On Playing Overpowered Builds in Path of Exile

I just play to have fun. my builds may be bicycles compared to the meta Ferrari's, but I still have fun with them.

So I've been playing Diablo II this weekend, more than I've played PoE. And it reinforced a few things:

1. For all the bells and whistles, PoE really is a D2 copy. Most of what's been added or adapted to the game, when compared to D2, is an attempt to prolong playtime. Have some random with your random on top of your random.
2. You won't get stuck on invisible pebbles in D2. Indoor areas don't feel doubly punishing (hey, let's box you in and make your skills get stopped by all kinds of invisible crap!)
3. The game is similar early on - slow moving - and faster later - just like PoE. But certain things differentiate it, like the quite generous (compared to PoE) stamina meter.
4. I've often felt that the decision by GGG to base their game on trade was a bold and divisive one. Playing D2 again reinforces that feeling. So many design decisions flow from the reliance on trade, when trade, realistically, was something only a subset of the community did in D2 (and do in PoE).
5. Similar to the early game balance, the balance of temporary leagues feels poor. The game seems to be telling me that I should expect to play for a while to get to level 90, then quit that character because xp becomes punishing, which should be an analogy for reaching your pinnacle? But as everyone knows, you could easily play a dozen characters to level 90 and not get to a 6 link (the 'pinnacle' of power). Shouldn't the one be designed to dovetail with the other? It's just a bit absurd what it takes and I think it is a disincentive.
6. Offscreening. It's hilariously bad in PoE, still. How many times have you been hit by something you've never seen? Millions? About the only thing that 'offscreens' in D2 are the rezzers. Not monsters spraying projectiles. It's not good and needs to change so difficulty can be more 'real'.
7. Scaling. You can't balance a game with players equally expecting to have 4k life (ranger, shadow), 7-8k life (left side) and 15k+ ES. Fix this GGG.

D2 just feels better paced and still better balanced. PoE is better built to drain hours, and let's face it, anyone with ADHD wants some hours to spend on a game. I've played for many; I just don't feel as rewarded for those hours.

So, overpowered builds. Most of us work from a base of D2. I like the speed at the end of the game and don't mind ascendancies... But there's still a LOT to work on.

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gibbousmoon wrote:

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Yes, after playing Slayer, i cant imagine myself playing any other class, cause they all look just lackluster!

I never play Meta builds but the only thing that kept me playing this league was pretty much Voidheart being a bandaid to bring up melee to where it needed to be.

I feel bad for doing soo too because i know next patch it wont be in a new league and getting used to that power is going to make melee feel even worse than it did before using it.

I try my best never to play with it because getting used to it is bad habbit, just like playing meta builds. Its precisely why i never used old CWDT Immortal Call+Enduring Cry back when it was a meta defense setup, it was hilariously broken and obviously going to be nerfed.

Meta ruins games, it takes the fun out of the game which is why i never use it. When you start feeling like god mode is enabled its time to stop, many meta builds for POE have been at that point for a while now.

As I've played this game and gotten better at it, the types of builds I play now are rather different than what I played at the beginning.

I pretty much make and share my own builds; I have quite a few guides on these forums.

But I've found that once I've played builds on a certain level of power, it's very difficult to enjoy builds on a significantly lower level. So the longer I played as my builds became more powerful, it made less optimal builds less desirable to play.

While there are things I would definitely not play now, there's still a lot of options.

Becoming too picky about what is optimal limits the variety you can have in the game and replayability.

IMO the most fun part of a character for me is when it all comes together and the guy I was working on works like I thought it would, or better.

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Crackmonster wrote:

Anyway, i think you fundamentally play the game in a different way to some others like myself. I love the early boom of leagues, trading to maximize power, crafting characters to have a build you can be proud to show in public groups and so forth - the meta really is the meat to me. I play to theorycraft builds and farm to godmode gearz - pushing power(while at the same time it being a satisfying build to play), is what it is all about for me and you can farm thousands of hours and never reach the end in PoE.

Yes, we do. I like to pick an active skill gem that I've never used before, and build around it. Alongside, occasionally, a build-enabling unique.

Usually it does not satisfy the meta (and it is sometimes a melee skill--nuff said), and that is fine. Especially for a self-found solo player. So what if the highest map tier I can realistically farm is 8? That's still good enough for ilvl75 drops.

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Tin_Foil_Hat wrote:

I try my best never to play with it because getting used to it is bad habbit, just like playing meta builds. Its precisely why i never used old CWDT Immortal Call+Enduring Cry back when it was a meta defense setup, it was hilariously broken and obviously going to be nerfed.

Meta ruins games, it takes the fun out of the game which is why i never use it. When you start feeling like god mode is enabled its time to stop, many meta builds for POE have been at that point for a while now.

Yeah, you get exactly what I am talking about.

It's not even that this CoC build isn't challenging to play. It's a glass cannon, so it is challenging. Rather, it's that it isn't a tactical build. To wit, it's a brainless build.

I'm not saying that non-tactical builds are intrinsically bad, but it seems to me that the game does not reward tactical gameplay nearly as much as non-tactical, brainless gameplay (off-screen killing, killing enemies and bosses before their mechanics become a threat, and other assorted cheese), due in part to the lack of viable defenses for both players and enemies (we are both way too squishy).