Path of Exile catch-all

I tried hardcore a few times. Dying to lag spikes is more than I can take. I'm a huge fan of permadeath roguelikes. Turn based dying I can handle because it's my fault. Dying because firefox decided to spike memory usage in the background is another thing altogether.

Yeah not fun at all if it's totally out of your control in game.

In Diablo, I always liked hardcore as a change of pace for guild events (I ran a Diablo 1 guild for a while - I know).
It was a great mode for timed events racing for the highest level with no returning to town or whatever.

I played it once as nature intended and soured on it when a lag spike killed off a character in Diablo 2. I had just aggro'd the area around mephisto's soul forge and everything froze - I realized I was walking around unmoving monsters, saved and exited, but it was too late. Enjoy your level 70 ghost or whatever. At least the chat room enjoyed it. Oh, battlenet.

I decided to load the game up after quite a few seasons off and WOAH! Talk about fun!

I found a guide for a good summoner build and started that up. I'm still a little iffy on what are the right gems to use but made it to level 17 last night. I can't say I'm crazy about the tower defense stuff but I've never been a fan of it.

Here is a link to my character and the gems he currently has (I basically have been taking anything summon and minion based). I do have a vaal summon skeletons but not sure where that fits in the mix quite yet. I haven't needed it as the game is still pretty simple.

Looking back at my character list, it's pretty awful some of the names I picked. Just scroll down to the bottom and choose "Kermit_Sprinkles"

Maybe consider an aura or other buff, or two? For example, something that would use your spell damage bonuses, so it's not just the Raging Spirits?

Edit - Oh, wait, just saw the level, I'm sure you're planning for that when you get there.

Vaal Summon Skeleton is awesome. The skels it summons as normal is good, but when charged up you can summon 17 (!) - which include archers and a huge "General". It's basically a "boss" annihilator.

Hey Robear, I am downloading the game now and will need an invite in the next couple of days.

I'd put in a word for Kayella's spectre build. It's easy to look up on the POE forums. I played it last season and easily rolled everything but uber elder. It's also fun because it scales from self found right up to huge crafting investment. Red maps are no problem on self found gear though. I haven't tried this league's build, but it's very similar except the spectre type has changed. My favorite thing about this build is that it can be significantly improved with fossil crafting. Fossil crafting is accessible to everyone if you know where to find the fossils in delve.

I'm a super casual SSF player and I'm getting about 10 times (literally) more unique drops in this latest version than I ever had in any prior season.

It makes the game a lot more interesting because I'm getting a ton more build altering options during play.

Planning to run this first out of the gate.

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/vi...

May try the arc lightning after this.

Fishdude, just send me a character name (not your account name) and the league it's in, when you're ready, and I'll invite you.

Cool. Still waiting on the download.

I am assuming I will understand the league thing once I get it going.

Robear,

Blight
Juggernewb

Thanks for getting me in. Can't wait until I can actually put something useful into the guild stash.

I need an invite to the guild for a friend. He is not a member here but is someone Dethroned and I have been playing D3 and Grim Dawn with.

Blight
Heypop

Just finished Act 10 last night (and for the first time ever I might add)! Sitting at level 73 and am excited to start mapping!

I have a few Tier 1 maps that have dropped in the last couple of acts, and am planning to do the general map bonus completion route, but any insight is appreciated!

Otherwise, what does grouping look like at this stage? I’m guess I’d need to be in the general map/level vicinity of another GWJer to party up for running any maps together, and that it’s probably more useful later in the atlas with rarer maps and to help map sustain?

Dethroned and I have a group we run with and are at the same point.. We are usually on around 7pm CST. Would be glad to run with you.

Blight
Juggernewb

We are also in discord talking trash to each other the whole time. Might even be some useful info between jabs as well.

Haha, awesome! Do you guys hang out in the Path of Exile channel or something on the GWJ server?

I'm in the middle of Act V - also the furthest I've been - and around level 55.

I just unlocked the pirate gem seller and so think it's time to load up on my final build gems and level them up using spare slots as I can.

I'm starting to build up some currency items, so may be able to dip my toe into trading soon.

I've been tossing any uniques that have dropped but no good for me into the guild stash.

Becksar wrote:

Haha, awesome! Do you guys hang out in the Path of Exile channel or something on the GWJ server?

We have a server that I started that's not affiliated with GWJ. It can get a bit off the rails sometimes so we figured not using an official channel might be a better idea

Fishdude can send you an invite to the server or I can when I get home tonight.

DeThroned wrote:
Becksar wrote:

Haha, awesome! Do you guys hang out in the Path of Exile channel or something on the GWJ server?

We have a server that I started that's not affiliated with GWJ. It can get a bit off the rails sometimes so we figured not using an official channel might be a better idea

Fishdude can send you an invite to the server or I can when I get home tonight.

Sounds good! My kids go to bed around 7:30 PM CT, so I’ll likely be hopping on around then sometime. I’ll hit one of you guys up then!

I will keep an eye out for you logging in tonight. Will get you hooked up.

I am toying with the idea of getting back in. One of my biggest issues is I struggle with gear choices. Are there any new tools/features that allow easier gear comparison, and if not, what do you look for in whether or not it's worth upgrading? I'm talking levelling only, I've never reached any endgame stuff.

Clumber wrote:

I am toying with the idea of getting back in. One of my biggest issues is I struggle with gear choices. Are there any new tools/features that allow easier gear comparison, and if not, what do you look for in whether or not it's worth upgrading? I'm talking levelling only, I've never reached any endgame stuff.

Maybe you're aware of them as neither is particularly new, but Path of Building is a stand-alone program that lets you plan builds and compare items (or load already mapped out builds from the internet) and Filterblade is a customizable UI loot filter mod that hides low-level/“junk” loot drops. Both are super useful.

NeverSink also is a great filter.

One thing I’ve found helpful in regards to gear is to work through a couple of planned builds, and as you go carefully examine the recommended gear stats and compare them to the skill synergies that are being built. I learned a *ton* this way. For years I did not use planned builds, but working a few of them this summer taught me sooooo much about how to focus a build, and that includes gear. Very useful.

Been having fun being anti-social and doing my usual SSF play. Not sure if I'm actually getting more unique drops than previous leagues, but things are moving smoothly regardless.

I did run my first blight map and it's frustrating that it seems totally unfeasible to solo. There's just too much going on in too broad an area. It feels like it needs a pause or two mid-way through to actually let you catch up and build towers without having to clear at the same time.

I'm enjoying my dad builds. Minion Summoner (who is in semi-retirement) and a fireball totem build. Neither is particularly fast, and someday I may want to try something like a speed build, but I'm ok with the slower speed of things. Not sure my mind could keep up otherwise

PoE 2 - Part of the same game client, improvements are for both PoE and PoE2 - New graphics engine, complete overhaul of the skill gem system, new 7 act campaign taking place 20 years after the 1st, and Shapeshifting!

Holy
sh*t
!!!

And a mobile port they're developing in-house without adding any typical mobile F2P aspects.

That shape shifting animation looks great! So that’s a lot of content in PoE2 and it includes content from PoE.