Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

[Kane]

I didn't recently start playing, I have been part of this piece of crap game since early beta.

 

[Zdzisiu]

are you lucky lily m8? Raw and Chef hathaway started playing not long ago, might be them.

Yeah, Lily is my character.

 

[Aothan]

did something fundamentally change or has a strange phenomena completely revised the trading value of Geofri's Crest ? Upwards of seven or more Chaos Orbs. I used to make that one of my uniques of choice for my 'hybrid' armour Templars and even usually had the option of trading for a four-linked helm at usually 1 - 3 Chaos orbs, but now, something has changed, and everyone seems to think it should be at least twice as expensive..

 

[Zdzisiu]

did something fundamentally change or has a strange phenomena completely revised the trading value of Geofri's Crest ? Upwards of seven or more Chaos Orbs. I used to make that one of my uniques of choice for my 'hybrid' armour Templars and even usually had the option of trading for a four-linked helm at usually 1 - 3 Chaos orbs, but now, something has changed, and everyone seems to think it should be at least twice as expensive..

There are some on Rampage going for 4-5c on poe xyz. But on beyond they dont go lower than 14c apparently.

 

[Aothan]

I'm playing in Beyond and yes the overwhelming increase in pricing is perplexing, mostly because I have used this helm in most other hardcore leagues. Probably not the last one because of my Asenath's Mark and Ondar's Clasp or Lochtronial Caress (sp) combination for 30% increased speed for melee and spells.

does anyone know if the Shock effect status has been capped at 50% compared to the ability to stack for what was 120% previously ? I hope I'm misreading that change because using Arc combined with Elemental Proliferation has been my primary method of increasing melee skills but 70% less total damage might require significant adjustment.

also now in the Witch tree and moving towards the right side for the Energy Shield and Recovery Speed nodes followed by the Mana and Life notable.

 

[Matalarata]

I had an account a couple of yrs ago, that was before the last act was introduced...

Could someone give me a short recap of what has changed in the last two yrs? Broad strokes obviously I'm skimming trough the thread but... itz teh hard.
I used to play as a witch, heavy on zombies. Used to be a very good character, except for some bosses obviously. I also always wanted to try a shadow...
If there are enough codexers playing I would gladly dig my old account up (or make a new one). Do you guys manage to meet in game and play?
Someone has some weird class suggestion for an almost newb?
I know absolutely no one in game atm so this is the best place to start

edit: The account is still alive, but I have 112 unspent skill points apparently... Level 56

 

[Saark]

Not really perplexing perse, since Geofris Crest is one of the most used helmets for selfcast Arc builds, which has seen significant buffs in the patch. Not to mention that a couple of the top10 ladder players are actually playing and streaming with selfcast arc builds, thus promoting the build even further.

 

[subotaiy]

Just started a ranger in Beyond, Sweet_Peaches. How do i get in touch with the guild?
Also, I'm indecided between crit or non crit for my bow build. Crit seems to require a lot of nodes and there's the reflect issue.

 

[Orma]

Go crit, you don't have to worry about reflect as long as you have ondar's guile. I will send you a guild invite.

 

[Icewater]

Send me one too. IGN: TheBurnedMan

 

[Don Peste]

I'm only level 7, but... When does the challenge start?

 

[subotaiy]

Act 3 is harder. You should breeze through all Normal (a few hours) and most of cruel pretty fast though and act 3 merciless is where most hit a wall.

 

[Aothan]

different players as with different characters will experience difficulty in varying ways, I have not actually checked the Beyond ladder but there is usually an indication of where players are often encountering challenge across level ranges.

Saark: to the extent the unique has not changed and is, as intended, generally useful for any skill combination that derives benefit from increased skill levels then it is the disproportionate fluctuation in value because of a recently popularised build that would be perplexing. Which also speaks to the undervalued quality of the helm beforehand and my reason for often preferring to acquire one for my armour and energy shield focused Templar. Unless we take into account the supervening effect of large numbers of players demonstrating build of the week propensities. When understood as such that is not really explicable by way of reference to the items or mechanics alone, the deciding factors are at least partly extraneous, but that much is nonetheless typical of game economies.

 

[Saark]

It is typically a behaviour that affects hardcore leagues more than non-hardcore though, since a lot of the people try to make the "hardcore" experience as forgiving and easy as possible. That's why more people cling to the "flavour of the month" builds, use logout or potion makros and are afraid to challenge the harder contents of the game (Abaxoth, Atziri come to mind). As far as items and their sudden increase in value goes, I remember when Kripparian (a popular streamer on twitch) started playing discharge with Searing Touch and the price for that staff rose steadily in the upcoming days/weeks.

I'm not saying the sole reason for the sudden rise in value is the popularity of a single build, but I cannot imagine a single other endgame build that only needs a 4link. Everyone and their mother used an Arc build in the 1 month league, whereas before it was played only by a couple of people until FoxTactics (another popular streamer) brought some attention to it. While there could be a whole bunch of other reasons as to why the items price rose that sharply, only two really come to mind in an economic setting. Either the demand rose but the supply stayed the same (more people playing builds having it as a core item), or the demand stayed the same but the supply declined (for example by reducing the drop rate). GGG usually document droprate changes, so I'm bound to blame it on the build-theory.

I'm totally with you on the helmet being undervalued beforehand though. Looking at the amount of sources for a flat +1 skillgem bonus, there really only are a few and none of them are that attractive in a hardcore league. Using a vaal orb for a chance to get +1 level of gems is rather random, and you will lose more value than you will get by simply buying geofris. The other option would be to get an item with the "Paragon" prefix which also grants +1 to all gemlevels, but it is restricted to weapons. Since most builds use a shield as an offhand, you're limited to 3 sockets on the weapon, which really isn't attractive either for the mid/endgame. Six slot weapons are usually bows and/or melee buids which don't benefit from +1 gem levels nearly as much as any spellcasting build does, with a few select exceptions of course.

In conclusion I think it is a mix of people being more aware of how amazing a lot of builds work with a +1 gem level item, something most people didn't pay attention to before the 1month invasion/ambush league started, and the other points I made. The fact that this hit hardcore more than non-hc leagues is not that surprising either, considering the "safety first" approach a lot of people have in hc, which ties directly to my paragraph about alternate ways of getting the mod on an item.


Btw. yes, you cannot shock stack anymore. Up until 1.0.0 you could get shockstacks for 120% bonusdmg, once that patch hit it was 90% bonusdmg at 3 stacks, and now you only have 50% whenever you shock something with no more chance of stacking that bonus. It basically made elemental proliferation less important for a variety of builds, which can also be seen in its decreasing price.

 

[Aothan]

the Kripparian effect was definitely a very good example of the en masse behaviour that typifies online communities at times, it was actually rather daunting just how unreserved people can be about following an approved model. Some rightly explained the ground slam and frost wall build was not entirely unique but nonetheless it shows just how much influence these factors can have on communities. Another example was his Flameblast (?) design, which raised the value of the unique staff with various elemental bonuses into an 'end game' item.

these examples are a bit troubling to me, Kripp is a very intelligent individual as with a good example of the type of player that can represent games, but it seems to me, and hopefully this isn't unreasonable, some of these builds are evident enough if someone cares to look for them. Yet this is not an uncommon phenomenon at all, and yes we like to call everyone 'sheep' but I'm sure there are more insightful explanations of this static behaviour prior to innovations that could explain why it takes so long for creativity to emerge in these environments (for one I think there is a powerful influence in modern society that inhibits personal choice, but that's all very speculative and I don't have the present time or inclination to indulge in these ideas).

I do agree the demand facilitated to the sudden upsurge in value, which now leaves me periodically checking on the POE shop for a useful armour and energy shield helm. Speaking of which my character just ambled into Merciless and wow the challenge has increased significantly, I think now is the time to start upgrading items and probably taking my time in the first act so that I can focus on shield defences and blocking. I was very lucky with the Deep Dweller and what appears to be recent changes to that encounter design, thankfully most of my health flasks are instant or 50% immediate recovery types.

regarding Shock, I was just thinking earlier that even with these changes the interaction with Herald of Ash can produce a similar effect, in that the 50% on the one unit that produces the area of effect can increase the generated effect and then if other nearby units are shocked it is a type of '100%' increase, although different modifiers will apply across different units. I also need to somehow combine Arc, Cold Snap and my quality Added Lightning to try and simultaneously Freeze and Shock in preparation for a ranged shield manoeuvre.

would you have some idea of what the conversion for Exalted Orbs into Chaos Orbs might be ? Having found what is probably my fourth Exalted Orb after two years (......) of playing (outside of the early event reward system) I would like to make an approximate exchange for Chaos Orbs so that I can begin trading for a number of useful and relatively upper level items. As it is I'm reasonably sure if I don't improve my character's overall items the increased challenge in Merciless will shortly prove too much.

 

[Minttunator]

An Exalt is around 30 Chaos.
EDIT: I'm referring to the Beyond league. As Zdzisiu pointed out, the exchange rates vary in different leagues.

The start of Merciless is a good time to redo your gearset to get your resistances capped and also get some chaos res, which a lot of people neglect. It's not too bad at -20 (in Cruel) but at -60 the chaos damage mobs can kill you pretty darn quickly.

 

[Zdzisiu]

An Exalt is around 30 Chaos.

The start of Merciless is a good time to redo your gearset to get your resistances capped and also get some chaos res, which a lot of people neglect. It's not too bad at -20 (in Cruel) but at -60 the chaos damage mobs can kill you pretty darn quickly.

As of right now in Rampage league, Exalted orb worth closer to 36-40 chaos. At least I haven't seen anyone buying or selling one cheaper than that.

 

[Orma]

I have -1 chaos resistance on my 81 witch in beyond.

Feels pretty good as I usually don't take chaos res into consideration and leave it around -30 - -40.

 

[Orma]

Nevermind, I'm quitting this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RAV02cPv0

 

[Ninjerk]

Nevermind, I'm quitting this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RAV02cPv0

How much of the game is comprised of modifying items like this?

 

[Zdzisiu]

Nevermind, I'm quitting this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RAV02cPv0

How much of the game is comprised of modifying items like this?

Its difficult to say. You can certainly play the whole game without ever modifying your items in any way, just relay on the items you find or buy. You wont be the ultimate badass but you will still be plenty powerfull. On the other hand, modifying items like this is a lot of fun and can be profitable when you are into this sort of thing.

But it is definetly a significant part of PoE as you can both make a good item from scratch or modify one that you found to be more suited to your character. And it is easy and affordable.

 

[Ninjerk]

Nevermind, I'm quitting this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RAV02cPv0

How much of the game is comprised of modifying items like this?

you can both make a good item from scratch or modify one

That's pretty cool.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Nevermind, I'm quitting this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2RAV02cPv0

How much of the game is comprised of modifying items like this?

you can both make a good item from scratch or modify one

That's pretty cool.

And it was made even more interesting with the recent addiction of masters and their crafting benches that allow you to put certain mods on certain pieces of equipement for a price in currency items. There is some randomness present in this too as you typicaly have a bracket like 25-30 strenght, but its really nice for adding the crucial mods to weapons (like +% physical damage, or x-y physical damage) or increased health and resistances.

 

[Saark]

Speaking of which my character just ambled into Merciless and wow the challenge has increased significantly, I think now is the time to start upgrading items and probably taking my time in the first act so that I can focus on shield defences and blocking. I was very lucky with the Deep Dweller and what appears to be recent changes to that encounter design, thankfully most of my health flasks are instant or 50% immediate recovery types.

As far as my experience with going into merciless goes, regardless of whether you play hc or sc (I personally only play hc), I suggest taking some currency to cap out your resistances, which is pretty easy now thanks to the masters.
Way more important though, at least in my humble opinion, is your flask setup. In my opinion this it should look like: two seething health flasks (instant recovery), one of them staunching (bleed removal) and one dousing (burn removal). If you're CI without Zealots Oath you may aswell use other flasks, but should still have both removals. In addition to that you should have at least one granite flask of iron skin (armour flask with +% to armour) for facetanking some of the bigger opponents. The other 2 should cover whatever else you need. If you have high single elemental damage you should get atleast one topaz/ruby/sapphire flask for reflect, ideally with the warding suffix (curse removal). At least on hc you should always have a setup for opening strongboxes aswell, smokemine works pretty great, make sure you can handle those that freeze you of course. I personally like quicksilver flasks for the heat (freeze removal) suffix. If you play melee you may aswell get a quartz flask of adrenaline, so you can run away safely without having to worry about desyncing. Those also work great for strongboxes, smokemine is slightly better thanks to the 50% miss-chance.
Everytime I hit merciless I spend about 100-200 alteration orbs to set up the flasks I haven't picked up yet, after having died countless deaths because I didn't have a proper burn/freeze removal, instant recovery flasks or underestimated elemental damage without capped resistances.

Also, remember that sidequest areas have a siginificantly higher zone-level on merciless. I think the dweller cave is 58, compared to lower submerged which is 53. Those 5 levels can be crucial for dodge/hit ratios, aswell as relatively high mob health.

Edit: one more thing regarding the chaos resistance: it is important for multiple areas, the first being aliras forest, but equally important is being able to remove corpses quickly. Destroying corpses, be it by killing a frozen mob or using detonate dead, any of the offering spells or resurrecting a zombie out of it, removes any leftover effects an enemy created. Firestorms, poison bombs, traps, tornados, spiked rains, all of that stuff disappears if you destroy the corpse of the unit which created it. Most chaos degen effects can be negated that way.

 

[made]

Have to say the hideouts are a surprisingly cool feature that I didn't expect from a game like this, let alone for free. Visited people's decked out places while doing dailies and some look really awesome. The grind is not that bad, at least compared to the mind-numbing hunt for Atziri fragments as you stumble upon masters quite frequently while running maps. Though getting them to lvl 8 is still a massive time investment, but playing on Std at least I'm in no rush, and even at lower levels they offer some useful abilities to tweak gear. GG, GGG, guess I'm hooked again for a while.