2.0.0d Patch Notes

I really don't know how to feel about this. Spend aboud 2500+ hours on PoE so far, playing mostly hardcore solo self-found. The game makes a lot of fun because of its complexity and all of the different game mechanics. Trading sucks, that's why I do (mostly) without (just vendoring stuff, keeping other).

Then came Act 4. I did not participate in the beta, did not know what to expect, other than that HC/Tempest is really challanging. Dominus on normal was all right, I did know how to do the fight. For The Awakening I wanted to try a ground-slam marauder, so going melee. Since I don't rush, I took my time - something like 18h till I got to Malachai.

Took me some time to find the right gear as well. OK armour, ok mace, did not have a granite flask, but: no risk - no fun...

Then the boss-fight: I had to TP about half a dozen time, but did not die and reached cruel Twilight Strand in Tempest. It was a really rewarding feeling to know I never did the boss before, I did it on my own, and ... I survived on HC. And I immediatly thought: "For cruel I need to be level 70+ or something."

Having spent not much time on cruel since then, I felt, that everything coming after the boss fight now is a joke with respect to something like a challenge. The zones are still 4-5 levels below my toon, but level progression still works ok.

So, yeah. Malachi was kind of hard, but also rewarding. I really liked it even befor the nerf. Playing in HC should be a challange - and the main difference to the pros is how fast you progress.
On the other had, I believe that new players will hit a really hard wall. Even in Standard league: Who wants to prepare for a couple of hours, portal out several times, or even die a dozen deaths just to learn how to progress?

Why do I write this up (having posted only two minor glitches in the past)? Maybe it might be a good idea to implement one or two additional permanent leagues. Leagues, where everything is tuned down, progression is faster, trading easier...
If people get the game mechanics, they could decide to play on the current leagues or even be competitive in the Challenge Leagues or races.
PoE need players to invest lots of time to get some progress on their own. Not all of us have that luxury, but still want to experience most of the game. Instead of nerfing stuff for all, or instead of makeing players "buying progress" (with in-game currency for boss-kills), an easier Intro League might do the trick: Keeping the hard-core gamers satisfied and offering a learning platform for newbies.

Just my 5ct.

-MAC

I have pretty good RIG, but PoE is so badly optimized its cooking my card.

In the field we call it : "Code written by Juniors", bcoz they dont care about resources management.

"

Qarl wrote:

Fixed a bug where Key Pickup wouldn't work sometimes.

Key Pickup (Default binding "F") still doesnt work. Even after deleting config file and rebinding it several times. resetting to default. doesnt do jack :x fix pls

Apparently, the biggest news this brings to me is it's the first time I realized these forums *DO* have list tags, and I've been making do otherwise like a complete scrub. Thanks for helping me realize my mistakes, Qarl!

"

Qarl wrote:

• The final boss now has 33% less life on Normal, and 17% less life on Cruel.
• The final boss now has fewer area effects on Normal and Cruel difficulties.
• The damage of some skills performed by the final boss have been reduced slightly, especially against minions.
• The final boss's mortar degeneration ground has been reduced in the last portion of the fight in Normal and Cruel difficulties.
• The Corrupted Lightning Beam attack used by the boss in the penultimate area now does significantly less damage to minions.
• Fixed a rare bug where a heart would fail to open in the final boss fight.

Overall, this sounds close to what needed to happen. Rather than an overall global "make it easier so players don't need skill to win" nerf to the final boss, a few targetted changes to make him less brutal to certain builds. The health bar thing's understandable; such a huge meter (especially after all three hearts are gone already) didn't really make the boss any HARDER... Just more tedious.

And likewise, the reduced damage versus minions makes a lot of sense too; it was clear that they were getting reamed pretty badly, because fancy footwork is something a summoner's minions can't really do.

Lastly, I'm not quite sure if a reduction to the Mortal Degeneration damage was too necessary... I'm not sure what type of damage it was dealing, but on normal, I hardly noticed it. GRANTED, that might have been it being hard-countered by the high regen I was using. (>30 HP/sec on normal)

My only disappointment is that I won't get a chance to experience the Cruel final boss at full strength.

"

Qarl wrote:

• Fixed a bug where Key Pickup wouldn't work sometimes.
• Fixed a Warbands instance crash related to one of the Redblade Flamelords.
• Fixed a bug where legacy leech prefixes did not show their prefix name on magic items.
• Fixed various other rare server crashes.

We are aware of the problem where some users can't access some guild stash tabs. A fix is currently estimated to be around 48 hours away (hopefully a lot less).

Glad to know you managed to find out and lick some of the most prominent glitches so quickly. I'll have to double-check myself, but if that fixes key pickup for me, (I use the default Alt) that will remove one of the annoyances I've endured!

Similarly, with luck those crashes will remove most of the issues. It hasn't been as bad for me, (just I've had only 2-3 disconnects that came with "rollbacks") compared to those who kept getting a complete freeze in the final room. (followed by restarting the program to find they'd been demoted to SC)

If you can also get the guild stash issue too, I think that only leaves the issue with all the de-leveled gems, and you'll have successfully conquered all the notable bugs in such a HUGE release in under a week.

Next challenge after that? I'd imagine, hopefully, getting some sleep.

"

Qarl wrote:

we want players to have to make a risk-or-reward decision

Is it my misunderstanding or risk and reward are mutually exclusive by design? =)

Lol.. Really.. Making the game easier for summoners again. So dumb.

Hi,

"

Fixed various other rare server crashes.

Does that include the client crashes that have been happening to many people during the Malachai fight?
Has anyone who has had this issue before seen any difference?

Thanks

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Frozenheartt wrote:

Chumps couldn't beat, a simple avoid AoE fight. Sure it was hard but its the final boss, it's suppose to be... Gamers these days.

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Secksy wrote:

this exactly.

I'm glad people like you too aren't part of the dev team, or else, this game would be unplayable by most.

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MedusaMassacre wrote:

Always cry babies get their way. The bosses were completely fine in normal and cruel. In normal it weeded out all the scrubs. Rip good boss fight

I love how you guys call others "cry babies", when you're crying right now about the nerf...

The iron E is so sweet, even though you're so salty... :)

I don't know if this is the patch or what, but I experience a lot of random lags now. (no problem previously) Its almost unplayable sometimes, at least I am playing a summoner...

no clue what people have against warbands. I get rares from like 75% of them... also they are the right kind of challenge (not like the beyond shit, which took wayyy to long to kill and dropped nothing)