The reason GGG doesn't really pay attention to these forums

clearly u have no ideea about the builds, whan you linked there are literally 3 builds. For example, you have the main SEISMIC build, that uses EXANGUINATE to clear and debuff. Same for the skeletons build.
Better luck next try tho

"

KopaKabana wrote:

clearly u have no ideea about the builds, whan you linked there are literally 3 builds. For example, you have the main SEISMIC build, that uses EXANGUINATE to clear and debuff. Same for the skeletons build.
Better luck next try tho

Bruh can you count? RF (with trap), Seismic (with exsanguinate), Skeletons, EA ballistas, Lightning Strike.
Three?

For those, like me, who are more visually oriented, here are some visualizations of the poe.ninja data for skills that total over 1%. I tried to account for Vaal skills and obvious skill combos:

Glad to see Im using skill that isnt even 1% (on both my chars)

Man what's build diversity going to look like after the league when Aegis/Melding gets nerfed? Every meta build except seismic and LS works towards that combo.

"

DiabloImmoral wrote:

Man what's build diversity going to look like after the league when Aegis/Melding gets nerfed? Every meta build except seismic and LS works towards that combo.

We will be back to glass cannon builds "kill stuff before it can hit you".

It would impossible to know, but for diversity I would actually be more interested how many people remotely make their own build.

Like a pie chart of how many either made their own build, or even fundamentally modified a meta build, vs just copying an existing build.


If 95% of players are just copying builds (because of course that is just more effective) then even if is split out over 12 skills not 5, then it makes the whole idea of the passive tree and different supports somewhat meaningless. You aren't really making choices there anyway.

However, if 50%+ of people are defining their tree, supports, gear etc themselves, then who cares if there are only 5 main skills. People are still building their own characters.

But there is no way to really know that.


It would be cool if you character got a power boost for using non-meta skills and passive combos, and maybe a power reduction if you just copied what everyone and their mother was doing down to a T.

"

AcrylicHercules wrote:

For those, like me, who are more visually oriented, here are some visualizations of the poe.ninja data for skills that total over 1%. I tried to account for Vaal skills and obvious skill combos:

Yes, this is what I am trying to say. Thank you.

"

ivqancorp wrote:

Yes, this is what I am trying to say. Thank you.

There are about 147 active skills gems. (This is not including support style abilities (ensnaring arrow) or unique abilities granted by uniques (Icestorm).)

Any 5 of them, given equal diversity, should comprise about 3.5 percent of the population.

Here we have the top 5 making up over half.

The top 14, so 10% of skills, make up over three quarters of all builds.


Most of these builds seem to follow a near exact passive tree layout, and usually have the same unqiues / stats.


I am not saying this is good or bad, but I will say your standard for achieving parity or viability of skills is extraordinarily low.

"

trixxar wrote:

"

ivqancorp wrote:

Yes, this is what I am trying to say. Thank you.

There are about 147 active skills gems. (This is not including support style abilities (ensnaring arrow) or unique abilities granted by uniques (Icestorm).)

Any 5 of them, given equal diversity, should comprise about 3.5 percent of the population.

Here we have the top 5 making up over half.

The top 14, so 10% of skills, make up over three quarters of all builds.


Most of these builds seem to follow a near exact passive tree layout, and usually have the same unqiues / stats.


I am not saying this is good or bad, but I will say your standard for achieving parity or viability of skills is extraordinarily low.

I think how one interprets this data says as much about themselves as it does the game.

They way *I* see it, poe.ninja only counts characters on the league ladder, which is limited to 15,000 characters, and which is a small percentage of the player base. And yet, in this elite group who have a tendency to choose from among the same few skills that they think will make them the most competitive, there are well over 40 skills represented in the SC league and more than 60 on the HC league.

This is a far cry from skill parity or equal diversity, but that's an unobtainable pipe-dream anyway. That'll never happen. It could be (and has been) argued that absolute skill parity *shouldn't* happen, even if it were possible in a game as complex as this.

But this is also a far cry from the "everybody plays the same 3 meta-builds" claim that's made so often on the forums. That's clearly not true even for the tippy-top of the player base, let alone the hidden portion of the player iceberg below.

The truth is, there are a myriad of viable choices that players can make, and a myriad of ways to enjoy them game, regardless of the complaints on the forums.

And really, who cares if 95% of the player base enjoys their game play by following a build guide that is made by somebody else? So what? I do that a lot, because I like to do that. That this is possible makes the game more fun for me. Last league I played mostly a Skele Mage build, and this league I'm playing Explosive Arrow Ballista, both builds I got from somebody's guide. I also play some of my older mostly-copied builds in Standard from time to time. That neither harms me nor any other player, and is good for the game because I spend $$ when I have fun.