Path of Exile free to play in about six hours.

[LochnarITB]

I haven't used any of my Q gems for GCP's yet. Mainly, because I'm not sure what is good, and I should save, and what isn't.

Obviously, I'm using my Q Power Siphon, and my Q Conductivity, but I also have ...
a bunch of quality'd gems

Wow, my gem luck really sucks. I doubt I've found close to half that number. Is there some trick or secret locale for finding/making gems with quality on them? Am I missing some way to improve their quality, other than a gemcutter?

[shoju]

I turn over every bolder, open every chest, check every bone pile, zap every corpse, break every pot.

[LochnarITB]

I turn over every bolder, open every chest, check every bone pile, zap every corpse, break every pot.

Yeah, me too. That's a big part of this kind of game, for me. Open everything you can, break everything breakaly (like that word? ), roll anything rollable and ALL FOG OF WAR MUST DIE!

[MonTy]

Gems are usually 1-4 chaos for 5% quality. 10% quality can be 2-3 gcp, 15% 3-5 GCP, 20% can be around 8-10 GCP.

But really it all depends on the gem. Popular ones like reduced mana can go for more.

Did you guys see the exciting news? Public party options for non-ffa loot: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/392880 . The lead designer also teased us with a new orb called Eternal Orb.

[shoju]

Sooooooooooooooooooooo Lenny let me use an Exalt to try it out on my chest.

I got trolled by a thorns roll of 3.

[MonTy]

Sooooooooooooooooooooo Lenny let me use an Exalt to try it out on my chest.

I got trolled by a thorns roll of 3.

You mean me It always happens to your first exalt. Now that is out of the way you'll have some good ones in the future.

[LennyLen]

Yup, definitely wasn't me. I've only found one exalted in my near-year of playing and I'm holding on to it firmly.

[shoju]

Whoops! Sorry about that. I knew who gave it to me, and spaced when I got here.

[MonTy]

and spaced when I got here.

Explains a lot of your other posts! Just kidding...

Ran my first map this morning with my Leap Slam Duelist. It went well, but for being a leap slam character I have about 1k health less than I'd like. Sitting at 3.7k and I'm dipping to 500-1000 quite often. Only problem is I'm not close to any health nodes and I need to get Unwavering Stance to avoid stuns ASAP (but need 4/5 points to get there). So the next ten levels will be rough going, unless I group with people such as yourself with tons of minions to soak up damage

[shoju]

Well, I hope to be around later, and have a few maps we can run, or docks, or catacombs, or *shudders* piety runs (I hate her so much)

I think that my children have learned their lesson, and wont be trying to teach each other how to handle home plate tagging / sliding / collisions. Now.... If I can find a way to get the boys to not anger their sister....

[shoju]

Had a good time running maps with MonTy yesterday. Didn't pick up anything "amazing" for my Witch, but had a good time for sure. Also had a blast on my little Power Siphon Witch. I'm still just cruising along, having a good time. I just finished Killing Oak, who was WAY Easier than Kraitin. I'm unsure if I'm going to kill Alira or not. I don't need the resists, and the plan is still to go CI, so the mana would actually come in handy. I'm thinking I'm going to snag that, and call it done. Then, I'll go to the Vaal Pyramid, and see how hard I fail in there. That is going to be the first real challenge for the character i think.

[MonTy]

Had a good time running maps with MonTy yesterday.

Yes, it was great. I didn't have to hit my health potion every few seconds as I'm used to when I'm the sole target of all the mobs. Nice having around all those meatshields! I'm glad my Infernal Blow wasn't too much of a pain exploding those targets, it's really great for my build.

And yea, Power Siphon is great. I leveled one to the 50s and it was really strong. I just got tired of a mana based character, but I plan to try him again one day. Most people say not to level as one, so I'm surprised you're liking it already. It really starts to shine in the 50+ range. But I used it while leveling as well and never had a hard time aside from needing four mana potions.

[shoju]

I've been playing pretty conservatively on the POwer Siphon, but I have to say, in the Vaal Ruins, it was a great rush to open a door, see a bunch of Vaal Fallen, and just unleash with my LMP'd Siphon, and see lots of culling strike explosions.

[shoju]

OK guys, I need some advice. I have picked up a few really cool things lately, and I'm unsure what to do with them. First. I have a shield.

It's a Laminated Kite Shield. It's Ilvl69. It's already 3s, It would just need a fusing or 100 thrown at it to 3l.

Innately, it has +16% Resists. It ended up rolling
+53 Mana
+13 to all Elemental Resists.

At least in my book, It's freaking awesome It's a caster shield all the way right now, My question is........ Would YOU regal it? I mean, if it kept rolling Caster stuff, it could end up awesome. Heck, I'd even Consider using it if it kept going. It's ilvl68. I'm wavering. Problem is, I'm sitting on just 1 regal at this point, So I'm trying to figure out what to do. (If you want to see it, follow the link below

Second. I got this nifty chestpiece. It's a Sharkskin Tunic. It's only 4s, 2l. But, it rolled +92 Life, and +27 Chaos Resist. That was pretty astounding. Would you try and sell this? Would someone want it to try and craft it up? (If you want to see it, follow the link below.)

Now.... On top of all that, I ended up with a new map. I'm not sure if I want to try and run it, or if I'm scared of it. It's a level 67 Cemetary Map. I chance most of my maps, since I seem to always have ~20 orbs of chance around. So. Here it is:

• Level 67
  
• Item Quantity +93% (this is what has me interested)
  
• Increased Monster Variety (This has me a little nervous.... Last time I ran this, increased monster variety, was just lots of undead sucky stuff, and lots of summoners.)
  
• Players are cursed with Vulnerability (eh? Ok? Minions don't end up with that.)
  
• -21 Player Resists. (Sure. Still doesn't hit my minions, and my zombies, have a resist gem on them)
  
• Monsters Fire 2 additioinal Projectiles (OH HELL. KILL MY MINIONS WHY DON'T YOU, BIG FREAKING JERKS)
  
• Unique Boss deals 30% more damage, and attacks 25% faster (Yes. Let's Kill My Minions some more.... Because that's fun.....)
  

So. Would you run it? Or, chaos it? (If you want to see it, follow the link below)

Finally, I need someone, to help me. I've collected a bunch of belts over my time playing, and I don't know what I should keep. I just use them as I can, but I don't know what I should bother keeping. If you could help me weed out what I should just ditch, I'd appreciate any opinions.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-th.../#p1114180

[LochnarITB]

I always feel like I'm ignoring your questions but I'm afraid my advice would be worse than none at all. When I get a nice piece of kit, my thought process is "Oh, that must be better so I'll use it." I'm sure I've downgraded my toon's equipment more than once.

[shoju]

The big reason I ask about the tunic, is because I have the Ranger that I have been playing off and on. I'm really enjoying the character, as long as I don't play it for long stretches. I'm in the mid 30's, and on the march to kill piety for the first time Going for the "Evasion" route, has still been enjoyable gameplay, and I don't see myself giving it up soon, but because I'm going Evasion, I'm pretty much going to need to make sure I have very high Chaos Damage. This tunic, gives me a ton of life (something I'm shooting for), and a pretty healthy % of Chaos Resist.

My thought was, if I regal it down the road, say.... when I have more regals, it would then have three mods. 2, I know are really good. Then, I'd have a piece that might last until I get into mapping, maybe, or until I can strap on an evasion piece I find with another character. But then, if I do regal it, and the mod sucks, well then the regal was wasted, and it's really no better than the magic item I found anyway.

Tough Call.

[LochnarITB]

OK, this might be worse than no advice at all but I wouldn't regal the shield. I took a look at my witch's shield. It has 16/14% with life instead of the mana, but it also has fire and lightning resist and reflect damage. It was crafted. How is your stock of orbs of chance and alchemy? I think you'd be better off finding/buying grays and rolling those, which is how I got the shield. I'd be more likely to regal the tunic for a ranger. My witch is hurting for chaos and I wouldn't expect my ranger will be any luckier.

[shoju]

I ran some incredibly terrible maps last night. I ran a level 66 crypts map that just kept destroying me. It had patches of burning ground, and these mobs that would drop more burning ground on death, and the sin lord guys who cast flammability.

I died. more than I wanted.

I then ran a Cemetery map that dropped so few blues and rares I was pissed I had spent the currency to roll it. I ended up hauling out 4 loads of white items, because it was 1 load of rares and currency, 1 load of blues, and...... that was it.

I then ran a tropical island map that went very well. Even gave me another tropical island map (/yawn, but still another map).

I took a break then, and played my ranger. Gravicious -> Piety -> Cruel. I gave up on puncture. It just isn't enough damage, the bleed isn't good enough. I swapped over to Frenzy full time. I have a Frenzy + Added Fire + Mana Leech + Life Leech, a Frenzy + GMP, and a Rain of Arrows + Life on Hit. as my main attacks. I'm probably going to go

Frenzy - Single Target
Rain of Arrows - AOE
Poison Arrow + Ranged Attack Totem
Projectile Weakness
and see about sneaking in an aura or two. Not sure how many I can run, since I'm going total Evasion. Which, at least so far, has been a totally laughable experience with Rain of Arrows + Life on Hit for AoE.

I want to get back to my little PS witch, but I'm prepping for my least favorite part of the game. Vaal. I hate the Pyramid. I hate that fight. I have to get in the right mood to play that, and right now, I'm just not feelin' it.

I'm still torn on what to do with that chest piece, but I still have ~20 levels to decide. I also rolled a nice thicket bow I found on my Summoner, so I have that waiting as well.

What do you guys do with your skill gems? I have 3 tabs almost completely full now... I'm just not sure what I should do with them, especially since the gem market SUCKS

[shoju]

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-th...347/page/1

A Preview of Patch .11.

• I'm really nervous about them screwing around with ES. Mainly because I'm an ES user? I understand that they are reducing monster damage, but.... Color me worried. I like that they are trying to rebalance things, I'm just a little nervous about the results. Probably because they don't talk %'s on the reduction yet, just that it's being reduced. I like being able to plan.
  
  
• I HATE WITH THE FURY OF A THOUSAND SUNS their "solution" to the fusing problem. Hey! Let's introduce another ridiculously rare, and unbelievably tedious to find, and soul crushingly expensive orb, so that you can try to get that 6 link! I officially couldn't care less about 5l or 6l now. It's obvious (looking at how much I play, and the currency I've had) that I'm not going to be getting a 5L/6L unless it drops that way, and I craft from there. 1500 fusings? I've not even seen 50 fusings, and I've played one character to 71, 2 more into the mid 50's, and a host into the 30's.
  
  
• The full reset is also going to be a blessing and a curse. i'm going to have to go to the site, and map out my current build, do the changes, hit the full reset button, and then go back and painfully input it one by one. It makes me wish there was an easier way to handle that.
  
  
• the new Anarchy league sounds VERY interesting to me. I dig that. I might try to do that.
  
  
• Challenges. I like where this is heading.
  
  
• Item Allocation changes. I've been thinking about it. I like it. I might not group randomly ever again, but this at least leaves the door cracked to think about it.
  
  
• Mini Life Bars. As long as they don't degrade performance too much, I'm in love. Yes Please. Bonus points if I can do it with a hotkey (enable/disable)
  
  

[LochnarITB]

What do you guys do with your skill gems? I have 3 tabs almost completely full now... I'm just not sure what I should do with them, especially since the gem market SUCKS

Vendor. I really hate doing it and I really wish there was something better to use them for. Even giving all gems a 1% quality, so you could combine 40 for a gemcutter, would be better than the worthless recipes they currently have for non-quality gems. I've managed to keep my gems to a little over one page by only keeping a max of 2 for each skill I get and have thought about making that a single.