Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[frunk]

Nowadays I don't typically get far enough into mapping to make that tree interesting.  Still waiting on PoE 2, although I'll probably stop in occasionally to help a friend who has started playing.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, this is fully lodged on the shelf until v. 2.0 shows up.

[frunk]

Sentinel League is announced.

Looks like an easy league to skip, as almost all the changes are endgame apart from the League mechanic.  Hopefully that means they are gearing up for PoE 2.

[Syt]

Saw an article about the league today. But yeah - since my ADHD diagnosis and getting treatment, I've not had much urge to return to this (it was an absolute go to for maintaining focus on audio books etc.).

[Iormlund]

League itself is quite fun, and from the look of it crafting can lead to insane results (I saw some absurd gloves with 3 Temple elemental suffixes).

Absolute star for me though is the ability to block and choose mechanics in Maps. I went Blight and Metamorph and get one of those every 3 or so maps. I seem to have Essences every map. Being able to focus on what I enjoy the most is making me want to play for far longer than usual (I would've normally stopped playing already).

On the negative side, the implementation of Arch Nemesis replacing rare/magic monster modifiers is a dumpster fire. Degen, on-death effects, volatiles and lightning mirages everywhere. Immune to ailments, leech and even reflect monsters abound. They've hotfixed some stuff, but the community at large is pretty pissed.

I'm playing with two mates. One is an RF inquis, another Arma Brand Ignite Chieftain.
I wanted something FAST, so I went with a Berserker. Initally molten Strike, but after the first 250 deaths (no, seriously) I decided melee was not viable and went with Spectral Helix, which plays like ye old Hammerdin from Diablo.
I still die a lot, mostly if not exclusively to degens (fuck Corrupted Blood).

[crazy canuck]

It's been long enough since I last played this game that I only understood about a third of that

[FunkMonk]

It's been long enough since I last played this game that I only understood about a third of that

 

I've skipped the league but might pick it back up in the next one. Honestly mainly waiting for POE 2.

[Syt]

I've been playing a fair bit the last week or so. The Nemesis aspect is fine, but not really that groundbreaking, but I only got into early maps so far and leveling a second character.

Not sure how I feel about removing prophecies. It wasn't my favorite mechanic, but I thought it had some good rewards here and there. I like the reworked Atlas so far and esp. how you can much more tailor the experience to your liking. Don't like Heist? Remove it from your maps. Want more Essences? We got you. Etc. Also like that you can have Lily in your hideout now to buy skill gems. I did have to check where to turn in my cards, though, now that Navali is gone (it's also Lily ).

I had a look at some of the new cosmetic sets. It's cool that they add "functional" gear - i.e. a cloak that changes depending on number of kills, map devices where portals change depending on map tier, how high your resistances are etc. It's silly, but I kinda like it. But I also think POE doesn't need stuff that makes the screens BUSIER.

I've played an Arc witch with Golems till maps. I found a Tabula early, so having my full skill was awesome, but I also became incredibly squishy and had no good alternate gear, so I re-rolled. Unfortunately, Wrecker is not really updating his guides anymore, except for links to POE Planner. He had an interesting Cyclone/Blade Vortex build that I got to Act 5 or so, but it felt quite clunky, and looking at his league character he's deviated quite a lot from the build he initially posted (and hasn't updated).

I've landed on another classic now, Flame Totem Scion. With two holy flames plus one wave of conviction totem, plus chaining brand adding sniper's mark and wall of flame enemies melt quite fast while you can focus on avoiding damage. But the screen gets incredibly busy.

I've noticed it's a bit harder to find up to date builds these days, esp. for SSF. poebuilds.cc isn't as good as it used to be, and POE Vault and others often have builds that say they're updated for 3.18, but then you find their skill tree hasn't been updated since 3.13 or something, and a lot of the build mechanics have changed. And I'm too lazy to work my way through YouTube vidoes. I guess one of these days I may actually have to learn to plan builds myself.

[Iormlund]

I've hit a brick wall at red maps. Shit's super-rippy even without engaging Sentinels.

Other than that the build is super-fun. A bit like a Diablo Hammerdin on crack, and comes online with a fairly low budget.

[Syt]

I've got my Totem-Scion to Yellow maps and keep dying a lot. Mostly because I'm still on 4-link for my main skill, I keep forgetting to use flasks properly, and struggling to play well. Gear is mostly ok, but could always be better. Then again: SSF.

I found a Quill Rain so started a Toxic Rain archer ("Toxic_KyloRain" ), but the build stalled in mid-70s and white maps. I might give exploding arrow a try which seems to be one of the gouts de jour. Overall I feel there's a lot more quick deaths than before, and mitigation is getting more complicated (though my Scion is now at 76/77/77 resistances and will hit 78/78/78).

The Sentinel stuff is fun, especially trying to figure out if you can risk it with your map modifiers and, e.g. Delirium. Getting some close calls, and occasionally takes some time to kill the 50+ mobs that have been empowered, but when it works and showers you in tons of currency it's pretty good for the dopamine.

Customizing Atlas is good, but my builds currently don't have great clear speed, so it still feels like a bit of a slog. My gauge for good clear speed is usually the Incursion encounters. If I can clear them easily, it's good. If I struggle to get an architect killed AND open a door with a Stone of Passage, then it needs work.

[Syt]

It's mostly crazy to look back a few years when I first started playing in earnest (around the tail end of Incursion) and see how much it's changed, like replacing the Old Masters missions (which were pretty bad), adding new mechanics, dropping old ones, changing the tree, changing/adding skills, adding/changing end game ... (still eternally grateful you do NOT have to get all 6 trials any more to do the final labyrinth ). Still, I'm at 2200 hours, and still struggle with some basics. Or crafting (though it's also better with third party sites like Craft of Exile, and things like Harvest crafting or Fossils).

And I'm glad they seem wiling now to make bigger changes/shake ups with the leagues (maybe in prep for POE2?), because in recent years there were some stale periods ... (though tbh I had to look up Scourge league - the one before this - again, because I had completely forgotten its mechanic Though I guess Ultimatum was worse, coming right after Ritual: Ritual had you kill tons of enemies in a tiny circle, whereas Ultimatum had you kill tons of enemies in a tiny circle ... ).

[Syt]

Has anything changed wrt linking chance? I was trying out a unique armor and set it to five links, then used fusing orbs like five or six times to get a five-link. Five minutes later decided to go back to my previous (better) armor which was six-sockets, five-link.

"Let's throw some fusing orbs on it!" 

Click. Click. Click => 6-link. WTF

[FunkMonk]

That just means you've used up all your luck for next league

[frunk]

I've gotten a 5 link after ~5 fusings a couple of times, but never a 6L without spending hundreds.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah 5-links are not too hard to do yourself.

I've never actually manually linked a 6-link before. I usually just buy one off trade or use a random corrupted 6-link I've found on the floor.