Where are we meant to farm?

I have been running MF gear on my latest chara & have been trying to work out where to farm & for what. I have mostly been focussing on currency & not exp or gear upgrades. I decided that currency would be the best to farm as I am already lvl71, I outlevel the content so I don't really need any more exp & I figured with currency I can buy or craft upgrades.

I tried doing the Ledge but for me farming The Cave was optimal before the chest nerf as it has a high density of all melee mobs (I am a caster), a boss & a large chest. It was essentially a gold mine. With stacked mf, trips to town are frequent & compared to running maps the turnaround is very efficient. You can also get the exit right next to the entrance so you are effectively constantly killing mobs & 'rolling the dice' as it were. Post chest nerf it is still arguably one of the best spots to farm currency & while it offers no upgrades or exp it can be a worthwhile time investment.

The chest nerf has made me wonder just where it is we are meant to be farming. It can't be maps because they cost you to run. It apparently isn't boss runs as they don't have WP's near them & they only give reasonable loot the 1st time you kill them. There aren't any mechanics like Neph Valor or anything that make certain playstyles more effective. So what are we meant to be doing?

If we compare it to D2 for example then there were boss runs. You could WP 1 or 2 screens away from a boss & they gave unmatched rewards. Some bosses had biased loot tables so if you are looking for a specific unique then you farmed the appropriate boss. This is what people have been doing for the last 10yrs+ & yet it is basically discouraged in POE.

It seems that aside from 1 or 2 areas with high mob density there isn't really any specific area you would farm for any reason. Old fields is just as good as Fellshrine & killing Gneiss is just as productive as killing Vaal. It seems a little too bland. D3 didn't want boss runs either but they at least made an attempt to implement a mechanic to still make farming worth the grind (a horrible mechanic imo). POE seems to discourage boss farms or efficient farming in general & doesn't really offer much in return as grinding maps for exp nets you a loss in currency.

So basically I am wondering, do we just go anywhere & kill stuff & that's the farm or will we ever see a reason to go to certain areas of the game to look for certain items or have areas that are geared towards being farmed?

Dread Thicket? Chest & 2 monkies every time. Chamber of sins?

Dread Thicket is only on par with the Cave IMO. The chest is nice but the added time to reset is a balance not to mention there are ranged mobs & they hit harder than the Cave. Chamber of Sins in my experience is no better than anywhere else really as you can kill just as many monsters anywhere else & there are no specific benefits to being there.

What I am getting at is there is no specific reason to farm anywhere in the game. Aslong as there is reasonable mob density then location A is no better or different to location B. I think it's kinda boring to not have any reason to go to a specific area to farm. It means I can just find an area with weak mobs, that don't threaten my build & rinse/repeat. I never have to go to that area that rapes my build but has a better chance to drop things I am looking for or attempt that boss that can 1shot me as the slow boss in a another zone drops the same amount of loot.

Fellshrine. Use WB on alt weapon set and/or phase run.

What about blue maps? Transmutes are cheap. Is there still a net currency loss? Maps still drop from blues and you get a modest quantity bonus and a chance at better gear drops.

I spend most of my time leveling alts instead of in end game, so I'm curious.

Maps are profitable even if you only spend alts/transm/augs. Yes, you might be in the loss for 2/10/20 maps, but other currency orbs will drop, you will vendor rare crap and perhaps find something that you can sell to other people. In other words, they are profitable on average, they are a numbers game.

Depends on class/build. Wherever you can clear quickly & safely. Preferably somewhere that you can skip trash and selectively pick off champs/rares/uniques.

As mentioned before, fellshrine and dread thicket are amazing spots for low-defense builds with lots of IIQ/IIR before you start doing maps. Afterwards, to generate currency, just spam level 60 blue maps with any old easy mod combinations.

Rarity is better for making currency and creating lots of ilvl 60 rares than people think, especially if you have tabs for matching. Maps provide tons of quant, while rarity is multiplicative with quant. If you're getting 40% quant off a map already and you need to choose between 40% more quant or 80% rarity? Take the rarity on your gear everytime. You'll match far more alchs that way, and have more shots at rolling godly rares for yourself.

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FriarJon wrote:

I spend most of my time leveling alts instead of in end game,...

It is my opinion that for games like PoE, levelling alts is the end game. I have always found infinitely more pleasure in twinking an alt with that wicked low level drop, or pouring over skills and the tree pre-planning a build for an alt just to use that mid/high level wicked crazy drop that came from my main but can't use because it doesn't suit the build...

I am a player who has never understood the rationale behind people that would grind for countless hours/runs of the same boss just for that 'chance' to have a better drop than what their main already has equipped. If your main can already clear 99% of the content without breaking a sweat, what real benefit is there from continuing to try to craft/farm even better items?

Maybe to reframe you thinking, what are you looking to 'achieve' for your end game?
Do you want to be number 1 on the league ladder?
Do you want to have the best/highest level/damage/spec weapon/armour in the game?
Do you want to have an achievement for x number of kills of the same boss?
Do you want to become the wealthiest player in the league?
Do you want to amass inventory and then become a league trader?
So many things to aim for, with so many ways to achieve them.

Maps
Chamber of Sins*
Fellshrine
The Ledge
Dread Thicket

Go to whichever is level appropriate


*This is the best non-map xp, but it's also significantly more dangerous than fellshrine.

Maybe I didn't explain it well enough but you guys are missing my point.

Let's say I am really looking for a Dream Fragments. There is no area or boss I can farm to increase my odds of finding one. I could farm anywhere in the game and never increase my chances of finding one in one place compared to another. The only way I can do anything about finding one is stacking MF.

Now let's say I am looking for a 'run'. A loop I can farm over & over. D2 had boss runs, D3 has act3 runs & the NV stacks but what does POE have...Fellshrine? The WP nearest to Vaal is what 4 or 5 screens away, it doesn't even feel like a boss run when you skip the mobs & the loot is no better than downing Gneiss in Old Fields. So with boss or unique runs out the window I personally feel the grind could do with a little more direction.

Doing these runs & grinding them out is what helps keep games like these alive, people have been downing Baal & Diablo for the last 12years.

With regards to just doing blue maps, the reason I don't find them as profitable as doing in game runs is because when you stack a lot of MF you are doing regular trips to town. Going through the loading screens for maps adds up over a long period of time not to mention the currency loss used rolling it. I just don't feel they are efficient for generating currency.