AtlAg05 said:

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I do hope they make the really big maps smaller, some took a while to find the bosses in

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Yeah or add in a few more checkpoints. I had one map where I lost over 15 mins of time and had to rekill all the mobs due to a random death. Turned out I was right next to the checkpoint for the boss and died like 3 packs short. Almost gave up the game at that point. That spires map is especially bad about this and takes forever to explore.

OMG. Love early game bugs.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14NbYLrexX/

New patch notes already released. Some great changes coming:

Cromagnum said:

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OMG. Love early game bugs.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/14NbYLrexX/

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Lol that's hilarious

Path of spreadsheet!

While I appreciate the loot drop rate being not as silly as the Legendary Loot Pinata that is Diablo 4, which largely nullifies the feeling of excitement when you find something good because it happens so often... the loot drop rate in POE 2 goes too far the other way.

I am at the end of Act 3 and I think I have seen 1 orange item drop, and of course it was not suitable for my class. Even the useful Rare/Yellow drops do not seem to fall very often, nor do the crafting materials drop very frequently. The crafting is RNG for the stats, meaning you might use all your mats and still not get a great result.

Other option is to check the merchants every time you are in town in hopes they happen to have a useful item, which is few and far between, or spend all your gold (which does not come very easily), on gambling at the RNG item merchant, which more often than not results in you spending all your gold and *maybe* getting one semi-useful item.

The net result is progression feels slow, which is not necessarily bad, but it feels like it could be bumped up a tad to make it feel more rewarding. At this point, the last bosses in Act 3 feel like a gear check more than anything else, and I find my motivation to grind maps in hopes of better items/materials waning.

All part of being Early Access and needing fine tuning.

I definitely agree. I'm a level 45 warrior and almost finished with A3. I had a yellow hammer I made around level 11 that I used until around level 25. I then replaced it with a level 23 hammer, which I'm still using now. I should have at least had 4 different weapons in that timeframe, as opposed to 2.

I also do not want the loot pinata, like D4, but I would like to be replacing my gear more often than that.

But if you look at the patch notes, they are responding to a lot of this stuff very quickly, without overcorrecting, so I have hope they will make this better.

I do like the difficulty of the game and hope that doesn't change too much.

For sure I have faith they will make the needed adjustments and find the sweet spot. The devs have a successful track record from POE1 of being able to make a game that lasts for years and years. The core of the game is great. I love the overall difficulty and pace of the game, and it is beautiful. Just some tweaks needed to really fine tune things.

I think they will always struggle with the loot pinata vs not enough loot because everyone has a different opinion on that sweet spot on loot drops. I've just been crafting gear as I go to get what I need. I will worry about top level gear if I grind to that point. So far it's been fun, except for the trials. Those suck. I may just find a build that doesn't require ascension on the next char. My char is fine for now but if I run into an immune to fire char in higher levels, it will not be pleasant.

It is definitely a difficult problem with a game the size and complexity of POE 2. It is a delicate balance. I hope, and am confident, they will approach it in minor incremental changes and measuring the results rather than making large sweeping changes.

The loot is still way too low. Im still using the same rares from level 4-8 at like lvl 18 because not a ****in thing has dropped. Every upgrade was bought from a merchant or upgraded from a magic item using a consumable.

Lathspell said:

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New patch notes already released. Some great changes coming:

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Those beetles are no joke! So many times yesterday I almost got swarmed. I kind of like how much of a pita they are.

Great to see them add checkpoint teleportation - should make it great to get back across these large maps.

FatZilla said:

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The loot is still way too low. Im still using the same rares from level 4-8 at like lvl 18 because not a ****in thing has dropped. Every upgrade was bought from a merchant or upgraded from a magic item using a consumable.

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Yeah. I found a level 30ish crossbow that adds an extra grenade, plus some other good affixes. I have a feeling I'm stuck with that one for a long while.

I'm level 46 and have had the same weapon since around level 25, so decided to spend a lot of gold gambling in cruel difficulty to find a weapon. Got a hammer with +3 to melee skills and really needed a + to physical damage modifier, so I used a chaos orb because that's all the freaking currency I had... and out of 6 modifiers on that rare weapon, it removed my +3 to melee skills.

**** that. I'm rage quitting for the night.

Apparently the best way to get good gear is through trading, but I have no idea how it works in POE.

Yeah I am trying to figure that out as well. Seems like you can get REALLY good gear for 1 exalted orb off the trading website. I'm still not 100% sure how to do it though. I need to figure out if I am going to change over to cold sorc. Afraid I'm going to spend all my money moving over for it only to get nerfed immediately. It seems pretty broken.

I also need to spend my 300 coins on stash tabs at some point

Been out of the loop for a couple of days traveling and I'm glad I didn't spend my gold like I mentioned in the post above. Looks like they nerfed all cast on X skills last night which kills frost sorc. Id have been pissed if I spent all my gold to respec to that lie I intended to on Tuesday

There is an official poe2 trading website, you can search through all the items listed and send a message directly to the person in game to trade. You get invited to their hideout to initiate the trade.

So the auction house is not in game? Bummer. Using 3rd party sites for trade in D4 was often more of an annoyance than it was worth

But I thought there weren't hideouts in POE2, yet.

Okay. So, I only played about 6 hours or so of POE, ever. A friend of mine was a huge fan of the game and mentioned how important trading was.

I went to pathofexile2.com and selected the Trade section. Am I to understand that POE2 is basically just a grinding game to farm Exalted orbs to then spend on the items you need?

That doesn't seem fun at all. I want to experience that feeling of finding great items to use. Not grinding for exalted orbs or items I don't need to sell for exalted orbs so I can buy the items I want.

Really not a fan of that.

For some reason people liked that about Diablo 2 for 20 years, but yeah never finding one item for your character yourself starts to suck a lot.

Has to be somewhere in between so people who aren't into trade economy can still enjoy the game.

Sounds like you are a SSF player. It's okay to be there. Just don't go HCSSF and go crazy.

Hagen95 said:

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Sounds like you are a SSF player. It's okay to be there. Just don't go HCSSF and go crazy.

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That's not true, at all. My post wasn't about how I don't want to interact with the trading community at all. My post is voicing frustration that the entire game loop seems to be focused on simply farming for Exalted Orbs to then use to buy what you need.

Again, from level 12 through level 45, I've used TWO hammers. That is insane. I should be replacing my weapon at least every 10 levels, if not every 6-8 levels.

If I was able to fully upgrade all my equipment every 8 levels or so, then I think the loot system would feel much more rewarding. The biggest thing I love about ARPGs is killing monsters and seeing a new Rare helm, chest piece, or weapon drop. Now, i'm not expecting it to be like Diablo, where so many rares drop that you would have to go back to town every 5 minutes just to clear your inventory. But there is definitely a middle ground here.

I hear you. I am still picking up almost everything that drops and selling or breaking down for mats. It's just in my blood to pick up drops. I have crafted some better gear but I'm still using the unique gloves that dropped pretty early for me. The good thing is that the blue weapon I use is constantly being upgraded at the vendor since I really just need the higher level minion and spirit boost they bring.

Found an Exalted Orb within 15 minutes of logging in, so tried the POE2 Trade site. Actually worked very easily and got my new hammer.

Also, FYI that stash tabs are currently discounted on the microtransaction marketplace, so better pick some up if you need.

BowSowy said:

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So the auction house is not in game? Bummer. Using 3rd party sites for trade in D4 was often more of an annoyance than it was worth

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It is in game, but you search it from the POE2 Trade site.

pathofexile2.com then go to Trade on the top right. In order to list an item for trade, you have to purchase a Premium Stash tab in game. You place an item in one of those Premium Stash tabs and mark it as public.

Lathspell said:

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Found an Exalted Orb within 15 minutes of logging in, so tried the POE2 Trade site. Actually worked very easily and got my new hammer.

Also, FYI that stash tabs are currently discounted on the microtransaction marketplace, so better pick some up if you need.

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Thanks for the heads up. Been waiting for the sale. Need to figure out which ones to buy

I think I'm realizing this isn't the game for me. The loot sucks so it doesn't feel rewarding to bash my ahead against a boss. The trials of ascendency are asinine. I'm not sure who thought that honor system was a good implementation, but I hope they are kept away from game decisions for a bit.

I'll check back in in a few months, but I'm out for now.

BowSowy said:

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I think I'm realizing this isn't the game for me. The loot sucks so it doesn't feel rewarding to bash my ahead against a boss. The trials of ascendency are asinine. I'm not sure who thought that honor system was a good implementation, but I hope they are kept away from game decisions for a bit.

I'll check back in in a few months, but I'm out for now.

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Looked pretty hard into it and the state it's currently at and also holding out for final release and initial patches to go through before I revisit. Completely new to the franchise but I have been burned so many times now on EA, I have no problem just forgetting about it and "rediscovering" at a later date. Does look cool as hell though and I am sure they will dial it in given more time and feedback. I just don't want to be the free tester anymore these days.

Eliminatus said:

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BowSowy said:

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I think I'm realizing this isn't the game for me. The loot sucks so it doesn't feel rewarding to bash my ahead against a boss. The trials of ascendency are asinine. I'm not sure who thought that honor system was a good implementation, but I hope they are kept away from game decisions for a bit.

I'll check back in in a few months, but I'm out for now.

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Looked pretty hard into it and the state it's currently at and also holding out for final release and initial patches to go through before I revisit. Completely new to the franchise but I have been burned so many times now on EA, I have no problem just forgetting about it and "rediscovering" at a later date. Does look cool as hell though and I am sure they will dial it in given more time and feedback. I just don't want to be the free tester anymore these days.

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I do like the idea of a harder ARPG, but they haven't figured out the balance for rewards. (To be fair, it's been a week). The ascendency stuff needs to be reworked, IMO. Shouldn't be able to fail the trial (ie you should always ascend), but they should reward people with extra loot/keys who play the mechanics well. Personally, not interested in playing a rogue-like game in this game.

Ya, *** this game. Already hate it.

BowSowy said:

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Eliminatus said:

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BowSowy said:

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I think I'm realizing this isn't the game for me. The loot sucks so it doesn't feel rewarding to bash my ahead against a boss. The trials of ascendency are asinine. I'm not sure who thought that honor system was a good implementation, but I hope they are kept away from game decisions for a bit.

I'll check back in in a few months, but I'm out for now.

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Looked pretty hard into it and the state it's currently at and also holding out for final release and initial patches to go through before I revisit. Completely new to the franchise but I have been burned so many times now on EA, I have no problem just forgetting about it and "rediscovering" at a later date. Does look cool as hell though and I am sure they will dial it in given more time and feedback. I just don't want to be the free tester anymore these days.

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I do like the idea of a harder ARPG, but they haven't figured out the balance for rewards. (To be fair, it's been a week). The ascendency stuff needs to be reworked, IMO. Shouldn't be able to fail the trial (ie you should always ascend), but they should reward people with extra loot/keys who play the mechanics well. Personally, not interested in playing a rogue-like game in this game.

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What fun would it be to know you couldn't fail? As difficult as the trials are, they aren't mandatory. Why hand it out? It took me a couple of hours to beat the first. I even quit for a while and gained a couple of levels to retry it. Once I beat it, it actually felt like I accomplished something. I really hope they dont make it easy.

I'm still a low level 9. Does the inventory capacity ever increase?

yes... when you pay $.