Path of Exile 3.16 Balance - Part 2 - Core Character Defences and Recovery

"

vatras390 wrote:

Rip block/reckoning builds...

These changes blur the distinction between character classes. Shield block was the main feature of gladiator, weakening it and giving other character classes the possibility to use its unique abilities destroys the sense of gladiator's existence.

It is like pulling necromancer's ascendancy into the skil tree.


You can't compensate block with armor, because many skils depend on block, on which builds are built, so it would be good to strengthen them at the same time.

Bad, very bad GGG...
Other changes are positive.

"

Bjorn_Angannon wrote:

"

The Ghost Reaver Keystone Passive Skill now prevents your Energy Shield from Recharging (previously 50% less Energy Shield Recharge Rate).

WHY????

Did a dev actually think it was a good idea to have Ghost Reaver read the same as Vaal Pact regarding regen?

Have ya'll forgotten that for VP there is such a thing called life flasks for those oh shit moments when there are no mobs around to leech from after having an on-death effect leave you at 10% life??

Do ya'll realize that there is no such thing as an Energy Shield flask?? (or did someone forget to mention the addition of said flask in yesterday's post?)

The 50% less recharge for GR is the same as a life flask for VP.

Please rethink this change.

"

New Keystone Passive Skill added to the Shadow Area called Lethe Shade: Take 75% less Damage over Time if you've started taking Damage over Time in the past second. 100% more Duration of Ailments on you.

"

lalove91 wrote:

"

Ageless_Emperion wrote:

"

lalove91 wrote:

God bless you guys for changing the status quo. People forget why they're playing this game. To overcome the challenge we are presented. Not to whine constantly about our favorite builds. Make a new one. Survive, you are an exile not a hero.

I play this game to play a fucking game.

You want a challenge? Go dumpster diving for hypodermic needles without contracting some life ending illness or plan yourself a one way trip to some forgotten part of the world and try to get back to where you live.

There is no mechanical challenge in path of exile as a game. The only challenge here comes from understanding the game and willing to make the time investment to see things happen in the glorified build simulator that it actually is. Fucking with the core of the game, the builds for the sake of creating 'diversity' instead of actually putting in the effort to innovate and create more interesting content is a sure fire way to piss everyone off.

So stop playing it, you have clearly either forgotten why you started playing or you should have never started in the first place. Go play Diablo 3 if you want something mindless.

"

Berylstone wrote:

"

groink19 wrote:

And whether you think block need buffs or not, the supposed purpose of this patch was to make block more powerful for everyone but gladiator. That's what it said. And their "solution" is to add a keystone that cuts your maximum block chance by 25%? That's makes no sense and weakens block. So basically they're just nerfing Gladiator and pretending they are making everyone better at block when they really aren't.

You are ignoring what you get by accepting those minus 25% max. block. That being 50% spellblock. Before everyone but Gladiator and Necro had issues getting Spell Block high enough without using Glancing Blows. Which at best was 75% block and spell block but you took 2/3s of the damage anyway, so if all hits were equal in damage it would come out to the same as having 25% block and spell block with 0% of the damage taken.

Now everyone gets 50%. That is double what we had before. Yes, Gladiator is weaker, Necro I guess we have to see the other changes. But that is a good change for everyone else and it does make it better for everyone else.

"

They also keep talking about improving your "core defenses" but unless they dramatically scale armor to where you can reach 90% mitigation it's not going to help much. Adding 10% more armor or what ever is not going to do anything. People are still going to have to rely on alternative methods to stay alive. This whole patch just reads like one giant nerf to me, but written with very sneaky language.

That is just not true for the majority of content. Yes, T19 100% delirious maps or the new ravaged blight maps or flawless breachstones might need really sophisticated solutions for defense - as was the case before. But T14 - T16 maps? Endgame bosses like UElder, Maven, Shaper (if you still count him)? Certainly not. Bosses can be manually dodged in nearly all cases and in maps just getting more defense and especially an easier and more natural way to build defensive layers will lead to much smoother gameplay for many. What you complain about is really something that is relevant for the 1% - but the casual player? Just having a much easier time to get 50% block / spellblock together with faster healing flasks when you get hit together with more mitigation provided by armour so that even moderate amounts actually can be felt.. yes, this will help.

I also think some in this comment thread really underestimate the impact of just having these things in the tree and not hidden behind items / inaccessible except for certain ascendancies. This is an incredible difference - everyone that tried to build defenses on a non-Necromancer-Witch can attest to that. Block? Only with Glancing Blows... but then you need a shield with %-life on hit, else it is useless. Armour or Evasion? Have fun getting your colors... and even if you do, none of your obvious nodes do anything for these defenses. Which leaves travelling down to Acro/Phase Acro or going ES - which in itself requires certain gear and a combination of the two is not sensible (due to reduced ES from Acro). Self-cast is imo in a bad spot not (just) because of the damage but because the classes that would excel in it have a hard time building the necessary defenses. But now? Being able to get Ghost Shrouds, to build into ES/Evasion while adding some block to it is huge to make them viable again. And all of that stuff is just available in the tree? Crazy! I am fairly certain that more players will be able to get further than before while at the same time the power-creep for the top-players should be very small. That is a real boon for PoE - even though I'm certain there will be areas that do not work as imagined and which will need correction. But that is always the case.