Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

[Lyric Suite]

Nah i figured it out to travel down you have to click on a node, not the mineshaft. It won't go on the node right away but it will change level. Talk about confusing.

Made a few trips here and there not sure about the part exploring the darkness on my own. Is there clues of where i can go or is it really just walk in the dark randomly and hope to find something?

Right now i'm parked at a level with monsters around 70. Tried to go deeper but got creamed by a huge group while chasing the cart so i had to backtrack a bit. I'm wondering if i'm actually mean to ignore all the upper levels.

In fact, it's kinda wierd this thing starts as low as it does. Are you really expected to make dives while doing the campaign?

 

[ItsChon]

I actually ended up figuring out how the Syndicate works for the most part and I actually enjoy it. Heists are too boring for me to be arsed with, though it's one of the easier systems to figure out. Still don't know what most of the other shit does, though I'm sure if I forced myself to interact with them I'd gradually figure them out, especially with some video aid.

 

[Jason Liang]

Have the devs said anything about stash tabs in POE 2? If we have stash tabs now, will they carry over?

I don't mind buying a couple of tabs for my PS5 account but not if they wont be useful by next year.

Btw other than a premium tab to sell stuff on the Trade Market, which of the other tabs are the most useful/ best value? Looking at Currency, Maps, Essences, Uniques and Divination. Although with Currency, isn't the point to convert everything into Cs, Exs and Divs anyway? Essence used to be a pain but they seem less frequent now?

 

[Peachcurl]

Have the devs said anything about stash tabs in POE 2? If we have stash tabs now, will they carry over?

I don't mind buying a couple of tabs for my PS5 account but not if they wont be useful by next year.

Btw other than a premium tab to sell stuff on the Trade Market, which of the other tabs are the most useful/ best value? Looking at Currency, Maps, Essences, Uniques and Divination. Although with Currency, isn't the point to convert everything into Cs, Exs and Divs anyway? Essence used to be a pain but they seem less frequent now?

They can't null the stash tabs because that'd fuck with their main audience. I think they repeatedly stated that all stash tabs (and also cosmetics) carry over.

HOWEVER

I wouldn't be surprised if they try to make some additional profit, just like they did with earlier league mechanics. I.e., introducing some new type of mechanic / currency that drives sales for some equally novel type of special stash tab.

PS: I'd say maps and currency are the most useful special stash tabs. Some other may depend on your preferences for certain mechanics.

 

[Jaedar]

Made a few trips here and there not sure about the part exploring the darkness on my own. Is there clues of where i can go or is it really just walk in the dark randomly and hope to find something?

Afaik, for the explodable walls with treasure behind them there are no rules, they can just spawn wherever there is room.

For secret passages to "hidden" nodes, there are some rules like "no node can have more than 4 connections", "nodes cannot have exactly 2 connections" that can help a bit.

Btw other than a premium tab to sell stuff on the Trade Market, which of the other tabs are the most useful/ best value?

Currency and maps are the best value. Unique tab is nice if playing SSF. I also have a div card tab because I find that this is the only reasonable alternative to ignoring 99% of div sets that drop (at least in ssf, they just pile up).

 

[Lyric Suite]

So i noticed sometimes when you get awarded with missions, either from any of the mechanics (Alva, Niko etc) or Kirac, it just adds a number that stays there if you defer from doing them. Does it mean that's better to wait to them when higher maps? Likewise for Kirac, does his roster of maps you can chose from get better over time, and you can use previously awarded missions you deferred from doing for better maps?

 

[Peachcurl]

So i noticed sometimes when you get awarded with missions, either from any of the mechanics (Alva, Niko etc) or Kirac, it just adds a number that stays there if you defer from doing them. Does it mean that's better to wait to them when higher maps? Likewise for Kirac, does his roster of maps you can chose from get better over time, and you can use previously awarded missions you deferred from doing for better maps?

Only up to a point. The color of the number tells you what type of map color they are limited to. So you can't wait it out and use a "white mission" on a "red map". But you could wait for higher levels of the same color

 

[Lyric Suite]

Jebus, T6+ map need to be rare to award an atlas point.

I have a feeling i won't complete this toon before the end of the league. Not that it matters since it's ssf but still.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, i finally had my full temple run, and i liked it enough that i think i'm just going to go with this:

https://poeplanner.com/atlas-tree/B...jP-Qz9cCyaIfUoNYUAB-LCAAAAAAAAAMDAAAAAAAAAAAA

I basically already committed to the lower part so there's no turning back now. I grabbed Niko as well since i also found delve interesting, even if my last incursion was a mess.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, let's see if i got them all. The mechanics that actually change the gameplay in levels are Labyrinth, Incursion, Delve, Syndicate and Heist right? Everything else is just stuff that happens in the map itself, like the Grove or Metamorph etc right?

Now that i'm getting used to them and i'm not as overwhelmed in having to learn so much at what is usually an inconvenient time (since they are all foisted on you against your will) i'm actually starting to like that they are there. At least it adds variety. Granted i'm on ruthless where all the mechanics have been gutted. Maybe on normal they truly are as obnoxious as everybody says. I know there's some that have not been just reduced but outright disabled on ruthless.

Ho btw, they had a tab sale yesterday and had to cave in and buy a bunch of them. I already had 12 special tabs which i bought when the game just came out but i had to grab a few of the special ones as well. The tetris management on some of the stuff you get, like maps for instance was getting too obnoxious. Ironically on ruthless the currency tab is actually kinda of useless but i got it anyway.

 

[Nim]

BTW, let's see if i got them all. The mechanics that actually change the gameplay in levels are Labyrinth, Incursion, Delve, Syndicate and Heist right? Everything else is just stuff that happens in the map itself, like the Grove or Metamorph etc right?

Metamorph has Tane's Lab, Expedition has Logbooks. Blighted maps are also kinda their own thing.

 

[Jason Liang]

So I started doing Heists yesterday and I just found a 6L ES body armor. Couldn't believe it. Unfortunately it's a pretty low level item type Mage's Vestements. Still is it worth doing a little light crafting on it, like a few alts and a regal?

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lmao, i gotta share this my build is getting a little crazy:

https://pobb.in/5qcTtMyd2TUo

Sadly, on ruthless i doubht i'll ever manage to 6l that chest piece (six sockets drop frequently and they vendor for 7 jeweler orbs, which is like almost 2 fusings, but not frequent enough to really make it worth it), but with that scepter i just got i don't think it matters anymore.

I'm still short of capping my resistances but that's only because i want to try to keep those unique rings and amulets as long as i can. Also because of the items i have i had to split defences between armor and evasion which is bad but i can fix it if a good rare drops with the resistance combination i need. That or if i get lucky and get my hands on purity of elements.

Leveling is SLOOOOOW now. T6-7 maps get me around 3-5% of my xp bar and i still have trouble sustaining them so sometimes i have to drop back to T5 maps. One of the reason i decided to focus on Alva is that the last time i unlocked the temple i got a fuck ton of XP. I think what i'm going to do before anything else is shoot for that node that doubles the time bonus for killing mooks during incursions. That should give me the time to unlock everything so that when i open the temple i can have the run of the whole thing and just mow everything down for massive XP gain.

Target level at this point is 90, while gameplay wise i'd like to get to T16 maps and try whatever else is there by that point (uber bosses or whatever). I don't think it's likely i'll ever make it to 100 on ruthless/ssf, 90 seems to be a common stopping point from a lot of people i've seen in the chat.

 

[Jason Liang]

... you could really use a Blessing for your Eye. Sadge.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Is that with those divination thingies? I haven't seen a single one, not sure if they are available in ruthless.

Guess i could put some ointment.

 

[Jaedar]

One of the reason i decided to focus on Alva is that the last time i unlocked the temple i got a fuck ton of XP

The level of the temple is the highest level you did an alva event on for that temple. So if you do one T9 map then the temple is equivalent to T9.
I think syndicate safehouses work the same way.

while gameplay wise i'd like to get to T16 maps

Good luck if you can't sustain low tier yellows.

 

[Jason Liang]

Is that with those divination thingies? I haven't seen a single one, not sure if they are available in ruthless.

Guess i could put some ointment.

It is a drop from the Breach boss Chayula. Idk if Breaches are disabled in Ruthless.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Wow, today was terrible.

Zero map drops besides low tier crap, no Kirac missions, no Alva, no Niko. Had to abandon a T6 map because the modifier made it imposible and i died twice losing dozens of maps worth of xp.

If this keeps like this i might actually brick this character. Running out of high tier maps. Yesterday i had four uniques drop i wonder if the game is throttling the rng down to compensate or some shit lmao.

 

[Jaedar]

If this keeps like this i might actually brick this character.

Map progression and atlas tree are per league.

Had to abandon a T6 map because the modifier made it imposible

Reflect? No regen?

 

[Jason Liang]

I've been grinding my Heists for the past few days. Was able to get an Ivory Tower for 1c and luckily 6S'd it for < 10 jeweler orbs, and got a Prism Guardian for 40c so now only missing Presence of Chayula, a Watcher's Eye and a good helm to finish the build. Found out that they buffed Araku Tiki, and I've had one since like Act 2. It now gives permanent Phasing on low life so it's basically perfect for Heists until I can get the Watcher's Eye and the Presence.

What do you guys usually do for Crucible? I did my first one at 100% and it spawned a Snow Forger boss that could one shot me through 5K ES :/

 

[Lyric Suite]

If this keeps like this i might actually brick this character.

Map progression and atlas tree are per league.

Had to abandon a T6 map because the modifier made it imposible

Reflect? No regen?

No regen. Went in assuming mana pots would at least work but nope.

 

[abija]

Just get out of Ruthless. Most end game systems atm are tuned for a steady map flow. SSF is enough to not trivialize the game.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be a bottom limit. Just had a T1 map drop in a T7 mission. So the higher you go, the harder it is for high level maps to drop because the rng has to compete with maps ranging all the way back to the first tier.

 

[Jason Liang]

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be a bottom limit. Just had a T1 map drop in a T7 mission. So the higher you go, the harder it is for high level maps to drop because the rng has to compete with maps ranging all the way back to the first tier.

Quantity is also useful since you can sell 3 of the same map for a map 1 higher tier. You also need to work towards defeating the big Atlas bosses to get their Voidstones. Finally the game tracks a "map equity" value that will give you higher chance of generating higher tier maps.
There is a youtube video that details strategies for sustaining maps on Ruthless. It does seem pretty difficult overall and honestly you probably need a better optimized build to get much further. If you do want to continue character progression, Delve is probably a better mechanic.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I actually got around 10000 sulphite or some shit lmao. I've been post-poning delve and to stretch it out i've blown most of my azurite on the sulphite storage thiny. Once i get around doing it i'll probably do it a whole lot of it in one swoop.

Got around a dozen T6-T7 maps left. If i run out, i may actually end up abandoning this playthrough and wait for the next league. Ruthless was perfect for me up to this point but grinding isn't fun for me long term and even less if the grinding involves backtracking to content i've already grinded to death.