Question....

So I just read the "preview" from the gentleman who was invited to the alpha (sorry I forgot your name). Anywho, he said the he found a white (common item) belt early on (If I understood him correctly) and that the item, while at first not seeming to hot, turned out to be awesome and he continued to wear it until level 24.

This on the one hand seems awesome, and on the other seems scary. Awesome, because it's great that you can find items at any level that can last you for a long time. That's a great thing because in most ARPG's (okay all of them) once you get to a certain level all you are looking for is blue/green/purple and the white items are just left to rot.

On the other hand, I am a little worried about this too. I like having a lot of options (I'm a min/maxer kind of guy) but I don't want to have to look at EVERY item that drops just to ensure that I am using the best gear available to me. I think that's why the color system was invented in the first place, as a tool to help players, so they wouldn't get lost in a pool of loot.

Now, I am going off of previous games (D2 TQ) when I think of loot drops. Perhaps in PoE loot isn't as common as in those other titles and as such it's easier to manage looking through all the items. However, if PoE is more in line with those previous titles, I am a bit concerned that it may become overwhelming.

Hope I'm wrong! Anyone have some better info on this? Or know if this question has been answered somewhere else? Thanks!


PS. Can't wait to play!

Chris, a while back, said that the drop rate was 23% per monster, which I would think is much lower than Diablo 2. At such a drop rate it would not hurt to look at almost every piece of equipment as there are special orbs that improve their stats (either piecemeal or by rerolling them all together), or change those white items into magic and in turn into rare items. One also needs to consider the gem slots an item has (these can also be rerolled) as this can change how useful an item is to you skill wise, not just property wise. http://www.pathofexile.com/news/2011-02-08/dev-diary-currency

It was actually a magic belt I found, not a white item. One of the mods that rolled on it happened to roll with a pretty high percentage value, making it a good belt. It's not that the white items are inherently powerful, but when you look at some of the currency items listed in the latest Dev Diary, like:

Orb of Transmutation: Upgrades a base item into a magic item. It could turn a Recurve Bow into a Burning Recurve Bow of Anger.

It means that with the right mix of currency items and some luck, every item has the potential to be a good or great item.

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Wittgenstein wrote:

On the other hand, I am a little worried about this too. I like having a lot of options (I'm a min/maxer kind of guy) but I don't want to have to look at EVERY item that drops just to ensure that I am using the best gear available to me. I think that's why the color system was invented in the first place, as a tool to help players, so they wouldn't get lost in a pool of loot.

At first I was definitely picking up everything and examining it, but it was just part of the learning curve. I'm much better now at ignoring items and knowing what to look for.

As far as the color system, if a magic and a rare sword drop, sure the rare sword has a greater chance of being better as it will roll more mods. But perhaps the magic sword rolls the exact two mods you're looking for. That's part of the fun.

I don't see such a problem that every item could be useful. And i think as Oasisbhrnw said you will get used to it and know which items to take after a while.

I'm more concerned what happens if you don't need an item and it isn't worth trading it for something.... What can you do with such an item since there is no real currency in the game? As i understood the new dev diary there will be no "trade" npc who buys you're stuff. Maybe the items will be part of the crafting system but there aren't any infos yet, are there?

If they aren't part of any kind of crafting system then i may have a suggestion: Maybe there should be an npc in town who trades you one Scroll of Wisdom (which is on the bottom of the rarity list) for every item you give him to have just one reasonable thing to do with such an item? But maybe that would effect the balance of the currency items to much, don't know :(

I remember in the first game play video there were like planks of wood lying next to you on the beach you were marooned on to serve as your first weapon; Rhesos, are you proposing that something with very little, if any, value could be traded for something with value? I think that if you do not want to bother trading something away, you should just leave it on the ground in the town most appropriate to its level and someone who needs it can pick it up.

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Chris wrote:

There will be trade NPCs that deal with currency items and we intend to have them offer something for any item you bring them. This part is still under development.

Nice to hear... Will be quite tough to balance i can imagine...

@Tertium_Quid: I don't think of getting something with value for something without any value, more the way getting something which is useful for something that isn't useful for you anymore or was never useful for you. I just think that some kind of npc trading system for low value items would be nice because i always thought that such trades between players are too time consuming (in comparison to the outcome) and boring... That's just my opinion!

I never felt that I needed to pick up and sell absolutely every little item that dropped. In D2 I probably left behind more than 90% of the items where they dropped because I didn't care to pick them up.

In PoE it seems like there will be a bigger emphasis on trading. Even still, if GGG have made the game well then a player should be able to equip themselves perfectly fine just from items that they find. Of course a player will be able to equip themselves better by trading also but trading should never be a requirement.

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Tertium_Quid wrote:

I remember in the first game play video there were like planks of wood lying next to you on the beach you were marooned on to serve as your first weapon; Rhesos, are you proposing that something with very little, if any, value could be traded for something with value?

Im under the assumption here that the most worst currency item has a very small effect making it nearly worthless at higher levels. So the more valued the item, the better/more sortafter effect it has.