Cast on freeze nerf and overall thoughts so far.

Posted in another thread but this one seems more relevant.

I understand why they decided to nerf Cast on Freeze (CoF); it was undeniably strong and could easily trigger on every single freeze. However, I think they overdid it. Right now, CoF feels useless. Doing the calculation for number of enemies needed for single proc explains why:

Number of Monsters = Maximum Energy [300 for Comet] / ( Energy Gained [10] * { 1 + Energy Gain Modifier [mine is 0.82] } * Power of Monster [0.5-3] * Rarity of Monster [1,2,5,20] )

- 17 average normal monsters
- 9 strong normal monsters
- 6 very strong normal monsters
- 9 average magic monsters
- 5 strong magic monsters
- 3 very strong magic monsters
- 4 average rare monsters
- 2 strong rare monsters
- 2 very strong rare monsters
- 1 unique monster


That's a lot of average enemies just to get a single CoF proc! Even with very strong rare, you are no longer guaranteed a proc!

Adding to the issue, there doesn’t seem to be a viable way to improve this through passives. The passive skill tree only offers a +24% energy gain boost across three nodes. Even with these nodes maxed, we’d still need to freeze 15 average normal monsters to trigger one CoF proc. This doesn’t seem balanced. To make CoF usable again, I think the energy gain needs to be at least doubled or buff the passive nodes to provide much more energy.

The nerf might have been fine if there were alternative builds that offered comparable big-damage output. But as far as I know, there aren’t any. Does anyone have plans for other builds to run after this patch? Or has anyone found a workaround to make CoF more viable under these new conditions?

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Brometheus#5422 wrote:

I made a own topic for this, but here's my idea how to fix it and make it reliable:

I suggest you'd change it to gather energy on freeze buildup instead of actual freeze. The higher your buildup is and more HP a mob has, the more energy it gets. Then scale it so it is realiable so that it can trigger multiple times against bosses before freezing it and reliably against groups of mobs. Upon hitting the "freeze" stage it could get large energy boost as well.


Maybe something like this:
Hitting a mob with any cold skill gives base 10 energy.
Depending of your freeze build up you get a multiplier X.
Depending of your damage you get a multiplier of X, which can be below 1 (to prevent using level 1 skills)
Depending of monster HP you get a multiplier X
Upon freezing an enemy gain x2.

Now just scale the multipliers so it's reliable at all situations. Not swarming down hundreds of comets, but constantly throwing one or two.

They should just remove that nerf and make it so CoF has an internal cooldown. Like let's say it'll only proc every 2 or 3 secs.

"

Heldkaiser86#5965 wrote:

"

Brometheus#5422 wrote:

I made a own topic for this, but here's my idea how to fix it and make it reliable:

I suggest you'd change it to gather energy on freeze buildup instead of actual freeze. The higher your buildup is and more HP a mob has, the more energy it gets. Then scale it so it is realiable so that it can trigger multiple times against bosses before freezing it and reliably against groups of mobs. Upon hitting the "freeze" stage it could get large energy boost as well.


Maybe something like this:
Hitting a mob with any cold skill gives base 10 energy.
Depending of your freeze build up you get a multiplier X.
Depending of your damage you get a multiplier of X, which can be below 1 (to prevent using level 1 skills)
Depending of monster HP you get a multiplier X
Upon freezing an enemy gain x2.

Now just scale the multipliers so it's reliable at all situations. Not swarming down hundreds of comets, but constantly throwing one or two.

They should just remove that nerf and make it so CoF has an internal cooldown. Like let's say it'll only proc every 2 or 3 secs.

Well yeah, that would be an easy fix. A internal cooldown of 0.5 seconds so if there are a lot of mobs you are still constantly raining them down, but not doing 10 at the same time.

I think my idea would be better and more fun on the long run, especially against bosses and elites since you don't have to wait for the freeze to hit in, but your idea is definitely a lot easier fix. Both are much better than what we have now :D

I made a few example scenarios for my idea:

I hit a normal mob with frostbolt, I gain 10 energy.
I have 120% freeze buildup, I get 22 energy
I'm using a low damage skill so I get a multiplier of 0.5. Down to 11 energy.
The mob is normal mob with low HP so I get a multiplier of 0.5. I'm at 5.5 energy.
I I have 100% in meta energy gain. I gain 11 energy.

(I have to hit 28 normal mobs, or one mob 28 times with frostbolt to trigger the cast on freeze with 300 energy comet)

I hit an elite with frostbolt, I gain 10 energy
I have 120% freeze buildup, I get 22 energy
I'm using a low damage skill so I get a multiplier of 0.5. I'm at 11 energy.
The mob is elite with high HP so I get a multiplier of 1,5. I'm at 16,5 energy.
I have 100% in meta energy gain. I gain 33 energy.

(I have to hit the elite 10 times with frostbolt to trigger the 300 energy comet)

I hit a boss with frostbolt, I gain 10 energy
I have 120% freeze buildup, I get 22 energy
I'm using a low damage skill so I get a multiplier of 0.5. Down to 11 energy.
The mob is boss with high HP so I get a multiplier of 2. I'm at 22 energy.
I have 100% in meta energy gain. I gain 44 energy.

(I have to hit the boss 7 times with frostbolt to trigger the 300 energy comet)

In all above scenarios, if I happen to freeze the enemy, I'd gain x2 multiplier. Meaning if the mob is frozen and I hit it with frostbolt I gain twice as much energy per hit.

With my idea it can't trigger 10 comets at the same time like it was before, but it could trigger them one after another extremely fast or slow depending on your build, the amount of enemies and their mob type.

This move is very bad, feels quite rushed and disrespects the hours players have invested for the build.

Big changes like this should be announced in advance before they get nerfed and a free respec should always be given to players affected.

Bad points now for GGG. Early access should not be a reason for this simple community communication before nerfing a build with players getting stuck without gold and gems.

Leave this game.

i do 0 dmg now cant respecc cause i dont have much gold thx ggg wont play again

New to POE and GGG in general, and just bought Liberator of Wraeclast because the game hits all the right notes for me.

However, I'm super wary about devs pulling a "Blizzard" and saying NO FUN ALLOWED. This is a deal breaker for me. Should I chargeback?

Stopped playing until free respec or buff.

This was really really easy to discover. You even had a video about it. I dont even see how it was *that* broken. It was actually fun.

I am afraid to say the experience with sorc isnt that fun at all. Skills feel clunky and low impact, and I do not enjoy fighting white mobs for an eternity.

You said you wanted us to experiment. How you approach this doesnt reflect that.

The general approach to sorc and skills doesnt reflect it either.

Gotta do something here and make gameplay actually fun and rewarding. At the moment, it is not. It sucks. Please prioritize fun.

Also, side note:

Yes, this is EA. But the hours we put in are real. Respect our time.

I want to thank GGG for deleting the skill.

I have been staying up way too late playing COF Sorc, and as a new player I was feeling pretty good about figuring out the skill tree and skill interaction on my own without following any guides.

Just as I am getting ready to finish Cruel Act 3 and get into end game which will probably consume all my free time, GGG stepped in and stopped me from being irresponsible any further.

Now I can forget about POE2 and revert back to a normal schedule where I cook, go to the gym, read and learn Japanese in the evening.

私の人生を返してくれることはありがとうございました.

Bye.

Well, thanks GGG for wasting my time, I don't have gold to change anything, and there will be no point in it, because I'm a chronomancer, who even with a change of nodes will be a dull piece of shit. I'll return the game to Steam, and leave a review there, so that other players think before buying.