How is one supposed to design their own builds as a semi-casual player?
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99% is an extreme overexaggeration.
You just have to understand that a LOT of things go into a build in this game and unless you have played for a while and have experience, you're just not going to be able to make a good build. Just follow some guide from the build forums. Like... you just can't even imagine all the mechanics and combinations of items/gems/flasks etc that are in the game and since you're not aware of so many things as a nub, you can't really make a build. I played like 5-6 chars that were copied from others before i made a build myself and it does fine in endgame, cos i have experience now :D Also noone said that u need to mindlessly follow it, you can learn a lot from someone else's build, if you read through it all and make sure you understand what everything does and what it's for. I mean the amount of builds in this game is endless and all the guides on the forums are also made by random ppl that are experimenting, it's not like there's some "poe god" that hands builds down to the forums :p Last edited by Paldamus#1328 on Aug 10, 2017, 7:02:47 PM
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My first ~10 characters where my own builds and with many i managed to reach 80-90lvl and end-game maps. Even with my very first character back in 2013. Only two times have i followed a build.
I cant still make a shaper viable build but with many i can do highest maps and atziri. So my advice is to just go and start making builds. If it fails you make a newone or alter the existing one. Just plan what skills you want to use. Then choose class and ascendancy. Then see what uniques you might want. And then you plan your skill tree. I actually do my skill tree "on the fly" most times since my builds are never 100% clear to me until i reach maps. Live and learn. Trial and error. With every build you learn something new. Last edited by Laskinaama#6126 on Aug 10, 2017, 7:10:10 PM
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Dude.. if people like you were serious about making your own build you would of been playing in beta and figuring out what works BEFORE the live version of the game came out.
The reality of it is also that if you do follow guides etc, you gain game knowledge you wouldn't usually gain by yourself. Then you can do multiple characters, understand the passive tree on a deeper level etc. But more or less, let's say you reach that point. And even if you beta test and you can understand what's going to be strong or weak by patch notes and such.You will reach the same conclusions usually as the other much smarter players but at a slower rate. Another thing is there is no such thing as a semi-casual player. Wtf is that? It's either your casual, semi-hardcore or hardcore. If you're going to go by such terms. I have always, looked up multiple builds, see what top players are playing in beta, reading notes etc, before the start of the league. Then eventually settling on a starter build. WHICH you need in order to supplement your income for more expensive builds or possibly even doing your own builds if you're not going to beta test. That's the reality of it. How are you going to get income with a build you have in mind that you don't even know will work? On top of that build making is much easier now when you have tools like poe builder. Which you should be using if you're making a serious build or not. To answer your question "how is it fun to follow a build guide" well some people don't want to waste time figuring out what's best so they usually follow a guide by a top player or just generally someone great at making builds. There is nothing wrong with that. I don't know why it's fun for someone not serious about the game waste their time making a shit build and not being able to do anything at all because their build is bad. TLDR; get a strong starter build, build income THEN start making new characters and new builds (pointless imo though) then you won't run into issues respeccing.Because you have the income to supplement it. |
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I've watched many of Mathil's build guides and build beta test videos and one thing I do absolutely agree about is that unless the OP or me or anyone want to play PoE and successfully create endgame viable builds it means investing many, many hours of serious studying of game mechanics and build theory plus plenty of trial and error of skill + gear + passive tree + curses + auras combinations to understand what works and what doesn't work. After doing all that then you can be like Mathil and make your own builds without following any guides but at that point you are no longer a casual player.
"You've got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone..."
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but poor QoP in PoE is the father of frustration. The perfect solution to fix Trade Chat: www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2247070 |
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" For many the fun of this game is making their own build and figuring it out for them selfs. not blindly following some new meta build. 2 times i followed a build. And sure it was powerfull and i had fun for a while but there was no real satisfaction for me in it. Its like someone giving you a puzzle that has allready beign assembled and glued together. When its ready its ready and i was left with nothing really to do but farm and try to get a tiny bit better gear or grind to lvl 100. Boring and pointless imo. But hey! We all like different things and what tickles me may not tickle you... Im just tired of people saying that i "waste time" when i play the game the way i enjoy it. Having fun is what matters, right?!?! Last edited by Laskinaama#6126 on Aug 10, 2017, 7:51:15 PM
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I'm pretty casual and some of my guides have made end game deathless (invincible juggernaut), some are just great farmers into red maps (SuperNova) and some peter out even before that (Fleetfoot). Just what it is. even mathil the great has "fails" even though he can make almost anything work due to experience and good play.
not everything you slap together is supposed to work or there would be no fun for those figuring a way to get a skill, unique, or play style working. there is nothing wrong with copying or close copy either to learn game, mechanics and monsters. Its a short cut. Learn by doing. Fake it till you make it. Git R Dun! Last edited by Aim_Deep#3474 on Aug 10, 2017, 8:03:02 PM
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Designing a basic build isn't particularly hard.
Figure out what skills you wanna use. Decide what type of defenses you wanna use/would be appropriate. Decide what kinda weapons you wanna use, if relevant. Choose a class and ascendancy. Plan out a skill tree. That's good enough to get you through pretty much everything up to t15s with most skills if you can find an appropriate balance of offense and defense, clearing and single-target. Generally not particularly hard once you've got some experience. It gets more complicated when you wanna start using mechanical interactions, taking advantage of the way uniques or ascendancies or whatnot work together, but a basic 'i wanna pick up these skills and get through to red maps' isn't hard if you've got just a little bit of experience to know what kinda offense/defense you need up there. And barring that experience you can figure that surveying guides without following them. Last edited by Shppy#6163 on Aug 10, 2017, 8:15:43 PM
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" I'm tired of people saying "blindly following a guide" that shit gets annoying considering when the person who says it has a shitty build, with all the wrong nodes and gear combinations that make zero sense. I invest a lot of time and effort for the build i pick at the start of a league. I don't just blindly pick a build and people that put in that time and research, while maybe not as much work as people like mathil who make the builds. We make sure we go in prepared. That's much better than blindly making your own "build" that can't even clear a tier 6 map without dying. If i can understand my gear options, make the currency, do high tier maps etc i find that more fun then sitting there through trial and error on a live version of the game. If you think grinding for better gear (currency to get gear actually) and experience is pointless then an aarpg game is not your game.. that's literally the entire point of PoE. Even when you make a viable build that can do RELEVANT content you're looking to min/max that through the grind. |
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" Im not blindly making my own build and i sure as hell wont die in T6 maps with any of my builds. My build has an idea. Uniques that im gonna use. ascendacy and skill interactions are planned. In this league tho i did not plan my skill tree and now have to do some respec. Does not bother me. i know my awesome fun meme build will be able to clear highest maps with ease when its ready. I have very rarely failed to make my builds work in end-game. And those where builds i never expected to survive the highest content and only made em cos i wanted to make something different and silly. And sure i love grinding but if your build has like 7 uniques and you have them all allready then there is little to strive for but trying to get those few rares better. And at some point that just gets boring for me and i rather make a new build. I dont grudge anyone for following builds. Its also fun and you know you get a strong one. I just get faster bored if i follow a build someone else made. Its like a puzzle that someone made allready and you just frame it. But like i said. We all like to do things differently and enjoy different things. Its ok to follow a build or just jump in and do what ever. What ever floats your boat. |
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" and that is why nobody (other than said no-lifers) should ever play this game since I have no hope for significant game design improvements in this game I am officially done with Path of Exile. done for good
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