A realization about Path Of Exile economy, from watching Streamers

I think a lot of folks are missing the point. There's a big gap between the majority and the wealthiest. Most of us just don't enjoy it all enough to build the wealth up like you build a map pool.

Shit, I hate building a map pool as it is.

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ArtCrusade wrote:

This problem only exists in your head. Take a chill pill and play some SSF. You learn to stop caring about that kind of crap when you're in your own economy. ;-)

this is pretty much the right mentality IMO, even if you don't play in SSF why care? I play builds they wouldn't even touch lmao but if its fun its fun

"..to get rich you need to be rich. and then you get richer."

Once you have some currency, you are rich. From that point money makes more money.

If there is burnout, than inflation eats money you have already, nevertheless still - if you have currency, there is a way to make fortune .)

gl hf

Some of this is normal, but GGG actively encourages this as well.

If a build can do endgame content on 100-200c, they nerf the hell out of it.

If a build can absolutely steamroll content on 100ex, its no problem.

Their reasoning is that you should need heavy investment, but effectively they nerf builds that average players can use to access content, while ignoring builds that will be dominated by hardcore or streamers that are far more powerful.


Or explain why they continually nerf low investment builds like necro, pyroclast mines, etc.


I do not think they do this intentionally, but the outcome is that if anyone finds a build that casuals can do endgame content with it, GGG will deem it too easy and absolutely destroy it.

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trixxar wrote:

Or explain why they continually nerf low investment builds like necro, pyroclast mines, etc.

Both of those are like far stronger than they were previously though, net gain for necros over the last 5 leagues is up massively, same for mines when they decided traps should be replaced lol

they haven't been continually nerfed they got a small nerf once and still clear everything

doesn't apply to everything though they are very inconsistent about what is allowed to be busted and what isn't, like even within necro for example prior to this league SRS were just laughable compared to skeletons

Necros got nerfed on the base, yeah. But with cluster jewels they're still insane on low budget.

So much misinformation in here, yikes..

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trixxar wrote:

Some of this is normal, but GGG actively encourages this as well.

If a build can do endgame content on 100-200c, they nerf the hell out of it.

If a build can absolutely steamroll content on 100ex, its no problem.

Their reasoning is that you should need heavy investment, but effectively they nerf builds that average players can use to access content, while ignoring builds that will be dominated by hardcore or streamers that are far more powerful.


Or explain why they continually nerf low investment builds like necro, pyroclast mines, etc.


I do not think they do this intentionally, but the outcome is that if anyone finds a build that casuals can do endgame content with it, GGG will deem it too easy and absolutely destroy it.

To hell with games that reward time investment and effort, right?

I get you; you feel the minimum gear/investment threshold for reaching/beating end game is too high. But that threshold has to be set somewhere, right? And based on skill, knowledge and available time, a lot of people will feel that the threshold is way too high, while others will find it too low. It is subjective, no matter how you look at it.

In games like these, I value progression. I only play a character until I feel I can't progress it any further. So I like that GGG gives me the chance (and time) to keep the progression going. The hunt. The journey. That's the game for me, and for a lot of other players. This game needs carrots for the hardcore player base too. But if they can access something others can't, we get threads like this. And if the game fails to offer carrots for them, they are gone.

This game is NOTHING without carrots.

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Phrazz wrote:

To hell with games that reward time investment and effort, right?

I get you; you feel the minimum gear/investment threshold for reaching/beating end game is too high. But that threshold has to be set somewhere, right? And based on skill, knowledge and available time, a lot of people will feel that the threshold is way too high, while others will find it too low. It is subjective, no matter how you look at it.

In games like these, I value progression. I only play a character until I feel I can't progress it any further. So I like that GGG gives me the chance (and time) to keep the progression going. The hunt. The journey. That's the game for me, and for a lot of other players. This game needs carrots for the hardcore player base too. But if they can access something others can't, we get threads like this. And if the game fails to offer carrots for them, they are gone.

This game is NOTHING without carrots.

Its not that the investment is too high, its the immediate crackdown on people using the mechanics to succeed in any way that doesnt require lots of currency.

GGG sees any build that can do content without heavy investment as needing a nerf.

GGG constantly reinvents the rules (which is fair) but the method they do it reinforces the point that rich/streamer builds should be untouched while casual builds will get absolutely hammered the moment they show potential.

You can justify or rationalize it for days, and many of the points I agree with, but at the end of the day the impact is nerfing all non-high-investment builds if they are successful.

Is that really desirable?
(Also, the secondary effect is it constantly encourages RMT, because the 2ex build you used to play with got wrecked, but that 20ex build that is even better is untouched. Again, is that desirable?)

You might ask, whats the alternative, no nerfs ever? I would say a better alternative is focusing on builds that break the intent of the design rather than instantly concluding that all low costs builds deserve nerfs if they can manage to do content. Example - purposeful harb obviously not intended, headhunter stacking clearly not intended (but its expensive, only reason it hasnt been hammered).

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trixxar wrote:

You can justify or rationalize it for days, and many of the points I agree with, but at the end of the day the impact is nerfing all non-high-investment builds if they are successful.

As I said, this is the threshold. GGG have a certain vision (threshold) in mind as to how much investment is needed to reach certain milestones/content. When changes make some builds fall beneath this threshold, they change them - because they view them as too powerful compared to the investment needed, and the progression people look for is gone, because they reach "powerful enough" too easy/fast. The "carrot" of pushing on is gone. The need for further investment is gone - and they reached that state too easy/fast/cheap.

It's no secret that developers want you to play their game. And a player that 'wants' something, plays more (and longer) than a 'fulfilled' player. A player with a goal plays more than a players that has reached his goal. The room AND need for improvements need to be there as long as it fairly can.

As to the "OP" builds: When a player finally reaches/surpasses said threshold, he still needs room for improvement - or access to something better for his next build. That's where the "OP" stuff comes in. Progress. Even. Further. Chase uniques are called "chase uniques" because people need to crave them. If those uniques aren't powerful enough to crave them, people stop their progression earlier.

So I really don't get it. In farming/grinding games with trading, time investment will ALWAYS yield more power. It's inevitable. If they lower the top end, they remove a lot of reasons for certain players to "push on", and if the raise the low end, the also lower the reason to "push on".

So it's all about the threshold and where to set it. And that will always be subjectively too high AND too low, depending on your skill, knowledge, effort and available time.

Some other people pointed this out, but I think you're a good fit for playing in an SSF league. Perhaps hardcore as well, because in my view it feels really rewarding to know that you geared yourself and/or play well enough to not die and continue to progress.

You really should be focusing on what kind of gear to keep when you loot mobs, and be on the lookout for open prefixes & suffixes that would make a sub-par item as-good or better than what you'd find in trade.

Personally, I think there are SO many options for gearing yourself (all by yourself) that trade is really not necessary these days, even if you're playing in a trade league. Crafting is really all you need...

Then when you want to maybe get that OP gear and have the energy to competitively price the items you find and/or craft, you can get all the currency you need.

Reminder: Currency in this game are all orbs used for CRAFTING. The fact that an entire economy revolves around trading crafting material for items, says it all about PoE. Crafting comes first, Trade comes second.