Path of Exile - upcoming F2P Daiablo clone

[Syt]

Heist is pretty good for currency, though.

[frunk]

Apparently GGG redid the item quantity drop rates without mentioning it in the patch notes and now the trade economy is dumpstered. The community is in open revolt 

The problem has always been the power of MF is impossible to balance when there is trading.  I've increasingly come to the opinion that item drop quantity/quality should be removed from everything except for modifiers tied to the difficulty of the content.  PoE gets along on the fun of the content, but the fact that people can spend most of the league (particularly the early part) doing arbitrage means drop rates take on an outsize importance.

Of course I exclusively play SSF so it really doesn't matter to me.

[FunkMonk]

I haven't played much in the last couple of leagues so some of this is new to me. It helps explain why the community is in full French Revolution mode.

ZiggyD's Why the Path of Exile Community is Very Upset: https://youtu.be/Q5KwOcsvG8E

[Syt]

New patch today:

3.19.0c Patch Notes

This patch contains changes to the life provided to monsters through Archnemesis modifiers and the number of modifiers that can be found on them. We have also made improvements to rewards in Lake of Kalandra, and Harvest Lifeforce and general item drops, alongside fixing a few bugs. Other changes mentioned in yesterday's news post are still in progress.

Archnemesis and Rare Monster Changes

Lowered the incremental life bonus that Rare and Magic monsters receive from having additional Archnemesis modifiers, and increased the base life bonus that Rare and Magic monsters receive.

The overall result of this change is that rare and magic monsters with one Archnemesis modifier have unchanged life on average. Rare monsters with two or three modifiers have 15% less life on average, and Rare monsters with four modifiers have unchanged life on average.

Monsters can no longer be found with three Archnemesis modifiers during the campaign, and the likelihood of encountering a monster with two modifiers during the campaign has been reduced.

Monsters can no longer be found with the Empowering Minions modifier during the campaign.

Reduced the amount of extra life that Essences provide to monsters. Overall, a monster with a single Screaming/Shrieking Essence now has ~30% less life than before.

Reduced the amount of life that Red Beasts have by ~12%.

For Essence monsters and Red Beasts in Maps with two or three Archnemesis modifiers, the above changes are in addition to the 15% less life on average change.

Betrayal Research encounters no longer spawn packs of Rare monsters, though Scientists in the encounter are still found as Rare monsters.

Betrayal Intervention and Transportation encounters no longer spawn rare monsters during the encounter.

Lake of Kalandra Changes

Increased the likelihood of being able to make multiple choices at a Mirrored Tablet in early yellow Maps.

It is now possible to make three choices at a Mirrored Tablet in red Maps.

Massively increased the chest rewards from non-league encounters throughout the Lake, particularly at higher map levels and difficulties.

Other Changes

Increased the Lifeforce yield in Harvest encounters in lower Map tiers.

Increased the likelihood of finding higher-level armour base types. This is quite impactful, resulting in around 25% more high armour base types dropping.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where first acquiring Voltaxic Sulphite in the Lake of Kalandra could cause you to be unable to access the Mine Encampment. Characters who encountered this issue before this patch should be able to access the Mine Encampment after acquiring more Voltaxic Sulphite.


Fixed a bug where the Mirrored Tablet could spawn in doorways.

Fixed a client crash related to Map item hovers.



We're also almost finished working on scaling rewards in the Lake of Kalandra for certain encounters, showing when areas are completed on the tablet and adjustments to Map boss item drops. These changes will hopefully be coming in another patch this week.

Despite the changes we discussed yesterday, we still don't feel that things are in the right place regarding many of the issues raised by the community. We will do a full review of these topics tomorrow and will let you know of any further changes we plan to make.

[Iormlund]

Of course I exclusively play SSF so it really doesn't matter to me.

It does matter, because SSF is not balanced independently. Drop rates, monster and player power are the same as in Trade and dependent on the 99 percentile.

SSF is for GGG a higher difficulty setting, not an alternative way to play.

[frunk]

Of course I exclusively play SSF so it really doesn't matter to me.

It does matter, because SSF is not balanced independently. Drop rates, monster and player power are the same as in Trade and dependent on the 99 percentile.

SSF is for GGG a higher difficulty setting, not an alternative way to play.

Except in trade league players gain tremendously from top tier farmers driving down the cost of items by flooding the market.  Now the farmers can't exploit the League magic monster drop bonus so the prices change.  That has no effect on me.  I never get to the level where I would be exploiting the league content in maps like the farmers do, so once again it has little effect on me.  So sure, my drop rate changes a bit, but to be honest I haven't noticed that much difference.  I've noticed fewer duplicate uniques, but a greater variety, which is only a plus.

[Iormlund]

They put a lot of items on the market. But that merely makes them available because they also generate a crapload of currency, which drives prices up.

I remember Heist, with the endless Bestiary-duplicate contracts. These guys were printing currency. Inflation ran rampant.

[Syt]

I'm on level 82 with my exploding arrow ballista build. Maps have been slow. Not because clear speed sucks.

I'm in white maps (almost done with tier 2 and half way through 3), and map drops haven't exactly been generous. I've run out of Tier 1 maps. Can't recall last time that happened. Useful gear also drops only sparsely for me, not to mention crafting currency. Even stuff like Blight is very "meh" - "Here's one clear oil, and a few armor/weapon drops that you can't use."

[frunk]

I dunno, I haven't experienced that problem.  My level 80 Elementalist cleared all but 6 white maps plus 3 uniques before I switched to my new character.  I still have 30+ maps in storage.  I did leverage Kirac missions and buy a few from him as well.

As for other drops uniques have been great for me, a ton of uniques I've never gotten before and only one duplicate so far.  Rares might be slightly less plentiful, it's tough to judge, but overall the quality of them is way up.  I've gotten tons of currency, including 2 Exalts.

Other people are reporting similar things to you Syt, but I haven't seen it.  I can't tell if I'm some weird anomaly, I have different expectations or my playstyle suits the new meta.

[Iormlund]

I almost ran out of tier 1 maps, though drops seem to have improved after that first couple days.
Not by much though. I'm up to tier 6 now, and have a grand total of 22 maps in my inventory. I'm afraid getting to red maps will be quite the feat.

Got really lucky with an Offering of the Goddess dropping out of a Delve chest though, so I finally got my key Ascendancy node (bypassing all those stacking resistances on rare monsters).

[frunk]

I've got 48 before I sell 12 to uptier them.

[Syt]

They're deploying a nerf to the archnemesis defense mods. Which I'm in favor of - last league I was melting mobs and bosses, but ran into multiple rares that I could either not damage at all, or took a minute or two to kill. I've run into similar in early maps so far, too.

Maybe random rares in normal maps shouldn't be multiple times harder/tougher than some of the later bosses?

We're in the process of deploying the 3.19.0f update which introduces reductions to defensive Archnemesis modifiers, and also includes a few improvements to the Kalandra League. Check out the full patch notes below:

Archnemesis Modifier Changes
Toxic: Now has +25% to Chaos Resistance against Damage over Time (previously 40%).
Chaosweaver: No longer has +10% to maximum Chaos Resistance, or Immune to Wither. Instead, it now has 60% reduced Wither Duration on Self.
Flameweaver: No longer has +10% to maximum Fire Resistance, and now has 50% reduced effect of Scorch (previously 80%).
Frostweaver: No longer has +10% to maximum Cold Resistance, and now has 50% reduced effect of Cold Ailments (previously 80%).
Stormweaver: No longer has +10% to maximum Lightning Resistance, and now has 50% reduced effect of Lightning Ailments (previously 80%).
Assassin: Now has 50% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes (previously 70%).
Deadeye: No longer has 60% less Damage taken if you have not been Hit Recently, or 200% increased Evasion Rating if you have been Hit Recently.
Incendiary: No longer has +50% to Fire Resistance, or 60% less Duration of Ignites on Self. Instead, it now has +30% to Fire Resistance against Damage over Time.
Sentinel: No longer has +10% to maximum Chance to Block Attack Damage, or +10% to maximum Chance to Block Spell Damage.
Juggernaut: No longer has +2 to Maximum Endurance Charges.
Steel-infused: Now has 30% additional Physical Damage Reduction (previously 50%).
Overcharged: No longer has +1 to Maximum Frenzy, Power and Endurance Charges.
Consecrator: No longer has take 30% reduced Elemental Damage while on Consecrated Ground.
Flame Strider: Now has 50% reduced effect of Scorch (previously 80%).
Frost Strider: Now has 50% reduced effect of Cold Ailments (previously 80%).
Storm Strider: Now has 50% reduced effect of Lightning Ailments (previously 80%).
Ice Prison: Now has 20% additional Physical Damage Reduction (previously 25%).
Storm Herald: Now has +40% to Lightning Resistance (previously 60%).
Splinterer: Now has 30% chance to Avoid Projectiles (previously 50%).
Crystal-skinned: Now has +40% to all Elemental Resistances (previously 50%). The crystal explosions now deal damage of equal parts Fire, Cold and Lightning damage, instead of just Cold, though the damage of the skill is unchanged.
Entangler: Now has +25% to Chaos Resistance (previously 30%).
Vampiric: No longer has Enemies Cannot Leech Mana from you.
Lunaris-touched, Solaris-touched, Arakaali-touched, Brine King-touched, Tukohama-touched, Abberath-touched and Shakari-touched no longer grant large individual bonuses to a specific damage type. They instead all now grant +30% to all Elemental Resistances, +20% to Chaos Resistance and 10% additional Physical Damage Reduction. Innocence-touched and Kitava-touched grant +40% to all Elemental Resistances, +25% to Chaos Resistance and 15% additional Physical Damage Reduction.

Lake of Kalandra Changes
The chance for Rewards from Metamorphs to be doubled in Metamorph Reflections has been increased at all difficulties.
Metamorphs in Reflection of Metamorph now have 3 additional rewards.
Halved the amount of increased life provided to Metamorphs in Reflection of Catalysis. Metamorphs from this Reflection now have 8 additional rewards, though Catalysts dropped by Metamorphs are no longer Duplicated.
Metamorphs in Reflection of Experimentation now have 8 additional rewards, and Catalysts dropped by Metamorphs are now Duplicated.
Legion Encounters found in Legion Reflections now have 100% increased Duration.
Reduced the damage of Effigy of Virulent Undeath's Rain of Arrows Skill.
Reduced the damage of Effigy of Wintry Undeath's Spectral Shield Throw Skill.

Fixes and Improvements
The A Trip Down Memory Lane Challenge no longer requires you to complete Atlas Memories that do not exist, and the number of completed Atlas Memories required has been reduced to four. Using the /recheck_achievements command will complete this challenge if you have already completed four or five Atlas Memories.
Fixed a bug where you were unable to move when entering the Karui Shores for the first time with one of the Arachnomorph Pet microtransactions equipped.
Fixed a client crash with the Arachnomorph Pet microtransactions.
Fixed an instance crash in The Tower of Ordeals.


Please let us know about your experiences following this patch. Thanks for your continuous feedback, we appreciate it and will continue monitoring it.

[Syt]

Rerolled as Lightning Conduit based on Zizaran's build. On the one hand side Orb of Storm/Storm Brand plus Lightning Conduit blasts through enemies at ridiculous speed.

However, with all mana reserved and Eldritch Battery, defenses are fairly minimal (mostly evasion, a bit of armor). So it's very much a glass cannon. Struggling to survive on tier 3 maps as level 76.

Still, not enjoying things as much as I did last league. I feel rare archnemesis mobs are better now, but not a fan of all those "on death" effects they added to them.

[FunkMonk]

I've gone back to Diablo 3 

Playing the new season. It's just good fun, plays well, and the itemization is solid. And it is much easier to get into.

I might come back to POE once it gets act together or when POE 2 rolls around.

[Syt]

I had one month or so some years back where I played D3 quite obsessively as Monk, but in the end I felt like I had eaten nothing but nutrition free candy for weeks. I assume it's improved since then.

I tried Grim Dawn again recently, and I just can't get into it. It's fine that it's slower and more methodical in play than current POE where you zoom around the map blowing shit up and then die suddenly, barely realizing what killed you. But for some reason it just doesn't click. I tried different builds (melee, ranged, magic), but it's always leaving me very   I don't hate it; it's just leaving me very indifferent.

Every time I try to pay attention to the lore and story I grow bored with it quickly and just click past it (i.e. the typical ARPG experience ). I've filed this now under "not for me" for good. I know tons of people enjoy it, but I'm just not one of them.