My Problem with the community as a Theorycrafter/Guide maker

Goodmorning/evening/afternoon everyone... My Name is Slayer (not my real name, my gaming name :P) and I'm somewhat a theorycrafter, and someone who loves making build guides for the community.

Now, in the title, it might seem like im generalizing, but im talking about a handful of people in the community, namely, those from Reddit.

So, since that possible mis-understanding is out of the way, here is a little about me, and why im so passionate about this game, and my builds (im not boasting...)

My gaming life started at the age of... idk... 9-10? And my first major game was Runescape, I loved that game, it was my social hub, all my friends were on it, i had so much fun... My experience didn't get serious until later...

In Runescape, there was a skill called Slayer (yeeee hence the name (Slayer tip)) and i steadily rose on the ladder (on that skill mostly) and i ended up being top 10 at the age of 12ish (i remember because it was before highschool)

Now, inbetween when i stopped runescape and started PoE, Diablo 3 was infront of me, so, i decided to play that... it was fun, until... personal stuff happened

Now, ive been playing Path of Exile for the past 2ish years (maybe 3?) and ive grown to love the community... my dearest friend Serleth has helped me almost every day, he taught me everything i know, told me stuff i didn't know, we are practically best friends, he is one of the main reasons why i still play, why im still motivated to play.

Now, starting late last year, ive been going solo with build making, I love this game simply because you can make whatever the fuck you want without repercussions, since november of 2014, ive been theorycrafting, and making builds, and releasing guides... but there is always an issue with the community that makes me extremely upset

and by extremely, i mean, having to rage and QQ to Serleth, he is almost 100% ready to kick my Australian ass

As a theorycrafter... i devote alot of time talking about it, thinking about it, looking at the flaws before i even make the build... So, it takes me a while to work things out. Not everyone is perfect.

It is my absolute dream goal in this game to be noticed as a build maker, a successful one, i want to be noticed by Bex + the GGG community for my builds... its a dream for any guide maker... but im not only doing it for that...

I'm doing it for the community, i try to release builds that people might be interested in... people might think (OH GOD another build from this fucking guy, doesn't he know he sucks?!)

I've heard it enough from Reddit, "Oh your builds don't make sense, it sucks, it lacks this, it lacks that" and frankly, ive heard absolutely enough, i woke up this morning with 5 hours of sleep because every time i post a build, i get anxious as to what people think... but, i woke up teary mostly because reddit has its cruel posts, and because i didnt sleep that much, it hit me harder then it should...

My recent build guide got a few positive replies (ones that didn't directly diss the build itself, but my choice in uniques) which made me a bit happy, so, i happily replied to those messages. But it was the Reddit comments that got my :(... ive learnt that people on Reddit are extremely harsh, and have really really strong views on things... so, ill avoid it for now.

My only issue with that is, Reddit is a great way to publicize builds, videos, whatever. And i know for a fact that im not a big enough name for people to be all like "LOOK HE HAS ANOTHER AMAZING GG BUILD" (not saying my builds are GG btw :P)

I'm not a streamer who is well known like LiftingNerdBro, or Ziggy, or the other guys, but, i still stream, i host a stream every few days for Steam because, i know a few people are in the dark about a few things on steam, and its where i go to help people...

So...

Thats about it... Im not sure if anyone else is in my current shoes, but, ive just had bad luck with the community, and the only way i know how to restore the communities hope in me (if there was any to begin with) was to keep making builds until i hit gold.

I love this game... i love my friends in it, i love the community, the developers... its just, when i make a build and people respond negatively to it, it puts me down and makes me :( when it comes to the community...

Once again, im not saying every one of you is a bad person, just.. mostly redditors (from my experience ofcourse)

Thank you for reading this, it means more then you think... I have alot of pride when it comes to making my builds, as alot of thought goes into it. And it upsets me that after weeks of playing to get this build working properly, people insta-hate me for it.

Thank you again.

Slayer, Leader of Domination.

POE Reddit is a cesspool though. Downvote brigade camping New, etc. I wouldn't take anything they say to heart tbh. I never really give feedback on theorycrafting (I'm just not good at it) but it's always an enjoyable read when someone takes an obscure item and produces innovation. So keep your head up and keep doing what you do.

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allsunsdawn wrote:

POE Reddit is a cesspool though. Downvote brigade camping New, etc. I wouldn't take anything they say to heart tbh. I never really give feedback on theorycrafting (I'm just not good at it) but it's always an enjoyable read when someone takes an obscure item and produces innovation. So keep your head up and keep doing what you do.

Thank you for the kind comment... i sort of try not to take anything to heart, but i can't help but feel useless when they say negative things

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

Holy shit, we just got seriously LJed.

Take it from someone who does things NO ONE ELSE in this game has or ever will: don't fucking care what others think. They will NEVER love your builds or ideas as much as you do. They probably won't even get it. A real theorycrafter/builder does it for themselves and maybe a few friends they can trust not to be raging dicks about it. But if you're going to go public, of course you can expect every Tom, Penis and Harry to try to shoot it down because shooting things down is the easiest way to get 'fame' on here. It's also the most ephemeral, which is why people keep doing it.

Being a build/theorycrafter in this game and hoping to get positive feedback is pretty much pointless now UNLESS you're aiming for the very pinnacle of effectiveness.

As for reddit: pffft, they're way too cool for us. They're the Facebook to our LJ.

I suppose... i just didnt expect that much negative stuff to happen in such a short time span, I usually try to reach maximum effectiveness, but i like using what others probably aren't, you know, making an item not so useless? I try to be creative and have fun with my theorycrafting :)

Fuck the haters, keep making build guides if that's what you want to do. I'm sure there are plenty of unspoken people you're helping or inspiring. And you can only get better at it the longer you do it. :)

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Bex_GGG wrote:

Hey Slayertip1!

I'm sorry to hear that you're having a rough time with this. It's amazing that you're so passionate about the game and so keen to help other players! You should be proud of that fact regardless of the perceived success of the guides you create. Please don't be disheartened. I'll be sure to have a look through your builds and please let me know if there's anything else that I can help with :)

Thank you so much for the reply Bex, took me by surprise! :D

I've always been passionate about this game, its the only game ive gotten over 4.5k hours on steam on! :D

You don't have look at my builds if you don't want to :) they're not top notch or anything :) I just enjoy making them... not only for my own benefits, but for others, because i love helping others, its what makes me happy :D

Thanks again for the reply :) Made me smile :D

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

Fuck the haters, keep making build guides if that's what you want to do. I'm sure there are plenty of unspoken people you're helping or inspiring. And you can only get better at it the longer you do it. :)

Thanks man :) I plan to keep making builds until im out of ideas :D which is unlikely to happen, since, i have plenty of ideas, i just lack to money to make those ideas come to life, which is why i made my MF ice crash build, so, i have a MF build to make money :D