Tips for a completely new player?

So I just downloaded PoE 1 (as it was F2P unlike the sequel and people said that it was more polished) and I heard that the game is extremely complex and overwhelming.

Some people are saying that you should go in completely blind to PoE at first and only resort to guides once you cannot progress meaningfully anymore, others say that you should use a build guide from the start.

There are also all the third-party tools and websites. I synced the recommended loot filter for beginners from FilterBlade, though no idea about which other tools should I use.

Also, Standard or League? From what I understand, the league system has you create temporary characters in a special world with extra seasonal features.

Final question, how do you obtain Points? Is it possible to get some for free or do you need to buy a supporter/Point pack to get them?

Going in blind can be fun, but new players tend to burn out and quit if their main skill isn't fun to use. The passive tree isn't overwhelming if you understand that all you need is:

1.) Main skill DMG scaling (Physical dmg + Attack Speed for melee) (Cast speed / Spell Damage for spell skills) (fire, cold, lightning for certain skills)

2.) life (you should be getting +300 hp per act, hopefully 3000 life by the end of Act 10.

3.) Armour / Evasion (Armour is easier to understand for new players)

4.) Elemental Resistance (fire res, lightning res, and cold res should be at 75% after Act 3)

5.) Chaos Resistance (useful when you reach Act 7, negative chaos res will one shot your character, 0% - 20% is acceptable until endgame )

Find and join an active guild:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-forum/guild-recruitment-seeking-players

You fellow guildmates can be a fount of knowledge and support. =^[.]^=

if you plan on doing your own thing you need several guidelines such as the ones scottslayer mentioned.

to recap

300 hp/act. you need 3k by act 10. going less than that will see you being 1 shot all the time.

ele resists. cap whenever possible (75%). you will be hit by a permanent -30% resist penalty at the end of act 5, and another -30% by end of the campaign. so that means a total of 135% res is required. (on character screen it will display as 75% if you do it right even if you have 135)

chaos resists like what he said. you can neglect it mostly as most monsters do not have chaos damage, so you can mostly ignore it till later. you would want to get it maxed later.

if you want an easier time get a skill that has AOE or multiple projectiles.

melee strike skills (mostly) needs a lot of fixing in order to feel good, and generally is harder to use/scale as they are very weapon dependent.

spells are easier to work with as their damage can be upgraded easily by gaining more xp.

before you play, dont go in 100% blind

check the wiki and read up on the ascendancy classes. its good to know what each ascendancy can do before starting the game, rather than going in blind and realizing the class you chose doesnt have access to certain ascendancy bonuses.

if you're coming from poe2 one of the biggest issues you will face is skill sockets.

instead of a skill interface you will need to socket your skill gems into your gear.

this is important. you want gear with as many sockets and as many links as possible. links? what are they? in poe2 all you want are "more sockets" as the sockets are automatically linked in poe2. but in poe1 not only do you want items to have 6 sockets, you would want the sockets to be linked. if they are not linked then anything put in to the unlinked socket will not support the main skill gem.

for example you have a 6 socket item with 2 x 3 links. you put in an active skill gem in one of the 3 links and you can only support it with another 2 supports.

ideally you want 6Links so that you can have your skill supported by 5 supports.

on top of that, unlike poe2 gems need to be socketed into sockets of the MATCHING COLOR.

so with all that you need to make compromises. do i keep this gear because it has nice socket/links/colours or can i afford to use this other gear coz it has better stats?

you can get decently far going in "not too blind".

but know that you're not expected to get to end game content unless you know what you're doing.

me myself i've stubbornly kept using my own build for over 10 years. i ve cleared MOST content in the game except the hardest.

i would have had a much more easier experience if i just used a different skill or followed a build guide and a lot of my power actually comes from GGG rebalancing stuff that by luck made my build better.

poe1 is an old game.

i've had a decade worth of playing it to reach my conclusion that its not worth self exploring.

but if you have more time, maybe you could try.

in any case, once you follow a build, the amount of power you can get will essentially remove all desire for self exploration. the game has been solved. doing things certain ways can get astronomical results.

doing it inefficiently will give you significantly less.

"

exsea#1724 wrote:

if you're coming from poe2 one of the biggest issues you will face is skill sockets.

instead of a skill interface you will need to socket your skill gems into your gear.

this is important. you want gear with as many sockets and as many links as possible. links? what are they? in poe2 all you want are "more sockets" as the sockets are automatically linked in poe2. but in poe1 not only do you want items to have 6 sockets, you would want the sockets to be linked. if they are not linked then anything put in to the unlinked socket will not support the main skill gem.

for example you have a 6 socket item with 2 x 3 links. you put in an active skill gem in one of the 3 links and you can only support it with another 2 supports.

ideally you want 6Links so that you can have your skill supported by 5 supports.

on top of that, unlike poe2 gems need to be socketed into sockets of the MATCHING COLOR.

No, I'm playing PoE 1 first, as it's free to play unlike the sequel - and I like to know what I'm getting into before committing $30 to a game.

Thanks for the advice by the way, I'll try to keep it in mind.

1. Your first character, play and explore through the campaign at your own pace, don't try to understand every mechanic all at once, it is going to take some time. I have been playing for over five years now and there is still something that I learn almost every day.

2. After you hit a wall on your first character, look up some build guides and start a new character with that build. (You will have plenty of character slots, and your stash is shared, so look at your characters as "individual experiences across one account" persay. This way you can still have your first character and also this "newer, progressive" character that you are following a guide with.

3. Do not using any 3rd party tools. The only two exceptions to this rule being 1. Filterblade and 2. Path of building. These are 100% acceptable and will not get you into a position where you can get banned by violating TOS. There are people who swear by other tools, but at the end of the day the TOS says what it says. I myself have spent ALOT of money on this game over 5 years and I will not risk my account just to have a QOL upgrade for trading, when I really only trade very rarely because I play standard most of the time.

4. Do not, under any circumstances, participate in any "RMT" activities. So in other words, don't go to any websites or services that exchange real money for POE currency or gear. This is a breach of the TOS and they are very serious about this because of how it effects the in-game economy. I'll just leave it at that.

5. If you enjoy POE, support the company and buy yourself some stash tabs, they make the entire experience better.

6. Everything you do in this game "counts", by that I mean because all of your characters are shared (if they are in the same league), you could be playing on your main character, get bored, swap to an alt, kill a few monsters and a mirror of Kalandra drops (very unlikely, but possible).

7. Do not be afraid to experiment with builds, gems, items, combinations, concepts, etc. There is somewhat of a meta, but the meta only exists because people "figured it out" and it will change over time.

8. When trading with someone, ALWAYS check the item you are trading before you hit that checkmark, once you hit that checkmark and the trade is complete, even if you got scammed, there is nothing that can be done. This is why the checkbox system exists and many people overlook it as something "in the way" and then when they do get scammed, will come on the forums and complain and send emails to support requesting assistance.

Feel free to add me to friends in game, I play daily and can help you get started and can give you some more tips or whatever.

Hope this helps.

"

KingExodusGG#1474 wrote:

1. Your first character, play and explore through the campaign at your own pace, don't try to understand every mechanic all at once, it is going to take some time. I have been playing for over five years now and there is still something that I learn almost every day.

2. After you hit a wall on your first character, look up some build guides and start a new character with that build. (You will have plenty of character slots, and your stash is shared, so look at your characters as "individual experiences across one account" persay. This way you can still have your first character and also this "newer, progressive" character that you are following a guide with.

3. Do not using any 3rd party tools. The only two exceptions to this rule being 1. Filterblade and 2. Path of building. These are 100% acceptable and will not get you into a position where you can get banned by violating TOS. There are people who swear by other tools, but at the end of the day the TOS says what it says. I myself have spent ALOT of money on this game over 5 years and I will not risk my account just to have a QOL upgrade for trading, when I really only trade very rarely because I play standard most of the time.

4. Do not, under any circumstances, participate in any "RMT" activities. So in other words, don't go to any websites or services that exchange real money for POE currency or gear. This is a breach of the TOS and they are very serious about this because of how it effects the in-game economy. I'll just leave it at that.

5. If you enjoy POE, support the company and buy yourself some stash tabs, they make the entire experience better.

6. Everything you do in this game "counts", by that I mean because all of your characters are shared (if they are in the same league), you could be playing on your main character, get bored, swap to an alt, kill a few monsters and a mirror of Kalandra drops (very unlikely, but possible).

7. Do not be afraid to experiment with builds, gems, items, combinations, concepts, etc. There is somewhat of a meta, but the meta only exists because people "figured it out" and it will change over time.

8. When trading with someone, ALWAYS check the item you are trading before you hit that checkmark, once you hit that checkmark and the trade is complete, even if you got scammed, there is nothing that can be done. This is why the checkbox system exists and many people overlook it as something "in the way" and then when they do get scammed, will come on the forums and complain and send emails to support requesting assistance.

Feel free to add me to friends in game, I play daily and can help you get started and can give you some more tips or whatever.

Hope this helps.

It does help! Regarding point 4, I've never done RMT activities anywhere and I won't start with PoE, it feels dumb to me to pay someone else real money to play the game for me, not to mention that your account would inevitably get banned.

For point 5, are stash tabs (or the Points used to buy them) obtainable through playing or are they a money-only thing? I'm not opposed to paying for games I like playing, but I like to earn things with playing wherever it's viable.

Guide or no guide depends entirely on you.

Not following a guide will likely lead to quite a bit of frustration on your end. The game has tons of content, the mechanics that make up your character are fairly complex and even minor things can turn your gameplay experience upside down. The difficulty also scales rather harshly for a new player. You can figure everything out by yourself with enough patience, you can ask in game play help for specific issues but it's going to take time.

Using a guide is the "easy" way out, though it's not exactly easy either. There are plenty of horrible guides out there and telling them apart is hard if you are new. There are also plenty of people who fail despite following a good guide because they vastly underestimate how much certain things matter. Still, it's likely going to be easier following some popular streamer build than making your own.
The problem with people following guides is that many of them tend to end up doing it forever, never really bothering to understand why the builds are made the way they are and what makes them tick. They basically have zero learning effect despite playing for years. They just remain ignorant forever.

So yeah, your choice, entirely depends on your preferences. That's not something someone else can answer for you.

"

Ondrashek06#5795 wrote:

For point 5, are stash tabs (or the Points used to buy them) obtainable through playing or are they a money-only thing? I'm not opposed to paying for games I like playing, but I like to earn things with playing wherever it's viable.

Points are purchase only. My advice would be to treat this game as “free to try.” You can spend a long time playing before stash tabs are needed. People have beaten the entire game with no purchases, but I’m happy to pay for the convenience. I would also advise against just buying points. If you buy a supporter pack you get the full value of points as well as random other crap. Stash tabs go on sale every 3 weekends as well. Like I said though, just play and filter out your junk gear and you will be fine without tabs until the endgame stuff.

I’m not sure if this was mentioned on your original question, but start in League. Your character will move to standard when the league ends. Standard economy is whack and you wont find much beginner gear if you’re playing trade.

Not sure if anyone touched on this, but with the age of the game and all the added stuff PoE has a pretty steep learning curve. I originally played shortly after game release, and didn’t come back again until a couple years ago. There is a point after the initial fun of the first time campaign and white/yellow maps where you might contemplate wtf you are doing and how to handle the crazy mobs and bosses. This is the point where a guide might help you sort out your problems or what to focus on. I definitely contemplated just quitting while trying to make my first 6L at one point. The quest line will try to get you to do all sorts of mechanics: heist, sanctum, delve etc. This is all fully optional and you can just pick whatever you enjoy and ignore the rest. Later on there are strategies for currency generation from these mechanics, but don’t burnout on ones you don’t enjoy.

Play through the campaign at your own pace.
Google for tips when you get stuck.