Path of Exile

[Cam]

Novi got me playing this free game. It is Diablo-style play. Reminds me a Champions of Norrath. Kid, you in? :D

[21Kid]

Maybe... Looks like it would take a LOOoooooong time to get to the point of being a badass. That's the biggest skill tree I've ever seen. :o

[GreatScawt]

The skill tree is intense. But the game is really fun! Fantastic, great-looking free game. And as far as I can tell, there is no gameplay wall that begs you to spend money. I could be wrong though. Also great for coop.

Also, necromancer Templar ftw.

[novicius]

The goal isn't to unlock all of them. :lol: You put together a Build of a character based on what you want to end up with.


EDIT: Official Skill Path Tree you can play with (http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/3.0.3/AAAABAMAAA==).

[21Kid]

Yeah.... But, I hate researching reddit, trying out different builds, etc... I'd like to be able to figure it out on my own without having a path laid out in front of me. That seems pretty difficult to do in this game until you're 100+ hours in.

i.e. seems perfect for drew. ;)

[Phil_SS]

Wow, that skill tree is intense......

[novicius]

I'm not following any Builds, just choosing my own.

There are several ways to overpower the game if you so desire, from what I've read.

[Cam]

Bah, I have decided to just play the game and not be concerned about min/maxxing my characters. When have I ever been concerned about that before anyway? :lol:

[novicius]

Yep! :D :up:

For my Build ideas, I just look at the destination points that I want: I have a Templar (spellcaster) that I'm making into an Elemental Archer.

Very sub-optimal (I should magic-up a Ranger class, for example) but you can do it pretty early on. :up:

#nerds

[Cam]

I started a witch this morning and played for about an hour. One of my first sockets was a power to raise zombies. I was instantly like, "OK, she's going to be a necromancer." :lol:

[drew]

Yeah.... But, I hate researching reddit, trying out different builds, etc... I'd like to be able to figure it out on my own without having a path laid out in front of me. That seems pretty difficult to do in this game until you're 100+ hours in.

i.e. seems perfect for drew. ;)

:finger:

[Kchrpm]

Started a game as a duelist. The controls are so sloppy. Movement feels terrible, melee combat is just walking up to enemies and hitting a button and hoping it connects, then hitting it again.

Went back and restarted as a ranger. Movement is still terrible, but it doesn't really matter since you just kind of get in range and hold down the button until they die.

I presume the draw is with getting powers and then being zomg look at the crazy animation that happened when I stood there and pressed a button, and then oh no their crazy animation hit me so now I have to drink various potions because there was no way for me to avoid it.

I shall press the Uninstall button and watch that animation.

[Cam]

Agreed, the controls are dated. You get more varied attacks as you progress. I have been able to dodge attacks.

[novicius]

Wait, you thought this was an Action RPG Keith?? What part of the "Diablo-style" play description threw you? :lol:

[Kchrpm]

I have never played Diablo.

[novicius]

Two birds with one stone, then -- the Diablo series is just like this. :)

::

To others still playing or yet-to-play: the game is good at having you start out extremely tough and bad-assed and then ramping it up once you hit levels 25+. Seriously there were times where I thought that if the entire game is a cakewalk then why play? Where's the challenge?

Then I hit the Chambers of Sin and thought "uh-oh, I've built my guy all wrong." :lol:

[21Kid]

IMO, Diablo is more user friendly, with better controls.

[novicius]

I wouldn't doubt it -- but DIII is $30 (https://www.amazon.com/Diablo-III-Ultimate-Evil-Xbox-One/dp/B00KAEION6?th=1) whereas this is free, so...

[21Kid]

You get what you pay for! :finger: Just kidding. I've been wanting to give this one more of a try, but haven't had the time. :( I played for a few hours.

[novicius]

Well some annoying discoveries in addition to the fun:

1. You can't create a party consisting of any repeat characters. So if your friends have been working separately to each level up a Witch, those Witches cannot party together.

2. You can create a party consisting of characters on different Challenge modes. So my "Harbinger League" characters cannot play with Cam's Vanilla PoE 'toons. :angry:


League play (current league is Harbringer) lasts 3 months and every 3 months theres a new league with a new "gimmick" added in to keep things interesting. Current league ends in December. Once the league ends everything is transferred to Standard (character items inventory) and the new leauge starts.

When you start a new league you start fresh, no inventory ect. It keeps the game interesting for longer term players, and tbh, the best part of the game is the progression.

League play will always feature the newest changes and ideas before they are put into standard, current league offers new items and orbs/orb shards for instance.

Im not sure if they add older leauge gimmicks into standard or keep it vanilla, been a very long time since i played in standard...but in league play theyll usually take great ideas from past leagues and keep them in...

Also there is a ladder ranking in league play. Just an additional competative thing, i would imagine only a big deal in hardcore.

3. By extension, your Stash box cannot be shared between characters on different Challenge modes. So while you can fully stock-up new 'toons with your first characters' leftovers, nothing gets shared until the League ends, I guess? Ah well, there's more than enough drops in the game that it's not really an issue and the variety of items in this game is pretty damn impressive. I have yet to have a double of just about anything that isn't Common. :up: :up:

[Cam]

Re: 1.
I think I realized our problem was the league, not the character class. You have been making your characters in harbinger and I have been making standard characters. Only my first character was in harbinger.

Thanks for clarifying the leagues though.

[novicius]

Harbinger is fun and definitely adds intensity and even more drops. Too bad it splits the player base (for a short time anyway).

[novicius]

For a game with a level cap of 100, the first 10 levels can be ground up easily in a single sitting. :lol: :up:

[Cam]

Without even really trying, I've inadvertently made my duelist a murderer, duel-wielding cleavers. I am one-shotting most enemies and even bosses only last a few strikes. :eek:

[novicius]

Well as Destiny 2 has proven, the Cleaver is the deadliest weapon in the galaxy. :lol: :up:

I made a Hideout with Haku today. He gives out a Daily Mission now -- I tried it with my 15th level Maurader and died easily a dozen times!

[Cam]

I failed the daily mission, not because I died, but because I did not realize you are supposed to eliminate all three totems before the timer runs out. I did not even realize there were three.

I gained several levels today and I am still using the same gear I got several levels before that. I died once fighting a boss. He had some super attack that took me down faster than I could even figure out what was happening.

I am enjoying it. They are very generous with the loot, but most of it is garbage.

[novicius]

Yeah the loot drops are really crazy. Why give us this much garbage, I wonder?

Having fun soloing with a Duelist but he's hella weak compared to my Marauder. :lol:

I'll be on tonight with my Ranger. :cool: :up:

[Cam]

Played for a bit last night and...

...my level 36 duelist got to the "Trial of Ascendancy." I made a stupid mistake and failed out. I got caught between an enemy and a saw blade. :lol:

[21Kid]

My witch uses a fire totem (Thanks Cam!!) with 2 linked essences and 6 skeleton minions. I don't want to get my hands dirty! :lol:

[Cam]

I attempted the Trial of Ascendancy again this morning. I got absolutely slaughtered in the first boss fight. I thought to myself, "How did I survive this before?" :lol:

[Cam]

Good hackin' and slashin' with novi lately. :D:up: Thanks for being my wingman. I find this type of game oddly satisfying despite it's simplistic nature.

Despite feeling tired yesterday, I could not sleep last night. I played until about 2:00 a. m. with the marauder, who is now level 20. I found a superior woodsplitter, used a few blacksmith's whetstones to improve its quality to +20% (maximum), then applied a "Whispering Essence of Contempt." By some fluke, it became the most powerful weapon I've seen yet, by a long shot. It does 52-132 damage, including three types of elemental damage. I am chopping fools down with this baby. :hard: Named enemies only last a few chops. My duelist is level 36 and he's not doing this kind of damage.

I recommend that you try forging your own gear. It is not hard. Just remember that the quality affects the outcome.

[novicius]

Thank you Cam! :D

Yeah it's a fun, easy and satisfying little game. Great title to play while watching a show. I've been sick as a dog all week with the flu so fast-twitch games are not what I'm looking for right now. Fills the space nicely.

[21Kid]

Is that spoiler, end game stuff Cam?

[Cam]

No. Come to think of it, it's not really a spoiler. They just mention a mid-game event.

[novicius]

Lovin' the Whirling Blades gem on my level 36 Duelist Fencer. Paired with a Cold Damage Support gem, he's a "tough out" even when the screen is filled with baddies. :hard:

But I need to increase both his Elemental Damage defense and his Regeneration rate or he's gonna hit a hard wall of difficulty soon.

::

There was an "issue" in the past with big physical damage-dealing characters running into Mobs with the Reflect attribute. You'd end up one-shotting yourself to death! :lol:

[Cam]

Yeah, as I mentioned last night, my duelist is at a point in the game where most of the baddies are doing elemental or some kind of magic damage. My duelist seems low on defence. I feel I have a awesome evasion rating, but not good enough, obviously. I am struggling.

I looked through the achievements for this game. One of them is something to the effect of, "Have 40 minions summoned." 40! :eek: Although, my witch is on the way there. She can have about 22-23 minions summoned. Right now, my floating, flaming skulls only last long enough to get 10-11 summoned simultaneously. I could increase her passive summoning abilities, but I've been focusing on minion toughness.

[21Kid]

Sweet! I didn't realize it could get that high. I only have 6 right now. :( I normally don't need to summon all of them because my flaming tower :lol: takes care of most baddies.

[Cam]

Thanks to a support gem, my witch can get up to about 35 simutaneous minions; 7 zombies, 8 skeletons, 2 spectres, 1 frost golem, ~16 raging spirits and one more I can’t remember the name of. I’ll hit 40 yet. :)

[21Kid]

Wow! Nice! :cool:


P.S. Where do you get those gems? I almost unlocked a passive for one, but then realized that the items in my sockets probably weren't the same.

[Cam]

All were random drops, except one. I bought one from a vendor. I normally do not buy items, as the game drops SO MUCH STUFF, but I just happened to look at his inventory and it was a whole page of gems. :eek: It cost one Orb of Chance.

Come to think of it, I should go back and check all the vendors for minion gems. :D

[Cam]

Best thing about Animate Spectre: you can animate mini-bosses. They are pretty much indestructible by any normal enemy. :lol:

[novicius]

Your Witch has already surpassed your Duelist in terms of power. :lol: :up:

[Cam]

Yeah, but in a different way. While the minions do not hit that hard, when there is 20 of them beating on one enemy, they go down fast. :D I just finished act five. The final boss one-shotted me several times. :rolleyes: Minions wore him down eventually. I am not sure I could do that fight with a melee-only character. :rolleyes:

[Cam]

Jeez, my witch is getting lambasted now that she's into part two. :erm: I guess I need to do some leveling up.

Maybe the update made enemies more difficult?

[Cam]

Often I am getting damaged and I cannot even tell what is hitting me. :erm:

[novicius]

Reflect can be hitting you as it sounds like it's now a map mod.

Are you getting hit by any mortars? That's a power Rare monsters can have (Nemesis power).

[Cam]

Can reflected damage to my minions hit me? Like I said, Sometimes I cannot tell what is hitting me. Although, with so many minions and bad guys on the screen at the same time, I would not be surprised if some details get dropped, like magic animations. :shrug:

[novicius]

Not sure -- I thought that by using Minions, Traps & Totems you were safe from Reflect damage. Guess I'll find out! ;)

::

In other news, it was another good night for the Shadow Brothers! :rawk:

[Cam]

It's good fun!

Although, I'm wondering why there are classes if said classes can be played any way you like. We're both using the Shadow, but you built yours like a mage, while I made mine into an assassin. Adds variety? I suppose the real difference lies in the passive skills and what path you take.

It seems to me that the game makes you feel cock-diesel at first and gives a ton of drops. By the time you get into part two, the game is challenging with far less loot drops. Is it part of the developers strategy to get you hooked then maybe spend real money on the game?

[novicius]

Well the starting points are different on the Skill Tree -- so your build will naturally be stronger than mine since I have had to buy a lot of points to stretch up and over to Elemental Damage & Wands.

But yes, I've also read about people grousing about the lack of concrete differences.

[Cam]

At one point during a big fight between my ~30 minions and a group of enemies, there was a noticeable drop in the visual rendering quality. It did not slow down or drop frames, but it got pixelated. It went back to normal when the fight was over. That's the first time that has happened.

I'm at the point now that I can simultaneously summon/animate 8 skeletons, 7 zombies, 20 raging spirits, 2 spectres, 1 ice golem, 1 guardian and 1 weapon. That's 40, right? I haven't received the achievement yet. Maybe I'm doing something wrong or maybe one of those things does not count toward the achievement? Hmm...

The game is almost a cake-walk because of it. I can still get taken down pretty easy by enemies with spells. Of course, I get one-shotted numerous times during boss fights. :rolleyes: You can't stand still during boss fights because you will die. Since you can't do anything without standing still, you're pretty much screwed. :rolleyes:

[novicius]

I wasn't happy with the 662 DPS from my Shadow Wiz-kid last night so I reworked him -- and now have 850 DPS. :lol:

I mean it's a far cry from the 20K DPS the min-maxers get but hey, I'm still a noob. ;)

[Cam]

:cool:

I beat the first Trial of Ascendancy with my witch. She's level 55 and it's recommended to have level 35. The enemies were super easy, but the traps are still quite deadly. That was my third attempt with the witch. I attempted it twice with my level 46 duelist and was getting slaughtered in the first boss fight.

Since the Harbinger characters defaulted to Standard, I deleted my level 10 ranger and started a new ranger in Abyss league. Only did the first mission.

[novicius]

Lol I also started a new Ranger on Abyss! :lol:

[Cam]

I just discovered that you can't dual wield a sword in one hand and a wand in the other. Huh.

[novicius]

DELETED? ;)

[Cam]

I hovered over it. :P

I restarted a Scion too.

[novicius]

My new Abyss Ranger is up to level 30 now. Still rockin' the Wolverine Claws and enjoying it. :hard:

Defensive gems are few and far between; I've got an Arctic Armor gem and just picked up some sort of Heightened Group Evasion gem that gives some 150 pts evasion boost. :up:

Other than that, all I can think of is to stack as many Cold Element defensive percentages on my gear as possible.

[Cam]

I feel playing the Scion is challenging. She does not seem particularly good at any one thing, at least not yet. I went the bow route at first and that was tough. I restarted and focused on spell casting instead. I am not sure that is working either. It may get better at higher levels.

[novicius]

It's tough even at the outset?? No chance then, I'd reckon.

I deleted three 'toons last night, reorg'd my Stash and restarted my Witch in Abyss League. :up: I wanted to have her go either Fire or Lightning but DAAAYUM is Freezing Pulse straight-up overkill from Day 1! :lol: Tough to beat it -- Frost Pulse alone was giving me more DPS than Fireball + Elemental Support + Area Effect Support gems stacking!

Fireball does have Ignite keyword -- but monsters are still moving towards me while on fire. Freezing Pulse has the Chill & Freeze keywords which has a chance to stop them from advancing AND you can then get a chance to instant shatter them as well.

It's just too tough to overcome a Cold Build Mana-slinger. :D

[Cam]

It seems your shadow has surpassed mine in terms of damage output. Although, you seem to have a target on you when we play together. I seem to be able to evade hits better.

It seems you can't have two different golems summoned at the same time. I traded the chaos golem to my witch. Alas, she already had a frost golem that disappeared when I summoned the chaos golem. :(

[novicius]

It's the Frost Pulse gem, that's all. The thing is a ringer.

[Cam]

In single player, the boss fights are kind of a farce. They always have some super attack that one shots me and I have little chance to avoid it. Oddly, there is no consequence for dying during a boss fight. I simply respawn and keep attacking, dying and respawning. :erm:

[novicius]

Well if you're playing Abyss Hardcore league, you'd get bounced out to Standard with your first death.

No clue what the benefit/rewards in Abyss HC is tho'. Bragging rights? :lol:

[Cam]

I suppose you would just have to grind to get overpowered for the boss fights.

I have not tried hardcore league; not sure I will.

[novicius]

Yep -- PoE is kinda like Morrowind in that way: it's a sandbox.

I'm sure there are people that have their "system" for leveling up two or three dozen levels before they ever leave Act 1. :lol:

[21Kid]

How is Abyss different?

[Cam]

I think, but not sure: enemies are slightly tougher, plus random encounters with special enemies that are more challenging and drop better items.

[novicius]

Have you finished the game yet, Cam?

Ugh, this week has conspired to keep me away from the X -- but I'll be on tonight for a bit! :lol:

[Cam]

No, because I have been playing other characters. I played mostly my marauder and scion this week. I am by far the farthest along with my witch, but I don't remember how far exactly.

[21Kid]

Just started an Abyss character. Ooooh, Abyss rifts, that's a cool twist.

[Cam]

I got two crazy jewels from an abyss encounter. It just comes down to luck.

[novicius]

Totally -- tho' both Freezing Pulse and Frost Blades gems come up as options through the story.

Also you can buy a decent selection of gems from Nessa as well.

What class did you make, Kid? :)

[Cam]

...and why do you hate being online at the same time as me? :(

[novicius]

Lol this week has had me booked socially until late! ♡♡♡

[Cam]

It appears that I have beat the final boss with my witch, level 69. The fight was cheap, as predicted, just like every other boss fight. The final boss has multiple area-of-effect attacks that simply cannot be avoided in any way I could see. I had no hope of surviving the hits, as they one-shot me with full health and shield. I must have resurrected about 30 times. Ending was kind of anti-climactic.

I'll be honest, I skimmed over much of the dialogue in this game. At first I was making an honest attempt to read and listen to all the character interactions, but I felt it got boring. I became disinterested in the dialogue. I like the action though. Teaming up with buddies to play is always a plus. I like how you have options to play and build a character the way you like. There are some noticeable bugs, but not enough to bother me. At first, they rain loot drops on you. At higher levels, drops get scarce, but they don't matter as much. At a certain point, the loot drops do not get any better. At level 68 I was still getting rings and amulets that are for level five. :?

For a free game, it's pretty good. I certainly am getting my money's worth out of it and am enjoying it. :lol:

[novicius]

Congrats!! :D :up:

Yeah we've been shredding up through the game for Acts III & IV. Last night I slowed down to try and find my bearings in the story, listening to the (high quality) spoken narratives.

Some really good voice work in this free game! :up:

[Cam]

Agreed. Sorry if you feel like I have been hurrying us along. I will slow down.

[21Kid]

I made a Tank. After hearing about all of the one-shot kill bosses, I thought I'd try and build someone who can take some damage. It seems like dealing damage isn't a problem. But, taking it is.

[novicius]

There's some Life Leech perks on the lower left of the Strength side of the Perk Tree.

Additionally, if you can reach around (:D) to the Dexterity side of the Perk Tree, there's Blood Siphon & Blood Drinker. Then stock up on Armor and Elemental boost perks, I'd imagine.

Stack that on top of Regeneration & Heal-on-Hit gear. Cam can probably post further tips. :up:

[Cam]

Not really. I do not normally look very far along the skill tree from where I currently have points assigned. You could sit there and look at it for hours if you wanted to plan. I am not interested in doing that. Although, I specifically sought passive skills with my witch that boosted minions. That is the only time I actively looked for a specific thing on the skill tree. Even then, it was not a comprehensive search.

I am pretty successful at making my own good gear though. First, I pick up normal items that have “superior” in the name. Then, I add whetstones (for weapons) or scraps (for armour) to boost the quality to +20%, the max. Lastly, apply an essence to the item. Essences are random drops from named enemies. Most of the time you will end up with a pretty good piece of gear. It may not be as good as the one you currently have equipped though. You may want to save essences for when you really need a new item in a gear slot.

And yeah, boss fights are cheap. :rolleyes:

[Cam]

I should also add that the number of gem slots on an item should be taken into consideration before you attempt to modify it. The more, the better, obviously. There are orbs that can modify the number of, colour of, and links between gem slots, but you can save those orbs by starting out with an item with more slots.

[Cam]

Finished the Trial of Ascendancy with my marauder. He is now a juggernaut. :hard:

[Cam]

I was feeling bold, so I took my shadow through too. It was easier due to his higher level. He is now an assassin.

[21Kid]

They change class? OOOooooh. :D

[novicius]

Excellent work, Cam! :D

Sorry I haven't been on! :rawk:

[Cam]

Ascending a character does not mean much, really. You get a few extra passive skills.

I forgot to mention that my witch became a necromancer. You get to pick one of three ascendacnt classes.

[Cam]

I built my scion into a magic user, but she has no defense. She is getting stomped by bosses. :(

My juggernaut, on the other hand. is un-effing-stoppable. :? :lol:

[Cam]

Playing the marauder is like hitting the easy button. :twitch: He just walks through everything so far, level 39 juggernaut. My other characters quickly get stomped any time there are bosses nearby.

The game just crashed to dash for the first time.

[21Kid]

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

[Cam]

Of course, after I say that, I get to the fight with Innocence and had a really tough time. I think that was one of my most difficult fights yet. It took me about 20 minutes and 40 respawns to beat him. I find that odd considering that I have been walking through everything up to that point. I even beat the previous big boss without respawning. Seems like the balance is a bit off. :erm:

[21Kid]

Like that prophecy fight where we were both getting frozen and dying in 2-3 hits when we couldn't move.
But, before that and even well after that fight, I've been one-hit killing almost everyone except the bosses.

[Cam]

I've stopped trying to avoid attacks in boss fights. It does not do me any good and there is no penalty for respawning. :rolleyes:

I am close to the end of the game with my Juggernaut, but I have been playing my Scion a bit too. She deals a lot of damage now, but has no defence. I have come to the conclusion that I must focus on defence for all new characters. :rolleyes:

[Cam]

The game's balance is totally off, or maybe they made the game harder this week. Up to this point, except for boss fights, I have been nearly destroying everything in my way. I got to the Lunaris Temple with my juggernaut. Now, every named enemy is destroying me. :erm:

[21Kid]

I hear you. Even if the screen is full of 50 bad guys, I'm not even worried. Even if there are super baddies. I rarely even have to use a health potion. The only tough ones are the bosses. It makes it kind of boring, which is why I haven't played it lately.

Maybe I'll start up Diablo III again, at least you can increase the difficulty level on that one.

[novicius]

I haven't booted up the X for awhile now -- too busy in the evenings the last few weeks. :cool:

[Cam]

Why do you hate us, novi? :cry:

[novicius]

Not true! :D I'll be back on sometime next week.

[Cam]

I just did the Trial of Ascendancy with the scion. It seems a bit odd compared to the other characters. The scion basically ascends to any one of the beginning classes. I ascended toward the witch, since I was using her as a spell caster.

[Cam]

Where have my Path Pals(tm) been? :lonelygamer:

[Cam]

My scion is level 62 now. I started a play session and my XP bar got half-way to the next level. I beat a boss (after respawning a bunch of times) and I noticed my XP bar was back to zero and I was still level 62. After an Internet search about it, I read that you lose XP when you respawn. I did not notice that before.

I am enjoying this game, and you cannot beat the price, but when I have NO hope of beating a boss without respawning, there is a problem. I often get instantly obliterated by mini-bosses. :erm: I think they expect you to be teaming up with others. The game is noticably easier with two players and you can have up to six.

[novicius]

Sorry Cam, I've been sucked back into GTA V for awhile now. :(

[Cam]

I never even see you online anymore. :(

[Cam]

The league has been reset again. I spent an hour yesterday reorganizing my stash and selling stuff because it became overcrowded.

[Cam]

I tried this game for the first time in a while. It is frustrating. I will be just laying waste to everything on a level, then all of a sudden there’s this one named enemy that just slaughters me in two seconds. Now I remember why I stopped playing it. :|

[Cam]

I fired this game up recently. My bro and I have been teaming up. It's been long enough that I don't remember much about the story. I've been playing a duelist when my bro and I team up. I played a marauder a bit by myself.

[21Kid]

There was a story? :?:

Aren't they coming out with a 2nd one soon?

[Cam]

As much as Destiny has a story, I guess. :lol:

[Cam]

I played a bit with a templar. He became even more of a tank than my marauder.

I have been focusing more on assigning passive points to boost armour and health for survivability. I rarely get taken down now. If I do, it is simply because I was not paying attention.

My marauder has an area of effect attack that takes down entire armies of baddies in two swings.