Chromatic orbs are bullshit.

this stuff is taken into consideration when making ur build/char.....

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Ezhiel wrote:

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KoTao wrote:

Uniques used to have a different, less extreme socket color bias formula. It was much easier to roll multiple off colors on wanderlust than it was a generic wool shoes, for example. Not sure if this is still the case.

AFAIK socket colors have always been based on the attribute requirements of the item. An item like Wool Shoes (including Wanderlust) has no attribute requirements, and thus has no socket color bias.

as an FYI - this isn't true. there used to be no bias at all, which caused issues as well because you could roll a 2h mace over and over and only get blue slots. the bias was put in to help prevent that from occurring, however the bias hurts anyone trying to do anything that isn't a traditional build - which thereby reduces build diversity, and is totally counter to what PoE is supposed to be about.

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Wittgenstein wrote:

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Ezhiel wrote:

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KoTao wrote:

Uniques used to have a different, less extreme socket color bias formula. It was much easier to roll multiple off colors on wanderlust than it was a generic wool shoes, for example. Not sure if this is still the case.

AFAIK socket colors have always been based on the attribute requirements of the item. An item like Wool Shoes (including Wanderlust) has no attribute requirements, and thus has no socket color bias.

as an FYI - this isn't true. there used to be no bias at all, which caused issues as well because you could roll a 2h mace over and over and only get blue slots. the bias was put in to help prevent that from occurring, however the bias hurts anyone trying to do anything that isn't a traditional build - which thereby reduces build diversity, and is totally counter to what PoE is supposed to be about.

I wouldn't say it's totally counter; the classes do have start positions for a reason, just because they can travel anywhere on the passive tree doesn't mean that all builds should come naturally. That said, I would like to see some color bias based on equipment type, but not as strong of a bias as it is currently.

To reiterate, if I was doing it, it would be like this...

• mono ES: 5/9 chance blue, 2/9 chance red, 2/9 chance green
• hybrid ES/AR: 4/9 chance blue, 4/9 chance red, 1/9 chance green

...and starting attributes for classes would be like this...

• Witch: 40 Intelligence, 16 Strength, 16 Dexterity (5:2:2)
• Templar: 32 Intelligence, 32 Strength, 8 Dexterity (4:4:1)

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tikitaki wrote:

It's way too hard to get off colors.

It's discouraging as hell and makes me not even want to play. I've had several characters. This time around I'm going for something unusual. It requires off-colors on an ES chest.

The barrier to me spec'ing into CI is a good chest with the right colors. I'll be using a bow, so I need every last ounce of ES I can get (no shield...). Going for a hybrid chest to make the coloring process easier would severely gimp my character and would likely get me sent to scrubcore.

Without the chest there's no point even bothering. It's a "build enabler" basically.

I don't think 2B2G2R on an ES chest should be this difficult. It would work, and allow for my most mandatory gems to be placed in there.

(I would actually prefer 1B3G2R be we all know that will never fucking happen - so shooting for it would classify me as greedy. I would happily settle for 2B2G2R)

Out of 400 chromatics I got:
6B 120
5B1G 95
5B1R 85
4B2G 20
4B2R 19
4B1R1G 47
3B2G1R 5
3B1G2R 4
3B3G 3
3B3R 2

Now what stood out to me was that I didn't get a single 4 off-color result. If I had gotten even a handful, it would be a lot less discouraging. But there are FIVE different ways an item can have four off colors...


And considering I didn't even get ONE, and I am looking for a specific one....I mean shit, I only got 3 off colors 14 times out of 400.

Do the odds really need to be THIS stacked? Is the game going to suddenly break and implode on itself if people have an easier time with this?

When you want other colors employ hybrid gear. You are not limited to pure ES gear. Heck I use these on my witch: . I also found a 4socket all red facebreaker before. The chance is low for a reason. That is to bring equip diversity IMO. Also utilized as a drawback on powerful uniques (i.e. facebreakers).

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Wittgenstein wrote:

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Ezhiel wrote:

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KoTao wrote:

Uniques used to have a different, less extreme socket color bias formula. It was much easier to roll multiple off colors on wanderlust than it was a generic wool shoes, for example. Not sure if this is still the case.

AFAIK socket colors have always been based on the attribute requirements of the item. An item like Wool Shoes (including Wanderlust) has no attribute requirements, and thus has no socket color bias.

as an FYI - this isn't true. there used to be no bias at all, which caused issues as well because you could roll a 2h mace over and over and only get blue slots. the bias was put in to help prevent that from occurring, however the bias hurts anyone trying to do anything that isn't a traditional build - which thereby reduces build diversity, and is totally counter to what PoE is supposed to be about.

The bias brings about gear diversity without hindering build diversity if people were not so stuck on the type of equipment they are using. There are plenty of good hybrid pieces out there.

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piperazinedream wrote:

When you want other colors employ hybrid gear. You are not limited to pure ES gear.

Please, read my post again. This time, actually read it. ;)

I have very good reasons I'm using a pure ES chest. Not fucking dying is the primary reason.

Just going to throw this put there: I am still in favor of a vendor recipe that consumes socketed skill gems to bias chromatic results by a degree determined by the item's attribute requirements compared to the socketed gem's attribute requirements, weighted more heavily towards the gem's requirements. EG, an ES item with an int requirement of 150 would normally bias blue sockets; socketing red/green gems with (say) 50 total str/dex requirements would bias red/green sockets equally to blue, and more than 50 total would begin to bias red/green over blue. A skill gem sink would be a great addition to the game, especially one which makes those non-quality low level / common gem drops worth picking up. I would love to see people start trading hillock rewards, and this kills two birds with one stone :)

Otherwise, you are attempting to play against the system, and you are going to lose a lot before you finally win. This is what the passive tree and orbs of regret are for--to compensate for such. Spec into more hybrid ES nodes to compensate for the slightly reduced amount of ES you'll have while wearing a good hybrid armour, and then respec out of those nodes once you finally acquire your perfect pure ES chest. The game is all about balancing opportunity costs, and builds are only successful when they manage to minimize as many of those costs as possible. Right now you are trying to brute force your way through them; it's no surprise it isn't working out for you.

Like most of the fair-minded people in this thread, I am happy to see some bias in the color rolling, but I also feel that the bias is currently absurd. I think that off colors should have about double the chance of happening than they do right now.

I think ultimately, the problem is that it really discourages doing anything interesting.

Playing a marauder with nothing but red melee gems is well and good, but I want to make full armor spell casters with Blood Magic and full ES melee characters. I should have some chance in hell of making marginally playable characters like I just described without spending hundreds or thousands of chromatics... or resorting to "hybrid armors" that are also still incredibly biased and not conducive to expanding build diversity.

this topic cant die. this $#@$#¨#@ have to work really random. Who have bulcks for spent all time in only one item??? Forbid sell currencies but ENCOURAGES THE BLACK MARKET.............
FU...............

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iamstryker wrote:

Bump because I think there are some legitimate concerns here. This game is supposed to promote build diversity, making it that hard to get the right off colors feels limiting.

I agree. It's an unnecessary road block in a game filled with road blocks. Creating and testing skill setups is supposed to be the fun part of the game(for me at least), and the current system limits that.

I mean, we already have stat requirements in the hundreds to equip them, let alone trying to find gear with sockets, links, and also colors. It's just a lot of work to even attempt a new build, which is fine, but looking for colors on armor, and generally compromising mods to get it, just kills the fun for me.

I once played a pure evasion based two-handed sword ranger.

Getting red sockets on evasion gear made the character to expensive to play beyond a certain point. Every item upgrade cost about a 100 chrome orbs (on average) to set right.

I really enjoyed playing my toon... but because of this artificial barrier... it became impossible/to expensive.

So I have just stopped trying to play interesting builds, and am now sticking to cookie cutters until GGG actually improve things like this.

Yeah, totally agree with OP on this one.