How to enjoy and not endure Path of Exile in 10 steps

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majesw wrote:

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

1. Expect to lag or desync at any point in time!! There are certain skills to avoid using which is commonly known to cause it (i.e. Cyclone, Whirling Blades, Flicker Strike, Ice Shot & Summon Skeletons) Avoiding those is not a guranteed method not to ever desync just a reduced chance. **** Dont waste time with Hardcore due to this being a key issue in addition to difficulty with reflect mod monsters and 1 shot killer bosses. ****

Well, yes... Desync freaking sucks...


OP Response: You'd be amazed at how many guys use desync prone skills, even though they're aware that desync is an issue by itself. Adding to it by using those skills are simply at your own risk. Same can be said for playing Invasion or hardcore. I dont know why so many guys were complaining about Invasion bosses when it was clearly going to be some fuckery going on after that patch update as we've all seen since every patch now through end of open beta. People's choice but I still posted those skills just as FYI for those who didnt know.

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

2. Dont follow other peopple's "guides" for char builds. (Build "balances" aka Nerfs every 1 to 2 patchs based on w/e popular is streamed.) Create your own and have fun. Successful builds are becoming extremely slim at this point and require specific skills instead of the freedom of making any of the tons of skills actually viable.

This is wrong. There are tons of viable builds. You can even pick something off the wall and make it work. Or, you can pick one of the builds off of the class forums. Some are extremely well put together.


OP Response: Tons of viable builds?? LOL There's a difference between a build viable from act 1 or 2 in normal and an actually sucessful build that lasts throughout the game from start to finish. (Endgame is considered after Merciless Dominus is killed.) Of all of those builds that are posted around the forum, I can almost guarantee that it's either nerfed, about to be nefted within another patch or two (when some race ends) or plain sucks by the time act 2 cruel comes along.

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

3. Level chars from levels 50 min to 70 max. (Any higher is pretty much experimenting or self punishing unless you have tons of time with no job or life) After finishing merciless Dominus just to receive a map as a "reward", it doesnt seem worth the extra effort to continue.

Don't do this. I've found you need to reach level 80 if you want to 'complete' a build. This can be done fairly easily through running maps or farming library.


OP Response:I'm not sure exactly what build you're trying to perfect at level 80 but you're just experimenting, plain and simple. If you cant tell if a build works well or not once you hit mid 50's then it's clearly time to start changing direction. Necessary stats for builds themselves can be done by the time you reach 70. If not, then obviously a change of character class is needed. (It would be dumb for someone to compare a CI Maurader build to a CI Ranger due to placement on the skill tree.)

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

4. Do not expect to find godly rare items nor craft any, using common orbs. (Let's not kid ourselves by wasting currency) Same can be said finding for godly uniques.

If you keep playing you'll find stuff. But if you want legacy gear or one of the top 5-6 drops in the game then you will need to trade, and horde your currency.

OP Response: Agreed. We're basically in the same direction here just different wording. By hording currency, yes it's possible to save for legacy gear or anything else. My point on this one was to simply not expect to find the godly gear on your own (Solo, Self Found).

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

5. Any orbs found should be saved for trades for w/e upgrade you might need at a low price, like common uniques or a decent weapon, armor etc..( Trading is EXTREMELY time consuming with having to flip items, argue / debate currency prices before eventuallly bartering actual items themselves.

You don't have to trade to be successful in this game. But don't use the rarer orbs until you have something end-game to use them on. I alch and chance stuff all the time. Transmutes, alterations, fusings, and chromatics should be used regularly.



OP Response: LOL!! Not needing to trade to be sucessful in this game?....are we talking about the same game Path of Exile?! This game is outright based on the need to trade, unless you intend on just completing the quests in general. Needless to say that with the right godly gears, it would save a great deal of time and stress trying to complete every quest without dying 100 times per quest.

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

6. Avoid red areas (corrupted) and rogue exiles. (Vastly challenging fights that will not be worth the time it takes to complete it i.e. crappy items dropped magics or rares and little to no exponetial experience gained). Only engage in that if you want to test yourself. Perfect example of this would be the corrupted boss named Inti, a giant bird that is super hard & fast and lets not forget that boss who uses some ice skill when up close and literally 1 shot kills you from 1-2 screens away!

Explore the whole game, unless you're playing hardcore. No reason not to on softcore, just use your portals wisely.


OP Response: Explore the whole game where it's necessary for quests, yes. Red areas? Nope! Only if your after a good challenge of gear checks vs monsters. That Inti boss I mentioned, was one myself and a friend fought while being at level 37 in normal and we died soooo many times that it wasnt funny. We had to invite some high level 70 something guy with a good build just to help kill it. It took all three of us together 15-20 mins to finally kill it! That's highly uncalled for and simply not worth the stress but to each his own. As for that other boss I dont remember the name but she used some ice storm skill and took an hour to kill her while I was solo.

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

7. Avoid serious consideration of attempting the collection of all 4 map fragments to fight Queen Atziri. (Dusk and dawn are somewhat common but Midnight and noon can be chalked up as a loss) Aside from managing to gather all 4, the difficulty goes beyond skills and more into requiring expensive gears and be 1 or 2 specific builds to successfully complete it.

When you want to collect the fragments set aside 2 hours to farm City of Sarn. Just run back and forth. I generally have between 1-2 sets after 2 hours of farming.



OP Response: No objection here, I dont personally have experience of doing that but it sounds legit as if it's a glitch or something.

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

8. If a rogue exile is fought and beaten, do not expect them to drop whatever godly gear they used to kick your ass. Instead, look forward to useless blues (magic items) and yellows (rare items). Hence #6's point. Also pointless due to them now having the ability to spam Vaal Skills.

Rogues and jewelers boxes are your best chance to drop rare rings. Kill and open all of them. You may want to carry around alterations for the jewelers boxes.


OP Response: Fighting Rogue Exiles are a waste of time (unless something's changed since I've last played back in early April / Late March.)Risk STRONGLY outweighs Rewards. Strongboxes...only 2 or 3 specific ones are worth it like jewelers, cartographers and I forgot the 3rd. All the rest of them are a waste of time! *I see that there's been an update to add unique ones now which of course sounds much better for rewards vs risks....depending on the unique that drops :-\

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

9. Do not waste time "farming" because you'll find yourself wasting hundreds of hours with basically nothing to show for it except tons of common skill gems that are either not worth having due to nerfs or not being strong enough to actually be useful at high levels.

Expect to farm in this game. You need to level your gems to 20 so you can use the GCP recipe to get 20% gems. Your drops will depend on your state of mind. If you are looking to drop one of the best 5 items in the game then it wont happen and you will be disappointed. If you are looking to drop useful items that improve your character or build your wealth it will happen many times over the course of an hour.



OP Response: When I said farming I meant for godly items. Yes, gaining experience for gems is good for the 20% Quality gem recipe, but the GCP reward of selling multiple quality gems to equal up to 20% or 40% is debatable.......only helpful if those low quality gems are useless skills that no one has high value or use for.

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WoT_Seanchan wrote:

10. HAVE FUN!!! Dont invest time stressing trying to figure out how to overcome the game's faults such as drop rates, difficulty, merry go round trading orb value fluxuations and build nefings. All of those issues have been and are constantly addressed by actual players nearly everyday and does not appear to be likely changed anytime soon.

This is a fantastic game. If you can ignore the desync you will have a lot of fun here. I would like to add my commentary to the OP's message. He left out a lot and made a few mistakes.

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OP Response: Tons of viable builds?? LOL There's a difference between a build viable from act 1 or 2 in normal and an actually sucessful build that lasts throughout the game from start to finish. (Endgame is considered after Merciless Dominus is killed.) Of all of those builds that are posted around the forum, I can almost guarantee that it's either nerfed, about to be nefted within another patch or two (when some race ends) or plain sucks by the time act 2 cruel comes along.

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OP Response: Agreed. We're basically in the same direction here just different wording. By hording currency, yes it's possible to save for legacy gear or anything else. My point on this one was to simply not expect to find the godly gear on your own (Solo, Self Found).

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OP Response: Fighting Rogue Exiles are a waste of time (unless something's changed since I've last played back in early April / Late March.)Risk STRONGLY outweighs Rewards. Strongboxes...only 2 or 3 specific ones are worth it like jewelers, cartographers and I forgot the 3rd. All the rest of them are a waste of time! *I see that there's been an update to add unique ones now which of course sounds much better for rewards vs risks....depending on the unique that drops :-\

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OP Response: When I said farming I meant for godly items. Yes, gaining experience for gems is good for the 20% Quality gem recipe, but the GCP reward of selling multiple quality gems to equal up to 20% or 40% is debatable.......only helpful if those low quality gems are useless skills that no one has high value or use for.

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Peterlerock wrote:

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OP Response: Tons of viable builds?? LOL There's a difference between a build viable from act 1 or 2 in normal and an actually sucessful build that lasts throughout the game from start to finish. (Endgame is considered after Merciless Dominus is killed.) Of all of those builds that are posted around the forum, I can almost guarantee that it's either nerfed, about to be nefted within another patch or two (when some race ends) or plain sucks by the time act 2 cruel comes along.

Yes, there's a ton of builds that can make it to maps and that has fun in maps. Even in the later ones, and even with Atziri. And even without super-expensive gear. Blindfolded?

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OP Response: Agreed. We're basically in the same direction here just different wording. By hording currency, yes it's possible to save for legacy gear or anything else. My point on this one was to simply not expect to find the godly gear on your own (Solo, Self Found).

Maybe you are simply not meant to find it.
And maybe that's a good thing.

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OP Response: Fighting Rogue Exiles are a waste of time (unless something's changed since I've last played back in early April / Late March.)Risk STRONGLY outweighs Rewards. Strongboxes...only 2 or 3 specific ones are worth it like jewelers, cartographers and I forgot the 3rd. All the rest of them are a waste of time! *I see that there's been an update to add unique ones now which of course sounds much better for rewards vs risks....depending on the unique that drops :-\

With the exception of 1-2 of them who are considerable tougher, Exiles are just cannonfodder.
With the recent patch they are so weak it's almost laughable.
They can't be called "a waste of time" if it only takes like 5 seconds to murder them.

And they drop shittons of loot, especially if you cull them with iir.

Stronboxes are free loot and free xp. What is there not to like about them?

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OP Response: When I said farming I meant for godly items. Yes, gaining experience for gems is good for the 20% Quality gem recipe, but the GCP reward of selling multiple quality gems to equal up to 20% or 40% is debatable.......only helpful if those low quality gems are useless skills that no one has high value or use for.

Again, "godly items". Just forget about that.
Can't have fun in a game without the best possible gear?

When playing for a while, you get some sexy gear. You don't get the best possible gear, but you get some stuff to work with, some stuff to sell, if you spend your currency wisely, you're even able to craft some nice things...

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b15h09 wrote:

Great, and appropriately named thread, OP. It's true, to really enjoy the game, you have to minimize your interaction with the faults you're expected to endure. I'd add, if you want to enjoy the loot hunt, don't play much past 40, as the number of layers of RNG are still low enough to give you a somewhat reasonable chance of finding an upgrade. At 40, your avg item will be lvl 20 appropriate. At lvl 70, your avg item will be level 35 appropriate.

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mrpetrov wrote:

I think any game that needs to have a "how to enjoy..." thread needs to be doing something better if they want long-term success. Or perhaps, sort of like the OP suggests, GGG can just reduce their own expectations of success.

Petrov.

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ampdecay wrote:

Well what I do is, I kill some monsters, and then I'm like fuck yeah that was awesome.


I guess my program is better, it only requires one step

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syrioforel wrote:

That's totally two steps.

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syrioforel wrote:

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ampdecay wrote:

Well what I do is, I kill some monsters, and then I'm like fuck yeah that was awesome.


I guess my program is better, it only requires one step

That's totally two steps.

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morbo wrote:

So, basically:

* dont try to finish your build
* accept technical issues that make the game unplayable
* avoid difficult content
* expect to not experience content
* expect garbage looting
* for the love of god, don't craft!

Sounds about right...