Set items in Path of Exile

Set items were amazing in Diablo 2. Really sad they arent in this game.

Set items don't actually help to fill a need. They force players to take into account an items strengths AND the bonus given from whatever gimmicky set bonus you received in order to even consider it an upgrade or not. Other than niche builds, I don't know of any builds that require 3-4+ specific items to make things work.

Not only that but it forces GGG to put extensive effort into creating several balanced sets to accommodate a wide variety of spell usage where as games like diablo and wow have specific classes where it was infinitely easier to just add useful stats on gear they would typically use.

You would just end up with a lot of people complaining that the items hurt build diversity because they want to run pure ES but the set items are armor or evasion and things of that nature.

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munkytos wrote:

Set items don't actually help to fill a need. They force players to take into account an items strengths AND the bonus given from whatever gimmicky set bonus you received in order to even consider it an upgrade or not. Other than niche builds, I don't know of any builds that require 3-4+ specific items to make things work.

Not only that but it forces GGG to put extensive effort into creating several balanced sets to accommodate a wide variety of spell usage where as games like diablo and wow have specific classes where it was infinitely easier to just add useful stats on gear they would typically use.

You would just end up with a lot of people complaining that the items hurt build diversity because they want to run pure ES but the set items are armor or evasion and things of that nature.

Try to phrase that in a sound syllogism, and I will agree. I don't think you can. At least Mark couldn't.

Well if you can't be made to understand their standpoint on set items when someone from GGG explains it then there isn't much that can be said. You can accept that this game lacks something you, for whatever reason, feel is necessary or you can play a game that uses such a gimmick.

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munkytos wrote:

Well if you can't be made to understand their standpoint on set items when someone from GGG explains it then there isn't much that can be said. You can accept that this game lacks something you, for whatever reason, feel is necessary or you can play a game that uses such a gimmick.

Don't be so naive to think GGG or any other authority is infallible, especially one which has conceded as much time and time again. Think for yourself.

If you can't reason why set items shouldn't be in the game, and explain it to someone else, you shouldn't go around professing as much. I've laid out my current opinion on set items and their merits months ago on the first page of this thread, I was given no riposte. Emotion couched in rationalization doesn't endear a veneer of intellectual credibility.

How about sets for White and Blue (ONLY) of the same tier equipment only?

Eg. Plate Vest + Iron Greaves + Iron Gauntlets + Iron Hat. = Set Bonus: 20 Armor

With small set bonuses, This way it doesn't force any player into anything, as the set bonus does not outweigh the need for upgrading so something better seeing as sets would only work for white and blue items.

Therefore: If they implemented sets in the game, no gear would be locked in to prevent diversity, Makes magic and white items better.

I mean who in endgame would wear all blue and white items?

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Veta321 wrote:

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munkytos wrote:

Well if you can't be made to understand their standpoint on set items when someone from GGG explains it then there isn't much that can be said. You can accept that this game lacks something you, for whatever reason, feel is necessary or you can play a game that uses such a gimmick.

Don't be so naive to think GGG or any other authority is infallible, especially one which has conceded as much time and time again. Think for yourself.

If you can't reason why set items shouldn't be in the game, and explain it to someone else, you shouldn't go around professing as much. I've laid out my current opinion on set items and their merits months ago on the first page of this thread, I was given no riposte. Emotion couched in rationalization doesn't endear a veneer of intellectual credibility.

Its pretty ignorant to say that because you weren't given a "good enough excuse" not to have something, that it should exist otherwise. Its their game, they make their own decisions. Mark chimed in and explained their decision.

if three items grant CI concept is not so good due to the fact that u can never find an upgrade because u will lose ci. what about 3 item types that have variable stats that can get better the higher item level they are. at max level of an item which so far ive seen is 79 or 80 noone finds a better one anyway so why not add a bit of diversity and some bit of collecting. imo it would be up to the user to decide if they want to use the set or not thats why u make them desirable and highly rare then the upgrade could be that only few obtain them and its not a mass of players using these. meta game is unchanged. its just an opinion

also what about skill gem synergies. u use something like elemental hit at 20% quality and a weapon elemental dmg gem and maybe not get a synergies in terms of dmg but a cool effect visually. just a idea i randomly thought of that sounded neat

It has been a while since someone posted here, and I'm curious to find out if there has been any development on the topic. I do have to commend some of the commentary here as it's been very thoughtful and sound. However, while I do understand what Mark of GGG has said against set items - that they are essentially inhibitors, or at least demotivators, of item upgrades, and to some extent, implicitly, character growth/development - I believe that this frame of mind is rather extreme. Here's why:

(A slight apology to anyone reading this and not have played or are that familiar with Diablo 2)

Anecdotally, I am a veteran Diablo 2 HC player. While there have been a handful of contributing factors that ultimately made me stop playing, I have found myself, very infrequently, to hop on and start anew. Starting out fresh with no gear can be frustrating at times, especially when it comes time for imminent gear upgrades and your stash is looking grim. Nevertheless, you plow ahead and manage to reach the upper tier in levels while amassing not only gear for that character, but also items for your alts and experimental builds. This concept isn't unique to Diablo 2 and is easily translated here in PoE. Obviously if one was lucky enough to find uniques, set items, or at least viable rares, their new low-level characters were in better shape. For instance, it wasn't uncommon to have finished/beat the game on Normal difficulty and have found a few set pieces (both matched and unmatched) and the oddball unique or two. Having that oddball unique wasn't an insurance card; neither was the few set pieces. But, the combination of having both, especially if you had a few matching set pieces, increased your low level's chance at surviving growing pains leveling. Ostensibly, decking one's new alt with a full ensemble of individual uniques, matching set pieces, and/or rares items made them infinitely beefer than someone's alt that unfortunately is equipped with piecemeal (i.e. currently equipped gear consisting of, say, a crappy unique, a mediocre rare, a great rare, two white items, and the rest a hodgepodge of blues). That, unfortunately, is not always going to be a player's situation, so the player has to do what he/she can with whatever they have. That is where a lot of set items come into play and shine - especially in the department of partial set bonuses.

Not everyone has the luck of finding, or the trading acumen to acquire the shiniest, optimal arsenal to satisfy gear-to-level ratios at all times. Set items can both be a viable gear upgrade and a lynchpin against it (as previously mentioned). Certainly a person wouldn't be encouraged to equip that one single set piece, assuming of course that item has bad or mediocre stats by itself, though might be hard-pressed to not equip it if the player has other matching pieces. Nonetheless, that should be left up to the discretion of the player, not the developer. As it stands right now, PoE's gear system is both recursive and linear: begin with whites, upgrade to blues, slowly replace blues for yellows, and the alternate between golds and yellows as uniques and rares are acquired and begin to become obsolete. There isn't much wiggle room for any kind intermediary (that is to say set items can be a kind of wild card that coexists in each stage of gear progession).

Here's a good example - The Sigon Set. Sigon's is arguably the best low-level set in Diablo 2. Not only were some of the individual pieces great (such as the shield), but both the partial set bonuses and full set bonuses were very attractive as well. It's name, Sigon's Complete Steel, isn't a euphemism; it's six fricking pieces of equipment. Sigon's also had a high strength requirement, making it a clear and strenuous attribute-point commitment for low-leveled characters (even melee-based ones) to equip not just the entire set, but even the initial few pieces. The investment was well worth it as a complete set could, and often does, last a person up to the lower to mid 30s. By that point, upgrading was a no-brainer unless you simply did not have anything to replace it with. Even if you had a few pieces of better gear to replace some of the set pieces before they became absolutely obsolete, the player could make the judgement call of which set pieces to swap out due to the pro and cons of item attributes and partial set bonuses. Partial set bonuses can go three ways too:

1) The partial set bonus was static and was acquired when a specific number of pieces were equipped, regardless of what specific pieces those were (i.e. the same partial bonus was granted when any two pieces of a five-piece set were equipped together).

2) The partial set bonus was bound to the specific, individual pieces (i.e. when equipping two pieces from the five-piece set, each partial set bonus was unique to that piece of gear.)

3) A combination of 1 & 2. So, equipping the gloves and the boots from that five-piece set netted you +10 to life (2-set piece bonus unique to the gloves) and +10 to mana (2-set piece bonus unique to the boots), but then equipping the set's body armor netted you 5% damage deduction as a global 3-set piece bonus (a bonus that you would have still received had you equipped the helmet, boots, and belt instead)

Even living in a not-so-perfect world where one doesn't have the whole set doesn't negate the potentiality of equipping an incomplete set. True, juxtaposing individual set pieces to individual rares/uniques easily jilts the power spectrum to the rares/unique camp, but that's where partial set bonuses fill the void. And, Mark GGG, if it's a matter of supposedly cramping my decision to upgrade because I will lose the partial or full set bonus, well, if I found or currently possess the "next big thing," you better believe I'm chucking those old pair of set boots back into stash.

The whole argument based upon the hypothetical CI set is a bit extreme. Not every set has to be godly end game gear. What about mundane mid-level sets? What about serviceable, but banal low-to-mid level sets? What about the bomb low level sets that require an actual conscience commitment? Or how about the set that gives awesome partial/full set bonuses but have drawbacks like only having one-max socket per item or requiring a high off-attribute stat (like strength for a caster)?

Sets are great. They offer a greater depth to the itemization and customization of a player's character.


**Edited for clarity**

I also want to briefly say that the aforementioned concept of set items as novelty is very interesting in that a lot of the low level, 3-piece sets in D2 were utter shite, but damn it was always fun and novel to sport a complete set! Some sets were way too impractical to be used such as Tancred's Battlegear due to the level requirements and the mismatched gear and attributes (why does a necromancer - a caster class - need a melee weapon and melee-centric stats??) or Cow King's Leathers because, well, the set was just bad. These examples (especially Cow King's) are the epitome of the novelty of set items, and I've always been appreciative that they exist!