Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

[Arkeus]

So there is no Ruthless? Huh that sucks. Is there going to be a re-balancing of this or it being added again?

 

[Zdzisiu]

As far as I know, there will not be a 4 difficulty setting. GGG decided that with 3 Acts 4 difficulties would be simply to much repetition of the same contens. So they rebalanced it that after finishing the 3 difficulties you are around the same level that you would be after finishing 4 difficulties with 2 Acts.

 

[Gregz]

Maps guys, maps are the end-game, and they are fun.

 

[dibens]

And especially considering that, God willing, the game will be a success and more acts will be on the way.

I'm somehow baffled though, that their novelty shop is still quite limited in goodies. I'd totally buy an armor dye or ability to switch appearances between them. The marauder is just not the same without his kickass nazi biker helmet.

EDIT:

oh, nevermind

At Open Beta, we will have a range of different microtransactions for sale, including many of the following:
Public stash tabs (viewable to other players for trade purposes)
Cosmetic pets
Alternate skill effects
Special animations (for example, taunts or PvP victory animations)
Special paid leagues (with custom game rules)
Guild storage
Alternate item skins and visual effects
Special cosmetic item properties such as “extra gore”
Item dyes

 

[Revenant]

People complaining about clumsy combat should really give a dual wielding shadow a try. Currently I have dual strike mapped to my LMB, fire trap to MMB and whirling blades to RMB, and the combat is an absolute blast - I swiftly finish off single enemies with dual strike, throw an AoE trap to large grouops of enemies and use whirling blades to maneuver the battlefield while dealing damage. And all this at the lowly level 8!

 

[Castanova]

Those of you with experience with maps -- is it worth doing a map you find without modifying it? Or should you always Chisel the maps as high as possible and transmute it or whatever?

 

[empi]

Chisseling low level maps isn't worth it, chisels are rare, similairly you aren't going to be alching/chaosing low level maps. But yeah, you should pretty much always get them magic with a couple of decent mods. Basically with maps after a while you'll want to be doing higher and higher maps. In OB they go from 66-75 i think. When you're in a map, the item level is the level of the map, so you can get map drops of any level up to that map from any mob. To move up the "map ladder", the only way to get drops of a higher ilevel than your current area (same throughout the game) is from blues/rares/bosses.

 

[Castanova]

What are the zone levels for Act 3 Merciless? Do you need to farm, like, only the last couple zones of the game to maximize your map drop chances?

 

[DakaSha]

Playing HC on a unstable server-side game, which will kill you off if you lose connection, or if there's a power outage...or...whatever...just seems a bit loony to me.

Games like Nethack sure, but this one?

nub

 

[Gregz]

:hardcore:

 

[DakaSha]

:hardcore:

For the record: PoE actually isnt that hardcore in hardcore. Your character doesnt die. It just gets demoted to normal poop league

 

[Gregz]

Yes, I tried it once...a hardcore ladder race...I was doing quite well...I managed to stay alive up until lvl...55? Dying was so infuriating that I vowed never to put myself through that again, ever, in any game.

It was that traumatic.

I cannot into hardcore C&C.

 

[DakaSha]

If I played this in casual, I'd get so bored that I'd most likely be in this thread calling people fags for playing it

 

[dibens]

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Huh. Bros, am I deaf, or does this actually not play during the Vaal bossfight?



I could swear there wasn't any music at all on that map.

 

[DakaSha]

Yes too bad what is generally a staple of the games that these arpgs are modeled after is called 'hardcore'.
If default league was called 'casual' and Hardcore league was called 'default' your witty gif would be meaningless.

There is a reason that roguelikes have permadeath and it isnt about being 'hardcore' or whatever other term the decline has come up with to make its gamers feel better about themseleves

 

[made]

More like Path of the Casual amirite guys? :D

 

[Revenant]

Yes too bad what is generally a staple of the games that these arpgs are modeled after is called 'hardcore'.
If default league was called 'casual' and Hardcore league was called 'default' your witty gif would be meaningless.

There is a reason that roguelikes have permadeath and it isnt about being 'hardcore' or whatever other term the decline has come up with to make its gamers feel better about themseleves

Couldn't second this more.

Why WOULDN'T anyone play such a game hardcore? Roguelikes (and graphical action roguelikes) aren't about story, you shouldn't want to beat them just to see the ending. Instead, roguelikes are all about randomization and skill, and if you died in a roguelike, then you FAILED and should start anew. Nethack would be way, way too easy if you could just respawn after dying. The whole purpose to play roguelikes is to start over many times so that one day you could HOPE to beat the game, you ignorant plebs.

 

[Castanova]

Meh, Hardcore is overrated in a game like this. I'm a pretty weak Crawl: Stone Soup player and even I can bang my head against the wall enough times to win ~2% of my games. What's impressive are people who have, like, 33%+ win rates. But in a roguelike there's no co-op. Most top PoE HC players, in terms of consistency, are people who group with like-minded friends and exploit, exploit, exploit which, honestly, isn't particularly impressive.

 

[Revenant]

Roguelikes are all about exploitation.

 

[Castanova]

Roguelikes are all about exploitation.

To some extent, sure. But it's harder to exploit in the early game which is also the typically most dangerous part of a roguelike. Anyway, my point was more about how easy PoE is with a group versus solo.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Right now I'm only doing HC because it has a different feel to it. I guess I'm treating it as a rouguelike, and it's enjoyable that way. Frustrating, but enjoyable. I stay a few levels ahead, sometimes I grind, I plan my skill tree out with survivability first in mind, etc. Just seems there's a little more thought(elitist) put into it, and I like that. I also do solo characters and group characters. Of course the group is easier, but playing solo is a completely different and entertaining/nerve-wracking experience by itself. No-one to cover for you, nobody to soak up hits. They are both fun for different reasons. Group play still requires coordination, because mobs can be quite tough. Sure, some groups cheese it, but I've played in others that were definitely challenged because of playstyle, classes involved, or randomly tough mobs. I'll start up some "regular" characters eventually once I'm done getting my HC thrills out of the way, and want to tinker with oddball builds, but I think a game like PoE deserves to be played on HC for the first run through, completely different experience.

 

[dibens]

There's definitely merit in both styles of play. Me, I just want to crush skulls and make a godly ubermench. The fact that I'm half baked when I play games doesn't help my hardcore ventures. That is not to say that I won't make a HC char. I already have couple of builds in mind for creating an undying marauder.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Yeah, that's cool. I was going to go that route because my concentration can wander and sometimes I'm a few beers in when I settle down for game time, but my bro started HC and sorta dragged me in. I've also died a few times, whereas he's a bit more pro, haha. Oh well, still good fun.

 

[Stabwound]

Judging by other people's experiences, the game gets pretty janky in hardcore in merciless. I just saw a level 72 marauder dude get 2-shot by Brutus. I get random FPS/lag spikes that would easily kill me in a split-second life or death scenario like that. I'm not sure how viable HC endgame is going to be unless you're playing in a specialized group. Solo seems virtually out of the question. Then again, the skill tree is complex enough that there are probably high-survival builds that might work better there.

Also, having a slow hard drive/computer makes for slow loading times, which can actually end up killing you when you enter a new instance. The game is pay to win.