Path of Exile Release

[Snock514]

Version 1.0.0d
Fixed a bug where auras would need to be recast when changing areas to gain the bonuses of passive skills that affect them.
Killing a Berserker Nemesis monster now completes the challenge item correctly.
Fixed some passive skill tree connectivity near the Falcon Claws group.
Fixed a bug where monster deaths from Puncture were not awarded as kills correctly.
Fixed a bug where the "Achievement Complete" text would sometimes persist in a faded state.
Fixed a bug where Rejuvenation Totem didn't benefit from passive skills that improved its effect.
Monster packs around shrines are now not spawned if they are too close to an area entrance or waypoint.
Fixed a crash related to Raise Spectre.

 

[Snock514]

If you guys are feeling overwhelmed here are two places to look that have up to date and decent info: 1 2.

 

[smackababy]

Well, I bit on $20 in game credit this weekend. Figured why not. Bought quite a few stash tabs when they were on sale and some kind of weapon aura. Also purchased one of those stones that make an item look like another. Those are one use only... Wasted that one. =(

Been playing a good bit though (made it to like 35 in Domination after losing a 35 in Nemesis). Sadly, the main problem is server disconnects.

 

[Majes]

Well I got to level 61 over the weekend. One of my friends got to 78...
It's significantly more difficult with release. They changed most of the overpowered uniques, and the Dominus fight is EXTREMELY difficult...
I'm not sure it's possible to farm on Merciless difficulty. I could beat him with my overpowered uniques standard character, but he one-shot me twice...

So yeah I'm a little burnt out but I'm going to get on in a few and grind another level out of the Fellshrine area.

 

[smackababy]

I haven't done Dominus yet (I stopped playing the beta before that content was released) and I made it to him on normal last night but got a server crash after climbing the tower and just didn't feel like climbing it again.

 

[Wardawg1001]

I still am nowhere near to figuring out this game. The downside of having an open beta like they did, is that there is innacurate information from the beta floating around that probably doesn't apply to 1.0... So, instead wading through guides, I decided to just play and learn as I go.

Theres really not that much misinformation. A few skills were re-balanced with with the release patch, but in general any skill that used to be good is still good, just maybe not quite as good. The one thing that did get a major overhaul is aura's. Any old information you read about aura's, especially aura stacking, should be disregarded. Most individual auras were significantly buffed but also had their mana cost significantly increased. Many, many builds were based around the idea of running 3-7 auras at all times in the mid to later levels. This is still possible due to some new nodes they added to the passive tree that can reduce the mana cost of auras, but it requires seeking out those nodes which is a big investment, and most builds prior to this change don't have the extra skill points to spare. It might be that many of these builds would be just as powerful or even more powerful if they changed their skill points to obtain these nodes, since auras are now more powerful, but I'd guess that most builds are better off re-focusing in their other strengths.

The other significant change is that the passive skill tree got a pretty big re-work. The addition of the Scion starting area created a lot of new nodes in that area, and quite a few nodes elsewhere in the tree were moved to completely different areas or had their values adjusted. By and large this won't break all that many character builds, as they can probably attain a very similar set of passive by adjusting how they travel through the skill tree. But it does mean that links to any old builds are outdated until their creators update them.

Anyway, I guess my point is this. Yes, be careful about looking up any specific build and trying to follow it, as many are likely to be outdated or contain information thats no longer valid. But general information about which skills are good/bad, skills that synergize well, what types of builds work best on which base classes, and general mechanics about the game (linking, supporting, effective hp, comparative value of hp/energy shield or armor/evasion) are all still much the same and worth looking into to help you understand the game.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Theres really not that much misinformation. A few skills were re-balanced with with the release patch, but in general any skill that used to be good is still good, just maybe not quite as good. The one thing that did get a major overhaul is aura's. Any old information you read about aura's, especially aura stacking, should be disregarded. Most individual auras were significantly buffed but also had their mana cost significantly increased. Many, many builds were based around the idea of running 3-7 auras at all times in the mid to later levels. This is still possible due to some new nodes they added to the passive tree that can reduce the mana cost of auras, but it requires seeking out those nodes which is a big investment, and most builds prior to this change don't have the extra skill points to spare. It might be that many of these builds would be just as powerful or even more powerful if they changed their skill points to obtain these nodes, since auras are now more powerful, but I'd guess that most builds are better off re-focusing in their other strengths.

The other significant change is that the passive skill tree got a pretty big re-work. The addition of the Scion starting area created a lot of new nodes in that area, and quite a few nodes elsewhere in the tree were moved to completely different areas or had their values adjusted. By and large this won't break all that many character builds, as they can probably attain a very similar set of passive by adjusting how they travel through the skill tree. But it does mean that links to any old builds are outdated until their creators update them.

Anyway, I guess my point is this. Yes, be careful about looking up any specific build and trying to follow it, as many are likely to be outdated or contain information thats no longer valid. But general information about which skills are good/bad, skills that synergize well, what types of builds work best on which base classes, and general mechanics about the game (linking, supporting, effective hp, comparative value of hp/energy shield or armor/evasion) are all still much the same and worth looking into to help you understand the game.

Cool - Thanks for the information. I was only able to play a little bit last night because the 120mb patch took over an hour to download. That surprised me since before the entire game downloaded in about 30 minutes.

 

[XiandreX]

I just got into Path of Exile yesterday and loving it. The passive tree is monstrous.. wow. I am having a ton of fun. Have a level 23 Shadow atm and going for 1hand/Shield. So far great game, especially since its free. :biggrin:

 

[Wardawg1001]

Cool - Thanks for the information. I was only able to play a little bit last night because the 120mb patch took over an hour to download. That surprised me since before the entire game downloaded in about 30 minutes.

Thats very odd. I downloaded it yesterday and was getting faster speeds than normal. Usually my d/l caps at around 1.3-1.5 MB/s (from any source), but for some reason I was getting speeds in the 1.7-2.1 MB/s range when I downloaded that patch, which I thought was pretty cool since I never see speeds that high.

 

[ArchAngel777]

I beat normal mode last night at L40. The last boss was very difficult. I had to use about 15 portal scrolls to beat him. I never used a portal scroll like that before ( as in laying it down before I attacked the boss) - Not sure is that is supposed to work like that, but nothing worse than running through the same map that just reset before you can try the boss again.

Still have a lot to learn about the game... I am now running through Merciless mode now.

 

[gothamhunter]

I beat normal mode last night at L40. The last boss was very difficult. I had to use about 15 portal scrolls to beat him. I never used a portal scroll like that before ( as in laying it down before I attacked the boss) - Not sure is that is supposed to work like that, but nothing worse than running through the same map that just reset before you can try the boss again.

Still have a lot to learn about the game... I am now running through Merciless mode now.

Portal jumping during a boss fight is pretty normal, and widely accepted - especially in hardcore leagues.

The last boss isn't TOO bad, you just need to know the mechanics; be sure to stand in the safe zone during blood rain, etc..

 

[smackababy]

I beat normal mode last night at L40. The last boss was very difficult. I had to use about 15 portal scrolls to beat him. I never used a portal scroll like that before ( as in laying it down before I attacked the boss) - Not sure is that is supposed to work like that, but nothing worse than running through the same map that just reset before you can try the boss again.

Still have a lot to learn about the game... I am now running through Merciless mode now.

Yeah, my first Dominus fight was pretty similar to what you're describing. Well, my first time beating Dominus. I made it to him on hardcore and died. Made it to him in the other league and portal jumped to victory.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Anyone have a good link to some great combo's and item guide write-up? I am still pretty basic in my understanding and there are thousands of threads which don't seem to really consolidate any of this information. For example:

Spoiler

1) Are blues worth picking up?

2) Are blues worth indentifying?

3) Yellows worth picking up?

4) Yellows worth indentifying?

5) What do I do with all these gems? I mean, do I use them or save them to trade up for better gems?

6) What do people do with Exalted and Eternal Orbs?

7) What Combo's work well together? I know one that works decently PBAE (Sweep) + Life gain on hits. I just sweep through mobs and gain health as I lose it. Works great. But there has to be some great combos out there.

8) At what point do I start gearing myself up? It seems somewhat pointless while leveling so fast (L41)

Thanks!

 

[gothamhunter]

Anyone have a good link to some great combo's and item guide write-up? I am still pretty basic in my understanding and there are thousands of threads which don't seem to really consolidate any of this information. For example:

Spoiler

1) Are blues worth picking up?

2) Are blues worth indentifying?

3) Yellows worth picking up?

4) Yellows worth indentifying?

5) What do I do with all these gems? I mean, do I use them or save them to trade up for better gems?

6) What do people do with Exalted and Eternal Orbs?

7) What Combo's work well together? I know one that works decently PBAE (Sweep) + Life gain on hits. I just sweep through mobs and gain health as I lose it. Works great. But there has to be some great combos out there.

8) At what point do I start gearing myself up? It seems somewhat pointless while leveling so fast (L41)

Thanks!

Spoiler

1) Are blues worth picking up?
Yes, if not to just sell them to the vendor for scraps.
2) Are blues worth identifying?
Usually no if you're decked in yellow/gold, but if it's a significant increase in level requirements it can be a good idea. A yellow lvl 15 will be outmatched by a level 30 blue (usually)
3) Yellows worth picking up?
Absolutely
4) Yellows worth identifying?
Absolutely, if not for alts or at least selling to the vendor.
5) What do I do with all these gems? I mean, do I use them or save them to trade up for better gems?
Use them, trade them, hold onto them for alts, sell them. You can always unsocket gems, so why not use them?
6) What do people do with Exalted and Eternal Orbs?
Exactly what they say they do; they reroll items for better affixes with the exalted orb (maybe wanted fire instead of lightning?) and copies an item with the eternal orb (copy item, trade copy away, or reroll on copy and have backup)
7) What Combo's work well together? I know one that works decently PBAE (Sweep) + Life gain on hits. I just sweep through mobs and gain health as I lose it. Works great. But there has to be some great combos out there.
They range from simple (Leap Slam + Multistrike) to the combos that get crazy once you get to 6link gear. Split Arrow + Faster Attack Speed + Faster Projectiles + Life Gain on Hit + Added Fire Damage + Greater Multiple Projectiles
8) At what point do I start gearing myself up? It seems somewhat pointless while leveling so fast (L41)
Save any equipment with high levels of sockets; once you get into 6 socket gear, start gearing up.

Good resources are the main POE site and the POE reddit. Google around; there's a wealth of information.

 

[kyrax12]

What's with the blacked out posts above?

 

[smackababy]

He doesn't want to spoil the game for people who have no idea what an ARPG contains I suppose.

 

[MalazanEmpire]

Hello guys, we have been playing as a little group from the start of the open beta. After it released friends here who own a webside teamed up to support the game by offering a free advert on the site for the devs. Check out the review, and if you want to play jump in.
Add us online if you want, contact : GambitTheWoman, for she handles player grups in game.

here is a link for the review, if you care to look at it. if not just jump into the game.
**deleted**

Anandtech Moderator
KeithTalent

 

[Wardawg1001]

Anyone have a good link to some great combo's and item guide write-up? I am still pretty basic in my understanding and there are thousands of threads which don't seem to really consolidate any of this information. For example:

Spoiler

1) Are blues worth picking up?

2) Are blues worth indentifying?

3) Yellows worth picking up?

4) Yellows worth indentifying?

5) What do I do with all these gems? I mean, do I use them or save them to trade up for better gems?

6) What do people do with Exalted and Eternal Orbs?

7) What Combo's work well together? I know one that works decently PBAE (Sweep) + Life gain on hits. I just sweep through mobs and gain health as I lose it. Works great. But there has to be some great combos out there.

8) At what point do I start gearing myself up? It seems somewhat pointless while leveling so fast (L41)

Thanks!

This stuff probably doesn't need to be spoiler'd, but w/e.

Spoiler

1) Are blues worth picking up?

Yes, you can sell them for orbs/shards even if you have no desire to identify them. Even the most common orbs are valuable as currency for trades or just to use for their intended purpose. You can never have enough. Very late in the game (i.e. you are farming Merciless areas or running Maps) they will start to drop at such ridiculous rates that most people will stop picking them up simply to avoid having to portal to town after every pack of monsters.

2) Are blues worth indentifying?

In the early game yes. At some point in Normal you will probably be mostly decked out in yellows or better though, and it becomes more profitable, and less time consuming, to simply sell off any blues you pick up and instead buy upgrades over your other blues or older yellows from the vendors. Vendors only restock every 24 hours and every time you level up, so if you are looking for an upgrade in any particular slot, just check the vendors after each level up. Its also worth checking them for 3-link and 4-link items at each level up as well. Links are very powerful, easily worth slightly worse stats on an item or two. Also, any item that has red+green+blue linked sockets can be sold right back to the vendor for a chromatic orb - ALWAYS DO THIS. You will need MANY MANY chromatic orbs late in the game when you are trying to get the right set of socket colors on your 4/5/6 link items.

3) Yellows worth picking up?

Yes. Much like with blues, even if you have no desire to identify it, it can be sold to a vendor for orbs/shards.

4) Yellows worth indentifying?

For the vast majority of the game yes. If you are in a level appropriate area and a yellow drops, there is always a chance that it can help you, and if it is the wrong type of item theres a chance it rolls nice enough stats to be worth something in a trade. There is a dead spot in the late game though when you start getting your end game gear, where theres almost no chance that a random yellow item will have the exact stats you are looking for, and even if it rolls pretty decent stats nobody is willing to pay for it because they are all also looking for the perfect end game gear. Identify scrolls are cheap and plentiful though, so its not really a big deal. Something else to consider is that there are certain 'secret' recipes, specific sets of items you can sell to the vendor to get special items or currency orbs in return - some of these involve unidentified blue/yellow items. Personally I find them to be too much of a hassle to mess around with, but you can check them out here to see if they interest you - http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Recipes

5) What do I do with all these gems? I mean, do I use them or save them to trade up for better gems?

Depends on the gem. Like yellow/blue items, there are a few recipes that involve trading gems along with other items to receive something back, but I find them largely useless. The options, if you aren't going to use the gems, are to trade them or hold them for another character to use later. Most low level gems have little to no trade value, they are not useful and/or too common. As a general rule, almost any gem that you can receive as a quest reward will not have any value in trade, because it makes them plentiful and easy to obtain. There are a few exception such as Reduced Mana, Faster Attacks, Faster Casting, and some others. These ones still have value because they are used in an enormous amount of builds and rarely drop from monsters. I can't give you a list of every gem that is worth holding on to for trading, my best advice is to leave Trade chat on and just monitor it casually to see what people are trying to buy/sell and what the general going rate is for them. I bought a bunch of extra stash tabs so I store all of my gems (the ones I don't trade at least) because I absolutely hate not having a gem right when I want it.

6) What do people do with Exalted and Eternal Orbs?

Exalted and Eternal Orbs are extremely valuable, especially in the two 4 month leagues that just started - do not trade or use these until you have a good grasp of the economy and what these are worth. Until you become very rich, using either of these orbs for their intended purpose is a very bad idea, they are much more valuable as a trade commodity. A quick list of the most commonly used currencies and their value (this is based on the 4 month leagues, the more established leagues might have different rates):

1 Eternal = 1.5-2 Exalted
1 Exalted = 20-30 Chaos
1 Divine = 4-5 Chaos
1 Gemcutter Prism = 2 Chaos
1 Regal = 1.5 Chaos
1 Chaos = 1 Regret = 2 Alchemy
1 Alchemy = 1 Fusing = 1 Blessed
1 Alchemy = 8 Alterations
1 Alchemy = 10 Chromatics

I've not included some of the currencies because they are not commonly traded. These rates have come about through numerous systems that are too lengthy to explain here, but its a combination of usefulness versus rarity versus vendor trade rates. Keep in mind also that these rates are variable, they can change from one person to the next, especially with the more valuable currencies, and they change over time as well as certain currencies become less available due to being consumed for their intended purpose (this mostly happens in the 4 month leagues, where items like Eternal Orbs have very little practical use for a long time).


7) What Combo's work well together? I know one that works decently PBAE (Sweep) + Life gain on hits. I just sweep through mobs and gain health as I lose it. Works great. But there has to be some great combos out there.

There are a ton out there, too many to list really. Your best bet is to simply try things out and do a lot of reading on the forums. Many of the builds on the forums explain how the skill works in conjunction with its support gems and other intricacies of that nature.

8) At what point do I start gearing myself up? It seems somewhat pointless while leveling so fast (L41)

Don't know exactly what you mean by 'gearing myself up', but in general decent end game gear (stuff you can run maps with) has level requirements of 65+. I would advise you not to spend much currency trading for gear before that unless its a specific skill gem that your build uses or certain uniques that are really good and available at lower levels. You will probably find that Merciless will become very difficult using just the gear you find though, so its not a bad idea to trade for a few nice items around that time, especially if you are in one of the 4 month leagues or playing hardcore.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to use spoiler tags or not. I just wanted to play it safe, in case someone just wanted to talk about the game, but not the best ways to farm, or what to do with things... For instance, I basically read nothing on the game for my playthrough on normal. Would I have been upset to read any of this in the spoiler tags? No, not at all. But that doesn't mean others wouldn't. Anyway, thanks for the responses!

 

[XiandreX]

I beat normal mode last night at L40. The last boss was very difficult. I had to use about 15 portal scrolls to beat him. I never used a portal scroll like that before ( as in laying it down before I attacked the boss) - Not sure is that is supposed to work like that, but nothing worse than running through the same map that just reset before you can try the boss again.

Still have a lot to learn about the game... I am now running through Merciless mode now.

Dont feel alone... the last boss is a PITA... seriously. I am so glad to have a passive Portal gem. Anyways I am in Merciless as well just hit 46 I believe.

Realizing how needed defense is in this game, Armor, Resistance and Evade. Also Bleeds (Puncture enemy stat) is the suck. Finally got some decent Rarity quantity and Rarity Quality and it makes a big difference. Have 3 Alchemy orbs sitting in stash.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Dont feel alone... the last boss is a PITA... seriously. I am so glad to have a passive Portal gem. Anyways I am in Merciless as well just hit 46 I believe.

Realizing how needed defense is in this game, Armor, Resistance and Evade. Also Bleeds (Puncture enemy stat) is the suck. Finally got some decent Rarity quantity and Rarity Quality and it makes a big difference. Have 3 Alchemy orbs sitting in stash.

Yea my first hardcore char died to puncture. Its really dangerous on Cruel/Merciless if you don't deal with it properly. Puncture damage is reduced by armor, so if you are going with a low/no armor build, make sure you have a lot of HP/ES, or be very very careful around puncture mobs. I had a level 60ish char (it was really poorly built and had almost zero armor), got punctured and drained my entire hp pool before I even realized I was taking damage, I was literally dead before I could re-target my cursor to tell my guy to stop moving.

 

[XiandreX]

Yea my first hardcore char died to puncture. Its really dangerous on Cruel/Merciless if you don't deal with it properly. Puncture damage is reduced by armor, so if you are going with a low/no armor build, make sure you have a lot of HP/ES, or be very very careful around puncture mobs. I had a level 60ish char (it was really poorly built and had almost zero armor), got punctured and drained my entire hp pool before I even realized I was taking damage, I was literally dead before I could re-target my cursor to tell my guy to stop moving.

I am playing carefully with puncture mobs. One thing that helped me loads was rerolling my 780 heal/hp over 6 seconds flasks until I got a remove bleeds stat. My other flasks are clear Frozen and the last is improved recovery so 780 over 4 seconds. At level 46 my health is around 500 Hp, 350 Es, 23% Mitigation and 43% evade.Block is around 32%. Resistances are around 75% lightning, 37% fire and 46% Cold. Chaos is not good.. need to work to get CI for that.
I use Reave and Frenzy mainly with Flicker when needed. For mobs that breath fire/ or puncture I use Lightning Trap and kite them around. In fact with Lightning trap and 20% movement speed to boots I can kite mob packs of around 40 or more in a circle and kill them with only Lightning trap.
I do agree those that if you dont watch for bleed debuff icon.. you WILL die very quickly.

 

[JPS35]

So I just finished the game using a Shadow (level 44) and have started again with a Scion to see if it makes it any better. After sinking a few weeks into this game, I can honestly ask: Is there a point to this game? Without monetary purchasing or "in game gold", all you can do is "hope" that something decent falls. The barter system sucks as even trade ins with the game merchants give a scrap of paper because of the bartering. Everything is worth a scrap of paper unless you have a unique item then you can get 10 shards of something. At least with gold I can save enough to buy something worth getting vs. having to wait for it to drop or find someone online who might have it. Even Diablo 3 isn't this bad.

 

[Dumac]

So I just finished the game using a Shadow (level 44) and have started again with a Scion to see if it makes it any better. After sinking a few weeks into this game, I can honestly ask: Is there a point to this game? Without monetary purchasing or "in game gold", all you can do is "hope" that something decent falls. The barter system sucks as even trade ins with the game merchants give a scrap of paper because of the bartering. Everything is worth a scrap of paper unless you have a unique item then you can get 10 shards of something. At least with gold I can save enough to buy something worth getting vs. having to wait for it to drop or find someone online who might have it. Even Diablo 3 isn't this bad.

Are you joking?

The drop rate in PoE is way better than D3. I got 10+ uniques in my limited time playing, as well as many great yellows.

NPC merchants give more than scrolls if you trade them some specific things, but if you want to actually make some 'money' you have to trade with real life people.

What's the point of playing if all you want to do is grind until you have enough gold to buy all of your gear from an NPC (essentially what the AH is in D3)? Isn't the fun part finding awesome loot yourself?

Hoping something good drops is the name of the game in ARPGs, and PoE delivers with some pretty fun and exciting loot.

 

[Wardawg1001]

So I just finished the game using a Shadow (level 44) and have started again with a Scion to see if it makes it any better. After sinking a few weeks into this game, I can honestly ask: Is there a point to this game? Without monetary purchasing or "in game gold", all you can do is "hope" that something decent falls. The barter system sucks as even trade ins with the game merchants give a scrap of paper because of the bartering. Everything is worth a scrap of paper unless you have a unique item then you can get 10 shards of something. At least with gold I can save enough to buy something worth getting vs. having to wait for it to drop or find someone online who might have it. Even Diablo 3 isn't this bad.

Understanding the bartering system is essential to the game. This is not Diablo 3, you can not simply search every item in the game for the perfect stats and then buy it from a machine (AH). While it is certainly possible to play without ever trading with another player, its not all that effective, especially if you are new and don't know how to build your character or itemize properly.

Trading with vendors is not an effective way to get currency, and they never sell anything higher than blues. Go ahead and trade all your junk items to them, even those scraps and shards add up and are useful. But to get good items you need to buy them from other players, and to get enough currency to buy good items you need to trade your drops with other players. You should find enough currency items just by playing the game normally to get you started, you can find some pretty decent items for sale for cheap on the forums.

Be aware that in the new four month leagues (Nemesis and Domination) things are more expensive, they have only been around for a couple weeks and the new economy drives up the prices of even mediocre gear. This can be both a blessing and a curse - good gear is more expensive than in other leagues, but it also means that the stuff you find will bring a higher price. That said, they might be a bit frustrating for a new player, and you might want to try the normal hardcore/standard leagues where regular end game gear is plentiful and cheap. Powerful but common uniques are very cheap in those leagues and can really help you get to the end game where you can start farming better items and currency orbs.