Unironically the worst patch notes I have ever read, still no significant balance changes.

This is gonna be a very negative post; I'm letting you know in advance. I'm already expecting the white knight comments claiming I'm being mad on purpose, but in reality all I want is for the game and its balance to be both fun and healthy.

As a player who started playing in Breach league, and played extensively ever since, these patch notes are the worst I have ever seen. Yes you read me correctly. Hence, I feel qualified (as in my opinion matters).

So let me explain why :

1. The meta is NOT getting reshaped, it's the biggest bait I see everyone fall into. The transfigured gems will equal to some of the helm lab enchant from old, ok so what. There are a few exceptions sure, such as Falling Zombie and what not. I mean those are cool for sure don't get me wrong.
Keep in mind we lost boot, glove, belt, helm enchant, and all types of alternate quality gems. The old system was great, why change it ?
You said you chose that route instead of doing real balancing to skills and ascendancies, that it would be easier to do so; yet nothing has been done to keep the outliers in check, NOTHING. Heck some of the most powerful things in the game have even gained power...

2. No nerfs to Deadeye, Pathfinder, Tornado Shot, Lightning Arrow, etc. Assassin, Gladiator and more are still garbage tier.
The game has 25 ascendancies, yet 20% are playing Deadeye every single league, 10% Pathfinder... 20% are using Tornado shot...
What is wrong with you, don't you have eyes, as well as an analytical brains ?

3. Yet another Tornado shot Deadeye Crimson Temple league. The Kirac map mods are not great, so surprise it's gonna be ambush strongbox div card farming league where the top 1% can abuse interactions and the economy. Players are pigeonholed into doing said strategy, which is not good for the health of the game, and those not enjoying the Magic Find playstyle are forced into doing so.

And before someone says ''you don't have to do this, play what you want, nobody is forcing you, what others play doesn't impact you''...

While that would be true in SSF, the Softcore trade economy is a pvp-based environment, meaning people abusing overpowered builds and mechanics in turn have a much stronger foothold in the economy, acquiring more purchasing power, hence reducing yours.

4. The league mechanic seems to be a mix between the delve cart and ghosting, with a touch of sentinel gameplay.
You need to follow some wisps in the darkness in order to ''buff'' some mobs in the map so that they drop more loot, are you kidding me come on. Magic find and ghosting gameplay, two of the least liked mechanics combined.

5. Ultimatum. Who have you been listening to? Did people asking for that mechanic's return really run it more than 50 times ? Or even 200-300x ? Because it becomes extremely boring and tedious real fast, and often you don't even get any good loot besides a stack of 5c...
Overrated, rose-tinted glasses. I played the entirety of Ultimatum league, and NEVER once have I heard anyone (friend nor acquaintance) state they enjoyed the mechanic long-term, nor anyone say they missed it ever since.

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To conclude, I was really hype for this league finally expecting a real meta shake-up (buffs and nerfs to outliers) as well as a fun league mechanic; but all hype is now gone. I despise GGG for the direction they are taking regarding balance; same meta for the past 2 years, same league starters, same endgame builds, same everything (almost).

What you fail to realize is the fun and hype generated by the patch notes of old were the main driving force of this game. It felt like Christmas every single time patch notes came out; anticipation, stress, joy, disappointment, euphoria, etc. The anticipation of gorging on all the Youtube videos, content creator build ideas, etc. It was so much fun. Nowadays, everything is recycled, ALL the builds suggested to players are the SAME, league in and league out. The exact same builds...
I would like to reiterate this one more time because I feel like nobody understands : THE META HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR TWO YEARS, allo.

Deadeye dominating, Tornado Shot, Lightning Arrow, Boneshatter the only good melee skill, Righteous Fire, SRS, EA Ballista, etc. The meta is boring and completely unbalanced.
Why ? Why can't you just take the time to balance things twice per year ? The explanation you gave during the livestream is absolute and utter bullshit. Nerfs are good for games, just do it. Adjust the outlier skills and ascendancies, even numerically if you don't have the time to do real reworks; it's EASY. It's very easy, it doesn't take that long.

I'm sorry but from now on I won't support this company any longer until I see significant balance changes, I (we) have been waiting for two years, and each time it's getting increasingly more disappointing reading the patch notes, going into every new league already knowing in advance which builds, skills and ascendancies will dominate the charts.

I shouldn't even have to write all this, but numbers... speak for themselves.

20% Deadeyes
10% Pathfinders
20% Tornado Shots
10% Lightning Arrow
10% Righteous Fire

How many ascendancies are there in the game again, how many skills.
You're all free to shit on me, but all I aspire to is a balanced and varied game, that feels exciting and fun to play each time a league comes around.

GGG, we played your game extensively, supported you through the years, spent copious amounts of money in your shop; yet PoE1 is in maintenance mode. And let's not even bring up the performance that's been atrocious lately... At least make some statements about that.
Please respect us in return.

You are forcing me to phrase it this way : make f****** significant balance changes.

Reddit link: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/189u9qe/still_no_significant_balance_changes_extremely/

i never get this idea that ppl a forced just forced to play 5 top builds. maybe try playing game to have fun a bit :)

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anti4z500 wrote:

i never get this idea that ppl a forced just forced to play 5 top builds. maybe try playing game to have fun a bit :)

What I do myself is not the point of this post. It's not about me. What is there not to understand, it's about the impact of some outlier skills/ascendancies on the meta.

Again, I will re-iterate :

20% Deadeyes
10% Pathfinders
20% Tornado Shots
10% Lightning Arrow
10% Righteous Fire

"

anti4z500 wrote:

i never get this idea that ppl a forced just forced to play 5 top builds. maybe try playing game to have fun a bit :)

I would completely agree with this post under normal circumstances. But a buff to lightning arrow was insane.

kinda early to speak but I agree with most of the points

anyway I'll play double strike saviour champ and later come back here to complain about melee

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate wrote:

"

anti4z500 wrote:

i never get this idea that ppl a forced just forced to play 5 top builds. maybe try playing game to have fun a bit :)

I would completely agree with this post under normal circumstances. But a buff to lightning arrow was insane.

o ye dont get me wrong buffs to lighting arrow and tornado shot a bit strange but it got hit in item nerf. still not sure how to feel about that

You aren't wrong OP but at the same time does it really matter? I only cared about squashed meta because it was simultaneously squashing other options. This time there looks like plenty of non viables moving into potentially viable.

That is a big patch to me, I don't really need the deadeye cucks being reduced. That being said I play HC and we have a different meta anyway but still - look for new ways to have fun the rest doesn't really matter.

From what we've seen from Transfigured gems so far, their impact is far bigger. The lab enchants were mostly rolled into quality, although it appears that reservation efficiency ones were lost, constituting a significant nerf on the high end. Which brings up interesting possible meta shakeup...some skills (like Forbidden Rite or Storm Burst) now have very powerful quality scaling, opening up new possibilities. This looks like quality meta TBH, so Dialla and Cane of Kulemak will be quite expensive in this league. Also...it's a buff for some multi-skill builds, as they'll effectively gain access to lab enchant for all their skills.

Nevertheless, in some things I agree with you. Deadeye/PF shoudld have been stepped on, and out of meta skills, only RF received nerf on the starter level. While there is a small chance that some of the defining abilities of Deadeye and PF will possibly partially transfer to other classes through Primalist and TS/LA will get alternatives through transfigured gems, it seems like the nerfs have not hit the mark in this patch.

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auspexa wrote:

kinda early to speak but I agree with most of the points

anyway I'll play double strike saviour champ and later come back here to complain about melee

Me with my frenzy build that ive been playing since delirium and happy frenzy got buffed this patch, but one thing i agree with Op, that is no buff to ascendancy that need it (assasin abd gladiator) and its strange that lighthing arrow, and tornado shot were buffed

The change to rf means much much much more investment into life/es than before. It will be way more expensive. The ultra tanky rf is pretty dead on low investment.

Heatshiver and kaom nerfs will change a lot of attack builds.

The lose if aoe from base quality in some skills 8s big. Helm enchants buffing old alt qualities is now gone.

Class balance is still the same though. No announced passive tree changes go help marauder and duelist early.

Meta is going to be very similar unless we get some actual numbers on what these all qualities do. For example raining zombies has no info on its damage yet. For all we know it's just an aoe basic attack.