I have been trying to get a Large Cluster with two sockets for like 1200 alts to no avail. Of course, I can no longer get Deep Cuts, that's already a big nerf, but being unable to even get 2 sockets, whatever the combo is, makes all Cluster mechanic a VERY expensive, frustrating investment. What's the point of introducing all those wonderful cluster nodes, barely 3 months ago to make them ninjanerfed? Drops are worse this league than possibly ever before, both in currency, gear and of course, clusters. So planning ANY build on clusters is at the moment an exercise in frustration and adds another RNG layer.
Any 2 socket interesting cluster is going to be worth like a Voices. They could well have toned down drops, I get it, but further reducing their usability while nerfing DPS almost everywhere. That's a double nerf for almost any class. Basically they implemented a mechanic last league that only the richest guys will ever get. The weight on those 2 socket affix must be like a feather now. Of course, no real data about it was posted in Patch Notes, if it had, the not so wonderful crafting possibilities would have been even more laughable.
The DPS of a duelist(well, any build actually) on a realist attainable level, is now RIDICULOUSLY low compared not only with Delirium, cause we have no Clusters, but with even Metamorph as new nerfs have been introduced. My Galdiator is now dealing 20% of the damage it was dealing before. Of course, we have now even less loot and mobs keep buffed. No reward, higher risk and some wonderful (read irony here) crafting options. Is not Harvest mechanics that are boring or whatever, is that this game has been nerfed progressively so much that at this point gearing a build capable of doing T16s is a result of pure RNG luck. Now, it's not a matter of grinding, as drops are BAD, is a matter of accepting POE is now this.
This game is at the moment in an horrible risk/reward balance, both in time and currency,difficulty has gone broken, fun is increasingly going down. Man, even streamers will be struggling due to massive nerfs. Do they expect POE 2.0 to be this? Even slower, more difficult, less rewarding. That sounds the formula for failure to me.
