Orb of Fusing and general currency problems

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They are something extra to strive for.

Really? I thought levelling for the sake of levelling was 'something extra to strive for'?

And I'm sure the 'fun' aspect outweighs the 'strive' aspect for most people?

Or is PoE just going to market itself as a 'pure' grinding game solely designed for people who just love grinding for the sake of grinding?

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Never_nou wrote:

Support Gems require Orbs of Fusing, Chromatic Orbs and Jeweller's Orbs. I have written clearly and concisely throughout this thread my views and issues on these Orbs.

I have no problem at all with support Gems. I have no idea why you claim I have a problem with support Gems.

Your previous wall of text looked like you were complaining that it was difficult to get your support gems attached and functioning in your character. Please clarify.

I see what you are complaining about with the shop. I think we all agree with you that we shouldn't have to close the window over and over again. I definitely do anyway. However your critique about going through all of the orb recipes just to end up at 1 fusing is not something that I have even remotely thought of doing. All of the orbs have their purpose and I would never want to grind through all of the recipes just to get 1 fusing. The recipes are just an option and are not required. I have not had any issues with saving up fusings through drops, trading, and vendoring jeweler orbs(which are easier to find).

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Never_nou wrote:

"

They are something extra to strive for.

Really? I thought levelling for the sake of levelling was 'something extra to strive for'?

And I'm sure the 'fun' aspect outweighs the 'strive' aspect for most people?

Or is PoE just going to market itself as a 'pure' grinding game solely designed for people who just love grinding for the sake of grinding?

I don't view the game like that at all. I am having a lot of fun with the game. I have no problem waiting for exalted and 5L+ items. I plan on playing this game for a long time, making many different builds. I wouldn't want quick access to all of the best stuff.

Leveling my character is fine but I'm glad there is more to do than that.

Hi Never_Nou (and others),

Thanks for all your feedback. I have a quick couple of questions.

If we assumed trading for currency in bulk was easier, and there wasn't such an obstacle to chaining through the currency types in your trades, and we assumed you could trade up to Orb of Alchemy (Upgrade to Rare) and Orb of Chance (Upgrade randomly), would that be enough to feel you had enough access to the whole game?

This would mean that adding affixes to Rare items would be something you could only do rarely.

What would you consider the minimum kind of gear you should have after (say) 40 hours of play?

How different would you expect the gear of someone who has played 1000 hours to be?

Well I'm glad the vendors let you convert "useless" currency like transmutes and alterations into jewellers, which can become fusings and chromatics. If this were possible in bulk I think it'd solve your qualm with the game's focus shifting toward socket-related orbs in mid-game.

Alrighty, there's a hell of a lot going on here in this thread. Following are just my thoughts (yes I moved 6 to the top):

6. I think this really all comes down to polish. I think if the currency gets a clear progression, if you feel like you're getting better rewards as you go up the difficulty chain, if the final content is beatable just as you got the last of the maxed out gear you want, just as you hit the level of the last level content. THEN the game will feel and work polished.

1. I think the stock echange metaphor for what the high lvl orbs are worth was really good. However, going into what they are worth a little bit more shows that the ratio of orb drops also effects the value.

2. "Completing the Game". What does this mean? To me, When I am the same level as the last boss on the last end game piece of content, I should have the best equipment, and best skills, linked to the maximum. I can then beat the boss, and say I've completed the game. I don't want to have to beat that boss 100s of times to get the best skills, best equipment, best linked supports, and equal level. I believe those achievements should all come at roughly the same time.

3. "currency items", ingenous way of a metaphor for gold. I agree that there should be a linear progression for ALL currency items. This would complete the metaphor for gold, and also be intuitive.

4. In gold based games, the amout of gold increases as you go up levels, you get more and more and more and moer. The minimum drop even goes up. Currently, playing on the hardest difficulties, you don't get more. Hell, you don't even get the same number, but higher quality (I think this is intentional, and tied to drop rate ratios). I think the later difficulties should be dropping higher base currency items. Currency can always be traded down if you need scrolls. In my belief it makes sense that if I'm running through the third difficulty, I should be seeing more Alts, Alchs, Divins, Exalts, Scour, Chaos, than scrolls, and transmutes. Put another way, I should be seeing more of the top tier currency items than of the lower tier currency items.

5. What proportion of short term players vs long term players is irrelevant. What impression people get from playing it is though.

7. I should feel like I am getting better rewards for clearing the higher difficulty areas (and difficulty levels). Currently I don't feel that way.

please remember, all just opinion.

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Your previous wall of text

Anyone who starts their post by referring to someone else's well thought out and time consuming dissection of an issue as a 'wall of text' is, I am sure you are well aware, extremely provocative and, whether you did or didn't, implies you DIDN'T BOTHER READING IT ALL.

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looked like you were complaining that it was difficult to get your support gems attached and functioning in your character. Please clarify.

That is clarified IN THE OPENING POST AND THREAD TITLE.

Ok, so you found it 'easy' to get a four linker, and you claim this is a commonly 'easy' process. Would you like me to search the forums for the 'many' people who do not agree or are you happy to go with the phrase I used when I found it 'easy' to get a five linker - that I GOT LUCKY.

Why don't Orbs of Fusion simply add one link between two sockets? It's not random but it's certainly USER FRIENDLY.

Yes, we know we all want everything to be 'random'. But do we really? The very function of a support Gem suggests linked sockets are both 'expected' and 'necessary'. What is the point/fun of a support Gem if someone just get's 'unlucky'. For something so utterly crucial (unlike random mod stats) puuting someone's entire end-game fun factor at the mercy of 'random luck' is somewhat 'malevolent' is it not?

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I don't view the game like that at all. I am having a lot of fun with the game. I have no problem waiting for exalted and 5L+ items.

As you have made quite clear. And those that would like the 'rarer' Orbs dropped more are also making their views quite clear.

Do you really think the game would be 'worse' for having 10 Exalteds drop per Act in the Last difficulty, or do you think the 'majority' would find this actually quite exciting?

The reason you do it your way and enjoy it is because you like the game enough to not stop even upon completion and actively look for reasons to continue playing. Because something is rare this offers you a reason to go on while the devs work out new maps, skills and equipment.

This is not unusual, I do this with games. I often play through once to beat the game then play again to investigate the bits I missed and experiment with different methods of victory.

But I fail to see why having 'a bit more' drops of the 'rare' items is such a problem in this respect.

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Qarl wrote:

Hi Never_Nou (and others),

Thanks for all your feedback. I have a quick couple of questions.

If we assumed trading for currency in bulk was easier, and there wasn't such an obstacle to chaining through the currency types in your trades, and we assumed you could trade up to Orb of Alchemy (Upgrade to Rare) and Orb of Chance (Upgrade randomly), would that be enough to feel you had enough access to the whole game? Almost Yes

This would mean that adding affixes to Rare items would be something you could only do rarely. I don't follow your reasoning here

What would you consider the minimum kind of gear you should have after (say) 40 hours of play? Players should be in Merciless and posibly even starting out with maps so they will certainly not have end game gear yet

How different would you expect the gear of someone who has played 1000 hours to be? I would almost expect to have 1 character of each class kitted out with end game gear

Hi Qarl, I agree with Coldet on every point.

I also agree with stillsingle on every point.