Path of Exile

Not gonna give it the time of day unless they change drop rates. If they do, whether globally or just in a self-found league, I'll play the shit out of it. As it stands, this game has one deep, crippling flaw that they really need to address: the loot rewards don't come remotely close to matching the time and effort you put in. Well, that and the ever-present lag that they insist is working as intended.

Axeman this game just isn't built for total self found play and if you don't play total self found you should be swimming in loot with just a bit of effort. The closest you can get to self found is the races and new league which occur regularly but honestly it's not a crippling flaw. I have no answer for your lag add it doesn't affect me and the are plenty of high level character on hardcore where regular lag would be the end of them all long before they hit 80 plus.

Ah, the old non-argument again.

axeman_sl said:

Ah, the old non-argument again.

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Eh, I see both sides of this argument. Desync is real but there are many ways to mitigate it so much that its a non-issue for most people. I do hope they eventually unfuck their netcode because it's bullshit when you compare it to D3. That being said, PoE has held my attention 100x longer than D3 ever has.

If you're referring to the loot drops, Selix is right. A game has to strike a balance between what you find yourself and what you trade for. If they balance it to people who absolutely refuse to trade, then people who trade will wafflestomp the game so hard that they'll get bored and quit. If its too heavily balanced for uber-traders, then everyone will get pissed off who doesn't want to spend hours trading. I haven't had an issue with PoE's balance on this front -- I don't mind spending 10-20 percent of my time trading and the other time farming.

I've noticed that people often times point to D2 as how it shoudl be balanced, and I wonder if those people have conveniently forgotton how easy and boring end-game D2 was. For gods sake, bots ran Baal/Pindle for loot. Right now, PoE is setup to where the hard content isn't what I would call bottable and high-end mapping has a noticible element of risk. Any modifications to the drop rate would skew this difficulty, and it seems impossible to make the game playable for exclusively self-found players while also retaining an element of risk for someone willing to trade a bit.

In no way do you ever have to min/max your character to 100% effectiveness to enjoy it. That's all trading for loot does. It's not like you just flat-out can't play past a certain point with only self found loot. I think the loot system is great. Not everyone deserves to have every piece of their gear be best-in-slot.

A game has to strike a balance between what you find yourself and what you trade for.

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They don't really strike any meaningful balance, that's the problem. The game's loot reward system is basically a carbon copy of on-launch D3, i.e. you get nowhere near the correct amount of usable loot for the time you put in and you almost immediately get to the point where the only realistic way of progressing your character is trading. To make matters even worse, almost every worthwhile build ing PoE is gated behind build-enabling unique that are so rare that you're statistically almost guaranteed not to find them.

axeman_sl said:

Not gonna give it the time of day unless they change drop rates. If they do, whether globally or just in a self-found league, I'll play the shit out of it.

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+1

axeman_sl said:

They don't really strike any meaningful balance, that's the problem. The game's loot reward system is basically a carbon copy of on-launch D3, i.e. you get nowhere near the correct amount of usable loot for the time you put in and you almost immediately get to the point where the only realistic way of progressing your character is trading. To make matters even worse, almost every worthwhile build ing PoE is gated behind build-enabling unique that are so rare that you're statistically almost guaranteed not to find them.

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This shows you haven't played POE by any significant amount. Every time a new league starts everyone starts off with zero rares, uniques, or build specific gear and they still make VERY workable builds with what they find. Sure there are specific powered builds that work better with certain uniques but you are only mentally handicapping yourself if you start off believing that is how you have to play.

First try starting with a build where you avoid ALL damage nodes and beeline for all survival nodes till you reach Mid-late Cruel. Second try using Templar start or if you've beat Normal once at any time, anywhere then try a Spectral Throw scion with survival nodes then projectile damage nodes. You should easily be able to self-found a two-hander for your Scion with alchemy orbs or just finding something by luck. I know I've done it multiple times. Third early game uniques drop rate was increased so finding someone selling a Crest of Perandus shouldn't be all that hard for a few alchemy orbs which will carry you quite a long way.

There are dozens of more tips I could give but a lot of if was just learned by playing solo quite a bit and learning just how to play different builds.

Well i have only been playing since closed beta and finally had a good unique drop. got a Bringer of rain and put it on my infernal blow tank mara. I knew an item like that would make a world of a difference but I'm still blown away at how 1 single item can just open a build wide open like that.

axeman_sl said:

They don't really strike any meaningful balance, that's the problem. The game's loot reward system is basically a carbon copy of on-launch D3, i.e. you get nowhere near the correct amount of usable loot for the time you put in and you almost immediately get to the point where the only realistic way of progressing your character is trading. To make matters even worse, almost every worthwhile build ing PoE is gated behind build-enabling unique that are so rare that you're statistically almost guaranteed not to find them.

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I understand where you are coming from (as I've never been a big, or even small, trader myself), but I guess it all depend how you view progression and time spent. I can only speak anecdotally from my own experience, but I ended up with a level 82 ranger with a self-made build, though granted, not a very original or innovative one, when I stopped a while back.

I never traded for a single item and she felt effective and fast enough up to level 73 maps (I never got around to trying higher as I had started mucking about on other chars by then), I also didn't use any special uniques. If I had bothered doing even a remote amount of trading I could most certainly have progressed faster and more effective, but the speed was adequate for me and in the end I just gave away all the shit I had been gathering with my semi-compulsive packrat disorder.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with and the new leagues even if I'll probably end up just playing for a couple of months or less before taking a break again.

rush02112_sl said:

Well i have only been playing since closed beta and finally had a good unique drop. got a Bringer of rain and put it on my infernal blow tank mara. I knew an item like that would make a world of a difference but I'm still blown away at how 1 single item can just open a build wide open like that.

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BoR is christ like, Im planning on running a build that can use it for the new leagues. Anyone planning on going in when the ladders reset and expac drops on the 5th?

Krassus_sl said:

BoR is christ like, Im planning on running a build that can use it for the new leagues. Anyone planning on going in when the ladders reset and expac drops on the 5th?

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Yeah I do, can't wait actually.

Loot in this game, you either love it or you hate it until something awesome drops. Something gripping about having to get to level 55ish before you can use that one piece of equipment you were holding that completely changes or fleshes out your build, PoE is not for the casual gamer if you plan to play it very long.

Hatorade_sl said:

Yeah I do, can't wait actually.

Loot in this game, you either love it or you hate it until something awesome drops. Something gripping about having to get to level 55ish before you can use that one piece of equipment you were holding that completely changes or fleshes out your build, PoE is not for the casual gamer if you plan to play it very long.

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I'm super excited for the new leagues as well. A fresh HC economy is so fun; I saved two great reddit threads for anyone interested on what to stash for trading.

Please help a newbie establish a baseline for what is and isn't worth stashing. : pathofexile

It's Worth Keeping If... : pathofexile

For the first few weeks I plan to stash considerably more than what they're detailing above. Practically any items with +life + res (for HC) are sellable. Just throw a 1 alc or 1 chaos buyout on everything and keep your shop thread updated. If you find something that you THINK might be good, ask for guidance on reddit or a forum... plenty of people are willing to do price checks. Remember that in a new league, no one has much currency so if you get an uber item just sit on it because its sure to appreciate in value.

Krassus_sl said:

BoR is christ like, Im planning on running a build that can use it for the new leagues. Anyone planning on going in when the ladders reset and expac drops on the 5th?

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I was surprised at how many chroms it took me to get 4 red on it. I guess because it has more evasion on it than armor it favors green over red. I gave up trying to get B-B-B-R on it for zombie summons...lol

Forum - Announcements - Less than two weeks to go for Sacrifice of the Vaal! - Path of Exile

Hype !

I mean cool but weren't the new leagues supposed to start this weekend? By dates, it was supposed to be Sunday. I'm kinda bummed now.

lindz_sl said:

I mean cool but weren't the new leagues supposed to start this weekend? By dates, it was supposed to be Sunday. I'm kinda bummed now.

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Its been March 5th for the last few weeks.

The league idea is cool, but it really sucks for weekends like this one. There's no point in me bothering to play until the new league starts.