Do you get better from season to season?

My impression is that I'm making it farther on average the longer I've played for, though it's hard to say whether I'm actually getting better, or if parts of the game are getting easier, or if I'm just getting lucky at happening to pick better builds, or if I'm just playing for longer without getting bored thus getting farther.

Recently I finally managed to get all atlas maps done, though in part that's because this season ran long; and there's still quite a lot of bosses I haven't beat.

So I'm wondering how it is for others of you out there, do you see yourself improving? obviously this isn't for those who already max out everything in the first few weeks.

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zlefin_actual wrote:

My impression is that I'm making it farther on average the longer I've played for, though it's hard to say whether I'm actually getting better, or if parts of the game are getting easier, or if I'm just getting lucky at happening to pick better builds, or if I'm just playing for longer without getting bored thus getting farther.

Recently I finally managed to get all atlas maps done, though in part that's because this season ran long; and there's still quite a lot of bosses I haven't beat.

So I'm wondering how it is for others of you out there, do you see yourself improving? obviously this isn't for those who already max out everything in the first few weeks.

So you learnt that META chars are meta for a reason ...Good for you.

Now to answer your question, yes...league after league my challenge is to make a character either better at what he was doing or cheaper so that everyone can play...Needless to say that GGG either nerfs the build to not-playable or totally shifts everything to make it either not runnable on a low to medium budget .

So no, the answer is no...I enjoying less and less every league, and instead of trying new builds, I need to focus on either playing the shifted meta or just destroy my life trying to cope with the "keep it fresh" changes.

It is what it is...Some people like this "raw raw raw your boat" thing they call balance...

Needless to say that technically GGG doesn't even have the capacity to cover all the impact any of the big changes they make in a testing perspective. So this is why they have no clue about what they are doing...They know it impacts x object or y thing but they literally are way over head into testing every thing when they nerf some layer of defence.

Will probably get better in 25 to 30 years.

Most players will automatically get better at content they repeat regardless of their intent to improve at it or not, the end result is that tasks you used to devote resources to complete become automatic.

For example I did Sirus 8 in metamorph league and I was clenched the entire time, now I barely think about it and do it on characters that clearly aren't ready even on HC.

PoE has a shitload of content types so there is usually room to improve somewhere and if you do that content type improve you will.

Personally I have the opposite opinion of Vendetta above which is the direct route of taking the meta path rather than experimenting. Its rare that GGG gut one of my builds its usually the opposite where they become stronger for a couple of patches and by the time nerfs come around i've moved on.

The price you pay is you need significantly more knowledge to do it, most self made builds are bad and the reason players follow meta builds is because its the
safe and reliable way for them to clear the content and have a good time. There isn't anything wrong with that but it is a crutch, hence why GGG kick it out every couple of patches and you have to find a new one.

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zlefin_actual wrote:

My impression is that I'm making it farther on average the longer I've played for, though it's hard to say whether I'm actually getting better, or if parts of the game are getting easier, or if I'm just getting lucky at happening to pick better builds, or if I'm just playing for longer without getting bored thus getting farther.

Recently I finally managed to get all atlas maps done, though in part that's because this season ran long; and there's still quite a lot of bosses I haven't beat.

So I'm wondering how it is for others of you out there, do you see yourself improving? obviously this isn't for those who already max out everything in the first few weeks.

Relative to the amount of time I've played this game, I consider myself a not great player. But I'm much better than I was years ago. The experience absolutely matters. Years ago I would have needed to overwhelm many mechanics with DPS, whereas now I can do lower DPS builds and win those same fights.

Aside from the skill of making a competitive good build (which is absolutely a skill), I think running a zDPS build with limited defenses is the best way to learn mechanics and improve upon skill. Erasing content instantly is the biggest Band-Aid for poor skill in the game.

The power creep is also a thing, making previously released content easier. So it's hard to detangle those two things completely.

Im still the same ol noob. Playing alts and burning out shortly into mapping.

Every league you get to learn out of mistakes you've made or new experience you've gained.
So yes you pretty much get better with every time you play the game in different ways. Could be knowledge about crafting, character optimization or simply just gameplay experience for boss fights and stuff.

I can make an ok spellcaster build since i mostly play them, melee on other hand is a really dark dark forest.

Overall, i stopped pushing myself in making a good build in stats, carrying less less and more often than not i just try doing something random and thematic, or just copy paste meta build when im frustrated with shitty builds i make.

I dont know man.. this pushing to have good stats on build is just vain. I think its quite rare to see interesting mechanical build with actual drawbacks, and im not saying drawbacks like uh hur dur low armor, i think this happens because poe builds are made from small puzzle pieces and what happens is player just picks damage, some more damage, damage again, movement speed, and then defense, everything else is either not necessary or bad. If build would be made from larger puzzle pieces then maybe builds would have something more going on.

This is the beauty of a somewhat complex game where most players don't finish everything in days. Long term goals are a good thing if you actually like a game. Well, at least in my eyes.

I usually get better and better, but I also try more and more less optimal builds because I often find them fun.

I put the time in researching and playing and I am light years better than I used to be. Fortunately for me I enjoy watching Youtube videos to learn the tricks, playing around with POB and messing with the new atlas passives.

Anyway, I think it is important to not only do the above but also to be honest with yourself about how you enjoy playing so you pick good builds and do content you are proficient at and that you have fun with.

Just as an example. I almost always play Pathfinder and automate my flasks. I also build pretty defensively so I can play fast and make mistakes (I don't have to play perfectly). I also keep the amount of buttons I have to press down and my base movement speed is as high as I can get since I rarely if ever use movement skills. You are probably thinking I suck, but I do really well and practice makes (nearly) perfect. I am really good at one thing in this game and that is trading so I am always able to max out my builds and that helps mitigate my crappy playing (crappy compared to the pros...but I'm getting better).

personally I classify myself in the category of the basic noob to copy the builds proposed until its blocks on the bosses to try another one, I try to enrich myself because I love it, really it's a part that I love. concerning the mechanics, I'm not a fan of einhar (beast master) maybe I don't have enough interesting recipes to unlock, I focus on mapping and the descent into the mines, I do very little crafting because I don't know not enough usefulness of all the orbs and suddenly it costs me too much, putting an exlated orb for me was heresy ^^ but I'll try to look into it a little more. So for me I always learn a little more but to say that I'm improving I don't think I'm still a good noob of fight :)