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Wizardry
Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332
Heard a twitch viewer and another guy talking about POE,they said it is a real good game,so thought i would try give it a go.
Right away i am kind of lost,i notice there seems to be a cool crafting system.I don't like the whole END GAME thing so i will want to craft along the way.It looks like a ton of homework to figure it all out,seems certain orbs and stuff are important to know when deciding what direction to take.
So can anyone jot down some specific important things to know?
Example
farming?Do you farm items,i assume rares are what you are after.How do drop rates work?Do you need a large group to attain rares?I assume the more weapon slots the better value it is to add gems,or are the gem slots not really that important?
Crafting:Do you need to craft to get the best items?Is crafting the ONLY way to add those bonus stats?
game play:Seems sort of linear "so far",does everyone follow the same path?Is there a trick to moving/aiming and firing for best results?I did not see a lot of options for keybinds and stuff.
Ok the most important part that is wracking my brain :STATS:I noticed for exampel the goal of a Bow is to add PHYSICAL dmg,sort of losess me there,i would think Ranged dmg would be the fit or does ranged not even exist,is it just like Physical and magical?
I understand the CRITICAL need/want but why the allure to Physical dmg?
Is there anything else i should know about stats?Example i see a lot of STR and Dex what is better for Bow and how do stats work,similar to like FFXI 2str=1dmg or 2dex=1dmg if using Bow?
Oh one other thing,i notice attack speed,how does that help ,i already seem to be spamming attacks,does attack speed really help anymore,i can only click so fast?
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4mLMb49hqk4y9lVFtfanlg
ZiggyD has a lot of informative information and builds for this game and usually updates his stuff whenever there are changes made to the game. Hope it helps.
My advice for you - play the game as you normally would, following quests and wearing what you find. The mechanics will come with time.
The game is Very complex. Probably one of the very very few games on the market which gives you that feeling that what you choose / do matters. Your specific questions would need a two-page answer each. Will do my best to give you an idea of what it's all about.
- The game starts slow. Don't be disappointed if it will take you quite some time to kill stuff on your first character. It gets easier with better gear. And then it gets hard again. The game is hard.
- The gear - there are two things which influence drop rates, that is Increased Item Rarity (IIR) and Increased Item Quantity (IIQ). There is specific gear with those stats which helps you in farming, but that gear offers mostly just that, so your character won't be that strong. A pure magic find character (called a "culler", because of the gem "culling strike" which makes that character "get the kill" in the party, so the drops are influenced by his IIR/IIQ) has specific uses in path of exile, it's played only in parties and it's not that strong. Solo magic finding is possible, in fact everyone has a character for that purpose - a mix between power and magic finding, able to solo content up to a level. Usually, people start item farming at levels 66+. Don't worry about these yet. Otherwise, gear drops works like in other ARPG's (Diablo, for example)
- The gems - they are the bread and butter of the game, along with the unique weapons and the talent tree. You can modify the number of sockets on an item, the color of the sockets, the links between them, but it is a bit expensive. Four your first character, just use what you find until you learn what is best, what is needed etc.
- Again, about the gems - there are main attack / cast gems, support gems, aura gems, reactive gems. An attack gem is boosted by one or more support gems which are directly linked to it - so, you have two sockets linked, one has your main attack, the other (the support gem) boosts this main attack. You can boost one attack with multiple supports - so there's the need for gear with many sockets, linked. Support gems increase mana costs for the main skill, though.
- The stats etc. This is too long to answer here - http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Damage the wiki page. Use the wiki for everything you don't understand, it's really good and updated.
- Currency and crafting. There is no "gold". You get like Orb of Augmentation, Chaos Orb etc. These are important, save every one of them. They "do" things, read what they do, try to use some to see the effect. This is the currency in the game. For example, in the league running now, one chaos orb is worth about 15 augmentation orbs, one exalted orb is worth about 45 chaos orbs etc. There are a lot of currency guides on the web. This currency (along with the things added in the last expansion, the Forgotten Masters - they also use currency) is used for the crafting in the game. Again, a lot of crafting guides on the web.
Play the game and give it time, There's a lot to learn and it needs time. For a faster approach and if you don't mind a bit of hand holding, read the PoE forum, in the builds section, and follow a newbie build. You'll learn things faster that way.
I think i have most of the game figured out now except a few things.
I watched videos of players trading a few items to a NPC then get back an upgraded version or item.Well i tried it with the correct items and did not work for me.Is there a mission or something that opens up what Dude called Master crafting?
The other puzzling thing is this "leagues"seems to be 3 different types of server to join,i don't get the why nor the seasons idea.
Would be nice if someone made a sticky post with i feel only a few links needed,one is of a spread sheet on item crafting and the possible stats you can get on various items.
I know there is a Curse section with simple map layout using square boxes,i feel the maps are a huge must for a new player so they understand where at least maps are connected because the camera view is so limited you can't see a thing.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Regarding the master crafting question. What NPC did you do the trade with and what did you want to upgrade? I havn't played much during the later expansion, so never really tried out the master crafting.
Regarding the leagues. They "reset" the leagues every 3 month or so, just to motivate people to come back + they always start off with a new mode.
They always have the softcore//hardcore servers, where you can die unlimited times in softcore. In hardcore, the game is generally harder + if you die, you get your character pushed down to softcore.
They also have the normal "hardcore" server, without any general modes? Don't remember. Another idea though why they have short leagues is to make people compete. You do get prices at the end of a season if you managed to do something they want you to that league.
Regarding the map. I think it's fine. As a new player, you should explore everything and it's the fun part as a noob in the game. They have made it a lot easier to understand where quests and other things are the recent year or so, so it's ok.
I have only ever played hardcore. My highest has been like level 70. I am more into the racing part in the game though. Increadibly fun, but it takes some skill to fight for top positions.
You'll meet the masters as you play, in the areas you pass through. They offer quests for you. Doing the quests will give you reputation to that master. They have levels. Once you have one master at level 3, that master offers you a hideout (let's say, a form of housing). You'll then invite all your masters, one by one, to that hideout. They'll give you a decoration - you need to install that decoration in your hideout. Using those decorations, that's the master crafting thing. You'll get more crafting options as your masters level.
As soon as a master is level 2, you can invite him to your hideout, but there's a limit on how many masters you can have in your hideout, (i believe it starts with 2 max, then 3, and finally 4) so at first you need to invite and dismiss, one by one, to get all their crafting decorations.
The leagues - there's the standard and the "season" leagues. Most people i know play seasons, as the economy in standard is... well, terrible, for many many reasons. On the "season" league, everyone starts fresh. At the end of the season league, the characters and their items (stash too) are transferred to the standard league. Seasons have rewards, both ingame and things like T-shirts etc.
Hope it helps.
Yes that was a very good answer ,i got that now.
I managed to get the crafting done where you trade to npc's ,but there are a couple things i don't understand.
I like the trading in of a wand with a Whetstone and a Chain belt to get an upgraded Wand with an added Spell dmg% but i notice you need to pick the proper item level or your end result might be too high for you to use,still is fun though.Can do the same to upgrade a physical damage % on a weapon as well.
You can also trade 3 of the same bottles to get an upgrade,some real cool stuff.
Ok what i don't understand is that i have heard several players now talking about over leveling or leveling a skill gem and did not want to,why would you not want to level up your gems?
A few videos i watched all talked about upgrading a weapon to add +1 to gems and talk of over powered results.Well i was looking at the charts and shows only a common upgrade of .5%,i would hardly call that o/p or even worth my time,is there something i am missing here?
There are several other things i can wait until later to figure out like i hear a lot of people talking about maps and upgrading them,it made no sense to me but that is ok,i am a long way away from that end game stuff.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Most of the 'currency' items can be used directly on gears, for different effect.
When someone 'add +1 gem', they are using Jeweller's Orbs on a gear to re roll the number of gem slots the gear has, until they end up with more than they started out with. Where the OP comes from is when you add gem sockets, the use Orbs of Fusion to reforge the gem socket links. If you get, say, a gem slot with 5 support links into it, you can get some really massively powerful results.
Chromatic Orb changes the colors of gem sockets, etc. etc.
Here is a list of what the different currencies do: POE Currencies
Believe that mouseover of currency in your inventory also says what each one can do. Remember you can trade currencies to buy other ones you might want/need also, with the various NPCs in towns.
EDIT - maps give access to endgame instances. Cartographer Chisel can upgrade a map to higher difficulty (and thus higher reward) instances.
EDIT2 - The reason you might not want to level a gem is that the requirements (str, int, dex) for using the gem increase with it's level; and you can have the gem 'outlevel' your build's str,int,dex. Then you wouldn't be able to use the gem anymore...
This game is requires a lot of complex planning but the downside is if you do your homework well enough you won't have to do anything except spam one or two skills.
To support you main skill you'll need an item with a lot of sockets and they need to be linked as well.
The game is linear but it is fun. My advice is start in a temporary non-hardcore league, get to merciless with something simple like a Facebreaker build (it does exactly what it the name implies). Physical simply means "weapon damage" since only weapon attacks deal physical damage (ok, ok, there are those 2 spells too.... ).
That is not true. What they mean is finding a weapon that has a "+1 to level of socketed gems" mod.
Something like this:
http://poe.trade/search/akitohiyoretim
the above site is the unofficial market by the way.
Newbie here, too. (Good Thread! Thanks for starting it Wizardry!)
Is there a color order to gear / items?
What colors are best?
I didn't find it on the wiki. TY
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
That happens for different reasons. I myself keep a lot of gems at lower level. I'll give you two popular examples:
1. The "Clarity" aura gem. This aura increases your mana regeneration, for a flat mana reserved cost (you give up a part of your mana, for more mana regeneration). This flat mana reserved cost increases significantly with levels. If you over level your clarity gem, you might not have enough mana left to use other auras or even your skills.
2. The "Cast When Damage Taken" gem. This part is important, I suggest to check things about this gem in videos and on the internet / wiki. This gem is used by practically all builds which have room on gear for a 3-4 link. This gem works like this: when you take an amount of damage, you automatically cast the linked spells / curses etc. As you level, the damage you need to take to cast those spells increases (which means the gem activates less frequently). Unfortunately, you cannot let this gem at level 1 for frequent activations (required lvl31 for character level) as it only will support spells / curses that require a character level lower than 31. You need to find a "sweet spot" for this gem, and you won't level it or its supported spells / curses over that sweet spot (i frequently fail at this and i wasted a lot of scouring orbs for that reason)
You can un-level a gem by trading it and an orb of scouring to a vendor.
There are three gem colors, practically, Red, which are strength gems, green which are dexterity gems and blue which are intel gems. As gems level up, they will increase the requirements in the above mentioned stats.
There are also "combo color" gems, like, let's say fire trap (btw, fire trap is an awesome skill to level for the first few levels). This gem, even if it's green, requires a combination of Dex and Int.
There is no "best color" - for the most part, red and green are mostly melee and bow and traps etc, while blue are spells. But using a combination of these is very popular. For example, one of my strongest characters uses sweep (red) as the main attack gem, supported by Increased AoE and Concentrated Effect (which are blue), Melee Physical damage (also red) and Faster Attacks (green).
For gear, there's the white gear, followed by the blue gear (which is "better"), yellow gear (rare) and orange gear (unique). Gear in this game works... differently. A white item with 5-6 sockets linked is worth a lot. Good rares are many times better than many uniques. In fact, uniques are designed here as "game changing" items - it's hard for me to give a good example, but imagine that, by wearing an unique, you change your character in a way that he uses life instead of mana, and mana is reduced to zero (sometimes using life instead of mana is beneficial, as you can get a ton of life and life regeneration).
As someone before me mentioned, the game requires planning and knowledge. You'll love it if you're into this. Experienced players, when they start a character, plan in advance both the points distribution for their spec and what items they will use. You can follow other people's builds, or, if you're like me, you can produce your own (i find that extremely satisfying).
Yes very solid answers to questions ,,,thanks.
One more that i have not seem to come across.
About the fused links on gear/weapon do ALL fused links work in cohesion or only the actual connected links?I don't think i made my question very clear hmm lol.
Ok using a 4 slot item for example 3 of the slots will be directly connected while 1 is not.So if i put a melee attack in one corner and two 2 support gems in the connected corner,the furthest away is not directly connected,would a support gen work there also or do i need 2 support and 2 abilities in that 4 slot item?
I guess i am thinking long term,if i get a chest piece with 6 slots could you use only 1 ability/spell with 5 support gens or would not all 6 work together?
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
A 4-link looks like this: A is connected to B, B to C, C to D. There are actually only 3 connectors, but that's a 4 link - D will not be connected back to A as it is not needed.
If A is linked to B and B is linked to C, and C is linked to D, then A is affected by both B and C and D (i hope i understood your question correctly). If you get a chest with 6 slots and you put 1 ability and 5 support, then that ability will be affected by all the 5 support. If you put 2 abilities and 4 support, then each ability will be affected by all the 4 support gems.
Another example: aura gems. You get a 4 slot piece, linked, You put 3 aura gems inside, and one support - reduced mana cost. All of the gems wil be affected by that support.
The game has quite a steep learning curve if yo are just getting in it, but don't worry, it's worth the effort. Best thing for you now would be to get in and try stuff. Also, you can take a look at currency guide to keep you on the right track.
http://pathofexilegems.com/poe-currency-guide/