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OFFICIAL Path of Exile (Discussion)

WhiteNoise said:
I started playing this last weekend. I'm not sure how I missed this title. I think I assumed it was a straight up PVP game which I sometimes avoid.

It is a bit much to take. The passive tree alone is....alarming. I'm still trying to figure everything out but I feel that I'm getting there. The game is super fun.
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Oh, you haven't got to the part where the game punishes you for making the wrong choices.
This isn't like casual RPGs where any build will get you there and you can farm later for better gear. No sir. This is a game where you spend at least half your skill points to get life from the tree, you max out all your resists (well, good luck getting chaos into non-negative numbers) and then you still rely on reflexes not to get one-shot.
The only bad part is that while many uniques are build-defining, you'll also never get them to drop for you. And that forces you into either trading or building your chars around what the RNG gods throw your way.
But it's still a good game beneath all that.
 
I've been doing a lot of reading on builds. It can be overwhelming for sure. Knowing I can't completely respec makes me realize I have to be smart about my build. I know I can get refund respec books and such but I do not know if it is possible to really repec a character completely or not.

I am at this time trying to figure out a good build for my witch. I think I'm on the right path but I can see this taking a lot of time. Hopefully the game keeps me occupied and interested.
 
WhiteNoise said:
I've been doing a lot of reading on builds. It can be overwhelming for sure. Knowing I can't completely respec makes me realize I have to be smart about my build. I know I can get refund respec books and such but I do not know if it is possible to really repec a character completely or not.

I am at this time trying to figure out a good build for my witch. I think I'm on the right path but I can see this taking a lot of time. Hopefully the game keeps me occupied and interested.
Click to expand...
The game can definitely get overwhelming. I think what made it easier for me was to realize that my Ranger was screwed up beyond recovery, barring a complete reset, and I'd be best finding something else I enjoyed, and restarting the ranger.

I have seen several posts out "in the wild" of people recommending, just like pancakes, create a throw-away character first. Something to jump in, figure out what the game is like, and some of the basic mechanics of everything. Don't sweat your first toon. Pick a class you might enjoy, and go out and pound/slice/puncture/melt your way thru an Act or 3. Once you get the swing of things, start a new toon, and see what that one does. Around the third toon or so, you should know enough to avoid the major mishaps, and should have had tons of fun seeing the different ways you can destroy the mobs around you :). Then the real fun starts :).

As for "respec", the developers have made changes in the past which are so far-reaching that they've enable a full Skill Tree reset. You'll get a notice when you log in that this has occurred, and also if you go into the skill tree, it will pop up and warn you that allocating any points will remove your "free" respec. On an even more rare occasion, it will force you to respec if they've made such changes in the skill tree that your previous build doesn't exist any longer. I'm hoping for one of those for my ranger sometime this year, but I'm not counting on it. I just finished Act 10 this morning, and so my mage (witch) will be running maps from here forward. I'll pick up the level 15 Ranger sitting in my slots, and start "fresh" with her, see what she can do.

Good luck, and post in here if you need anything. The forums on PoE are very active, but like most game forums, they have their share of trolls and the like. Good Hunting, Exile!

edit: Something to note, especially on the witch and a few other classes, you may be headed one direction (say, Ice specific?), and suddenly pop up 1 or 2 items that are so powerful in another direction that it's impossible to ignore (like chaos or fire). For the first couple of times out, I doubt you'll be so far over-extended that you can't change directions, but, I always kept a few skill points in reserve at lower levels, since they come so quickly, just in case I want to head another way. Suddenly figuring out that you can load up a Skill Echo, and toss in frenzy charges for a machine-gun firing of Ice Pulse can be literally a game-changer for you. It sucks finding that "perfect gear" and realizing you won't have enough skill points to reach the beneficial stuff for 10 levels.

Also, something that a lot of characters (myself included) fall into early on, is ignoring health points on the skill tree in favor of "flash". It's fine to play around with your first few characters, but don't let that get in the way of knowing that when you get "serious", a lot of those flashy little nodes will be sacrificed for "4% increased maximum health" x20

edit 2:

Here's a pretty solid Witch beginner guide. He talks about a lot of things I'd ignore early on, like setting up your own "store" for selling things. However, once he gets to actually leveling the toon, it's solid. Check it out for nothing other than ideas if you get a sec :)

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1147951
 
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With my witch build I am focusing on my minions. So far it has been awesome playing the witch with my undead zombies and flaming skulls. I'm nearing the end of act 1 and she blows through everything really well at this point. I have a buddy that is playing with me and he is duelist. I tend to kill everything quickly and sometimes before he can even get into the mix.

I know as I learn the game I will get better but my goal is not top gear, best build ever. My goal is just to have fun. I'm not super competitive in these games so my witch doesn't have to be perfect. As long as I'm having fun I'm good.

My current build looks like this: https://poeplanner.com/AAsAADUACwMA...c3LiTKPqCx9P7qH1akWqspwidrhps2QsqmPqAAAAAAAA=

I marked out my main goals at this point which include: Lord of the dead, puppet master and gravepact. So far I have Lord of the dead and I'm working down towards gravepact but I am not there yet nor have I made it to puppet master yet. My character is L12.
 
WhiteNoise said:
I tend to kill everything quickly and sometimes before he can even get into the mix
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Such is life with the witch at lower levels. I had no issues blowing thru content with my witch and minions build until I got into the 60's and started looking at end game content. Then she was just a glass cannon and I needed help from other players/friends to get thru. I think my witch is lvl76 or 78 and I screwed up my points tree. Just waiting for a full respect now and playing other toons. Looking at my duelist or building a ranged toon.
 
I actually expected something like this. Usually in these types of games the early levels are easy and bring me into a false sense of security but then later on I discover just how shit my build really is. lol

I do enjoy the minion build so far and hope it works out well enough. I don't mind depending on others to an extent as playing in a party is how these games should be played. I have my one friend playing with me now and another thinking about trying it out.

I should check my guild too. Sheesh I haven't checked in with them for a very long time but I bet we have a group playing. hmmm Off to the guild site.
 
WhiteNoise said:
I've been doing a lot of reading on builds. It can be overwhelming for sure. Knowing I can't completely respec makes me realize I have to be smart about my build. I know I can get refund respec books and such but I do not know if it is possible to really repec a character completely or not.

I am at this time trying to figure out a good build for my witch. I think I'm on the right path but I can see this taking a lot of time. Hopefully the game keeps me occupied and interested.
Click to expand...
Let me get this out of the way quickly: your first 2-3 builds will suck. But go ahead and experiment, that's the fastest way to learn.
And about respecs, GGG drops the ban hammer every 3 months or so and every character gets a full respec when that happens.

(I see now that I'm just repeating what @Ahhzz already said. But it's true.)
 
@bug and @Ahhzz have said it best build 2 or 3 toons and play the game. When you find a style or mechanic that you like go build a toon around that. My witch I used guides, forums and what other players were telling me. I dropped minions and went cold/lighting. With the latest respect I was not paying attention and screwed it up. She still hits hard but totally dependent on others to get thru the maps. I would love to finish her and get some more end content going but it is looking like I have to grind up a melee toon for survivability. :) I maybe on tonight it has been a few days since I logged on.
 
One other thing worth mentioning is that no one toon can usually handle everything. It's just how the game is made. So to really get into the game, you're going to need 2-3 toons anyway. Thus having several as your test bed will not be lost in the end.
 
I currently have 4 chars going. The two I spend the most time with is the Ranger and Witch (both around the same level at this point.) The Ranger is great. It wasn't that great early on in act 1 but after figuring out the build I'm going for I have found that I can mow down packs of enemies quickly.

It's a toss up between these two classes for me.

I didn't know they do a full respec every 3 months or so. That is great news actually.


Question: I noticed that at higher levels people use a map stash tab or something? To collect maps? Can someone explain what this is about?
 
WhiteNoise said:
I currently have 4 chars going. The two I spend the most time with is the Ranger and Witch (both around the same level at this point.) The Ranger is great. It wasn't that great early on in act 1 but after figuring out the build I'm going for I have found that I can mow down packs of enemies quickly.

It's a toss up between these two classes for me.

I didn't know they do a full respec every 3 months or so. That is great news actually.


Question: I noticed that at higher levels people use a map stash tab or something? To collect maps? Can someone explain what this is about?
Click to expand...
I recommend 3 things. 1, don't buy any special tabs for a while. 2, once you decide to buy, WAIT for the weekend stash tab sales, which happen very regularly. 3, the only one I would consider buying 1st, is a currency tab. But I would get that with a stack of premium tabs. The other guys may have other input :)
 
currency, essence, divination, map tab and one standard stash tab for 30$ with Christmas and weekend tab sale. 5 coins left for later.
 
WhiteNoise said:
I currently have 4 chars going. The two I spend the most time with is the Ranger and Witch (both around the same level at this point.) The Ranger is great. It wasn't that great early on in act 1 but after figuring out the build I'm going for I have found that I can mow down packs of enemies quickly.

It's a toss up between these two classes for me.

I didn't know they do a full respec every 3 months or so. That is great news actually.


Question: I noticed that at higher levels people use a map stash tab or something? To collect maps? Can someone explain what this is about?
Click to expand...
Yeah, well, your chars will hit a wall later on in the campaign (it used to be Act 3 Merciless, I don't know where it is now that we have 10 acts instead), another wall when trying to do the masters' missions and yet another one when you'll start mapping. Depending on how you play, the last two may not come in that order.

Maps are this game's end-game. Consumable drops that will open portals to (wait for it) maps that are higher level than the campaign ones. On top of that they can come with various modifiers (just like items, they can be white, blue, yellow or brown). And they come with bosses that are based on various campaign bosses only more dangerous. Some of them are dangerous enough that no build kills them more than once, to get their bonus.

And I second the "don't spend early" advice. If you don't absolutely know you need it, then you don't. You will most likely need 2 or 3 packs of stash tabs (probably premium), but beyond that, it's really up to you. Also, as a minor side-note, do not hoard skill gems. Most of them can be bought later on and they're even leveled up for you a bit. Do keep quality gems though, when you have a bunch worth 40 quality, you can vendor them for a Gemcutter Prism. A Gemcutter Prism and a level 20 gem can then be vendored for level 1 gem having 20 quality. Getting 20 quality the other way would cost up to 20 Prisms.
 
@WhiteNoise my witchs name is Buddigurl or Eveldoge , if you want to add friends same for @bug or anyone else on PoE here :)
If you need anything or looking for something let me know I maybe able to help.

edit DO we have a tpu guild on PoE? :)
 
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@flmatter
I'll add you when I get on. I forget my ign but it is something along the lines of Jessirella or some crap. I picked a random name since my char is a gal.
 
I believe the account name is needed to add a friend, not the char's name. I'll check mine and post it here. I play by myself (mostly because of lack of time), but if you spot me online I may be able to part with some gear ;)
 
flmatter said:
@WhiteNoise my witchs name is Buddigurl or Eveldoge , if you want to add friends same for @bug or anyone else on PoE here :)
If you need anything or looking for something let me know I maybe able to help.

edit DO we have a tpu guild on PoE? :)
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you should find me as Ahhzz_POE (original heheh). Tap me if you find me, and if there's something I have that might be helpful, I'll be glad to send it your way.
Don't think we have a TPU guild, unfortunately, not very many of us here that I know of play it. Might not be a bad idea to create one, if for no other reason, than to throw things that really won't sell, but might be useful to starting players :)
 
You can find by Character's name, I have Ahhzz_POE in my list. Now whenever he is on with an alt toon I can see him.... :cool:
I just started Eveldoge as a shadow. Wow this game is slow in the beginning, meaning attacks and such. Eveldoge in the abyss league not the normal but less than hardcore. My hardcore toon is only lvl5 hahaha.
 
bug said:
I believe the account name is needed to add a friend, not the char's name. I'll check mine and post it here. I play by myself (mostly because of lack of time), but if you spot me online I may be able to part with some gear ;)
Click to expand...

The char name can be used. I used the search feature in social to locate my buddy's char name and friended him. Now all my chars see him when he is logged on.

I meant to add flmatter yesterday but once I logged in I completely forgot. lol I will add all of you tonight for sure.
 
In that case, my chars are creatively named _First, _Second, _Third and _Fourth. I'm mostly playing _Fourth these days.
 
WhiteNoise said:
I started playing this last weekend. I'm not sure how I missed this title. I think I assumed it was a straight up PVP game which I sometimes avoid.

It is a bit much to take. The passive tree alone is....alarming. I'm still trying to figure everything out but I feel that I'm getting there. The game is super fun.
Click to expand...

Don't fuss over bad choices. Make a lot of bad choices = learning curve. When a character cannot be saved from these bad choices through your free respec points (you get them as you progress through the game), DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT use Orbs of Regret to unlearn passive skills. Just roll a new toon, and make better choices. All those different gems you get are actually CURRENCY, so don't waste it.

Every new toon will make levelling easier, and will shine new light on the effects of your choices = faster learning curve. Also, refer to page 1 of this thread there are some pretty meaty posts in there with lots of tips (from me and others).

The passive tree, and classes in this game are 100% fluid, just consider what type of build you want, what type of defense layers you will use (see page 1), and use this https://poeplanner.com/ to Search the tree to see where most of the nodes you need for defense are situated. Then take a look at class specializations and see which one fits your intended playstyle best = that's the class you need. What you want to prevent is having to go to different far corners of the passive tree, other than that, its very free-form.

Oh and if you cant choose, pick a Scion. Jack-of-all-trades, dead center in the tree, with some very strong nodes/clusters nearby. She also has a 'light' version of each class spec.

As for all those skill gems: if you need gems at the beginning just roll one of each class and play the first few quests, you'll then be able to access/buy/obtain most of what you want.
 
bug and flmatter added

Ahhzz_POE comes up as not existing.
 
Chase me down if you need something, I have a wide selection of gems (6 tabs), and way too many odds and ends for alts that I'll never really play anyway :)
 
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