Back at it in PoE: Anyone still play?

[Chadvoluted]

So, a couple of weeks ago, I fired up PoE on my new laptop. I hadn't played since 1.1, so it was a jarring experience, to say the least.

It looks like no one from the guild has played in a while, or at least accessed the Guild Stash in Standard.

If that's my fault for going MIA, I truly apologize.

Anyway, I normally play in the mornings, before going to work, and then on the weekends for a little bit.

I have a 75 Scion Frost Blades that I've done all content available up to Merc Labs (I tried once, and got obliterated by Argus, and a magic pack I was trying to kite, that I led to his room) I'll be finishing that up this weekend (Hopefully)

Other than that, I've been theorcrafting a stupid build for a duelist that I had sitting around on my character list. a Balefire dropped for me in a map, and then in the next map Repentance gloves dropped from an early trash pack, and then Mokou's Embrace from the boss. I'm taking it as a sign that I need to build this character.

So, over the next couple of days I'm going to get that fleshed out, and gemmed.

If anyone is around, or wants to pop in and say Hi, Add me IGN: Anoxtik.

[Lissa]

I haven't played in a few patches, but there's been huge changes since 1.1 till now as you have probably seen.

They've nerfed various things, buffed others, so it's practically a brand new game at this point for you.

[Chadvoluted]

It's been a lot of fun so far. I want to be surprised by some of the power creep, but I know that's how games stay fresh.

I was really pleased that I was able to turn some quest reward support gems that I had sitting in my stash into 40 Exalted Orbs, and I've made about another Exalt or so selling some nifty "Legacy" Uniques.

I'm by no means a crafter, but the new Master Crafters you can have in your Hideout (FREAKING HIDEOUTS!) are awesome, and I've used them a little.

Right now, the only thing that I don't care for in the game is the labrynth.

It's not hard. It's a pass fail. You either have the connection, computer, and a skill to allow you to skirt the traps, or you don't.
You either learn the boss, and don't stand in his garbage, and win, or you don't.

People thought I was a heretic or something when I pointed this out. Apparantly, "Uber Labs" is the rage, and everyone loves it. I'll run it to finish off my Ascendancy Tree (once I find the last Trial in a map), and then probably only run it once I'm high enough level that I can snooze a little on the boss.

Other than that, I love the changes they've made.

[Sir Krist]

Yeah the game is pretty awesome!

It feels a little rushed after act VI though or poorly thought out.

[Chadvoluted]

Yeah, Vi - IX felt disjointed, Some of the acts felt... Woefully short.

I think the thing I'm most frustrated with after playing for a month or so, is the new mapping system. I feel like some maps are almost impossible to find, since they can only drop from neighboring maps.

I've had to buy a few maps simply to get the bonuses.

[Lissa]

Yeah, Vi - IX felt disjointed, Some of the acts felt... Woefully short.

I think the thing I'm most frustrated with after playing for a month or so, is the new mapping system. I feel like some maps are almost impossible to find, since they can only drop from neighboring maps.

I've had to buy a few maps simply to get the bonuses.

Yeah, back when they were in beta, I noted that Act 6 was too long because it took too much from Act 2 and Act 7 wasn't long enough because there was so few areas from Act 2. Act 8 seemed to fit pretty well with Act 3. Act 9 seemed about right as well, although disjointed (too many branching paths to go down).

[Chadvoluted]

Here is what I'm up to as far as Characters.

Shoju's People

[Chadvoluted]

In the past two days, I have:

Completed Uber Lab.
Yay! I will never go back there. I do not find Lab to be an enjoyable time.

Completed Atziri.
I died, twice, during Atziri. I knew it was going to be tight on the Health Pool (I guess I'm kind of a Glass Cannon), and it was the first time that I ever stepped in there. I have PLENTY of DPS for the encounter, but I will admit that I'm rather sloppy at times with my movement skills, mainly because I only ever need to Whirling Blades away from a mob, not making sure that I need to get out of the way of ground effects in maps.

Part of my deaths was pure overconfidence. I destroyed the Oversoul, and the trio in under 30 seconds, and got full of myself, thinking that I was well above the danger threshold (and a little bummed at the same time that I was). The first round of Storm Calls brought me back to reality.

So now, at Level 90, I guess my plan is to keep plunging into the Atlas deeper. I'm clearing Tier 8 Yellow Maps (without terrible, horrible, awful mods) with ease right now, and building up my Tier 9 pool. I definitely plan to try and hit level 100, and keep upgrading my gear. I picked up a Starkonja's with a 40% Frost Blades enchant on it, so now I just need to re-arrange a few Bench Crafts so that I can still maintain capped Resists

[Lissa]

In the past two days, I have:

Completed Uber Lab.
Yay! I will never go back there. I do not find Lab to be an enjoyable time.

Actually, you probably will. The best helm enchants come from Uber Lab and you also get 2 more points (for 8 total) for your speciality.

[Chadvoluted]

I have all 8 of my ascendency points.

I just bought my BiS helm (Starkonja's) with the BiS head enchant (40% Frost Blades) on it for 3 Ex.

To never step foot back in there, that's 3 Ex well spent.

[MonTy]

I have all 8 of my ascendency points.

I just bought my BiS helm (Starkonja's) with the BiS head enchant (40% Frost Blades) on it for 3 Ex.

To never step foot back in there, that's 3 Ex well spent.

Congrats! That's a nice feeling, getting a BIS helm WITH the enchant.

I personally keep on falling off of the game in Softcore- so I've restarted in HC and I'm really enjoying it. Playing the Toxic Rain build but focusing on the chaos DOT. It's amazingly strong as soon as you pick-up a quill rain.

[Chadvoluted]

Thanks, it does feel really good to know that I have one less piece to replace.

I'm thinking that I may have my BiS Off Hand. Nothing that I've messed with has been as good DPS wise as Doryani's catalyst.

PoE is the first game that I've ever enjoyed trying to play semi glass cannon builds. I'd never be able to survive in HC. On the other hand, I do have a Shadow that I'm playing in SC that I've not died on yet, and I'm pretty sure that I can make it to at least Kitava before I die. (Innocence normally ends up as my first death, getting greedy)

My next order of business, is trying to figure out how to tell if Shaper / Elder items are worth anything. I've not found one that I would wear, but I have found a few pieces that I think are worth something.

My current conundrum is:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2238567

If I were going to do something with it, I'd probably think about trying to do an Ethereal Knives build out of it.

[Lissa]

It isn't so much that you'l directly find one that is good, it's the fact that they have some pretty scary affixes that are crazy good (like % life instead of flat # life, which you can still get as well). Combine Delve league's fossils with crafting and I've seen a couple of Shaper/Elder crafted items that were mirror worthy that people have linked.

Check POE affix and take a look at the affixes that come on Shaper/Elder items. Plus there's a couple crazy uniques from them as well.

[Bolty]

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/com...3_players/

Man this is hilarious

(For anyone who feels lost: Blizzard today announced that the next Diablo game is coming! Except that it's a mobile game developed by a Chinese company.)

[Lissa]

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/com...3_players/

Man this is hilarious

(For anyone who feels lost: Blizzard today announced that the next Diablo game is coming! Except that it's a mobile game developed by a Chinese company.)

Makes you wonder if the reason Morhaime retired is because he's seen the writing on the wall with the way Activision has been pushing the way Blizzard has been going and that A-B will turn into EA.

[Bolty]

Makes you wonder if the reason Morhaime retired is because he's seen the writing on the wall with the way Activision has been pushing the way Blizzard has been going and that A-B will turn into EA.

Does seem that way, yes. The old crowd that was laser-focused on making incredible games is long gone, and decision-making may be 100% focused now on generating revenue over all other things.

Diablo 3's RMAH made that clear to me in the Diablo space and I gave up on the series then. I'm too embedded to WoW to quit even though it's become pretty obvious their focus is on microtransactions and WoW Tokens, which is where they're making the money nowadays - they've admitted as much in shareholder meetings previously.

I think they've just become too big a company; after WoW brought in the billions, the upper management has likely shifted to a point where the soul is gone. It happens.

[Lissa]

Makes you wonder if the reason Morhaime retired is because he's seen the writing on the wall with the way Activision has been pushing the way Blizzard has been going and that A-B will turn into EA.

Does seem that way, yes. The old crowd that was laser-focused on making incredible games is long gone, and decision-making may be 100% focused now on generating revenue over all other things.

Diablo 3's RMAH made that clear to me in the Diablo space and I gave up on the series then. I'm too embedded to WoW to quit even though it's become pretty obvious their focus is on microtransactions and WoW Tokens, which is where they're making the money nowadays - they've admitted as much in shareholder meetings previously.

I think they've just become too big a company; after WoW brought in the billions, the upper management has likely shifted to a point where the soul is gone. It happens.

And in other news, A-B stock value drops after news from Blizzcon to the tune of 3.7 Billion.

[Chadvoluted]

I guess I'm not understanding why everyone is so angry about a Diablo Mobile game.

It's a mobile game. Mobile games aren't the devil. Is it "REAL" Diablo? Don't know, but probably not. But, I'm not surprised that A-B would decide to cash in on the Mobile market, which speaking from a monetary / corporate decision making process, is a very large, very profitable market, that Blizzard specifically has done little to capitalize on, outside of Hearthstone.

Complete honesty? I'm going to check out the D:mobile. If it's even passable as a time killer, I'd consider paying money for it, depending on the money.

In PoE, I've shut off General chat. Most of the Diablo trashing that goes on in general sounds more like entitled internet whiners, angry that blizzard would dare sully their name, with "Mobile", and that this is a complete slap in the face to fans of Diablo.

I guess I'm not a big enough fan, or a real enough fan, or whatever. I didn't think that it was as big of a failure as everyone else, and I totally understand why Blizz would go for a non card game in the mobile market (especially considering the recent backlash to the way Hearthstone has been going)

[Chadvoluted]

Incredibly disappointed by the decision to move Delve to the Core Game. It is the single least enjoyable league I've ever played.