Essence Preview: Ziggy D Creates GG Pys/Chaos Bow

I saw some discussion on reddit going on about this, but nothing here so thought I would transpose the information.

Ziggy claims that he used master modding, 4 exalts, and 20 essences to craft this beast.

Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/4yav3c/ziggyd_check_out_this_bow_i_crafted_on_the_test/

Picture of the Bow




So guys and gals, what's your verdict on this essence stuff from what we've seen thus far?


My personal opinion: I think ziggy was extremely lucky (as usual) and that most of the crafting that we will see of this calibur will be for the guys that have 100s of exalts to spare. GGG, in recent history, seems to be overselling quite a lot of their content. Players see a LOT of cool things, but only small percentages of players can actually achieve those things. Personally I think that is the #1 issue for player retention. "Wow what an awesome [piece of gear/build] I can't wait to build my own"...then suddenly quit after cruel.

I think the bow he created is super awesome...but I also have no delusions that I myself will be able to get those types of rolls on anything I craft...hopefully I'm wrong (but I doubt it).

P.S. I find it funny that i also has the name "Loath Bane"...I think I should craft until I get something named Loath Bane they are usually pretty op lol.

If master crafting works then its just as retarded as master crafting when hybird mods existed. The entire reason they did away with hybird rolls is because it made crafting weapons completely trivial and everyone and their mother was crafting very high DPS weapons.

I really hope its just a case of extreme luck but essences are inherently broken as a crafting concept precisely because of master crafting. If master crafting didnt exist i think they would be a fine concept though.

Im pretty positive its going to be old master crafting though, i dont think it was an extreme case of luck.

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Tin_Foil_Hat wrote:

If master crafting works then its just as retarded as master crafting when hybird mods existed. The entire reason they did away with hybird rolls is because it made crafting weapons completely trivial and everyone and their mother was crafting very high DPS weapons.

I really hope its just a case of extreme luck but essences are inherently broken as a crafting concept precisely because of master crafting. If master crafting didnt exist i think they would be a fine concept though.

Im pretty positive its going to be old master crafting though, i dont think it was an extreme case of luck.

I hope you're right about the luck thing. He did say he used 4 exalts....but who knows how much those high end essences will be. Those have the potential of being 2ex a piece which all of the sudden makes a 4ex bow a 44ex bow for the average player.

I don't know...this whole marketing angle of "make rares great again" isn't really selling me. I can't see any version of this new content that would potentially regulate the cost of crafting the items they keep bragging about.

This might be a very boring league for average players and a super exciting league for market moguls and master players/crafters.

They could make essence tradeable but essence-crafted items bound to your account. Increase drop rates of essence to allow more than 12 people a chance at crafting on their own instead of always having to rely on trade. Even in temp leagues that are not flooded with GG T1 rares, 97% of the time it's cheaper to buy a rare than to craft/master craft one.

We spend more currency rerolling maps than trying to craft gear.

Extremely lucky. Imagine if the essence affix was actually good.

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Namcap wrote:

Even in temp leagues that are not flooded with GG T1 rares, 97% of the time it's cheaper to buy a rare than to craft/master craft one.

We spend more currency rerolling maps than trying to craft gear.

This is 100% of the feeling that I get as well and pretty accurately stated. I am looking forward to the league regardless because of the new mapping system, but I'm not really that excited about essence itself. It basically creates a new level of mirror-worthy items for a select few who are either (a) lucky or (b) so good at gaining currency in game that it doesn't even matter.

The average joe player or even the above-average joe will likely never see an item like Ziggy created on the fly. My many years of playing this game has taught me never to want what other players have, but newer players may be turned off by this when they see their favorite streamer roll GG crafts.

Chris did say that players will have "dozens of opportunities" to roll gear like this. Alluding to the fact that maybe essences won't be that rare. Maybe like Perandus was OP unique league, this next league will be OP rare league.

You don't have to get a mirror tier'd item for it be considered a good item. With as much power that we have now, these kind of stats aren't required to finish everything. They just push your character further.

Yes the small 1% of players that put the time into the game and acquire large amounts of wealth, they will benefit more from this. But even an average player can get something pretty decent with these.

Every league I end up finding or crafting decent rare items for my build. Now they aren't worth more then maybe a few chaos but its still possible. Remember that some people don't like trading. (Raises hand) Finding/crafting gear makes it feel like I earned it playing the game. The item not being godly means that I have more opportunities to get better gear in the future. So while mapping, I'm still on the hunt for better gear, not just the exp and map hunting.

I think this will be a nice addition for me at least and give me goals to work towards.

You had me at 4 exalts, I usually find 2-3 a league.

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e1337donkey wrote:

Remember that some people don't like trading. (Raises hand) Finding/crafting gear makes it feel like I earned it playing the game. The item not being godly means that I have more opportunities to get better gear in the future. So while mapping, I'm still on the hunt for better gear, not just the exp and map hunting.

This is an awesome point. I do like that it will give me something to hunt and something to try and accomplish. I'm just not sure how I'll feel after 3 months and potentially still not crafting at least one GG item. I probably won't care that much...but I will feel a little annoyed probably lol.

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e1337donkey wrote:

Remember that some people don't like trading. (Raises hand) Finding/crafting gear makes it feel like I earned it playing the game. The item not being godly means that I have more opportunities to get better gear in the future. So while mapping, I'm still on the hunt for better gear, not just the exp and map hunting.

This is an awesome point. I do like that it will give me something to hunt and something to try and accomplish. I'm just not sure how I'll feel after 3 months and potentially still not crafting at least one GG item. I probably won't care that much...but I will feel a little annoyed probably lol.

There is still a FAR too large amount of RNG in crafting some items.

I hate trading. I hate buying gear. I love finding and crafting my own gear. However, because I don't trade, I don't have nearly enough currency to do what can be done by buying 8c worth of gear and facerolling T10 maps. I only buy a few pieces to round off a build (like when I'm really low on resits or hp) and like to use self found items for as long as I can.

For example, I found a 6L 2handed mace in Prophecy. First time I ever find a 6L. It was low level, 60ish but I figured it was already 6 link and decided to give it a shot.

800 alts, couple hundred augs, 50 regals and scoures later, I vendored the damn thing. I never hit %phys over 100, I never hit high flat phys or anything that could be turned into a decent weapon by finishing it through master crafting. At best it could have been a sub 300pdps weapon. Sure it was 6L, but I could buy a 5L 400pdps for 12c or an unlinked 500pdps for less than that.

This is where I hope essence crafting can be useful. I'm not looking for that 50ex item, but I would like to craft more for my own use, for a price not exceeding 12 times what I could have bought it for.