New Brand Gems and Brand Changes in Path of Exile: Harvest

If I'm being brutally honest... not a huge fan of the Armageddon visual tweak. Really loved the timing of the effects on the original. The windup animation featured these wild, frantic energies being condensed into a satisfying, explosive slam. Like a star getting forced through an eyedropper.

The way the rocks in the new one just pop into existence and idle for a moment before remembering to fall sacrifices a lot of the intensity. The lack of fire effects throughout also dampen the appeal quite a bit.

Hate to be just another negative nancy on the internet, but I'm admittedly pretty bummed. I had been trying to figure out AB as a potential starter for next league. Oh well, the build probably would have sucked anyways lol...

I was so excited to see the new brands! And my enthusiasm COMPLETELY DIED when I saw the brand recall nerf. Are you kidding? Why? Why would you do that? That is such a bad decision, way to make your new cool brand skills suck to play.

Seriously, why would you do this? Are you going to make it so summoners need to be re-summoning everything every 10 sec or so, too? What is the problem with brand recall as it is, and why do you want to make it play so much worse? Force a meta change toward fewer brands but chaining as the only viable way to play?

It just makes no sense. This is the worst patch. I was SO damn stoked to make another brand character next league after enjoying one for the last two, with exciting new skills to use... Then this. Unbelievable, I honestly cannot overstate how much I disagree with this change.

Also really disappointed with the nerf to brand behavior. Here's the deal, you guys made it too strong with Archmage and cluster jewels. I played it in metamorph and the play style was awesome but its power level was a lot more measured, had to spend a lot of time in some fights. Then you bring this other shit in and it's incredibly overpowered when min/maxed, of course it is. But you are taking a chainsaw to the whole thing rather than a more appropriate surgical fix with nerfs to things like Fevered Mind stacking, archmage mana cost damage boost tuning to be less dramatic, maybe don't allow so many stacked clusters. Instead, no, just demolish brands play style entirely.

It's gonna suck now, said as someone who has loved brands for multiple leagues.

Brand Brand Brand Bla Bla Bla

Introducing new brands then absolutly changing everything good about brands and murdering them. Man i am sad now i wanted to play brands. Dont like this direction at all, they loose the playstyle they had.

To expoand a bit and give constructive feedback:
I agree that archmage has to change or get a reasonable nerf, it is very strong. On the other hand you have to purposfully build and tailor the whole character around it and that should be strong and rewarding!

The changes to brands staying where they are after they kill are reasonable, if brand recall would be usable as before. Why not adding less time it refreshs the brands and add a bit of mana cost of the brands you activate to it? That would balance it out and leave the playstyle we now have intact!

If you dont want people to play archmage and brands why dont you just come straight out and remove it!

Imagine summoners needing to recast spectres all the time and them not moving on their own...

"

As a small change to remove some more of the potential passivity of Brands, Brands now return to their original or recalled location when dropped by monsters, rather than the dropped monster's location. This puts a greater focus on Brand Attachment Range, and prevents the Brand from disappearing into the distance while killing monsters you've yet to see.

Yeah with that small change, you might aswell not introduce any new brands cause noone is going to play them.
Seriously, please, reverse that "small change" as it turns brands into garbage.

It's also hillarious that you butcher brands because of archmage support while you could have just, you know, make it so archmage does not work with brands...

Please buff conversion trap and chance to flee gem

Nice music, almost reminds me of the Austrian Summoning. :)

Haven't touched brands so far, maybe it is time now.

So wintertide is just frostbomb but in brand dealing dot hmm

Random rants.

Played storm brand archmage doom last league, rip by recall nerf. I do agree that it was op. Archmage and cloak imo should be tunned down not brands gutted. Brands on their own were meh anyway so i just cant find clue bout developer thought process.

"Brands now return to their original or recalled location when dropped by monsters, rather than the dropped monster's location."
About that,its just me or that might create cheese opportunity? Brand with extended duration will greatly benefit from that.

Penance is going to be greatly abused by Jar builds.

Arcanist - with few brands attached, with lets assume the same activation occurrences we had in past, its going to be new poison melter, truly wonder if greater than Toxic Rain. There are many interesting things to be checked with that toon, for example - EK + Ring of blades + (maybe) Astral projector, d it shotgun or not? Or Sire of shards general interaction.

But meh dosent matter if you need to manually recall it over and over again, as somebody wrote above - why GGG create interesting skills while other changes make them clunky? Do we really need something so similar to traps and totems?

this rework kind of makes me sad.

though the only thing i want to try now is bane brands x'D