A Few Specific Balance Changes in 3.2.0

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PsOfOs wrote:

While i'm all for atlas blocking getting removed,I think it should be implemented in a different way.
Being able to use only 5 sextants in the whole atlas seems too harsh.
Say i sextanded a t14 or whatever and I run out of those maps.
I cannot sextant a new map until some of the maps I like drop,because the old sextants will be removed.
GGG could make a rule where old sextants are deleted only where those overlap in a way that yesterday's blocking was abused.
Sextanting in totally different areas of the map should not be punished.

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Bex_GGG wrote:

Monster Rarity Damage Modifiers

Spoiler

This one is a little complex, but the TL;DR is that your mods like "monsters deal reduced damage" now actually work properly in a lot more cases. In addition, monster damage is now scaled up more correctly by things like map mods and monsters are slightly more dangerous now in situations where they were intended to be.

The full explanation:
In Path of Exile, there are many things related to the rarity of monsters (Magic, Rare, Unique) that increase the damage of those monsters. For example, a map mod might increase a boss's damage. In addition, the rarity of a monster itself adds an intentional bonus to its damage (which is why rare monsters do more damage than magic, and unique monsters do more damage than rare). Historically, these damage bonuses were always intended to be multiplicative (so that they actually had a decent effect), but were implemented as additive.

The most obvious way that this affects players is with the "monsters deal reduced damage" mods or skills. For example, If a monster skill has +200% damage (so it's dealing 300% of base), and you reduce monster damage by 10%, then it would reduce the monster's bonus to +190%, rather than the +170% that would be more correct (reducing 10% of 300% total damage).

The additive rules also diluted the impact and intentional difficulty that was meant to come from a boss having a damage aura stacking with its boss damage bonus. When stacked additively, it's harder to feel the additional damage.

In 3.2.0, these bonuses are multiplicative. We have done a full balance pass of reducing damage in various places to compensate for unintentional increases in danger that have come from this change. We want to stress that it is intentional that stacked damage mods actually work correctly, so there are some places where monsters are more dangerous.

We can't easily make a list of what does more damage than before because it honestly depends so much on map mods and other situational bonuses. Overall, it's hard to notice and is unlikely to have a gigantic impact, but we felt it best to pre-warn players and explain in detail what changed. We're happy to embrace making the game a little harder when fighting bosses, especially because of the continued power creep over time.

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Bex_GGG wrote:

Oni-Goroshi is a whole lot harder to find

Spoiler

Needless to say, people with Oni-Goroshi can level up very quickly. At its 3.1.0 spawn rate, a popular strategy is to farm the Twilight Strand for four hours to get the sword, and then having an easier time with the playthrough.

We're happy with people doing this if they want, but it's going to take longer than four hours. We've both made it spawn a lot less often and also added a high degree of variance to it. It can spawn at lower levels than before, but it can swing up a lot higher than before. It's a very powerful item for levelling, so we both wanted to make it less common and also for its spawning to be less predictable (like other unique items).

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Sittichsex wrote:

All because of these crybabies...Sextant blocking was PERFECT balanced..yes, you get more loot, but the sextants are in exchange very EXPENSIVE! Bisco's Nerf is absolutely unacceptable...Dear Crybabies; STOP COMPLAINING AND RUINING THE GAME!!

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SynapticStatic wrote:

Ohhh I get it... screw the league and just play standard #&6 ^&%* Oni nerf. That way ill be able to eventually finish up the story and bail. Glad you guys dropped this info before I spent more money.