Can someone please help explain this game to me

Hey everyone,

So i've got the bug for PoE. Love the game. I've put 52 hours into it so far and just completed act 4 as a Caustic arrow shadow from a build I found online, by Grocery. Now i'll admit i'm a noob to this game. Its so detailed in terms of builds and what can be done. Its incredibly overwhelming but I still love it. There have been many times I felt like there is so much information and so little explanation that I should just quit lol.

Here is my problem. No matter what game I play I neeeeeed to play all the diff classes. I'm a classaholic. I love screwing around with different builds. But I literally know almost nothing about this game, even after playing 52 hours of it. I search page after page of build guides on the PoE forums and all of them require tons of Orb currency and gear that I have no way of getting at my level, or a beginner to the game. I just rerolled a Split Arrow Ranger from a guide I found online. Should I just level her until max and just collect currency to support other builds? This game doesn't seem to be beginner friendly, which is fine, but I need some direction on what to do. I'm not a complete noob on how ARPG's are played. I've played Grim Dawn, Diablo series, Pillars of Eternity, Torchlight, but none of them compare to PoE in terms of sheer depth.

Also I attempted to roll some melee characters but they just get faceraped early on. If you have no gear or currency to buy mid tier gear it almost seems worthless. Am I doing something wrong, can anyone give me any advice on what to do? I've only found a few guides that actually go over everything in detail for beginners. Grocery guide has been very helpful. He breaks down Gems and leveling passives and when to use what. But 99% of other builds just show High end gear that cost like 40 chaos orbs or equipment that make or break a build that I can't even get to. Am I doomed to play a Ranged Ranger or Shadow until I can aquire gear and currency? Can anyone give me advice or point me in the right direction?


Thanks

The right direction is precisely explore for yourself. I started about 3 years ago such as you, knowing nothing. The idea is to learn by exploring, without being afraid to create different characters and failing in many of them. But try to create your own build is the way to learn. In the process, almost without realizing it, you will go slowly finding more and better equipment and you will gather what you need to start trading.

Youtube videos and guides section are obviously very useful, like this page: http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Path_of_Exile_Wiki

:)

EDIT: by the way, 40 chaos is not exactly High end gear. 40 chaos can be a lot for someone new but the real high-level equipment is unattainable even for me.

Alt-a-holics unite \^_^/

Simple answer to your question(s) - yes.
You need to make "cheap" characters to grind the currency for other "expensive" builds.
And then receive a "snowball" effect on currency (main thing to do as a starter - always look for RGB-linked items at vendors after each of your level-ups).
Some people may laugh at this advice, but hey, wealth comes gradually =)

Look for LiftingNerdBro's builds (variety of cheap ones), PewPewPew builds (firestorm & summoner for a start), NeverSink archer(s), ZiggyD starter build guides, 2H axe Kaom's Primacy RT Cyclone (for melee) for example.

Look for "cheap!", "4Link build" and such lines in the build thread's names also.
Create couple of those, see how it goes and play. That's how i got over 30 characters :D

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S3xyClutch wrote:

Here is my problem. No matter what game I play I neeeeeed to play all the diff classes. I'm a classaholic. I love screwing around with different builds.

PoE makes that relatively easy compared to some other games since almost nothing is tied to the class. So far ascendancy classes are the only thing I know. All classes have access to all equipment, all skills and all of the main passive tree, although some will have an easier time with certain builds than others due to the required nodes being on the other side of the passive tree.

"

S3xyClutch wrote:

I search page after page of build guides on the PoE forums and all of them require tons of Orb currency and gear that I have no way of getting at my level, or a beginner to the game. I just rerolled a Split Arrow Ranger from a guide I found online. Should I just level her until max and just collect currency to support other builds? This game doesn't seem to be beginner friendly, which is fine, but I need some direction on what to do.

A lot of builds are made by and for endgame players and require, or at least recommend uniques that can only be reasonable obtained by trading. If you're willing to put some thought into it yourself you could take the ideas of the build and try to adapt them to be cheaper. Substitute uniques with rares and drop some support gems to get it down to 4-link items. Of course for some builds this may be impossible as they completely rely on some exclusive properties of the unique items.

I play self-found and always make my own builds. It gives me a greater feeling of satisfaction to know I've beaten the game under my own power. My builds may not be the most powerful but they're good enough to do endgame content with. If you're interested I could try writing a guide for an elemental equilibrium or summoner witch, starting from the basics.

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S3xyClutch wrote:

Also I attempted to roll some melee characters but they just get faceraped early on.

I've never had much luck with melee characters either. My latest attempt is a close-range spellcaster which works reasonably against crowds of normal enemies but has a hard time tanking any bosses. Might be my cheapskate gear due to playing self-found in a new league and having very limited currency for crafting. I'm currently leveling a ranged skill to use against such foes.

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S3xyClutch wrote:

Am I doomed to play a Ranged Ranger or Shadow until I can aquire gear and currency? Can anyone give me advice or point me in the right direction?

From my experience and limited success, as a melee character you should concentrate on life, mitigation and regeneration. Energy shield is of limited use because being beaten by enemies constantly prevents it from recharging. The Ghost Reaver or Zealot's Oath keystones might make it useful. Armour provides the most reliable form of mitigation at melee.

In early game the life gain on hit support gem is much more useful than life leech. Combine it with a fast-hitting attack such as double strike or frenzy to regenerate life faster. Against crowds an AoE attack works as well since multiple hits from the same attack will trigger life gain on hit multiple times.

For a tanky melee marauder I might go for something like this (should be attainable about halfway through act 2):
http://poeplanner.com/AAAABAEBAcbYWGM9_MRY9khfPxo-fLgpLvIvFCDvDlBH5FGeV3Z_e4yExH7gZ5uuPsauDF8Y11OlHKeMzw==