quality recipe on my Bladefall and Poison gems.  I had fun for a bit primarily using other skills (in particular Essence Drain and Contagion).  Now the gems are at level 16, and I need a lot more exp. to advance them higher.  Until then everything is a bit tougher than it should be.

The final issue is being a bit unlucky.  I have very good Rare gear, but I need some key uniques to drop or get crafted.

[crazy canuck]

I love everything about the game except the crafting system.  It is the thing that keeps me putting the game aside.

[FunkMonk]

New expansion out today with new challenge league. 

https://www.pathofexile.com/ascendancy

Patch notes:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1596094

[frunk]

So far the Ascendancy bit isn't that great.  The puzzles aren't that difficult, but then I haven't gotten to the meatier ones yet.  My opinion could change.  The Perandus challenge league is ok, although the fights are just blurs of gold and very difficult to tell what is going on.  Rather disappointing considering the strides they've done on making combat easier to track.

[FunkMonk]

Ok this is hilarious 
https://youtu.be/xYiYHj1ktHw

[frunk]

Ok this is hilarious 
https://youtu.be/xYiYHj1ktHw

Awesome!

Can't say I like the Ascendancy Labyrinth that much.  Not that challenging except for the boss fight.  Unless you stumble over a trap you didn't see, or get killed by lag, or you disconnect.  Really would it be so bad to start over part way if you fail for some reason?

Edit:  I should add that the rewards for completing the labyrinth are nice.  Ascendancy classes are a good addition, and enchantments are neat although random.  The process of getting them is frustrating and annoying though.

[crazy canuck]

This game is beginning to feel like it was to play Rolemaster back in the day - every so often a new rule set would be released.  Perhaps the best modern analogy is the EU DLCs. 

[frunk]

"Let's make a labyrinth!"

"Let's make it a very traditional-RPG-inspired labyrinth... Gigantic, with multiple interconnecting zones and branching paths... About the size of an entire act! Let's fill these zones with all kinds of interesting areas to explore, and puzzles, and traps, and lore pieces, and hidden things to find like treasure chests, or keys to later chests, and even drops that can assist you at later parts of the labyrinth or even the boss fights. Let's even go ahead and allow players to go back zones in the labyrinth if they want so they can fully experience all the labyrinth has to offer. Essentially, we should do as much as possible to encourage players to explore at their leisure. This is how casual players like to play. Of course we should also have a reward for completion of this labyrinth... How about a one time only per difficulty reward, which is essentially an important form of progression for individual characters, basically making it mandatory? Great, let's put it in mid to late act III as a way for players to prepare for act IV."

"Let's also add completely optional rewards that can optionally be grinded endlessly, like as an endgame option. To keep it challenging to get these rewards, let's make it so that if you die, logout or portal out of the labyrinth you will have to start all over again. And of course, let's make the boss challenging as well. Let's tune him so that he should be fought after completing act IV on Normal and Cruel and should be difficult even for high-level mapping characters in Merciless. This risk/reward setup will encourage players to move through the labyrinth as quickly as possible, skipping everything in order maximize their rewards, as well as discourage them from wasting their time exploring, which would only hurt them in the event of failure or random DC or bug. That's how hardcore players like to play."

"Now let's forget entirely that these are two contradicting ideas that shouldn't be combined."

[frunk]

The Legacy League started a couple of weeks ago, and it is pretty fun.  It lets you add in stones from previous leagues to an instance, and let's you play with up to 3 of them at a time.  They also added a self found option, which is play solo (no trading, no partnering).  All told a nice retrospective of the many leagues they've had these past 4 years.

I still don't like the Labyrinth, but they've significantly improved performance so that disconnects and lags are less common.  It makes the all or nothing nature of the Labyrinth not as painful.  Still dumb, still necessary for late game progression, not as annoying.

What is exciting is the next planned expansion for this summer.  Adding 6 new acts and blowing up the normal/cruel/merciless difficulties sounds like a great development.

[frunk]

Fall of Oriath is impressive.  I'm midway into Act 7 (roughly equivalent to Cruel Act 2 in types of maps, Cruel Act 4 in difficulty).  The new story line for Acts 5-10 is nice and refreshing.  Welcome revamp on a lot of the mechanisms, and the early Labyrinths are shortened up for reduced pain.  There's even a tutorial system which I haven't looked at.

If you didn't like the repetitive nature of the difficulty levels and/or were burnt out and wanted to try it again after significant changes this is a good time.

[Iormlund]

I decided to give this one a go. So far I'm having fun, though I have no idea of what I'm doing (especially regarding talents).

[Berkut]

Yeah, I started playing as well. Have a level 11 Hunter. It's fun, but seems kind of brainless.

Also, I made a Hunter because I like ranged combat. But then I made a Marauder to try out the melee system. But....given the size of the screen, and the reach of melee weapons, I can't tell the difference between melee and ranged, really. Which seems odd. But whatever.