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Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

Lone Wolf

Arcane
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Most of the big ticket streamers have moved to SSF HC, which is a bit too rich for my blood, but I understand needing a different kind of thrill after you've spent 20,000+ hrs in the game.
 
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SSF is a side effect of realizing that you probably spend more time sitting in your crackden trading than you do actually playing the game.
HC is a side effect of nostalgia and attempting to go back to the early years where literally nobody played softcore, only to realize that people made the jump to softcore over time for a very valid reason.
 

ArchAngel

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The first wall you hit is build complexity - and the fact you can have basically non-functional builds by the time you reach maps.

You battle to overcome that one, maybe use some guides, and then you find yourself in front of the taller wall: taking a character from 'okay' to 'powerful' is often a question of currency that most players can't answer. That ED/C build gets you to maps on basically nothing, but the ceiling is painful as hell to whack your head against for tens of hours.

Finally, you somehow scrounge together enough bread to complete a build and encounter the tallest wall of all: build min-maxing, where every tiny upgrade (sometimes as low as 0.5%) is numerous Exalts of investment.

At the end of it all, you have a character that can beat all content.

To do it differently, however, you need to be playing a different game. For some, POE is an investment/economics simulator, where they sit in their hideout crafting items to sell or scouring the trade sites for flip opportunities. Lots of money to be made, but you're no longer playing the same game. For a lot of those people, currency stacking is the beginning, middle and end of their POE experience. Path of Math, for example, is a guy who makes currency strategy/high end crafting videos. All he does with his time is evaluate how much money he's squeezing out of every map/league mechanic. He buys a build that can clear that shit as quickly as possible, then shows other people how the top 0.1% of the player base (if that) generate thousands upon thousands of Exalts.
This is a good description. I usually get bored around the finish the build part. Sometimes I manage to finish and then get to lvl 93 or 94 while trying to min max a bit or I lose interest around lvl 85+ where I need to start buying shit to complete the build and be able to reach red maps.

And every league it gets harder and harder to play further than lvl 85+ because they add more and more pointless shit into the endgame to keep the addicts playing more. The Atlas patch few leagues ago was the biggest example of this shit and now they added more pointless crap on top of it.

For me I am switching to D2 Remastered and D4 as soon as they they come out and I will try PoE 2 to see if they revert some of the mess PoE 1 is atm.
 

Jaedar

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Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Nah, HC is a side-effect of wanting to actually give a shit about what happens in fights before you reach level 85
Yeah. Sadly HC is kinda shit after you get to maps, because there's way too many one shot mechanics you can't see coming, and every league adds more.

You can still do it if course, but you need a build that steamrolls normal content and has very reliable defenses.
 

Tacgnol

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Grab the Codex by the pussy RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Nah, HC is a side-effect of wanting to actually give a shit about what happens in fights before you reach level 85
Yeah. Sadly HC is kinda shit after you get to maps, because there's way too many one shot mechanics you can't see coming, and every league adds more.

You can still do it if course, but you need a build that steamrolls normal content and has very reliable defenses.

The game also has way too many technical issues for HC to be reliable. Losing a character to a bullshit one shot effect is one thing, losing it to server/game issues is another.
 

Jaedar

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Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Nah, HC is a side-effect of wanting to actually give a shit about what happens in fights before you reach level 85
Yeah. Sadly HC is kinda shit after you get to maps, because there's way too many one shot mechanics you can't see coming, and every league adds more.

You can still do it if course, but you need a build that steamrolls normal content and has very reliable defenses.

The game also has way too many technical issues for HC to be reliable. Losing a character to a bullshit one shot effect is one thing, losing it to server/game issues is another.
I can see that, but I have never had that issue. I recognize the risk is there though.
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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Nah, HC is a side-effect of wanting to actually give a shit about what happens in fights before you reach level 85
Yeah. Sadly HC is kinda shit after you get to maps, because there's way too many one shot mechanics you can't see coming, and every league adds more.

You can still do it if course, but you need a build that steamrolls normal content and has very reliable defenses.

The game also has way too many technical issues for HC to be reliable. Losing a character to a bullshit one shot effect is one thing, losing it to server/game issues is another.

Might be a problem for some, but I've played 3/4 of the leagues since Essence, and I've legit never had a character die to a bug, DC or similar
 

Lone Wolf

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Sometimes I manage to finish and then get to lvl 93 or 94 while trying to min max a bit or I lose interest around lvl 85+ where I need to start buying shit to complete the build and be able to reach red maps.

Same. This time I did try to min-max a couple of builds, and they're definitely powerful, but you know POE... Things are going fine with your 11k EHP character, then bam, you're dead from one hit.
 

Absinthe

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Guardian is also often good for "gimmick" summoning builds, like the spider summoner that uses that unique dagger.

Otherwise, you generally go Necromancer for undead and Elementalist for golems, though there are exceptions to both.
The most gimmicky summoner/necro build is probably the Champion Duelist aurabot necro. It does work though. Hard to knock +30% increased aura effect and enemies that take +20% increased damage and cannot evade (you can even add Impale bonus damage with free Dread Banner), but then you're probably burning a 6L on Victario's Influence.
 
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Jaedar

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Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Nerfing talismans? Is this some sort of delayed april fools joke?

The new reap/blood tentacle skills look pretty cool. League itself seems meh.

Planning for full ascendency for SSF is a great fix though. I didn't play a lot last league, so might run a character this one.
 

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