The Illusion of Choice

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aplsin wrote:

I have to wonder if the people saying armor/evasion is worthless have even played the game or ever made even a half-decent build. Running into a room full of flicker mobs and half of them missing you because of decent evasion can be the difference between life and death.

The problem is if you run into that pack 10 times you will die 3 times and live 7. Even though they claim to make it hard to get chains of failed evades you still get them all the time. Playing an evasion character at end game is a challenge to be sure. I don't think it is nearly as bad as people suggest in this thread but there is at least a small amount of truth to the post.

Agreed. Very few ways to play optimally.

The game allow build diversity but the game doesn't reward people for their build diversity. Some builds are effective, many aren't. If you wish to be effective, you are restricted on your build. I think that is what OP is trying to imply.

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aplsin wrote:

I have to wonder if the people saying armor/evasion is worthless have even played the game or ever made even a half-decent build. Running into a room full of flicker mobs and half of them missing you because of decent evasion can be the difference between life and death.

I'll admit that I say it's worthless sometimes, it's not completely worthless but rather stacking or building for it is worthless unless it's the core focus of your build for whatever reason.

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saylu wrote:

The game allow build diversity but the game doesn't reward people for their build diversity. Some builds are effective, many aren't. If you wish to be effective, you are restricted on your build. I think that is what OP is trying to imply.

That is exactly what I came here to post about.

In regards to the first few pages, I don't agree 100% that there are only certain ways to play. From what I've seen in Merciless on Hardcore, a lot of different builds can survive...

However, there is most DEFINITELY an "Illusion of Choice," and I don't think anyone can really disagree with that. The passive tree is HUGE. There are so many notables for every weapon type and attack imaginable. But how much of that can you really choose with your character? A small few, and mostly only in the very late levels, because 75% of your nodes need to be defensive/hp/resistance/stat oriented. I'd like someone who plays Hardcore to show me their stats and gear who hasn't heavily invested in hp/defense/resistance.

Now, this is very probably BY DESIGN. The developers probably want us to approach the game with a defensive mindset - we are surviving as exiles after all. But the fact that so much of the tree is taken up by passives we really can't afford to choose is what creates the Illusion of Choice.

I absolutely love this game, but after I hit mid 70s and started to figure out the game mechanics, I too began to see what the OP sees, although I'm not as concerned about the loss of efficiency when it is a small degree, I am concerned that the passive tree feels much more restricted than you would first think.

Please keep in mind that I am coming from a Hardcore league perspective. If I played Default I'd probably build full crit / damage witches with CI and no Energy Shield nodes... just because.

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funshynebare wrote:

Every build should revolve around getting as much max HP % nodes as possible.

HP is a great stat but many successful builds utilize far less HP nodes than others. I agree that its a little unbalanced right now but your wrong in saying that every build has to 100% focus on HP nodes.

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funshynebare wrote:

Every build should link blood magic to their skills and use their mana for auras.

I don't know why you would think this is at all true. Sometimes blood magic gems help and sometimes they don't. Always depends on the build.

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funshynebare wrote:

Want to play a summoner, roll witch.

Are you trying to insinuate that there are no good templar summoners out there?

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funshynebare wrote:

Want to play melee, roll marauder.

Ok so you see lots of good melee marauders out there and you just assume that there aren't other good melee's? What about shadow? What about templar? I have a tanky templar right now not ranged at all. So I guess your wrong?

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funshynebare wrote:

Want to play a caster, roll templar.

What the hell?

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funshynebare wrote:

As for armor/evasion, they are 100% not useful.

Now your sounding like a noob or a fanboy to another game.

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funshynebare wrote:

If you want to tank, get 7 endurance charges, enfeeble, granite flask. You now have 90% damage reduction without a single point of armor.

My tank uses no endurance charges and no enfeeble. Wrong again?

I could continue telling your where you are wrong or unfair but this is getting too long as it is.

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Shippal wrote:

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Halsinki wrote:

The three current toons I'm playing are all Duelist... and only one is ranged. This is mostly because I'm hard-headed. There's a bunch of yapyap about Duelist suckage at this point so I naturally have to succeed with them.

Same. Running a dual wield, a sword and board, and a bow duelist. I'm not in end game with any of them, but I'm enjoying them. And if I'm not playing them, I'm playing non-EK, non-CI, non-summoner Shadows.

I feel like the OP is one of those players who isn't out to simply have fun and be unique. If you min max 100% just to get the most DPS/survivability then you feel more funneled into what other players do.

Some of the old build of the week videos looked fun as hell to play but they weren't at all optimal. Stop thinking in terms of just optimal and the game opens up. You might disagree with this line of thinking because you just HAVE to have the best build possible but thats your choice. I for one get more satisfaction from making a unique build powerful.

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ultrahiangle wrote:

therefore, your whole point is moot op.

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ultrahiangle wrote:

point is moot op.

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ultrahiangle wrote:

moot op.

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ultrahiangle wrote:

moot

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VoxelSquid wrote:

Your job as a player is to figure out which builds are in the viable 10%.

totally worthless claim there....as a player i have NO JOB to do...seriously i am getting payed to work..

my "job" as a player is to ONLY have fun, nothing more nothing less...

if i want a job i will search a paying one not a "i pay" one....lol

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ggnorekthx wrote:

Please keep in mind that I am coming from a Hardcore league perspective. If I played Default I'd probably build full crit / damage witches with CI and no Energy Shield nodes... just because.

Problem is..you wouldn't get too far anyway.. Default or HC..doesn't matter.

Glass cannon builds in every game are fun..even if you are dieing often. Player feels satisfied when his glass canon deals tons of damage..even if he is dieing, when he is not care enough. It was always focusing on your movement, position, using your defensive abilities and cooldowns. PoE doesn't offer anything of these. Here you will die often and you can't do anything about it.. you don't have these tools, desync is making it even worse and in the end you don't feel you died because it's was your fault..but because you are just supposed to die ..you have to play defensively after all.