you know how i know its not a skill issue?

This is a game understanding issue, which is a skill issue or at least a reading issue.

I've played POE 1 for years, came into POE 2 completely blind, I need no build guide or any of that shit, made my build on the spot easily and have no issue.

You have to fundamentally understand the game -- the streamers you are following understand this game in ways you never will.

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Rakie1337#5746 wrote:

This is a game understanding issue, which is a skill issue or at least a reading issue.

I've played POE 1 for years, came into POE 2 completely blind, I need no build guide or any of that shit, made my build on the spot easily and have no issue.

You have to fundamentally understand the game -- the streamers you are following understand this game in ways you never will.

First of all, the streamers have all day long to play the game, so it's a false argument to say "if they can, so can the casual player".
Second, most of the streamers play/stream in English which is not everyones native tongue.
Third, I've played POE1 too for years as a casual player.

But please explain to me what there is to understand when you are run into a gear problem that you can not fix because of the drop rate of crafting currency?
I'm getting my ass kicked at every single platform in Spires of Deshar and need to go to town just to keep my flask filled.
I'm dodging and using my flask more than fighting my way through the packs.

Again: it's purely a gear issue at my side and I am not getting anything to craft something that will fix my problem.

At 118 deaths now and have not progressed as single platform in my last 10 deaths.

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Toforto#2372 wrote:

Why waste my time doing that when there are countless builds that already work perfectly out there? I can just copy+paste those and have fun in the game. So no, not all players want to or will learn to be build makers, that's a ridiculous thing to expect from a playerbase.

It's a ridiculous thing to expect the playerbase to engage with system mechanics???

You must not have ever played D2. You only got 1 shot to redo your skills before leaving Act 1. I love how POE2 so far in my experience, is pushing me to constantly evaluate my build and what I can do better.

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BrainVs#6980 wrote:

i can obviously get thru the campaign using a build guide.. its just certain skills are useless

uh.....


You think the campaign requires specific skills?


Okay then.

Currently in act 4 cruel on a monk and pretty much just killing every boss with basic attack.

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BrainVs#6980 wrote:

"

OP - you realize that coming up with a good build takes... skill... right?

the GAME is the content.. the build should not be a factor

If you think this, you're playing the wrong game.

I mean depends how you define stuff.

If your point is that you never knew about Ghost Shroud or similiar defense layers and interactions in Endgame and needed explanation from guides to perform better then I get it.

If your point is that you needed help for campaign because you built something that didn't work at all although the Poe2 tree is already more like a tooltip for possible directions then it is indeed a skill issue imo.

I think the whole concept of PoE is to give you freedom of choice which would be of no value if every path would be correct. But in poe1 many people beat the game with absolute self created non-meta builds, sometimes even using skills that only a handful does. Guides are a shortcut and it is also a freedom of choice to use them or not.

Funny thing, even before POE2 was out I had a rough idea of some builds that would work, simply based on the content they revealed and what I learned from POE1. Yes having played POE1 is an advantage for POE2; even though they are different games, there is a lot of overlap.

Fun fact some of those builds turned out to be the meta builds; and the first "broken" builds. (some fixed since)
One of them is minion SRS -> before the "cast on minion death" nerf (and others).

I wouldn't say the current problems aren't related to skill issues though. Some skills clearly out perform others in both DPS, and "usefulness." They for sure need a balance check/patch. -> Which is normal for an early access game.

We are also missing A LOT of skills and supports, most of them related to the missing classes, but also to make better/other/different combos we currently can't make.

POE 2 at this stage has quite some limitations on the level of build variety. Something that Ghazzy pointed out in a video, the lack of being able to path through the middle of the passive tree is a big limitation in what we can build. Which also put a limit on the type of skills to use on a certain class; because we are somewhat "forced" to work on one part of the tree each with their own niche.

Creating a build yourself takes effort and time for sure, and A LOT OF testing. Some interactions simply won't work because that's how the game is designed. A great example is the difference between minion damage and any other damage types, one affecting only minions, the other only the player. Although there are items so minion damage can count for the player too.

Support skills are kind of the same, and some interaction don't work; there are tooltips for this in game with the X and check mark. You also need to "learn" the importance of wording on skills. Things like "More" & Less" and Increase & decrease" are quite different... with the first being multipliers, the later simply additives.

Quite a lot of utility support skills also come with downside, which decrease overall power of the skill. However they could add a big advantage in mitigating the damage you get, or the area they deal damage in; projectiles they fire, cast/attack speed, etc. -> Quite a lot power also comes from your gear and less so from skills.

A good overal build (in poe2) balances power, defenses and crowd control.

I'm working towards a volatile dead hybrid minion CI Internalist Witch build now; but can't use until lvl 58. If it doesn't work well, I'll try something else, that's the beauty of making your own builds. Simply try with the tools (and currency) we have. It can take 2 days or 2 weeks... it doesn't matter, the game will be there.

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dontango#3737 wrote:

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BrainVs#6980 wrote:

thats not a skill issue.. thats a game design issue. checkmate

Oh but it is. It's just that the "elite" part of the playerbase defines skill as playing the game instead of going to work. 10+ hours a day of "theorycrafting" would have allowed you to find this path without blindly following the guide of some guy who makes money by playing the game for 15+ hours a day.

But this is why we like Path of Exile in the first place. Tinkering around, modifying builds, hitting that perfect craft, playing around with all these systems that modify items. Encountering a problem (not enough damage, not enough armor, not enough this or that) and finding ways to solve it. Why would anyone who enjoys POE want this gone? It's literally what POE is. At least to me.

You don't have to no-life this game in order to understand it, in particular not Path of Exile 2.

There's also tons of tools around that help you learn the game, like the trading tools that show you the market price with the click of a button, cheat sheets in order to learn what stats you should look out for and millions of videos on youtube that explain literally the single most minute detail in the game.

I am having an amazing time.