A "Naked Savage" Hardcore, Ruthless, Solo Self-Found Challenge-Mode

No gear, unarmed, no flasks -- how far can a Marauder get? Can they beat Act 1?

Idea: An Act 1 Marauder-only Challenge that ends with a Tattoo and New 'Unarmed' Attack called 'Kick' (a muay thai kick or soccer kick depending on enemy height, or alternating -- toes should curl in animation).


It's a slow process that starts with a near-naked Karui warrior waking up on the beach of Twilight Strand. He has no tattoos on his body, which you will notice feels strange. He rejects all equipment when you try to put it on. He rejects all flasks. He seems a bit angrier than your standard Karui, at times.

The conquest of Act 1 ends with a lean, sinewous (connective tissue) old man, occasionally sipping from a long-stemmed pipe, appearing to you and bringing you to his hideout in the Act 2 Forest. He is Karui, like you. He can see you have no tattoos, and have earned one many times over.

He will be needling on your new tattoo for an hour -- to be seen on all of your Marauders (Karui) account-wide from then on. No option to remove it, it's permanent. If a default tattoo on Marauder (Karui) has to be removed to make it pop then so be it.

> +20 Strength. Adds to, doesn't replace, one of the 2 starting nodes. Affects All Marauder Characters.


There should be an additional challenge to gain this tattoo, though . . . he wants to get to know you. Punch a taunting totem until it's destroyed.
Then spar with him. Hit without getting hit, endurance -- timing, range, reflex, consistency. Cut angles and manage range while wearing him down.

Manage to hit him ~90 times in 5 minutes. Don't get hit once. Try as many times as you like. Then you will receive the tattoo.

You also gain the ability to punch while moving, and to punch harder when you Shift click, rooting you in place.

You must learn the Kick though.

Kick a taunting totem down.

Spar the old man. This time he'll use more kicks than before, and cut some angles himself to punch you. Manage to hit him ~90 times in 5 minutes with at least 30 kicks used and you'll have gained permanent use of the kick. He'll let you know if you are not using enough kicks mid-spar.

The old man should feint and use difficult moves. A step back into back kick to hit you when you move past him and ~1.7m behind him, jab feint with step in for a long straight. Half way through a particularly 'aimed' combo trying to catch your movement including a round kick.

This is a lesson that required conquering a hostile wilderness, a domineering prison warden, and a manipulative siren to be ready for. Savagery in 3 parts.

Kick
> +1 dmg and +30% damage.
> 20% slower attack speed.
> 1.3 meter range instead of 1 meter
> Very small jump in direction clicked during attack, after attacking (if you move click during attack).
> Shift version has no small jump after and does +2 and +50% damage, 40% slower attack speed instead.
> Knockback, 10% higher stun chance.
> Your character movespeed is now +5% faster.

This Is The Point Where Things Are Good, and everything After this point is Additional Good.
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Stances Available:

Blood stance:
> Regular besides +1 Minimum damage punching, +2 Minimum damage kicking

Sand Stance:
> -1 Maximum damage punching before %, -2 Maximum damage kicking before %
> Higher stun & stagger chance, +10%
> More range, +.1 meter
> 10% slower action speed with same action recovery as Blood stance
> Knockback based on enemy size and one's strength
> 10% increase to Natural armor. From passive tree.
> Animation is different. Starts more from the hip and is a bit more straight punching. Brings to mind the verb "Fending", like the Notable. Other arm up in guard like in boxing.

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Will there be vids?

"

Johny_Snow wrote:

Will there be vids?

I don't think my computer is fast enough for that but once I complete the challenge, if I do, maybe a GGG employee will confirm that I completed the challenge after reviewing my character's log.

They wont but You do.

You lost me at "I believe these are good for the game in every mode". Respectfully, you barely played the game as is - I don't think any of your suggestions are reasonable.

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Ulsarek wrote:

You lost me at "I believe these are good for the game in every mode". Respectfully, you barely played the game as is - I don't think any of your suggestions are reasonable.

Not reasonable in what sense

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Dylan_Schreiner wrote:

Not reasonable in what sense

I have more playtime than most people will ever have and i'm saying there's no minimum requirement to give feedback here, Clearly you're a passionate player so i hope you continue to give such feedback as the passion strikes.

Safe Travels exiles.

"

SilentSymphony wrote:

"

Dylan_Schreiner wrote:

Not reasonable in what sense

I have more playtime than most people will ever have and i'm saying there's no minimum requirement to give feedback here, Clearly you're a passionate player so i hope you continue to give such feedback as the passion strikes.

Safe Travels exiles.

Thanks. my first and enduring negative impression of the game (constructive criticism) is that it rushes too much, which I base my feedback on.

There is a lot of good to say about the game though. The aesthetic is mature, the narrative mature, and overall the game feels mature. It is also vibrant and immersive with interesting challenges.

Its appeal is limited if it neglects a more grounded approach to progress, power scaling, presentation, and . . . "playstyle".
Without everything High Quality about Path of Exile as it already is (in its current state), its appeal would also be limited so I am not just criticizing the game -- I believe work with a more grounded perspective would be a Good Next Step.

The game really leans into the jewelcrafting motif because it has a lot of gem qualities. You can't eat metals & stones though. Its current state is very polished, which I expected it would become when I first played it in 2013/2014 (I forget exactly). On a different account using a 'handle'. I didn't play too long, beat the campaign I think. The FPS was awful on my PC so I stopped playing.

I hope the ones programming and choosing server hardware/ hosts did not rush as well. A shift in both dev & player 'culture' would be good.

The in-engine 'art' next to the name of each area on-hover is really nice . . .

I have made it to level 16 and am farming Crimson Iron in Lower Prison for XP. It's about 4k XP overall. 20k XP per hour I think is a probable rate but haven't really checked. I think I need 70k XP for level at this point.

I will try and get tattoos but I don't like how they replace strength nodes rather than add to them.

At least they sound great. HOOUH

I will probably be able to kill Brutus but need a lot of armor to let Spiked Bulwark do the DPS. For that, I need to let him hit me. I might need level 23 but I can probably rely on regeneration and my health pool along with the 81 armor I have.

I don't really believe 81 armor 408 health is enough, so I will get to level 21 while getting strength nodes to approach an Armor Mastery -- and test out my defenses before going for Brutus. My regen is high so it should be fine.

I think I'll go for bleed past the protection mastery towards the duelist wedge.

Need the DoT to handle energy shield and it's a massive DPS increase. Enemies like to walk out of melee range. Lets me hit & run.

The duelist wedge has some good stuff and is close enough to a fire mastery, another DoT with a big regen mastery. Burning Alive.

I think I can beat Merveil.