I realized this game is even worse than Diablo 3

"

themrpid10 wrote:

This game mandates groups even more than Diablo 3 did because otherwise you will always hit a gear wall around level 40 and level 60 that cannot be overcome with self found drops.

Party in PoE gave way too much benefits while solo player risk so much and get nothing compared to party play.

When you in group even without any support you still have MORE dps and higher clear speed, more effective you can roll maps and share gear, if you solo you get no bonus and only penalty.

Solo dead in PoE, only party play, only guilds, only groups!

"

sidtherat wrote:

well..

while the '2 years' is plain lie or overstatement (it takes like a week for a casual) what people seem to take for granted is that EVERYBODY plays the current FOTM cookie cutter build

flame totem, cyclone, poison arrow, incinerate - you know THE STUFF THAT DOES NOT CARE ABOUT GEAR

for most of the 'elite' playing anything else is just being stupid but if one wants to, lets say, level as a ground slam marauder or cleave or even spectral throw, maybe fireball (you know, the kind of build that SHOULD work, because why not - we are talking about new players) then the gear wall is real and really really hard to bypass (not mentioning that some skills are just noob traps by design - fireball, ele hit)

cyclone just deals SO MUCH damage that one can manage with wooden shovel instead of a weapon but anything else is just difficult, flame totem does not need even the shovel bit.

skills that can clear everything on a 4 link (all mentioned above..) are obviously MUCH easier to not care about drops than ones that require 5 link

sadly, it seems that ggg left the 'leveling shortcut skills' on purpose and there always will be a 'for the lazy' way. so we can all be winners.

Hey, a reasonable post!

If we're talking about a new player to the game, one that doesn't want to / like to read all sorts of wikis and strategy guides before playing the game for themselves [rant]what the fuck's up with today's gaming and "learn everything online before playing the game" mindset anyway? ya'll pussies wouldn't do SHIT back in those times I learnt to play games without instructions, on a completely foreign language (english) with no translation :S[/rant] then yeah, Diablo 3 is probably better game. Personally I just got lucky meeting people who gave me stuff after my rl buddy, who got me to playing the game, had quit poe halfway through cruel.

it amazes me how it took 3 pages of "l2p noob" before someone actually made a useful post! (sidtherat)

OP mentioned quite a few things that drive away new players from this game. but instead of discussing such things in a civilized manner the whiteknight brigade conquers this thread and destroys it with just shitposting.

This game is very hard to master and GGG refuses to make it easier for those new players to get hooked to their game.
One thing that was mentioned here are the 4L rewards. This was basically requested in awakening beta. But instead of giving is 4L rare items they gave us random rare items and white 4Ls to chose from. Now when leveling (in a new league) how many alchemy/chaos orbs to you usually have at level 40?

I will never understand why GGG takes good suggestions from the community but implement them in a bad way (the GGG way). This wouldn't be game breaking and an actual reward.

This game is like a big black clock OP. Once you get used to it, you won't go back to your small white wristwatch. Stick around and you might find it enjoyable.

had to look twice to make sure this post is from 2015, with master crafting you just put life/es, that missing resists or damage on your gear and there is no difficulty wall.

the most important knowledge you need is to see an item and immediately realize what can be master crafted on it. especially on weapons.

"

themrpid10 wrote:

This game requires trade unless you've spent so many hours to know every little quirk and loot mechanic of a build. It is impossible to go from 1-70ish and beat all 3 difficulties with self found gear in less than 2 years. The quality of drops is never good enough in a zone to progress to higher ones, especially relying on currency to alter and craft gear enough to matter (5L/6L, 3+ good stats on a rare). People like to badmouth the auction system Diablo 3 had but without it you couldn't progress in that game either. This game mandates trading and groups even more than Diablo 3 did because otherwise you will always hit a gear wall around level 40 and level 60 that cannot be overcome with self found drops.

And yet, I consistently make it to the upper 80's/early 90's in every league I play in with self-found gear.

I'm not even close to an amazing-tier player. I just manage my expectations (read: don't give a shit about streamers, racers, or being in the 1%) and pop a bit of MF on my gear, where available.

I run self found to maps every new character, it involves no farming and no trading, it's easy.

I'm one of the bigger self-found advocates in this game and even I find the OP's claim total nonsense. There is an argument for saying PoE is not rewarding as self-found, but it really isn't that difficult nowadays (even with the Awakening changes). Okay, you'll probably have a bad time if you go self-found CI melee or some such. Otherwise... no.

"

sidtherat wrote:

..
skills that can clear everything on a 4 link (all mentioned above..) are obviously MUCH easier to not care about drops than ones that require 5 link

sadly, it seems that ggg left the 'leveling shortcut skills' on purpose and there always will be a 'for the lazy' way. so we can all be winners.

I agree with what you said, but disagree with the sentiment.
Let's assume a new player and just accept the fact that POE is a game which needs a lot of knowledge and/or practice.
What is wrong with looking up some cookie cutter builds in the forums if you're new? The people who wrote those guides had fun with these builds! Sure, the excitement will wear off after a while playing the same mechanics, but by then you've probably progressed from newbie to competent and have aquired some decent gear to twink your next characters. Then you can experiment to your heart's content.

The alternative would be to make POE easier to learn all round, but there are enough games around which are easier. POE obviously fills a niche which attracts enough people to keep GGG cooking.

So, my advice to newbies is:
Look up a cheap+effective build (there are quite a few different ones which will take you to mid level maps).
While enjoying that one, learn the mechanics as you need them, don't spend all your orbs in trade and keep nice twinking gear. By the time you're bored with all the cookie cutter builds that appeal to you, you'll be set up to go and experiment. And that is when this game enters a new stage of fun which less complex games just don't have.

Have fun and good drops,
T

Look at it another way. The auction house was the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the Diablo series, and why - because that meant the tuning of loot made it flat out impossible to find good gear yourself. It was so terrible that diablo actually removed it and apologized and admitted it was a mistake, and people here are doubling down on the same thing that ruined that game.

When there is even a possibility of trading, that means tuning is always going to be done to make the game suck for people who can't/won't. If you ever play for 12 hours and got not a damn thing to show for it, trading is why. Who would play Torchlight or Skyrim or even Diablo 3 when it takes a month to find one barely improved piece of gear? And yet this game does insist that people either know every little tiny bit of the skill tree, skill gems, and currency quirks to progress. This system punishes new players by far the most, now that I have run maps for months I have 4 slots of uniques and quality gems that make that part easy now. This mechanic only punishes new people and is ultimately going to be what kills this game due to lack of new players.

It is funny every other game can find ways to do level based or zone based bonuses or boosts and yet this game is dominated by people who haven't had to figure that stuff out for 2-3 years insisting everybody who tries it out now should just know all of that magically. My whole background is game design, and its a terrible way to do things. Just because a bunch of neckbeards figured it out years ago doesn't make it the best way or the right way to do things now.