merciless and self found pro tips

The problem is you are choosing to play self found, but then complaining about the difficulty.

But this is not a console game - it's an online ARPG with a trade forums and trade chat. The game should be balanced around the fact that those exist, and that by the start of Merciless you can easily trade for a few low end pieces with a few HP and the resists you need.

You cannot make an intentional decision to make the game harder on yourself, and then complain the game is too hard. They give you ring slots and a weapon slot for a reason. Same with the trade forum.

Solo/ Self-found summoner here. Summoner is always my first character and I usually try to full clear (as best I can) Normal. That usually sets me up to over level Cruel and set me up for a good start on Merciless. My luck this go round has been rather horrid. I didn't find any decent 4 links until yesterday and I had to alter a few items (something I usually don't need to do).

By the time I reached Piety, I could carefully take her down and make my way through SoG. Domi kicked my teeth in though. Yesterday I finally hit max resists, and got my life/es up a bit more. It's a night and day difference running around with max resists. All I need to do now is find that comfortable spot where I can go fight Domi again and not get my teeth kicked in.

So hang in there and hope RNG blesses you with the pieces you need to progress.

This is how I play

It's slow and grinding but the key is do the recipes to try to get better gear. When it comes to weapons as you level check the vendor and you will notice that he usually has gear that has the same level as you. Those are the ones you should be using your alts and alcs on. For example, this is my current axe:

My character is lv43 and I'm just beginning to see these whites

I've been concentrating on doing the alchemy recipe so if I add some quality with some whetstones it's pretty good chance I'll get an upgrade. There's no real need because things are still dying pretty quickly at the beginning of cruel. I do the same thing with armor, I just wait until I get a white near the base stats of my current gear before I use an alc on it. Because of RNG Imay have to try a few times but such is the way of the self found player.

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fazlez1 wrote:

This is how I play

Newbie Guide to Improving your gear

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/646392

It's slow and grinding but the key is do the recipes to try to get better gear. When it comes to weapons as you level check the vendor and you will notice that he usually has gear that has the same level as you. Those are the ones you should be using your alts and alcs on. For example, this is my current axe:

My character is lv43 and I'm just beginning to see these whites

I've been concentrating on doing the alchemy recipe so if I add some quality with some whetstones it's pretty good chance I'll get an upgrade. There's no real need because things are still dying pretty quickly at the beginning of cruel. I do the same thing with armor, I just wait until I get a white near the base stats of my current gear before I use an alc on it. Because of RNG Imay have to try a few times but such is the way of the self found player.

Why do you improve the quality before using orbs rather than after?

Self-found is easiest to accomplish when you play solo. When you engage a monster it's difficulty and drop rate is increased if other players are in range. While you may be able to quickly dispatch a monster solo - in self-found gear - , that same monster in a group might be too much for you in a group. This is my understanding, but it may be flawed or missing a nuance. I play self-found solo almost-exclusively.

Certain stats are a must:
Life/ES
Resist

Sometimes a blue item can be used for a lot longer than you would consider using it if you were simply to trade for upgrades.
A high life roll and a single resist on a coral or 16/16 resist ring, is pretty good stuff. A blue item like this can easily be crafted by burning through a bunch of Alts. Save good items from one character to the next.

Use recipes like the one for creating a weapon.

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ChanBalam wrote:

Why do you improve the quality before using orbs rather than after?

The lower the rarity of an item, the cheaper it is to improve quality, e.g. a whetstone gives 5% quality on a white item but only 1% on a rare/unique.

For the same reason, if you're crafting an item from scratch, it's a good idea to try to get decent sockets/links before using a transmutation/alch.

I play self found. i have a Standard shop, but well, since its standard don't really get much business and suspect will dry up completely what with the masters now.

Meddled with trading in SoTV challenge leagues, the new economy meant good business there, and given it was my first attempt at a league, it was kinda of a novelty so having to grind new characters from scratch wasn't THAT bad. And there were strongboxes. Actually made a bit of currency out of it.

Anyway thought I'd give it ago with Rampage again, but honestly it bored me to tears (oh and yeah my drops were rubbish). I got a couple characters thru to Cruel but just cannot be stuffed continuing on the endless grind just to get enough items to make some decent currency with a shop, and again with the masters I think it will be harder to find sellable items.

So I'm pretty much back full time to standard self found. Thankfully they intro'ed the masters into Standard as well.

Thanks!

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Incompetent wrote:

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ChanBalam wrote:

Why do you improve the quality before using orbs rather than after?

The lower the rarity of an item, the cheaper it is to improve quality, e.g. a whetstone gives 5% quality on a white item but only 1% on a rare/unique.

For the same reason, if you're crafting an item from scratch, it's a good idea to try to get decent sockets/links before using a transmutation/alch.

That's it exactly. As Incompetent said you should always try to get nice links before wasting your orbs. I usually pick up every 4L when I first start a build of every color combination. If chromes are in short supply I at least have gear with different links and color combination to work with until I can get what I need for the build.

I play solo + self-found ranger. Occasionally, for the lolz, I join a public party in a farming area, and in the past I had joined parties for tough bosses (ie Dom).

However, since 1.2 I have never found things as easy for my ranger. Either I have learnt and improved as a player, or 1.2 has made things simpler, or 1.2 has made things simpler for rangers.

I have 22 rampage deaths, currently level 65 and preparing to take on Merciless Vaal. Through Normal & Cruel I was slightly overlevelled - I generally, habitually, play through most of each area, and in Act 3 I still get confused / distracted about what things to do for the various quests. However, I was never more than 5 levels above an area, except for occasionally whizzing through area A to get to area B where there would be a quest activity.

I believe that I was generally about 4 levels above each zone from around Act 2 Normal. I took on Dominus solo at about 41, and did well enough in Cruel that I took on Dom at level 57. His area is level 54, so I guess he is 56 and I was damn pleased to have killed him being only 1 level above him.

Of my 22 deaths, about 1/3 have been to strongboxes, 1 I think to Dom in Normal (phase #1 IIRC) and 5 or 6 to Dom in Cruel (all phase 2 I think). I really don't know if I would find him more doable if my PC graphic performance were improved. I would not have the confidence to take him on unless I were 7 or 8 levels higher in hardcore. (And the Beyond invaders are as much of a problem as the rampage triggers are fun). The remaining deaths have been to a couple of Exiles, a couple of WTFs, and a few stupid mistakes (eg lightning in Sins). I'd have difficulty playing hardcore, remembering to eliminate the risks that I currently take in Rampage.

My first ever PoE character topped out at level 44. I think it took 3 or 4 characters before I got to maps (that was before release and Dominus). My Rampage level 65 Ranger has 59 hours played and I hit a wall at around level 61. Up to then, most of Cruel and Merciless has been almost too easy. However, I took one peek at Merciless Vaal, ran around for a few minutes chipping away at him but eventually got one shot lasered. I'm currently levelling in Fellshrine and was thinking about crafting a new bow for the next attempt.

As I wrote above, never (until 1.2) have I found things so easy. I believe that I currently need more life and resistances in order to progress, and I'd like to improve my evasion. Time will give upgrades that allow progression, and crafting opportunities. (And 5 links, eventually). I know that things should be more difficult now, so I am very happy with this character.


I'm very interested to learn at what character levels solo + self found players are taking on particular game milestones (ie bosses). I generally wear MF gear, and hopefully remember to change to appropriate resistances. So I think I've got the hang of the game now and I'd like to know what experiences similar players have.

When I look around in towns, I generally see other players at lower levels than myself. Whether these are solo / sf players or not, I don't know. That's why I'm asking here; I've looked and cannot find this information anywhere else...