1.1.0 Patch Notes - Sacrifice of the Vaal

Okay, it looks like there are too many complaints over nothing. Although not all of the issues were addressed in this patch, you can be sure that it's not the last patch out there. Besides, changes that have been made seem quite logical and balanced to me.

First of all, cast on crit builds (and many other way too high DPS builds), 99% of which rely on vaal pact just to be able to survive a single barrage of spells against reflect packs, have got themselves a pretty well-deserved nerf. Imo, reflect should be a punishing mechanic regardless of the build you use, should your DPS go ridiculously high, and you should never be able to steamroll everything in PoE - I guess, it's fairly evident for its entire playerbase.

Now, the totems have a really large upside of taking all the reflected damage for themselves, as well as diverting monsters from you, which also helps your survivability, and replacing 30% decreased cast/attack speed for 30% less isn't that huge of a nerf anyway: it's only 9% slower with 30% increased cast/attack speed and 14% slower with 60% increased cast/attack speed. Since not too many builds are stacking cast speed or attack speed way past this value, it won't affect totem users drastically. And even then everyone seems to be assuming that the magnitude of the modifier remains at 30%, which isn't stated in the patch notes - it could be changed to, say, 25% to balance it (okay, I doubt it myself, but anyway, too many people are complaining without seeing the full picture).

Changes to how leech works might seem too severe, and they kinda are from the perspective of multi-target attacks, especially through mid-game, but the way leech is capped at 20% max health/second, with right gear (don't forget new implicit mods on items from corruption) and passives it will still be barely noticeable. And yes, you won't be recovering health seconds after fight if you're overcapped on leech and rely on fast attacks/multistrike, but that's what the potions are for, isn't it? Or everyone here wants to have everything handed to them on a damn plate? Just use LGoH if your attack is multi-target, you'll be surprised.

On a final note, there are buffs and quite many new features in this patch as well, you know?

P.S. Before I start being thrashed for fanboyism or gods know what else - I'll be happy to see many of you make your own game and have it balanced and polished to the tiniest details, be able to live up to any expectation an please every community member regardless of their itelligence, logic and rationality. And even more happy to see you fail horribly. I neither support every single decision GGG has made, nor am I blinded by this game not to notice its weaker points, but so far I really like the general direction in which both GGG and PoE are heading. And this is more than enough for me.

NERF ALL THE THINGS!!!!

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el_hombre_loco wrote:

[Removed by Support]

I laughed so hard. [Removed by Support]

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Barrage: the attack speed penalty has been removed.

ERMAHGERD

BEHRERGE

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rinleezwins wrote:

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el_hombre_loco wrote:

Ignorants/fanboys timetable:
1. Congratz GGG! Hail GGG!

I laughed so hard. It seems like you just described what 98% of this forum community is doing.

Gues i'll be put to guag or executed by majority.

Interesting....

Personally that nerf to life leech is getting me pretty worried...
The way I see it unless you have vaal pact or are using slow and powerfull (crit)?
skills, I get the feeling that leech is going to become abysmall.

What happens when you're a freeze pulser with GMP? You'll only ever be regenerating
from one of the pulses at a time...

Honestly there are enough ways to die from burst damage as is ingame.
Leveling past 85 without being a bullwark AND with the new life leech
sounds like a VERY painfull experience... more so then it was before.

And there I was happy regarding the skill tree changes...
But that change alone may very well kill any motivation that may have given me.

Can you please GGG allow us to switch off weather effects? My graphic card hates them :)) Also Dominus fight is like 5 FPS... I know its not your fault but rest of the game is fluent (except royal gardens). THX, GJ

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LeTwix wrote:

After reading the comments, I'm thinking that this patch will be twice as effective as I'd anticipated.

All the entitled man-children and otherwise deliberately idiotic folk crying for "buffs rather than nerfs" will hopefully follow up their threats and leave this community.

POE is the haven of all "hardcore" gamers (whether they actually play on "hardcore difficulty" or not), since it is the only RPG with an intricate skill system, depth in its gameplay style and, most importantly, the CHALLENGE IT IMPOSES. The difficulty level of this game is one of its key features. Players seeking only "easy mode" grinding will, to my pleasure, flock over to diablo (and stay there -- or not).


DISCLAIMER: I've played ALL of the Blizzard/Activision franchises, and have enjoyed them each for what they where, and POE is, although from the same genre, a completely DIFFERENT kind of game, and must stay this way.

TL;DR: This game revels in its difficulty and complexity. If you want "buffs" or "ezmode" go play other games than host such things (Like d3, which, again, quite the successful game in that respect).



Finally, keep in mind that unique items are intended as an added flavor to a build, not quite it's most necessary piece (with few exceptions). Generally, a GG rare will surpass even the best rolled unique. Those whose tears flow as rivers after reading the notes, remember this: Koam's Heart was a MUST HAVE unique for ALL builds, only a while ago. After its "nerf", build diversity and varied demand sky rocketed. These changes -- nerfs -- are beneficial in all things.

+1000000000000

Tried D3 with Loot 2.0:
There no challenge at all to play the game and reach the so called "endgame" - you always get the gear you need to surpass the next step, i.e. Torment and so on. Even canceled my preorder for RoS - it's just too easy after a while of POE

More or less D3 is designed for 5year olds, POE for players who actually like to be challenged by the environment and don't get everything they need with a regular playthrough.

Back to Topic:
Can't wait until tomorrow :)

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Peripherally wrote:

Wow. RIP to all new players, you won't be able to do much of ANYTHING compared to older ones.

I cannot fathom what GGG expect to achieve with all the legacy-creation. As older players get ever more stronger and farther ahead, just what do new players have a chance to get? Shafted? Again and again each time you "improve" and "balance" the game?

If you want to remove something, or change anything, the ONLY way it can be appropriate is if its across the board and applies equally to everyone. Making it a first-come-first-serve heaven for the oldest members of the community totally trounces all the newcomers. I don't have all the answers as to how you would keep those oldest members happy, but I can promise you: new ones will be completely put-off to learn they will never be able to afford the most useful version of items they want for builds they want to make (unless they resort to RMT, which is supposedly prohibited). Why play then? The only logical course is to quit and find something else (or, as mentioned, RMT).

I am not gonna even bother trying out new builds in standard anymore; its a fucking cesspit of untenable unfairness. I hope no one else does either, and standard just dies off like the cancer that it's becoming. Maybe then there will be some newbie-friendly changes for once, one can hope.

--- of course, I'm assuming legacy items continue to exist as they have been...they may not, in which my rant is misplaced ---

I'm not really too concerned about the new players, as poor players regardless of how long they've played are going to be hurt the worst. GGG is not only removing increased quantity mods from items that aren't unique, but they're stopping 'increased item quantity' gem from dropping. Whether or not that means existing gems are being deleted or not is uncertain.

What this means, of course, is that those who struggle getting stuff (currency especially) are now going to struggle even harder. I've never been a rich player, and often I've complained about my lack of wealth since closed beta, but now this nerfing of item quantity is going to make me even poorer. And it's not like GGG improved RNG and item/currency drops either.

I can only hope the reason behind this change is to entice people to use vaal orbs, which has much more chaotic changes to items.