Announcing Path of Exile: Synthesis

I'm totally okay with selling hideout tilesets but could we please not bury them in supporter packs? Not only do I have no idea what the two new hideouts being offered look like but it'd cost $120 to get both of them and I have a real issue with that.

Reactions from a newbie to PoE, but a veteran of the genre.

I started out with Diablo 1 in the mid-90's, and promptly fell in love.
I've since played Diablo 2, Harbinger, Dungeon Siege 1 & 2, Sacred 1 & 2, Torchlight 1 & 2, Fate 1-4, Din's Curse, Incredible adventures of van helsing, Victor Vran and Grim Dawn. To name a few.
Notably absent is Diablo 3, Dungeon Siege 3 and Sacred 3.. out of choice.
My favorite would be Harbinger. Way too short, but sweet.

The most comparable game would of course be Spiral Knights, Which did the whole F2P thing right. The last time I checked, which is a few years ago though. Could have changed by now.

Anyway, on to the meat of the issue.
Coming in as a newbie is overwhelming to say the least, and this is coming from a veteran of the genre.
Everything is a bit too much, and too complex, together with being rather obfuscating in it's wording and implementations.
I don't suppose the newbie retention is very high..

I've made three chars in this league (a league which I frankly disliked) and have yet to advance beyond act5-6. My first melee char become extremely squishy and vulnerable to off-screen mobs in act 6.
Seeing that the game heavily favored ranged fire/ice builds I went for a lightning witch in my second character creation. Breezed through the first few acts much more easily. Having learned from the squishiness of the melee char, I focused on ES (that with shavronne's wrappings) could take on all forms of incoming damage, as opposed to dodge/evasion/armor. It was apparently too much defensiveness and I suffered from not being able to inflict enough damage to mobs in act 5.
My latest build was much more of a success. It being a ranger with explosive/fire damage. I was on act 3, and had yet to allocate a single skill point, with absolutely no troubles in sight. So much for not being railroaded into a few viable builds..

Now, I haven't been able to update, thanks to my (for now) capped internet, but I absolutely detest timed events, So I'll most likely spend this league in Standard, IF I decide to continue.

I know GGG is a for-profit company, but the ever increasing currency and focus on gathering more and more items make stash tabs a must. 4 might have been adequate in the beginning, but no more. Now it feels like P2W.
Are you not selling enough supporter packs and cosmetics to compensate for adding relevant tabs for new league mechanics??

Betrayal going Core is also disappointing. I can't even remember how many times I got ambushed, one-shotted, or just struggled with defeating Immortals. Never mind figuring out the complicated system behind the board and the ultimately worthless rewards.

TL;DR

Buff Melee, nerf ranged fire/ice.
Go back to roots and infinite dungeons.
Streamline the crafting options.
Adding more currency/items? Add more stash tabs..

every encounter in this game (Elder shaper guardian syndicates etc) is a freeze crash or lagg plz fix that!

the new league seem a mix of delve and incursion ... and the reward is rare items with more mods ... make something new for once ... it's verry bad having same reward type since incursion... always yellow stuff with more mods ....

As for the new league, initial thoughts:

1. Betrayal going core is good since I haven't gotten around to playing it (not done with my First/Delve character yet). Any sign of any attempt to reconcile the former Masters' actions in Betrayal with, like, any of their previous characterization on the horizon?

2. Skill rebalance sounds ominous. >.> I'm hoping actual nerfing will be limited to actually overpowered skills and not semi-randomly in an attempt to "shake things up."

3. New league content looks cool. Not crazy about the time limited aspect since I prefer a more methodical playstyle and a chance to properly and judiciously loot. "Time-limited until you achieve a goal but then you can go back" is acceptable I suppose.

4. Also not crazy about the new hideouts being in $60 supporter packs rather than purchaseable on their own...

5. Fossil/resonator stash tab plz.

Yet another expansion of no melee buffs, no 2 hand buffs, just mainly MTX and caster bs.

path of one shots
path of casters
path of trade
path of little map sustain

sigh

Looking forward to the spell overhauls. A bit bummed that Betrayal is being folded in, especially now that its 3 events in a zone. Now I can't ignore it by just skipping the research lair over and over. I'm really hoping Betrayal is changed to 1 per zone.

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CycloneJack wrote:

Looking forward to the spell overhauls. A bit bummed that Betrayal is being folded in, especially now that its 3 events in a zone. Now I can't ignore it by just skipping the research lair over and over. I'm really hoping Betrayal is changed to 1 per zone.

I just now learned from you that the research lair and the transportation events tie into the progression of the characters... or do they?

Is there any place I can read everything I need to know and how the mechanics of the new league will work? I still don't know how the Jun unveiling UI works and how to tell if you've leveled a particular recipe to its fullest. I will read but so far I just see pretty pictures/movies and have read things by people who get pre-release information and play time.

Thanks (pardon my ignorance if there's a 100% how to guide available)

Nice!

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hab34udied wrote:

I just now learned from you that the research lair and the transportation events tie into the progression of the characters... or do they?

If you skip, or miss, a Betrayal event, then then next time you run into one it'll be the one you skipped or missed. As such, if you don't want to mess with Betrayal, you can skip the Research Lab so that every zone has a Lab.

That's about as much as I know. I tried out some of the other events from time to time while leveling, and even ran a few Hideouts or Strongholds or whatever they're called. The effect spam that covers the screen just turned me off from the League so I found a way to skip it. Now it seems that won't be possible with 3 events in a zone. :(

WOW, looks awesome!