Content is too easy? Am I just overpowered? Idk...

Well, I just got back to PoE after a few months to play and old daggers + bow Shadow I used to play.

I use caustic arrow and alternate to daggers for Viper Strike + Dual Strike and Whirling Blades.

However, I got a good rare 4 green link bow, socketed the caustic arrow + some support gems and the game just became a snooze fest.

I'm in the beginning of act 5 and I almost can't tell the difference from white/blue/yellow/purple mobs, because they die to 1 or maybe 2 caustic arrows, there is no need to switch to daggers for single target dmg.

I've specced my passives more defensively(Energy Shield) than offensively.

I know I got a decent item, but the gap between this character and other characters I have that didn't have that luck seems too big. Some of them take 5x longer to kill stuff in comparison.

I don't know if Caustic Arrow is overpowered or if the enemies should be more tanky, but it just seems weird to me that I can achieve such power to trivialize content like this in act 5. In act 1 and 2? Sure, learning stages and all that. But I was expecting enemies to put up at least a small fight now, instead it's a complete massacre.

It was a hardcore character and I just died in act 5 because I was sleepy from just walking shooting caustic arrow, then I started shooting some purple mobs that gave me stacks of bleeding after each hit I landed.

I'm not even trying to make an overpowered meta build, I'm just investing in the damages and defenses compatible to my equipment/gems, nothing fancy.

I know it's not the endgame, but imo the balancing of the rest of the 10 acts(which is a big part of the game) matters a lot. If either it's too hard or too easy, well, it won't be good.

I had Detonate Dead with Ele Focus and Spell Echo in Abyss League carry me through the campaign. Did the labyrinths at least a couple levels under each time. That's just how it's been.

There used to be difficult bosses and mini bosses throughout the acts. They’ve slowly removed all that. Act 10 Kitava is the only “challenge” left.

It’s a matter of business metrics imo. They make a lot more money from you if you reach maps and they don’t want you to give up and quit before then.

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Vesuvius079 wrote:

There used to be difficult bosses and mini bosses throughout the acts. They’ve slowly removed all that. Act 10 Kitava is the only “challenge” left.

It’s a matter of business metrics imo. They make a lot more money from you if you reach maps and they don’t want you to give up and quit before then.

Well, it's having the opposite effect on me then...
I feel like it's wasted time grinding through all these easy acts just to get to the "Realz gamez!!1!".

Maybe the 4-5-6 links are just too powerful and 1 skill spam friendly.
I guess having a cap to how many support skills a gem can have would help balancing things out, idk...

But then again the joy of finding a 6 link would be gone.

Oh, well...

yea its pretty easy.
even in ssf. it takes me 2 weeks to kill uber elder from 0.
when you know how to play every game is easy i guess.

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鬼殺し wrote:

No one wants to hear this because it sounds elitist and shit, but try SSF and a fresh character on the league and see how you feel about the content.

It's about the simplest, quickest way to increase difficulty.

And if you find it too slow, too restrictive, too boring...well, then you probably need to review how you genuinely feel about playing Standard making you feel overpowered.

The tools to play the game on harder settings are there if you want to use them. They're just not as obvious as in other games.

Hes far from elite though

How can the game be "too easy" if you're not even at maps?

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Frostride wrote:

How can the game be "too easy" if you're not even at maps?

When the content provide no challenges and does not punish mistakes enough ? That's subjective of course.

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Frostride wrote:

How can the game be "too easy" if you're not even at maps?

Why would he want to reach maps if the way there is just boring, though?
I quit dungeon fighter online because of the same reason. Why waste my time with content that does not fight back?
My last few HC characters have all died like him, because i wasn't focusing anymore after running through stuff without opposition for extented periods of time.
Sometimes the only challenge feels like staying awake when drinving at night on an empty road, to not suddenly die. If someone doesn't even know the goal, why would they endure this..
I had the most fun this league when i played with only self-found gems (no story rewards, no vendors). That felt like a real adventure again.
Maybe it's time for me to quit HC and finally try some endgame-bosses...


@Gordyne: yeah, it's a bit sad that the difficulty in large parts of the story has dropped in recent leagues. But, if you're new, their should still be some pretty challenging/interesting boss-fights for you, starting at the middle of Act 5.

If you don't know the signs where to go (a lot of acts have little pointers, even though the maps are 'randomized') it can sometimes feel a bit long.
Remember that you don't have to fight everything, you're probably even overleveled for your current area.
With the new league, their (hopefully) will also be a lot to do during leveling, to spice up things with the new masters added to standard (if you fancy that).

Getting your own build going and playing through the story can still be a rewarding experience, if you like the skills involved.
I always try to mix some synergistic skills like support totems/curses/buffs etc or non-meta stuff like stun build with AoE and single-target skills. Only one button gets tedious quickly, but hopefully the new skills (banners!!) can improve this :)

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鬼殺し wrote:

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Vesuvius079 wrote:

It’s a matter of business metrics imo. They make a lot more money from you if you reach maps and they don’t want you to give up and quit before then.

Nice speculation, but that's all it is. Don't confuse your experience with the game making the game easier for you for genuine dumbing-down of difficulty across the board to get more people Mapping and supporting more -- which is also a very questionable claim, given the biggest supporters I know (and I know a lot of them) typically don't care to Map all that much and preferred races, events and fresh leagues. Were making the game simpler to attract more support TencentGGG's goal, I imagine there are better ways to go about it than making the core game easier. I also imagine the drop-off before Mapping hasn't changed dramatically since 3.0 with the introduction of part 2. And even if it has, it can't be traced to something as nebulous as 'the game's easier now, more people are getting to Maps'. The people getting to maps are typically the people who want to get to Maps. They'll follow whatever meta or guide will get them there as quickly as possible. They are not, as you seem to think, fresh wells of support money.

In short, your theory is only that. It's not stupid, but it's particularly resilient to knowledgeable scrutiny.

eh..

first - at this point POE gets a lot more money from small fish than from whales. whales might think about themselves in big terms but nowadays it is mass that matters. there is a reason why we got the 'seemingly cheap and seemingly optional' starting pack with stash tabs and points to spare. POE is not special in this case. nor is it very smart to put the future of already estabilished business into hands of few 'big donators'. these donators can throw a hissy fit and what then? any company prefers a healthy mix but most of them prefer reach and scale over few big spenders.

second - SSF is as easy as non-SSF. you might not notice this for whatever reason but if you a) pick the right aka busted skill that scales outside your equipment b) pick right ascendancy for that skill you can get to shaper or even Ulder without ever even thinking about trade.

SSF is harder only in two cases: you need weapon with high stats OR you need certain build-enabling unique. otherwise it is a breeze yet at the same time very frustrating. it might prolong the game but.. if this game is in a state that requires players to deliberately make it harder then we have a problem right there

ofc one can play 2h melee or any melee - then there is no chance for him. but any vegetable can complete all act content with Arc traps :)


ps. in any business i know of 'big spenders from early days' get shafted once the business reaches given threshold. they are no longer needed and somehow still have/try to have an impact. thats why i always wondered why people with money to spare opt for this setup instead of much safer 'ill give you money, you give me shares' that actually works for BOTH parties. but it is only me.