[Action RPG] Path of Exile

[ShadowOfMyself]

Ive been trying a lot of characters, but lately Ive been mainly playing an hardcore evasion/hp Ranger, with Acrobatics

So far she is in Act 3 cruel and my hp has yet to drop below half... she has 2.1 K hp(not bad for a ranger huh?), and +45% hp from flasks, so yeah I can just stand my ground and tank everything

The main attack is Poison Arrow, on a bow with +2 to bow gems (absolutely necessary for Poison Arrow to deal decent damage)... It one shots normal mobs, and for rares, I have Bear Trap (can throw 3 at once, usually insta kills anything)
For bosses, weapon swap for a Dagger with +1 melee gems, with Viper Strike, and an evasion/resistance shield... 4 stacks of Viper Strike + Vulnerability curse (+40% dot damage) absolutely rapes everything

Its pretty awesome, and the thing is, I can focus completely on HP/Evasion nodes, because all my damage comes from the skills (and there arent any passives that increase Poison Arrow/Viper Strike damage so yeah)

Oh and another thing, both skills deal Chaos Damage so it just goes through mana shield, which makes it even better for mage mobs and bosses~
I cant wait to get higher evasion, once I get into the 80% territory, coupled with maxed Acrobatics, 4K+ hp, and 5% hp regen, it will be glorious

This is what the final build would look like - http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-...uaWqTwA_STdXtvqcUUqvFR35lTVM1NnvLQXK7FHXB2M3q

Quick summary:

30% dodge
20% spell dodge
+188% evasion
+304% health
4.6% hp regen

 

[JEDI]

I have a templar and I'm working my way to the marauder tree for that reason. Sweet, sweet passives.

why not just start as maurader instead.

what's your skill tree for templar?

 

[JEDI]

ShadowOfMyself,

why didnt you take perfect aim (+15% projectile dmg) and greater impact (+18% dmg w/bows)?

 

[Zeze]

ShadowOfMyself,

why didnt you take perfect aim (+15% projectile dmg) and greater impact (+18% dmg w/bows)?

I was just about to reply, I don't think damage nodes in the game are viable enough. They need a buff of sort.

If you want to have any chance at beating anything other than Normal difficulty, you gotta spend all your points in survivability.

 

[darkewaffle]

That's exactly the reason why many people who criticize D3 dislike D3. It changed from being a character development game into a loot grind game. Loot grind games are not fun.

Diablo 2 is basically the template for a "loot grind game".

What you're describing is an action game. The diablo franchise is rooted in its RPG elements, originally, the game was developed as a turn based rpg. There are plenty of action games out there with simple progression mechanisms if that is your cup of tea.

You mean like... Diablo? What part of "get higher numbers" (the crux of both the gameplay and the goal of the game) is not a 'simple progression mechanism'?

Its totally intentional. Combat feels clunky to you because it is meant to feel clunky at the start. As you get better gear, your character will feel more responsive because you gain more move speed and attack or cast faster.

Boring and disengaging are not the same thing as clunky. Skyrim is clunky. PoE is disengaging. PoE feels no different from D2 in that I feel compelled to play the entire game using only two buttons I think letting the player get away with (or worse yet, encouraging) mashing the same abilities over and over and over is a poor excuse for gameplay; as I said it's probably somewhat rectified as difficulty ramps up, but I wouldn't be remotely surprised if characters essentially end up with a "boss button" and "trash button" and little else.

You can do everything you described without an AH. The trade game is more engaging because in addition to finding trends, flipping items, and predicting future prices, you need to be good at bartering as well. Diablo 2 did very well with the Perfect Skull economy(at first), then the Soj economy, and then the rune economy. In fact, I remember getting my first perfect skull from Hell Hellforge, flipping that for rare boots, which I flipped for more Pskulls. Then I flipped those Pskulls for an SOJ, flipped the SOJ for more Pskulls, and continued the cycle until I was able to gear my character fully. It was a blast.

Of course you can. But that's going to take way longer, be far more arbitrary and subjective (and luck based) and still doesn't reap the benefits actually having an AH brings. You can trade until you're blue in the face even if an AH exists; frankly it's not that different from trading without one because it's still a matter of being in the right place at the right time more than anything else. But without an AH everyone else then has to deal with it too, and that sucks.

 

[Chiropteran]

Boring and disengaging are not the same thing as clunky. Skyrim is clunky. PoE is disengaging. PoE feels no different from D2 in that I feel compelled to play the entire game using only two buttons I think letting the player get away with (or worse yet, encouraging) mashing the same abilities over and over and over is a poor excuse for gameplay; as I said it's probably somewhat rectified as difficulty ramps up, but I wouldn't be remotely surprised if characters essentially end up with a "boss button" and "trash button" and little else.

I never understood this complaint. I first noticed it coming from WoW players "wah, my shadowbolt is my best attack so I just spam it, but it's so boring!" The thing is, that is how virtually every game works. For a given situation, there will be one best attack most of the time, and using that attack constantly will work fine. This really isn't a problem!

In WoW, due to the misguided out-crying of the forum minority, they "fixed" this problem by giving each class abilities that only worked optimally when used in perfectly synchronized combinations, with the thinking that this would reward "skill". Of course, hardly anyone actually tried to learn the optimal combination, they simply went to EJ forums and read the optimal ability usage order and memorized it.

In any event, I have all my default hotkeys assigned and used, as various skills each have important niche uses, but I am certainly happy with the fact that I could just run around and two-button the game if I wanted, I see no reason at all to force stupid ability combinations onto players as a way to increase the so-called "skill cap".

Of course you can. But that's going to take way longer, be far more arbitrary and subjective (and luck based) and still doesn't reap the benefits actually having an AH brings. You can trade until you're blue in the face even if an AH exists; frankly it's not that different from trading without one because it's still a matter of being in the right place at the right time more than anything else. But without an AH everyone else then has to deal with it too, and that sucks.

FWIW, I agree with you here. While trading and working to find deals can be a game on it's own, it doesn't overlap all that much with the regular game. I like auction house or at least some automated trading systems because they remove this element for players who don't enjoy it. To keep free trading alive, the auction house just needs a decently high fee, 20% or so, so that there is still a benefit to free trading for those who want to do it.

 

[Chiropteran]

I was just about to reply, I don't think damage nodes in the game are viable enough. They need a buff of sort.

If you want to have any chance at beating anything other than Normal difficulty, you gotta spend all your points in survivability.

Also, the damage skills that he uses don't benefit from +projectile or +bow damage at all, making the damage nodes especially weak for his particular skill build.

 

[Ashenor]

Played a bit this weekend my Duelist is lvl 10.

I took the path that increased DW and got the +30 AGI, then the one below it can't think of the name that helps with evasion during DWing.

Not sure where to go from here and don't want to make any huge mistakes, a lot under it are weapon skills, and hard to say what i will be using in the future. Was thinking of going a bit to the left for the health regen. Anyone have a higher lvl duelist with any advice?

Also can you ever increase what you carry? I still don't have many town portals and am always full well before i find a waypoint.

 

[Wardawg1001]

I never understood this complaint. I first noticed it coming from WoW players "wah, my shadowbolt is my best attack so I just spam it, but it's so boring!" The thing is, that is how virtually every game works. For a given situation, there will be one best attack most of the time, and using that attack constantly will work fine. This really isn't a problem!

In WoW, due to the misguided out-crying of the forum minority, they "fixed" this problem by giving each class abilities that only worked optimally when used in perfectly synchronized combinations, with the thinking that this would reward "skill". Of course, hardly anyone actually tried to learn the optimal combination, they simply went to EJ forums and read the optimal ability usage order and memorized it.

In any event, I have all my default hotkeys assigned and used, as various skills each have important niche uses, but I am certainly happy with the fact that I could just run around and two-button the game if I wanted, I see no reason at all to force stupid ability combinations onto players as a way to increase the so-called "skill cap".

Many games are like this but not all. Titan Quest did a fairly decent job of making sure you had more than 2 useful abilities. D3 did an amazing job at making sure you have more than 2 useful abilities. I rolled every character except a Demon Hunter at some point and every single one of them I was wishing for more hotbar space to put another skill on (though this was also a function of cooldown timers as much as anything else). This was never the case with D2 and is not the case with PoE either. As another poster suggested, most builds will probably have nothing more than a single target high damage skill for champs/bosses and a fast/aoe skill for clearing out groups. The sad thing is that PoE's skill system could easily support more variety (basically you can have as many and as varied skills as you can fit in the gem slots of your equipment), but other design decisions basically shoehorn you in to the 'two skills' approach (for optimal play at least, obviously you can use 10 skills in every fight if thats what you want).

 

[Hacp]

Diablo 2 is basically the template for a "loot grind game".

You mean like... Diablo? What part of "get higher numbers" (the crux of both the gameplay and the goal of the game) is not a 'simple progression mechanism'?

Yes, maybe in the first playthrough, the goal was to establish a character and find the highest, most efficient build. Once that first character was made, most people I know experimented with different areas of the skill tree, not just the most efficient. The process involved generating an idea for a character, planning the skill path and build for the first 70 or so levels, determining which items were needed to make the character work, then trading for those specific items. To do that, you needed loot, and hence the grind.

The fun part was not finding the loot, but imagining builds and making them work. That's where most of the D3 team got it wrong. They assumed D2 was a loot game at its core, when loot was just a means to an end.

Boring and disengaging are not the same thing as clunky. Skyrim is clunky. PoE is disengaging. PoE feels no different from D2 in that I feel compelled to play the entire game using only two buttons I think letting the player get away with (or worse yet, encouraging) mashing the same abilities over and over and over is a poor excuse for gameplay; as I said it's probably somewhat rectified as difficulty ramps up, but I wouldn't be remotely surprised if characters essentially end up with a "boss button" and "trash button" and little else.

Again, it feels like you're looking for an action game, not an RPG. Every RPG I've played has 1-2 main skills you spam and a bunch of situational spells.

Of course you can. But that's going to take way longer, be far more arbitrary and subjective (and luck based) and still doesn't reap the benefits actually having an AH brings. You can trade until you're blue in the face even if an AH exists; frankly it's not that different from trading without one because it's still a matter of being in the right place at the right time more than anything else. But without an AH everyone else then has to deal with it too, and that sucks.

A trade channel is more engaging. You deal with real people. Interaction! What a novel concept. Auction Houses are lifeless. You can sit there not talking to anyone and "play" the game. Boring.

 

[Hacp]

Many games are like this but not all. Titan Quest did a fairly decent job of making sure you had more than 2 useful abilities. D3 did an amazing job at making sure you have more than 2 useful abilities. I rolled every character except a Demon Hunter at some point and every single one of them I was wishing for more hotbar space to put another skill on (though this was also a function of cooldown timers as much as anything else). This was never the case with D2 and is not the case with PoE either. As another poster suggested, most builds will probably have nothing more than a single target high damage skill for champs/bosses and a fast/aoe skill for clearing out groups. The sad thing is that PoE's skill system could easily support more variety (basically you can have as many and as varied skills as you can fit in the gem slots of your equipment), but other design decisions basically shoehorn you in to the 'two skills' approach (for optimal play at least, obviously you can use 10 skills in every fight if thats what you want).

Its a tradeoff for sure. To many, having skill variety just for the sake of skill variety seems forced. I haven't played Diablo 3, but I heard that sorceress classes were required to have an iron skin ability plus a teleport ability just to survive even Hell difficulty. Sure, there's skill variety in that because you're pushing more buttons, but its forced variety since those skills feel more like requirements.

In essence it boils down to two different philosophies. One is to throw a bunch of useful skills and talents on a tree and let players decide themselves how they wish to play. That style is more difficult to balance, but more enjoyable to the player. The other philosophy is to design specs and playstyles internally, then allow players to play their characters in a playstyle envisioned by the developers. This allows more buttons to press, but constrains the amount of customization possible.

 

[Dumac]

why not just start as maurader instead.

what's your skill tree for templar?

I wanted a hybrid str/int character to he could cast spells as well from the start.

Many games are like this but not all. Titan Quest did a fairly decent job of making sure you had more than 2 useful abilities. D3 did an amazing job at making sure you have more than 2 useful abilities. I rolled every character except a Demon Hunter at some point and every single one of them I was wishing for more hotbar space to put another skill on (though this was also a function of cooldown timers as much as anything else). This was never the case with D2 and is not the case with PoE either. As another poster suggested, most builds will probably have nothing more than a single target high damage skill for champs/bosses and a fast/aoe skill for clearing out groups. The sad thing is that PoE's skill system could easily support more variety (basically you can have as many and as varied skills as you can fit in the gem slots of your equipment), but other design decisions basically shoehorn you in to the 'two skills' approach (for optimal play at least, obviously you can use 10 skills in every fight if thats what you want).

Two skilsl? I don't know anybody who uses just two skills.

On my witch, I don't even have enough slots for skills. I have summon zombies, summon skeletons, critical weakness, vulnerability, discipline, clarity, arc, fireball, and cold snap.

On my templar, I have lightning strike, heavy strike, tempest shield, lightning warp, and shield charge. And he isn't even past normal. I'm sure he'll pick up more skills in time.

 

[Rinaun]

I've gotten to level 23 in the game and I will say this game is already ten times better than Diablo 3. I returned D3 after I was almost max level after a week. I didn't pay for this and I've had it installed longer than D3, and yet I'm only level 23. The only thing that annoys me in POE is that combat gets REALLY stale after playing it for 30 minutes or so. Maybe I'm just not into the "D2" style games anymore, or maybe I'm just not mixing up my gems enough to have fun combos. I end up logging out of POE after just one hour of playing, when in D3/D2 I'd play for 2-3 hours in a sitting.

I will agree in that moves and general animation feels clunky but hey, it's a f2p game. I'm sure they will fix those really fast.

Two skilsl? I don't know anybody who uses just two skills.

I do! Well, more like 3-4 skills. 1 of them I hardly use unless I need to (Fire Trap). It's more to do with the fact that every ability gem that is dropping is either some inferior version of the ones I already have, is unusable (spell or something when I'm a ranged bow class), or is just overall poop.

 

[Zeze]

Update 2:

Anybody else on Cruel Act 3? It takes SO long to clear 1 area, with both of my builds

My failed glass canon DPS Ranger at level 46:

700 hp, 1200 armor
No evasion (that meager 1200 armor IS from Iron Reflexes)
No block (uses bow)
30-50% resist
700 DPS single target (fire arrow with lots of supports)
500 DPS with split shot
Almost all skill points spent on offense

She got shut down HARD. She would get two-shotted AND couldn't kill enemies fast enough (5-6 hits on regular mobs, which is TOO long). I got sick of running and quit.

My current all-tank Marauder at level 46:

1600 hp, 2164 armor
21% evasion (IMO, an additional layer of 21% evasion better than Iron Reflexes giving +8% more reduction)
5 endurance charges = 75% physical reduction total
85% physical reduction if Flaming Shield is on (another 600 armor), but it blows up very quickly
All resist maxed at 75%
530 DPS for single target (Bash) with effective 16% lifesteal per swing
236 DPS for Cleave with effective 25%~ lifesteal per swing (dat life-on-hit gem is great)
All skill points spent on life

Suddenly I feel like difficulty gets jacked from Act 2 to Act 3 in Cruel. It took forever to clear one area with my ranger (too busy running & dying, 3-5 hits = dead), obviously same for my tank.

He can fight, but still have to be careful. Regular enemies take 4-5 swings to kill, which is WAYYYYYYY too long. 3-4 swings with my single-target, but then you have to do it for every single enemy.

I have to turn like 5 skills at once, it's rather becoming tedious.

1. Enduring Cry (give you Endurance charges)
2. Flame Shield (+600 armor, explodes)
3. Warlord's Mark (curse for more lifesteal, and % to give you Endurance charge)
4. Shield Charge to ranged enemies and kill first or they DPS the shit out of me
5. Repeat from 1. (only been 4-5 seconds, casting alone takes good 2 seconds then only 3 seconds of swinging).

Are my 'natural' gears too crap? Being a purist is a personal thing of mine (trading ruins the game imo). This game has VERY VERY little unique items (120~ at most), and they never drop (only saw one in 40 hours).

That means the game is somewhat predictable- you're always praying for +60-90% weapon damage mod of your latest level items. Only then you can 2-3 shot enemies instead of 4-7. But only about 5 levels later, you're terribly behind and praying again.

I mean I'm only at Act 3 of Cruel and it's taking 15~17 mins to clear one floor. A drastic increase from 5-7 mins. Pretty ridiculous.

Am I forced to trade gears? (you can get casual-yet-act-clearing gears for very cheap with Blessed/Fusing/Chromatic orbs) It's just way too slow & unbearable with natural drops.

 

[Udgnim]

My current all-tank Marauder at level 46

could grind some more levels in A2 Felshrine

the alternative to not finding gear upgrades is to level skill gems & get more passives

 

[JEDI]

Chromatic orbs are worth something?!
and where do u find the trades? just from trade chat?

on a sidenote, PoE is extremely slow on my dual core netbook even with all visuals to minimum.
13fps while standing still, 8fps while moving.

no, i dont play on it. just to swap items between locker chars.

 

[JEDI]

starting playing with bow.

uggg... shoot, backpeddle, shoot, backpeddle, etc
Is that nowmally how most people play vs zoos?

and how to effectively use split arrow? when the monsters are closing in on me, my arrow spread gets wider while the monsters clump together, becoming a narrower zoo.

so 1 or 2 arrows fly way left or way right of the zoo.

 

[Udgnim]

starting playing with bow.

uggg... shoot, backpeddle, shoot, backpeddle, etc
Is that nowmally how most people play vs zoos?

and how to effectively use split arrow? when the monsters are closing in on me, my arrow spread gets wider while the monsters clump together, becoming a narrower zoo.

so 1 or 2 arrows fly way left or way right of the zoo.

I think the start bow skill to use is Poison Arrow

Split Arrow doesn't really become good until you can do stuff like link China & GMP to it and have really good physical damage gear

 

[Chiropteran]

Many games are like this but not all. Titan Quest did a fairly decent job of making sure you had more than 2 useful abilities. D3 did an amazing job at making sure you have more than 2 useful abilities. I rolled every character except a Demon Hunter at some point and every single one of them I was wishing for more hotbar space to put another skill on (though this was also a function of cooldown timers as much as anything else). This was never the case with D2 and is not the case with PoE either. As another poster suggested, most builds will probably have nothing more than a single target high damage skill for champs/bosses and a fast/aoe skill for clearing out groups. The sad thing is that PoE's skill system could easily support more variety (basically you can have as many and as varied skills as you can fit in the gem slots of your equipment), but other design decisions basically shoehorn you in to the 'two skills' approach (for optimal play at least, obviously you can use 10 skills in every fight if thats what you want).

I think you haven't played very much PoE. While I am in favor of simpler systems and I say I like that PoE is playable with 2 buttons, in my own play I find myself using every skill slot and it does make a significant difference.

If you play any sort of caster class in PoE, you quickly realize that many mobs are resist fire, lightning, or frost. Some resist a combination of 2 and some resist all elemental damage, but in any case you want as a minimum at least one skill of each element so you aren't forced to fight something resistant to your attacks. Next, you probably want zombies and/or skeletons, each have advantages and it's nice to have both available. Then you probably want a big aoe hitting skill to compliment your single target skills, maybe for more than one element... except now you are at 7 skills and out of space. You may also want some more utility skills such as clarity aura or hatred or something, and you may want an escape like leap slam (who cares if it's a Str skill, you can still easily use it on a caster if you have the correct weapon equipped), and maybe something like molten shell, bear or fire trap for fights were you can setup beforehand and kite mobs through them.

This is not a unique situation for casters only, melee can easily make use of all available skill buttons, but I have been playing my witch pretty much all night so I am more familiar with it's ability layout.

While you can play PoE with 2 buttons, it's highly advantageous to use all available. I love this setup, in contrast to the WoW style setup, where you don't just use all buttons to have skills for a variety of uses, you are literally forced to do so because your main attack is some silly combination of 3 or 4 different spells because the optimal usage requires it. That is dumb.

 

[Chiropteran]

Update 2:

Anybody else on Cruel Act 3? It takes SO long to clear 1 area, with both of my builds

You are way beyond me, because I can't seem to will myself to play softcore, level 34 on my witch now.

One thing that comes to mind, have you been using traps? Combination of fire and bear traps which you can lay out before engaging mobs and pull them over them for some very nice damage. I know your marauder is probably mainly Str based but might be worth a try? I know 3 bear traps will kill almost any boss I have seen very quickly on my shadow.

 

[JEDI]

I think the start bow skill to use is Poison Arrow

Split Arrow doesn't really become good until you can do stuff like link China & GMP to it and have really good physical damage gear

poison arrow for zoos?
never thought of that, but it makes sense.
poison cloud...

but split arrow does more dmg, especially at it gains lvls and fires more arrows @ 80% dmg of the original.

and is GMP a quest gem? if so, which quest do you first see it?

 

[Zeze]

I think the start bow skill to use is Poison Arrow

Split Arrow doesn't really become good until you can do stuff like link China & GMP to it and have really good physical damage gear

Uh.. Split Arrow is good from get-go. When combined with a standard dmg boost support gem, it clears enemies like no one else in the game. Once you get Pierce keystone, it's even extra fast.

You cruise all the way to beating the game, just need good DPS gear by mid-Cruel.

 

[JamesV]

Finally downloaded and started playing last night, and after a couple hours so far, I'm really enjoying the game.

I don't have much of a clue on what I'm doing with the skill tree, but planning to put about half my points into DPS, and half into survivability (Witch).

Anyone know, when selling to a merchant, if there is a shortcut to just click on the item in my inventory, and have it appear in the merchant sell box? Tried shift+click, but doesn't work.

 

[Dumac]

Finally downloaded and started playing last night, and after a couple hours so far, I'm really enjoying the game.

I don't have much of a clue on what I'm doing with the skill tree, but planning to put about half my points into DPS, and half into survivability (Witch).

Anyone know, when selling to a merchant, if there is a shortcut to just click on the item in my inventory, and have it appear in the merchant sell box? Tried shift+click, but doesn't work.

Ctrl+click moves items between windows.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I don't have much of a clue on what I'm doing with the skill tree, but planning to put about half my points into DPS, and half into survivability (Witch).

This is a major problem with their passive skill system IMHO. It is overwhelming, and you have no guide on what to take. They probably need to have some sort of built in auto-suggest system.
As it is (or was when I last played a few months ago) it will take you attempting several different character builds to really figure out how to build a good character.