Path of Exile is a MAJESTIC incline

[Absinthe]

Right, that's the main way to dualwield if you're not going for two-in-one attacks: using a main hand for attacks and an offhand for utility bonuses. For instance cleave or ground slam main hand with offhand dagger for +80% global crit or offhand claw with 2% lifeleech.

But I'm not sure how that competes against a staff build which typically combines high crit and block with being a 2H.

 

[Lhynn]

Staff prolly getting nerfed tho. I dont understand why it has such good nodes in the first place, its a fucking stick, people that go to war use other weapons for a reason, like sticks with a pointy end (that changes everything).

 

[Absinthe]

Staff actually got buffed now that you can use jewel nodes to pump staff block.

 

[Lhynn]

now that depends on skill. For set of them(reave for example) you use only one hand. The other can be anything without hit to dps. As a result you can buy 1 strong weapon, and other pure utility: for example low lvl dagger with terrible DPS, but nice global bonuses

I still got a legacy ungils gauche, but i heard reave is shit now.

 

[Ellef]

Any classes/builds that should be avoided with 200+ms? Haven't played since a few months after release, looks a lot better now.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[made]

now that depends on skill. For set of them(reave for example) you use only one hand. The other can be anything without hit to dps. As a result you can buy 1 strong weapon, and other pure utility: for example low lvl dagger with terrible DPS, but nice global bonuses

Reave will alternate weapons if both are daggers. You need to use a mace or axe if you just want a stat stick. I gave my Reaver a Soul Taker so he can reserve all mana. Reave is better than ever since it's much easier to maintain stacks now. I'm just not sure if pure eva/dodge melee is in a good spot atm.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I always figured the main drawback for staves is that finding a decent one is a bitch, since they can get caster mods as well. Maces tend not to have +cast speed or whatever the fuck wasting a slot.

 

[Severian Silk]

OK, so I am about level 15 and I realized there is no point to this game. There's barely any story, and nobody talks to each other when in a party. The party battles are fast clusterfucks too. I kept getting lost and the rest of the party would leave to the next sector without letting me know. Meh, this game is shit.

 

[TOME]

You propably should play the game alone for the first time. Taking your time with enemies and loot is the best way to learn the game. But the clusterfucks only get worse as the game and characters progress.

 

[made]

OK, so I am about level 15 and I realized there is no point to this game. There's barely any story, and nobody talks to each other when in a party. The party battles are fast clusterfucks too. I kept getting lost and the rest of the party would leave to the next sector without letting me know. Meh, this game is shit.

Perhaps you were looking for the other PoE? It has party banter and you can pause combat at any time:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?forums/obsidian-entertainment.96/

 

[T. Reich]

OK, so I am about level 15 and I realized there is no point to this game. There's barely any story, and nobody talks to each other when in a party. The party battles are fast clusterfucks too. I kept getting lost and the rest of the party would leave to the next sector without letting me know. Meh, this game is shit.

EDIT: I'll humor myself by replying to your post.

>There's barely any story
It's an ARPG, not Skyrim. Also - at lvl15 you're barely out of act1, if even that. Also, did you speak to the NPCs? Did you interacti with lore items in game locations? And - yes - the game takes a rather subdued approach to dispensing lore, there are no exposition fairies in the game. Perhaps you're better off playing simpler games with more story in them.

> nobody talks to each other when in a party
Are you a talky man? What would you like to talk about? Have you got something important to tell? Do you usually expect the total strangers to talk to you or each other? If the answer to any of those is "yes" - there's global channel (several of them) where you can discuss all sorts of stuff with total strangers.

> The party battles are fast clusterfucks too
Yes, they are, especially if you have no idea what you're doing.

> I kept getting lost
...

> the party would leave to the next sector without letting me know
Why should they wait for the mantally-impaired? It's not like you're actively contributing to the party, judging by what you wrote.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Damned Registrations]

PoE actually has a ton of story if you're willing to sit around and listen to it. Every character comments on pretty much every other character in each act, plus on a few of the things going on or the enemies in the area. So you get like ~50 little monologues in each act just from that, plus all the requests and resolutions to the quests, and the 'Master' characters on the side, and the little scattered lore bits on tablets and journals and shit in the combat zones. Mostly I just listen to those since they keep going while you play, instead of having to deal with the "STAY A WHILE, AND LISTEN!" crap from 25 different Deckard Cains.

 

[Absinthe]

I always figured the main drawback for staves is that finding a decent one is a bitch, since they can get caster mods as well. Maces tend not to have +cast speed or whatever the fuck wasting a slot.

Right, but with Forsaken Masters there are meta-crafting mods now to lock items so they cannot roll caster mods (Vagan meta-crafting mod), there is master crafting for bonus mods, and even a vendor recipe for +phys damage (whetstone + rustic sash + weapon). Even the introduction of poe.xyz.is (poe.trade now) helps a bunch. It's still not as easy to get a proper battle staff as the next 2H but it's much easier than before.

PoE actually has a ton of story if you're willing to sit around and listen to it. Every character comments on pretty much every other character in each act, plus on a few of the things going on or the enemies in the area. So you get like ~50 little monologues in each act just from that, plus all the requests and resolutions to the quests, and the 'Master' characters on the side, and the little scattered lore bits on tablets and journals and shit in the combat zones. Mostly I just listen to those since they keep going while you play, instead of having to deal with the "STAY A WHILE, AND LISTEN!" crap from 25 different Deckard Cains.

They used to make you wait for the dialogue and accidentally clicking on one of those things while running is a great way to get fucked. Also the story got toned down a lot in Awakening since they interpreted the complaints about the Scion to mean that there was a general demand for less story, as opposed to a demand for less bad writing.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I tried the +phys damage recipe but couldn't get it to work. No idea why- other recipes, like the +1 to fire skills, work just fine. It's actually kind of annoying since the build I'm using on my new char relies exclusively on the highest possible physical damage in a single hit and feeding that into a ton of MORE% multipliers. Rares might get a bunch of elemental damage or attack speed or something instead, but that's not really going to work for me once I get a 4 link or better going.

 

[T. Reich]

I always figured the main drawback for staves is that finding a decent one is a bitch, since they can get caster mods as well. Maces tend not to have +cast speed or whatever the fuck wasting a slot.

Right, but with Forsaken Masters there are meta-crafting mods now to lock items so they cannot roll caster mods (Vagan meta-crafting mod), there is master crafting for bonus mods, and even a vendor recipe for +phys damage (whetstone + rustic sash + weapon). Even the introduction of poe.xyz.is (poe.trade now) helps a bunch. It's still not as easy to get a proper battle staff as the next 2H but it's much easier than before.

That meta-crafting mod is too damn expensive for what it does, bordering on useless. It's much cheaper to just buy a good staff on poe.trade, especially now that there's one staff to rule them all existing since 1.2.0 - Hegemony's Era.

 

[Kane]

Grave news people: Our Guild Chest in Tempest League is overflowing with crap yellow items. We require additional Tempest players to empty that churn thru the stuff (preferably ones that die early and frequently)

 

[Aothan]

Path has a reasonable degree of story and lore, as with ample character dialogue, although I do seriously wonder if they changed directions and revised a lot of original ideas somewhere around the introduction of act 3. The 'edgy Game of Thrones' style was not nearly as pronounced as what began to take form closer to act 3 being released, as with all the player uniques which have special dialogue. I basically suspect it was the Game of Thrones trend that caused a change in directions.

but up to that point and also beyond those changes there is plenty for the character to investigate through dialogue with npcs and various resources, whether books or carvings and the like (though I am yet to read much of the content in act 4).

I think if there is a juncture where background concepts changed it would be from the Oversoul (somewhat quasi-Lovecraftish) and what that represented to Dominus and others, who tend to return to a more simplified everyone is striving for apotheosis. And if I have not mentioned it quite enough, the really noticeable 'Game of Thrones' themes that have come to pervade the game.

I think more random lore, and less outright storyline would have helped, kind of given body to the world as far distant events return to the fore, but at some point it really is an action-rpg foremost and as became apparent in the early days, very few people were actually reading the dialogue. It took upwards of months, considering the sheer number of active players, before some started to even mention the more conspicuous elements of the story. Apparent a lot of factors had a bearing on how the game's story and lore continued to develop.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I'm back to playing this, last time I played was in Beta where Act 2 was just finished.

I'm at the end of Act 2 with a Marauder now with pretty much the same build I had before (just got to the Blood Magic node), 2h aoe spam with linked fire and +phys damage. Game's too easy up to this point and feels exactly the same as the last time I played.

I think I've outgrown these sorts of games, to be honest. I can't find flaw with the execution of PoE in general, the systems are well thought-out and well implemented, but I just don't feel invested in the gameplay at all.

Server performance seems to have improved, at least...

 

[Lhynn]

Its a pointless waste of time, repetitive and unrewarding. Play it to have fun occasionally when nothing better is up, at the very least its entertaining.

 

[Severian Silk]

Its a pointless waste of time, repetitive and unrewarding. Play it to have fun occasionally when nothing better is up, at the very least its entertaining.

Exactly. The game is spiritually empty. I uninstalled.

 

[Icewater]

Well I died again. Every time I lose a character in HC it just reminds me of this game's huge glaring flaws. Might pick it up again in the future when a new patch comes out or if I get really really bored but I'm done for now.

 

[LeStryfe79]

My PA build is decent but I think it needs tweaked. I'm a 65 duelist, have maxed elemental resistances, 2500 hp, deal 3500 dps. Use some HP leach and ice golem for good measure. No mana problems. I'm not sure if I'm missing anything big since I don't check out other builds. I'm getting by but I could be better. What's good for Poison Arrow builds?

Edit: I'm also using Hatred and a bunch of Freeze related items.

 

[Veelq]

PA's main source of dmg is chaos dmg cloud - so you need to boost that. To do so you need projectile damage modificators such as passive points, support gems etc. Its useful to use inc aoe gem. For weapon all you need is a +2/+3 bow with some attack speed ( you can craft that mod ). You should be able to buy +2 bow ( or +1 to bow gems and +1 to all gems ) super cheap in any league, +2 to bow and +1 to all is worth alot more.