Is starting endgame supposed to be an immediate wall?

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Valsacar#0268 wrote:

You are supposed to be upgrading your gear as you go along, which clearly you have not if you had -10% cold at the end of Act 3 Cruel.

You need to either buy from other players (trade site), check vendors, craft or just farm some of the act zones until you get better gear.

Your EHP is low if that is including the overheal (what is your actual base life?). Your Evasion is very low, but witch normally doesn't go for that anyway, same with phys reduction.

Your resistances are the biggest problem right now, they should be at least 75% (that is the natural cap, but you want some extra). Resists can roll on any armor or jewelery.

There are 2 other main issues. GGG states that it would be quality over quantity drops... I haven't seen better gear drop since level 30, I'm level 79 on this character. The gear that drops for me in maps is worse that the lvl 30 gear that I still have in my stash from leveling...

Next is they stated there was going to be gear crafting. To me "crafting" should be just like it is in the real world, yes RNG the numbers, but if I do "A, B, C" Then I should get "X, Y, Z" almost every time. If I am looking for specific mods, I should be able to do specific actions to the item to get specific mods. I understand randomizing tiers and numerics on the mods, but at least give me a way to get what I'm looking for.
A metalworker doesn't do the same thing every time and get something random each time...

The game really is designed for you to be trading with other players. If you are trying to go SSF then you will have a hard time of it and you will need to continue farming the lower level areas to get gear.

If resistances are your issue and you are SSF then just collect white bases and start trans/aug/regaling them until you get 30+ resistances on pieces or getting duo resists with life/ES. Rings are particularly good to get resists early on.

If you are happy to trade then use the website to search and trade. Don't get greedy, right now you are looking for resists and HP/ES depending on which way you are going. Also invest a bit more of your currency into move speed boots, they are a godsend.

You won't really be stacking damage on your armor/jewlery at the start of maps. You will find you will be changing your gear in phases just because you cannot wear a piece now don't throw it away. It is not uncommon for me to replace an entire set at once or 3-4 pieces at a time due to balancing resists, attributes ect.

You’re not doing anything wrong, endgame is rushed and we’re beta testers.

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As for your spirit issue, what is your max spirit? Through the campaign, you should have acquired a total 100 base spirit from side-encounters (they are marked on your map), so with the amulet you mention you would have 142 spirit (more than you probably need, unless you're running minions). Likewise, doing side-encounters would net you a certain amount of base elemental resistances.

Yeah, 142 spirit. I'm running Combat Frenzy, Herald of Ice, and Grim Feast. Life Remnants also has some gems slotted for sustain/survivability. I only have 7 unreserved spirit. I was running Herald of Thunder earlier too, but I swapped something else out (my chest, I think?) from something that had more spirit to something that just had higher defensive stats (ES/EVA).

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Valsacar#0268 wrote:

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Doutei_Kun#1993 wrote:

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You are supposed to be upgrading your gear as you go along, which clearly you have not if you had -10% cold at the end of Act 3 Cruel.

Yes, that's accurate because nothing that drops is useful in any way, and nothing I craft is useful in any way. I think the last thing I actually equipped was an extremely lucky Face Mask that dropped on one of my T1's that I managed to scoop before I got oneshot. I am level 69. I have a level 12 ring because from Act I, nothing more useful than that has dropped for me. It's giving me 30% cold resistance. If I take it off, I'm at -18% cold resistance. I have a level 27 amulet that offers zero resistances. If I take it off for an amulet that does have resistances, I lose 42 spirit and can't use grim feast or combat frenzy and do zero damage.

I guess I'll just spam Utzaal until I get better jewelry.


That's basically what it comes down to though, right? I just have to have capped resistances at minimum and then look to pump hitpoints where I can?

It is very unlikely the game didn't offer you the very basics of what you need, what is more likely is that you didn't pick up items looking for upgrades or check the vendor (it refreshes every level).

You should have 100 spirit at the end of the campaign, and there's also a number of +10 resist quests as well that should help a little.

Check the map and look for icons that have a + next to them, if they aren't greyed out you missed a permanent buff. Go back and get those. You should also have 24 weapon swap points, if you don't you missed some of those as well.

Statistically speaking, with the number of bases and bad mods in the pool, its far more likely that you dont get gear that works.

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The game really is designed for you to be trading with other players. If you are trying to go SSF then you will have a hard time of it and you will need to continue farming the lower level areas to get gear.

This just isnt a valid argument. The game is not designed around trading. You cant even trade in game without leaving the game client.

And even if it was properly designed around trading, nefarious market manipulation is allowed and rewarded. Which by default means it cant be balanced around trading. You cant balance around market manipulation. you can only regulate it or ignore it.
For the game to be balanced around trading they would have to regulate and deal with market manipulation. But, thats just unrealistic in a video game.
They cant even properly regulate the bots, let alone real people.

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Siddin_Wolfsbane#1224 wrote:

There are 2 other main issues. GGG states that it would be quality over quantity drops... I haven't seen better gear drop since level 30, I'm level 79 on this character. The gear that drops for me in maps is worse that the lvl 30 gear that I still have in my stash from leveling...

Next is they stated there was going to be gear crafting. To me "crafting" should be just like it is in the real world, yes RNG the numbers, but if I do "A, B, C" Then I should get "X, Y, Z" almost every time. If I am looking for specific mods, I should be able to do specific actions to the item to get specific mods. I understand randomizing tiers and numerics on the mods, but at least give me a way to get what I'm looking for.
A metalworker doesn't do the same thing every time and get something random each time...

This. So much this. PLEASE just let me force a specific affix, or let me reforge 3 random piece types into one specific piece type. I've trashed like 100 emerald rings, if I could have had 33 more specific ring types out of that to trans/aug I'm sure I wouldn't have even made this thread.

From time to time in this game you will hit hard walls if you're not using the trade site. During this time progress will come to a standstill and doing content becomes tedious. Especially if you are playing melee. Just starting maps is usually one of the walls.

Usually if you check every option available there is some way to push progression. Check your tree to make sure its optimized. Check all shops. Check the vendor that allows you to gamble for items((SHE WONT LET YOU GAMBLE IN HIDEOUT FOR SOME REASON YOU HAVE TO GO TO END GAME TOWN)) Try to get more damage/survivability from support gems. Try to get more synergy from gems/passive tree. If you scour every avenue of progression there is usually some way to get moving forward. Check everything.

I'm kinda getting stuck right now as Im almost level 80 and alot of my gear is stuck at low 60's because it has magic find and not playing with magic find makes the game nearly unplayable. So im at the point where I need to decide whether I want a weak character or a character that gets nothing but trash basic items. Game is rough

edit
had to change something..

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Blade_Dancer_90#3602 wrote:

In short, without trading from the external site the game is unplayable... but people don't wanna admit it because god forbid we admit that GGG has made a horrible game...


Because the last time you looted something from the ground and used it was about 3 weeks ago... the game simply doesn't have loot... PERIOD!!!

Explain all the SSF players then xD.

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Valsacar#0268 wrote:

It is very unlikely the game didn't offer you the very basics of what you need, what is more likely is that you didn't pick up items looking for upgrades or check the vendor (it refreshes every level).

You should have 100 spirit at the end of the campaign, and there's also a number of +10 resist quests as well that should help a little.

Check the map and look for icons that have a + next to them, if they aren't greyed out you missed a permanent buff. Go back and get those. You should also have 24 weapon swap points, if you don't you missed some of those as well.

The game offered me plenty of the very basics of what I needed. I've trans/aug'd probably over 2000 pieces of gear just getting to end game. 90% of the time it doesn't even make it to regal. Of the pieces that make it to regal, probably half or more of those roll another useless affix. Then comes exalting, where you get another useless affix.

The best thing I have ever managed to craft is currently my weapon.

Advanced Slicing Quarterstaff: 134-287 physical damage
+95% phys
+base phys
+accuracy (LMAO)
+12% critical damage bonus (I guess that's useful 25% of the time)
25% reduced attribute requirements (PLEASE KILL ME)
7 Mana per enemy killed (BRUH)

The only reason I even added two slots after crafting it up was because getting %phys twice and base phys on top of that was literally too good to pass up. I have never gotten that lucky before. I should have just spent an hour not playing the game to get something worth 2 exalts on the trade site though, because 4/6 of my stat lines aren't really relevant.


If GGG wants us trading P2P as a core mechanic, they should just say that instead of telling us loot drops are gonna be cash money and we're gonna have impactful drops instead of spending more time reading stat lines than playing the game. Edit: This was half the reason I stopped playing D4 and became a "D4 bad" diehard.