chase items

during baeclast interview Chris talked about "chase items" and how it is important to have the possibility to have very cool items drop from the core drop pool.

I think this just does not represent reality and, in any case, it is not what other people think about "chase items".

I never think about "oh, next pack could give me a mirror" as I do not think that one day, walking on the street, I could find a nice benefactor that gives me 1M dollars for free. Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? No, not at all. So improbable that I just forget about it... because it never happens. I genuinely do not think that really, every pack everybody is thinking "oh maybe a mirror will drop".... C'mon.

IMHO A chase item is something very "difficult to obtain" but target-farmable. Something gated behind a very difficult boss which, with some decent probability, will drop the item. What about trade league and boss farming? Hyperinflation is a thing and you cannot hide from it. The price of chase items will sink during the league because chaos orbs have sinks while items (except for corruption) do not. Is it a problem if a build-defining chase item can be farmed? I do not see a problem there

Player suppose to chase yellow rare items when they drop.
Close your eyes and id it in hype of gear upgrade.

"

DarkJen wrote:

Player suppose to chase yellow rare items when they drop.
Close your eyes and id it in hype of gear upgrade.

Picking up and IDing the perfect or close-to-perfect rare isn't a thing anymore, though. Thanks to Awakener's and Maven Orbs.

"

Char1983 wrote:

"

DarkJen wrote:

Player suppose to chase yellow rare items when they drop.
Close your eyes and id it in hype of gear upgrade.

Picking up and IDing the perfect or close-to-perfect rare isn't a thing anymore, though. Thanks to Awakener's and Maven Orbs.

It never was. After I finished normal that first time in open beta I was already off expecting that I would ever find upgrades myself and for the most part all these later it was 100% true (and no SSF people trying that did not help). I just fully expect to stop finding anything worth equipping past act 5 or so.

As for other chase items there's basically headhunter right? Which isn't really chasing it's like winning the lottery. I guess awakened gems? Maybe? You can actually chase those. Divination cards never really worked because maps don't let you target farm things like they would need to.

At the end of the day GGG's philosophy of "multiple overlapping layers of RNG" means there's no change just a whole mess of gambling. Harvest is the closest we've ever got but that still is mostly propped up by trading crafts.

I was hoping that somebody would mention this on Baeclast, but they didn't, so here I go.

My understanding of a "chase" item is, as OP said above, an item that is realistically obtainable, even if it might take you a week or two of playing regularly. The second aspect is what imo was missing from the discussion: chase items are / should be items that can be used by a vairety of builds. Headhunter is such an item - it can be used by almost any build and, if you like that type of playstyle, enables most of these builds to do content they couldn't manage before. I guess the pool of chase items has shrunk because of stuff like double influneced items, especially chests and weapons. Shavs and Kaoms used to be chase chests for a pretty large subgroup of builds. Soultaker and Disfavour used to be endgame "chase" weapons as well.

As Chris said on Baeclast, the problem might be that currently, the best items aren't unique ones, but crafted double influence items. So at the moment, these uber crafted items might be technically chase items but the time investment needed to get them (both grinding currency and bases, and crafting knowledge) is way out of control.

"

j33bus wrote:

"

Char1983 wrote:

"

DarkJen wrote:

Player suppose to chase yellow rare items when they drop.
Close your eyes and id it in hype of gear upgrade.

Picking up and IDing the perfect or close-to-perfect rare isn't a thing anymore, though. Thanks to Awakener's and Maven Orbs.

It never was. After I finished normal that first time in open beta I was already off expecting that I would ever find upgrades myself and for the most part all these later it was 100% true (and no SSF people trying that did not help). I just fully expect to stop finding anything worth equipping past act 5 or so.

As for other chase items there's basically headhunter right? Which isn't really chasing it's like winning the lottery. I guess awakened gems? Maybe? You can actually chase those. Divination cards never really worked because maps don't let you target farm things like they would need to.

At the end of the day GGG's philosophy of "multiple overlapping layers of RNG" means there's no change just a whole mess of gambling. Harvest is the closest we've ever got but that still is mostly propped up by trading crafts.

Yep. It warks inly in low acts.
And its seems tested in low acts, that philosophy.

Tho.. Im all up for gettilg quality of loot on top chigher content whats allow me to drop better things whats I wear. Pls, gaem, drop me somth better that this wand:


Tho, in real PoE its never happens. Like, at all. And I kinda seriously doubt it will..

Chase items mean different things for different people but in the Context they want it to mean, they mean explicitly rare, hard to find, good items.

For me my chase item was a Mirror drop. I got that 6 years ago. So for me ive "completed Path of Exile" as far as rarity is concerned. I didnt get Hateforges though so id say i do have something else to chance when they reintroduce ultimatum, if they reintroduce it and if theyre still rare.

Fact is...

Pretty hard to make chase items when your unique item design at the very least has to be as good, if not better than influence craft items, which frankly, is pretty hard to beat especially in slots like the Boot slot. Im 100% positive this is why we are seeing niche uniques rather than straight up "strong" uniques.

Fuck rare items, give me some weird uniques to play with or some straight powerful uniques to go for. Tired of this game already being a "sit in your pumpkin patch" simulator.

I think this is one topic the majority of the body of exiles can agree on. WE LOVE CHASE ITEMS! The thrill of the hunt can drive people to play some extreme hours. I've done it. I chased Oni-Goroshi a few years ago and it was amazing when she finally dropped at my feet. Not many other times have I felt that rush of excitement from chasing an item in PoE.

I have to buy everything from somebody else who was able to feel that excitement from the drop. I just get to benefit from the stats.

I've always wondered if chance orbs are what they expect us to use to chase items. Even though you can burn through thousands and never get what you're chasing.

I agree though, a good chase item should be farmable from a specific source be it an event like lab with a % chance of dropping at the end or a boss. I've played a lot of mmorpgs over the years and I was hooked to farming dungeon bosses for set pieces. You weren't guaranteed a drop, but you knew it dropped from that boss and it would eventually if you were persistent.

ive never thought of a chase item as having to be directly farmable from a specific loot table area or boss. for me its always just meant really rare items you aspire to have and play to obtain. in a trade environment anything is obtainable with currency that can be made in a million ways, you want item X, it costs 40 exalts, youre gonna try and get it, probably gonna have to buy it.

if its something i could realistically just self farm in a week or 2 in a new league... i dunno, isnt that a bit common? that seems like something i probably wouldnt class as much of a chase item. oni goroshi wouldnt be a chase item imo, its a glorified skin and its not worth that much.

back when a 6 link shavs was 80 exalts, that was a chase item. mjolner was 40ex.

ive found both those items, i found mjolner when it was 40ex, i found a 1k life kaoms in open beta, lioneyes bow back then was super rare, found that. these were chase items in my estimation, they were in the drop pool, i found a 1k life kaoms heart in a lvl67 cemetery in 2013, i still remember it dropping to this day, i can picture it.

when theres no chase uniques like that in the common game pool that can drop then playing maps feels shitty, you have no hope anything will drop because a mirror is all there is and thats so rare you know it wont happen. a mjolner you had a chance, soultaker, crown of eyes. there were uniques worth 20ex, 40ex, 60ex that could legit just drop in that next tier 3 map from a barrel or a skele.


thats my take.

I disagree, if an item has no acquisition method but is very powerful its just a valuable item.

Chase items have an aspiration accorded to them from being vaguely targetable, for example anything off pindles loot table in D2 was largely a chase item as he had the only top tier one from what I remember.

It gets muddier when you include trading, I can accept that chasing currency then using it to buy said item constitutes the aspiration I mentioned previously but I personally just view this as purchasing a valuable item.

PoE needs more of both, more valuable items straight out and more chase items - my biggest issue with the latter is they;ve removed almost all of them over time, Starforge used to be a chase item for me I wouldn't even pick it up now.