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Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
1,742
with the new pvp changes, skills be adjusted independent of the pve content, the irony is pvp could be a lot more 'balanced'. I'm really looking forward to the possibility of a moderately well-designed pvp dimension to the game. It can be a lot of fun, but the sheer amount of power they need to adjust could be difficult to effectively design around.
 

Padre

Liturgist
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
399
Location
Szczecin, Poland
Some skills may really shine in pvp. Puncture comes to mind. EK totem is another.

I wonder if pvp is the reason they've nerfed block so much. Looking at the new skill tree there are some really nice elemental nodes near Templar area. Tried to count how many levels do I need as Scion to get the +90% inc duration nodes and it's only 20 levels. SRS will be much better earlier than on my witch where I would have to struggle for 40 levels. Merveil will still kick my ass though. That fight is a nightmate for all summoners.
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
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depending on the league different issues will likely become apparent, or have previously, regeneration is more or less mandatory if you cannot sufficiently capture another character who has enough regeneration to run and heal. By league, to be clearer I mean level bracket.

bear traps, such as multiple (4+ different bear traps) skills, can be rather overwhelming, etc


I'm a little surprised they are redesigning the Templar area, my last few characters have increasingly shifted to self-contained designs just to see how effective the Templar area was. Overall the main reason to potentially change the Templar area is probably a result of the Shadow's latest design which is fairly incredible for dps. I'll have to reevaluate just what areas to transition to, if specifically any, once the tree is complete and officially released. And also whether I am going with staff again (and thus Cast on Melee) or shield and sword style, as a personal and thematic preference, in light of the new lightning skill they made mention of.
 

Zdzisiu

Arcane
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
3,499
I will probably roll a Flameblast fire prolif templar on Loot Goblin league.
 

Padre

Liturgist
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Jul 17, 2009
Messages
399
Location
Szczecin, Poland
I'm kinda still torn between a classic summoner, SRS summoner, pure SRS or a completely different build e.g. FreezePulse Shadow, 2H Mara etc.

Flameblast will be my skill of choice for levelling. Saw a guy use it during a race, while quite mana hungry it is very efficient, especially with ele prolif.
 

made

Arcane
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
5,130
Location
Germany
I'll respec my chars on Std first and try some new builds, like the LL Ele Wander I've been collecting gear for. Maybe roll on the leagues later to check out the new skills.

Pretty disappointed in all the nerfs to master crafting ever since their introduction. Guess it was too good to be true after all.
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
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about to start and whilst not strictly committing to any build during the early levels generally intend to take a staff Templar with an emphasis on the new '5% elemental status' nodes and as such the Celestial notable. Since there are so many increased critical staff-specific nodes that seems like a sound direction and will also complement the aforesaid elemental status nodes as well.
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
I'll be probably starting a new char in one of the new leagues today. Any tips from those who have played the new patch during weekend?

All praise RNGesus. Found 2 exalt orbs, got a 5 link armour only using 2 fusings

That's huge! How do you get exalts? Lots of iir or just big party around you? I have almost 90lvl char and played to 70lvl in the one week league and so far I have seen one exalt drop, and that was to some random guy in my party. I play mostly alone because I just can't stand those CoC and discharge builds every other player seems to have.
 

KazikluBey

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
785
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
That's huge! How do you get exalts? Lots of iir or just big party around you? I have almost 90lvl char and played to 70lvl in the one week league and so far I have seen one exalt drop, and that was to some random guy in my party. I play mostly alone because I just can't stand those CoC and discharge builds every other player seems to have.
"How to get exalts": Be lucky. Currency doesn't have rarity, so IIR doesn't help. IIQ does help simply by giving you more drops, of which one could of course be an exalt, at it's usual drop rate. Oh, and while partying there's more and rarer loot overall, there are less drops per player.

As for which league to play, it's really just a matter of whether you prefer hardcore or softcore. The Torment stuff adds an attempt at a "how to make a treasure goblin type mechanic fun" mechanic, with ghosts that you can try to steer into monsters which will become stronger and drop more and rarer loot, especially if you manage to get the spirit to possess a boss. The Bloodlines mostly just make the game harder, primarily in merciless and especially once you get mapping, by giving every blue pack a special power. While playing melee in hardcore is never advisable, some of these bloodlines make this even more the case since you really don't want to be in melee range of them.
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
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I've decided to limit most of my characters skills to the Templar and Templar-Sion regions, with some overlap along the Templar-Marauder border. It is difficult to eveluate how effective the build is because of the sheer utility of some of the new nodes (Celestial comes to mind) as with Static Strike which is rather effective. As a point of interest the static charge counts as separate attacks for each creature so this can produce a fairly powerful Cast on Melee surge with multiple Arcs being cast. Not really the most practical but quite fun.
 

Aothan

Magister
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Mar 16, 2008
Messages
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my Templar was sent from the Bloodlines league at 71, as to what happened, well I could not really say, it was spontaneous. Although I suspect my computer was spiking beforehand.

also have a Ranger at around level 50, but I'm inclined to 'remake' my Templar, with the key difference being linking Static Strike to Cast on Melee with Firestorm, which is rather amazing.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,352
Location
Crait
I lost my witch yesterday too, same reason. My game suddenly froze and when I reconnected, she was in standard:rage:

I then restarted with a Duelist, who got killed wearing all of my low level IRR twink gear by gravel eaters in The Coast during another spike.

This morning I restarted with a ranger since I found Shiversting. I have 3 uniques in hardcore now: Shiversting, Fairgraves' Hat and a Tabula Rasa. So far doing well, overlevelling for Merveil, but I'm a little worried about advancing much further in HC with a 2 handed melee weapon. Still its kind of fun to Cleave and Throw for a change.

We should do a collective Codex Let's Play Hardcore PoE next season.
 
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Icewater

Artisanal Shitposting™
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Joined
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Freedomland
Project: Eternity Wasteland 2
Just lost my 85 Marauder. I hate hardcore but this game is just so aggressively boring without the threat of [psuedo-]permadeath. Uninstalled for now, might come back once Act 4 is out but if it's as full of annoying enemies as Act 3 was then it won't keep me for long.
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
1,742
Ranger's can survive unusually well with their heightened evasion ratings and above average life pools, many seem to disregard Evasion as an efficient defensive mode but I find it just as good if not better than other types, particularly in the opening stages (act 1 - act 2). Overall I _slightly_ biased towards Evasion and Armour hybrids but these designs usually require extensive skill point investments compared to other more linear playstyles.

of course, Evasion + Life+ Mind over Matter is rather remarkable, however if you are branching into the Duelist's tree then as said Armour and Evasion can be considered a viable design possibility.

ironically, as I am now levelling my latest Templar it dawned on me they could use Archery and their advanced specialisation with weapon elemental qualities to good effect.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Crait
My only complaint with the ranger is that, especially for hardcore, there isn't much deviation from the "best" path through the passive tree, especially within the ranger's own sectors. Ranger has really useful generic defense passives and really useless niche offense passives. Is there any ranger build that isn't better off taking Ondar's Guile and Acrobatics? At least there is some choice as to whether to poach Scion, Duelist or Shadow first.

why this game has no spears:killit:
 

Aothan

Magister
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Mar 16, 2008
Messages
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I would propose Armour and Evasion -_-

though that has been a quirk of mine for sometime, not that anyone ever cares to put it to the test, but as a combinatorial defence, especially one consisting of the key advantages of evasion (evasion does not 'cap' at 50%+ but that is one of the defining points since that range will introduce a double roll, chance to avoid, on successive hits or something along those lines) in conjunction with good armour values being derived from the same hybrid nodes (the 12% for both defence types). It is not as straightforward as standard styles but the combination produces its own advantages in synergy (and not just by way of both types working as they might independently).

of course there is the Iron Reflexes notable, but I have mixed feelings on that, since it seems to only be there for the benefit of 'everyone' who eschews evasion as a viable melee defensive style. In any case there is also Mind Over Matter which as an approximately close selection for Rangers to incorporate heightens their evasion style defence, and in my opinion, is especially good in conjunction with the Armour - Evasion combination. Since I believe the conversion goes through the damage reduced by mana firstly and is then modified by armour. This with the Ranger's advanced flask healing abilities makes for a sufficiently robust character, and one that is adroitly styled on the Ranger's concept of finesse.

otherwise, yes, Acrobatics is very powerful indeed, and then there is Acrobatics and Mind Over Matter etc If a character is not incorporating Armour then they would in all likelihood be selecting Acrobatics. However, although not popular, for points and cost the Scion area allows for an Evasion-Energy Shield and life styled character, although they might be even less common than Armour-Evasion styles. I actually know someone who, much like my quirks with Armour-Evasion for Rangers, always endeavoured to create their Shadow around Evasion-Energy Shield, have not seem them for sometime, and from what I could tell they have some reservations over the possible viability of this style. But Evasion, is very useful when properly designed around, it is just that the game tends towards favouring simple efficiency as a mode for surviving the vagaries and increasing difficulties of the hardcore leagues (when spontaneous freezes occur, for instance).


edit: to amend previous statements, Mind over Matter modifies damage after all other forms of reduction, and so I need to see how close my level 50 Ranger is to said notable.
 
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Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,352
Location
Crait
Played around a bit on PoE builder, and its possible for Ranger going armor + evasion to snatch all the best base nodes of Shadow, Scion, Duelist, Marauder AND Templar all at once, while also picking up Acrobatics, Spirit Reaver, Ondar's Guile, AND MoM. The distance from Ranger to Duelist seems much shorter than it should be.

I think Evasion + Armor suits dual wielding and Acrobatics with pure evasion suits bow or 2H. Although if going dual wielding I think Scion is a little more efficient for it.

Can't wait for my next death...
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
1,742
I typically prefer two-handed for my Armour & Evasion styled characters, which is how points along the Ranger - Duelist skill pathways have been rearranged presently. My Ranger has -60% Chaos resistance -_- And my Templar currently has 75% Chaos resistances. I really need to see to the Ranger's vulnerability before a Bond of Chaos group simultaneously spontaneously leaps in their direction.

I found Belly of the Beast (probably the best unique I've ever come across) that partly prompted my interest in making a Ranger and besides the increased health I've never been saved so many times through the simple act of indiscriminately 'spamming' health flasks (with instant recovery and the 50% or so increased recovery from aforesaid armour). But it is not exactly good practice and I really need to think about overall survivability at this time, just about all defence values are below average, except armour somehow, and that is a bit of enigma I need to better understand as well.
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
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well I might be mistaken but thought the effect increased the total healing of instant recovery flasks as well
 

made

Arcane
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
5,130
Location
Germany
Well according to the wiki

Increased Amount to Recover causes the flask to recover an increased amount at the same rate. The duration is thus increased.
Increased Recovery Speed causes the flask to recover the same total amount at a faster rate. The duration is thus shortened.
Increased Recovery Rate effective combines the above and causes the flask to recover at a faster rate for the same duration. The total amount recovered is thus increased.

But then it says

Seething flasks are instant and ignore the recovery rate

so IDK
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
1,742
it might be read to be mean (albeit vaguely) that the "total amount is thus increased" whilst "seething flasks are instant and (yet) ignore the recovery rate", i.e. increased amount independent of the recovery rate.

I'm only saying as such because my 'spamming' ability would appear to have been improved, I likewise selected Herbalism early in the game and would dearly like to incorporate 'Profane Alchemy' for the same reasons but remain inhibited for my usual rp reasons. Basically the same reason I never use Infernal Blow even though it is practically the skill of choice for my usual character (Templar) design.
 

made

Arcane
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
5,130
Location
Germany
Well it's easy enough to test, but I cba to log in atm. Pretty bored of the game.
 

Aothan

Magister
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
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haha I was just thinking this can be easily tested for, I will check next time I'm playing

I'm actually more enthused than usual with a game I've played for two years now, since Cast on Melee is showing definite potential (Firestorm and Arc) and my new Ranger is actually quite competent as my awkward characters go.
 

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