Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

for some reason I have terrible lag today. I guess PoE will have to sit on the back burner for a while.

 

Been playing this since yesterday, 's all right, though I haven't gotten into the social aspect at all. I still have no idea how much shit is worth.

And the game eats up memory bad

 

just had another try at the Descent Champions race event, it was quite fun and I really like the combination of the staff which increases area of effect skills and the belt with elemental damage and flask recovery, alas I ran into a Brutus-like encounter with the Berserk attribute. I knew practically from the start I had to swap to range but erred a few times because my one blue gem slot was already set aside for Clarity.

 

Just got some free time to play PoE again, invite to the codex guild would be nice, Geofffard ingame

 

So guise, any reason I should be wary of aiming for Resolute Technique and Unwavering Stance on a strength and nothing-else Machete Rape Gangmember Marauder? That and is pure Strength gonna bite later? Played the game barely two days, but damn if it ain't a hook.

 

Pure strength is the way to go. Mana is used only for auras. For abilities, all you need is some mana leech gear and possibly a blood magic gem depending on your set up. Get a shitload of vitality nodes, some armor but not too much unless you plan on using a shield and maxing block. Damage resistance is good for groups of small hitting fores but it is pretty much useless for hard hitting ones because the resistance scales down with the damage. I don't know the correct formula but a 50% damage reduction can get as low as 10% if the damage is high enough. The only way to prevent that is to either become immune to physical hits with immortal call or invest in a shield, like i said. But then, if you are not going to focus heavily on armor you'll want to build around endurance charges (which provide flat damage resistance which does not scale with anything, so they are good in and of themselves), which also means you'll want to invest in maces/hammers and stun, since you are not going to spam Enduring Cry during a boss fight (unless you have a Cast When Damage Taken gem). For instance, at level 80, i can only survive Dominus's second stage by keeping immortal call up the whole fight, but the only way i can gain enough endurance charges to do that is to rely on stun, and he can only be stunned if you do enough damage to him, which means heavy strike. And speaking of stun, it is a great defensive ability in itself, and saved my ass more times then i can count.

 

At anyrate, i got bored with my Marauder, so i leveled a Witch:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-...t2CTbGtte3fPi9-OE5CLrY-vk7BjvfPId8uH1S_rS_Ks=

Didn't commit on any specific elemental damage but currently relying on fire skills only because i have this chest piece:

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Infernal_Mantle

So far so good, and it seems i'm having an easier time with this Witch than i did with my Marauder (but then again, now i know the game better). Will take her to Dominus than i'll try a Templar instead.

 

I've recently started my third Templar, this one foremost a caster with the intent to see how viable specialisation in fireball as a primary skill might be. Additionally I want to finally incorporate Arctic Armour into the defensive aspects of my character development, since my other two Templars both focused on more defence than would usually be the case with my character yet could not effectively utilise Arctic Armour with its intensive mana requirements.

 

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/pc-game-of-the-year-2013-winner/1100-6416467/

 

What the actual fuck, did I understand that right? GameSpot actually chose PoE as their PC game of the year over Bioshock Infinite, DotA 2, Gone Home and other shit?

That's pretty damn unbelievable. Major incline of GameSpot!

 

Is PoE really = to Bioshock: Infinite, though?

 

I'm sorry - I don't understand your question, Ninjerk.

What I was trying to convey was that I was extremely surprised that a mainstream gaming site would choose a relatively complex, hardcore indie game as their GotY instead of the usual overhyped mainstream shit.

 

Must be a glitch in the Matrix.

 

Yes, they named PoE GotY, but Bioshock: Infinite has the exact same rating. Having not played either I ask, "Is the quality of Path of Exile (for what it is) equivalent to the quality of Bioshock: Infinite?"

2nd TRY: I posted this earlier and it double posted, so when I deleted the second one it double deleted. Weird.

 

That's actually a pretty interesting question - i.e. to look at it from a "for what it is" standpoint. I've always looked at it as an apples and oranges thing, though, and ultimately subjective. I'm not a fan of linear cinematic shooters, personally, so B:I is pretty much automatically shit in my book. I think it's fair to say that PoE is one of the best point-and-click action RPGs ever made - I'm not sure how well B:I holds up to other linear cinematic shooters, however.

 

Gamespot has inclined a lot in my opinion, for being a mainstream site. Not the shitty game sites that everybody claims it is.

 

No, PoE is actually a good game.

 

Fire damage seems like a natural choice with the unique armour linked, although ice damage is usually much safer, whereas in all cases combining any elemental or spell effects with lightning damage is the surest way to augment overall damage. In my estimation a combination of ice and lightning would make for an 'optimal' caster but there is no shortage of viable designs for advancing into early level maps at least. As I've recently said I'm making a fireball specialised caster just to familiarise myself with the functionality (rather than the mechanics per se) of projectile spells, even though I'm well aware I could focus on Elemental Equilibrium, with Arc and I guess Arctic Breath and Static Shocks (and Firestorm etc) to easily bolster spells.

anyway, what I wanted to ask is whether you are focusing on energy shield and evasion since I noticed you branched into the Shadow's natural skill areas. It is an interesting combination but not one that is commonly used. I believe there is another unique armour which has energy shield and evasion, but I don't recall the other properties.

 

I opted for chaos inoculation and i'm using grace (which i'm running on top of discipline and clarity). The way evasion works, i can always be certain to avoid a certain amount of attacks which is usually good enough to pull out of a bad spot. I use skeletons plus spell totem as my main defense so the evasion is an extra precaution, particularly since i don't have the stun immunity amulet yet.

 

The developers of PoE justified all of their game design decions under a single maxim, "Would I want to play this game?" They didn't necessarily care about what the "casual" gamer wants (though, I think they have taken that more into account as development has progressed, they were staunchly against health bars for the longest time and their loot mechanics have changed a lot since CB), they certainly don't care about trying to produce some "artistic" or "progressive" game (though they certainly have cared about mood, lighting, and art - but I don't think any of this comes from a higher concept than, "Diablo 2 was grim"), and they have no interest in making something that's P2W.

I am genuinely suprised that DotA2 didn't get it. I mean, DotA2 is much more polished than Path of Exile. PoE still has sync and balance issues that really plague the game, it will be at least a year or more until they are better sorted out. It could be the case that they didn't play that much PoE and aren't aware of these issues, or maybe they wanted PoE to win to just send a message. I'd say the developers deserve this award for all the work they've done - making such a complex online game with such a small team, a limited budget; the project started out of a garage and many of the core devs weren't paid for several years.

I think it deserves an award just for how it handled its potion mechanics. I mean, the current flask mechanic can be further improved and enhanced, but the basic idea is great. And it's sort of fundamental, I mean, I'm sure Blizzard contemplated at one point removing potion spam from D3, and in some alternate universe I could see them doing it because , hey, it's an "old" "out-dated" and "frustrating" mechanic - it's a good excuse to casualize the game even further. But the PoE devs just found a graceful solution - it's this kind of design that's missing from a lot of games, which instead on improving features just scrap or dumb them down.

 

Just DL'd this. Any opinions on the Shadow, Duelist or Templar classes? Tried the Duelist during the beta, but wasn't too interesting. Shadow I know nothing about. I'm assuming Templar is a melee/magic hybrid, which is what I'm leaning towards.

 

Templar is the melee/magic hybrid, yes. At least initially. You could make any class something completely different to how it starts if you so choose, anyway.

 

I'm thinking in playing the game again, last time I played was on beta a long time ago. What is the best class for a newbie?

 

Marauder is pretty straightforward. Just pump life and 2-handed damage, and go with ground slam or something (requires mace) as an AoE skill with heavy strike or double strike as single target damage. There are some other options.

 

The pure classes are best for new players: Marauder / Ranger / Witch. Of course, if you play a vanilla class with a vanilla build you'll definitely miss out on the fun of just exploring the game's systems. If you really like this style of game, you will make more than one character and get them to 80, so just experiment and see what works for you; even as your first character. People who stick to cookie cutter / FOTM builds really miss out on the challenge of figuring it all out on your own. Since stashes are shared, you lose nothing by just trying any ol' thing and just starting over if it doens't end up working.

I havne't played 'cause I don't have the time, but when I last played in August, Marauder was the best newbie class. Probably still is.