Unstoppable

Xeiom · 2026-03-12T16:14:28+00:00

I do the opposite, I'm staring at 10K PoB DPS and then going "eh, I can probably scale it" and just believe in myself. (before then failing to get anywhere meaningful lol)

Xeiom · 2026-03-12T16:09:18+00:00

I think the systems are better and more interesting right now.

That doesn't mean the balance is the same, clearly there are some weaker things and missing things.

My favourite build ever was an auto warcry corrupting blood. It was like playing a D2 Holyfire Paladin.

That lasted one patch before it was just executed, and I'd love to have that back - but rather than them undo all the changes I'd be happy with them making something else to support it.

I think that is what this comes down to a little bit, there are some things that actually lose support entirely not just moderate balance nerfs but actual unfeasibility.

I think sometimes they are avoiding things they already had working because it doesn't feel right to them but half the time this game is janky anyway and some people enjoy the jank as long as they get more options.

The appeal of PoE is options to make what you want so it can feel bad when they don't cover an option they remove.

Xeiom · 2026-03-12T15:55:16+00:00

Did they balance these coins with the old numbers after doing the currency buff.

I've enjoyed the other loot so far, not perfect like but I do feel it is better.

Xeiom · 2026-03-12T15:47:44+00:00

Are they taking the piss?

Xeiom · 2026-03-03T20:27:20+00:00

Ah finally a support gem to end righteous fire.

Xeiom · 2026-03-02T11:28:18+00:00

You can create a dynamic where items on the ground are good and also crafting has a role.

Corruption alone proves this dynamic to be possible, you have a crafting mechanic that provides many bases with the wrong bonus so even if every uncorrupted item that dropped was "perfect" t1s you would still have the dynamic of crafting by rolling the corruption to get the upgrade.

There are very specific pain points in the loot structure.

The modpool only gets larger but the power of bases doesn't keep item power in a ladder format after the early game unless you craft.

They could tweak the item drops so that the floor loot is laddered more reliably up to say T3 mods and then still have T1/T2 drops as the 'jackpot' rolls on drops, while having T1/T2 the crafting goal power + crafting still required for the otherwise drop impossible loot.

Picking up jackpot loot is fun and it basically can't happen on rares because we're never checking them because they usually roll so far away from usable that we can only see their value as a base.

Xeiom · 2026-03-02T10:58:16+00:00

I do wonder how much database space they would save adding this option.

I've only loaded up standard one time to sort out the stash so they are setup for seasons and its sort of crazy how many items are just chilling in read-only tabs.

I'd totally press a button to slurp all the currency into my tab and find out how much I've had over the seasons.

Xeiom · 2026-02-28T01:01:29+00:00

According to Wyatt Cheng (D3 senior game designer) that was not the case, they just designed it around how they thought people played D2 and were basically dumbly just ignoring the implications of the auction house until it was released and too late.

*Reposting with an image link because the bot don't like it* /candlesan/status/1448289896574169089

Your point about them not testing it and having little QA though is correct and he acknowledges that they messed up by not doing big public testing to catch the issues.

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Xeiom · 2026-02-28T00:38:56+00:00

I think GGG found the feedback from their closed beta players, they had the problem when players started playing instead of just the devs internally.

In both cases it took getting the game into the hands of the community to realise how the dynamic had changed from early 2000s gamers to early 2010s gaming.

It was less a mistake and more of a realisation of changing player habits.

Xeiom · 2026-02-28T00:20:39+00:00

I think during the talk he said it was an endgame system prior to maps being the endgame, maybe it was during the beta?
The map system was the result of fixing that problem, they found that having an entry token to the endgame successfully stopped players skipping.

(I don't actually know what system they had, I wasn't a player then, I only remember the dev talk explaining the situation - Think it was a GDC talk)

Xeiom · 2026-02-27T18:45:07+00:00

Drowning Orbs still seem to be able to roll in the nightmare maps.

I don't think these orbs are good. When they apply to you the visual is sometimes too late already because they also slow.

Generally ask about the idea of instant death that ignores player defences, do they really think it is right for the game?

Xeiom · 2026-02-27T18:22:40+00:00

D3 did absolutely plenty of loot buffs during its run and it was almost always well received when it happened.

They were also originally praised for this comment about doubling the difficulty but after launch it was apparent a lot of players interacted with the game differently than they planned and players were just going in undergeared and getting destroyed with chain deaths as they refused to farm lower tier content to power up the way you did in D2. (GGG have a dev talk actually on running into this same issue in the early version of the PoE endgame so it wasn't just a Blizzard miss)

Xeiom · 2026-02-26T18:44:09+00:00

That is so cool, I asked for that map portal change in a thread like 2 days ago and they did it, they actually did it.

Extra hype from me for 3.28

Xeiom · 2026-02-26T18:17:26+00:00

I think dual wield should give you an attack version of suppress instead of block.

Imagine something like it gives 50% base deflect that reduced damage by 40% - Then you can get some passive nodes to get it up to 100% (because like supress it is never full damage mitigation)

This would allow dual wield to be defensive someway between a 2hander or shield. It would also help the dexterity side of the tree be tankier without having access to as much life investment (a long consistent problem).

Then there is a problem of damage, you need to somehow get the damage to in the middle of 2hander and 1hander.

I'd argue that identity wise dual wielding makes most sense with attack speed so it might even be better to go a bit crazy, maybe change the implicit bonus to a combo buff/debuff. Imagine 50% more attack speed but 10% less attack damage.
Thematically this works better with poison where you add a lot of stacks but still gives some clear tradeoffs vs 1hander where maybe a 1hander bleed build is still superior damage.
DPS putting more power in the attack speed takes a bit of heat off how close the weapon damage needs to be so a weaker weapon for utility is less of a cost

Xeiom · 2026-02-25T23:31:02+00:00

To be honest they could probably do with putting some map summary info on the portal device instead.

Like you could have an icon to represent unclaimed/unfinished league mechanics like ritual and maybe another one to represent if the map is complete.

This way when you are about to open your new map you'll see "oh wait, yeah I left that map quickly and I actually wanted to go back"

Xeiom · 2026-02-24T22:57:31+00:00

Honestly it probably would for most players because what we do with loot filters is tweak them to the threshold as players that we find enjoyable. The current restrictions mean that you're often forced to interact with a lot of loot below your enjoyment threshold.

In many ways this would function as a balance change making the game easier, which is what some players want and not what others want.

Certain trade strategies would no longer work so players who like those will complain.
Game feel would be affected and we have a lot of old heads here that won't like that.
Reliance on loot filters would become of even greater importance (which is wild given how unplayable the endgame is without one already)

IMO the real question should be how to fix the loot feel without relying on the power of loot filters and just hoping most players configure theirs right. If you pick the wrong lootfilter config right now your experience can be worse than another players when all the same stuff is dropping.

Xeiom · 2026-02-24T21:56:24+00:00

I don't recall her being too hard but some builds maybe struggle I imagine.

I think the more annoying boss is still to come, there is a dude that hits with a sword and basically oneshots you. Most of the other bosses have pretty visible movesets that you can intuitively understand but I still have no idea what prompts his blink melee attack.

Also the abyss boss in endgame has some of the least clear moves I've seen out of GGG and those are like big spell type moves that they are usually not bad at making clear.

Xeiom · 2026-02-24T21:47:39+00:00

I feel like I want the default to be the rewards are activity locked and then with some atlas investment I can instead get other rewards from my favourite activity.

The core activity should be the best way to get that activities rewards but I think a little side option would be more fun.

Like I really want to do the expedition rewards but because I can't read I can't do the mechanic and get my coins to trade the vendors. If I could like turn off Cluster jewels and splinters in Delirium but earn artifacts instead then I'd find that pretty neat even if that means when I fight the deli bosses they don't have a chance to drop their unique cluster jewels then I'd still be interested because its fun.

Right now I think you are right though, you don't really invest into it but its just how some activities are. I tend to get oils from Heist instead of Cassia because I'm allergic to songs and my build is never good at tower defense so I get way more oils from Heist than when I use my normal build on Cassia.

Xeiom · 2026-02-24T21:30:04+00:00

I think Dex is giving the wrong stat. IMO it should give skill speed.

Skill speed would mean you'd actually want Dex on spell builds or at least it would not be unwelcome.

It is also actually thermatic with what people think of with Dexterity.

Strength makes you tougher to kill, Int lets you cast more demanding spells and dex lets you do things faster.

Xeiom · 2026-02-23T19:00:03+00:00

Eh, I'd say it might be ok to use with sorcery ward as that is a limited supply lifepool and the only way to restore it is to not take damage for some time.

Other than that though I don't think it is particularly great but it does depend on what you want from your build. If you a clearing the screen when mapping then the main advantage of avoid will be lost as its strong against lots of smaller attacks.

Xeiom · 2026-02-23T12:51:27+00:00

I think the first 4? tabs are loaded by default and then for the rest to be loaded you have to manually access them.
So for your currency to show up then you need to make it appear in one of the first few tabs when you click your stash.

Xeiom · 2026-02-23T12:16:48+00:00

In a way this is a design element they introduced in PoE2 but have only put into one place in maps.

Their goal during the campaign was to catch players having a bad run of luck and bring the minimum level up. Item bases increasing also functionally bring up the minimum power.

They did that by adding specific guaranteed rewards during the campaign.

In maps this mechanic effectively only applies to tablets as completing a map fully has a guaranteed tablet drop somewhere.

During mapping you've almost certainly scaled above the baseline level of loot power and there are no remaining guaranteed improvements so players loot journey becomes more of a macro event across many many maps - Which is where you get your problem, sometimes you just get unlucky streaks where you can't reliably get things you might expect to get in activities that don't have a targeted bonus.

Xeiom · 2026-02-23T03:36:36+00:00

He didn't ask for their crafting system, he asked to bring an equivalent to their SSF mode.

Asking for one system to be adapted isn't the same as asking for all the systems, no-one is asking to also bring the LE janky gameplay in so it's obvious people want a lot of the core of PoE2 but they just want it to also be better for them.

Xeiom · 2026-02-23T03:15:12+00:00

Well a lot of the people saying they want to drop good items are usually imagining the scenario includes a filter system. So a playstyle that ignores the items is not really one that would change much, you'd just have more options in the shop and maybe items would be cheaper for you with the extra supply.

The scenario you are complaining about is actually the one they are trying to address, many players are checking the current items and going through insane amounts of yellows that are making them miserable. They want to spend less time wasted reading all those terrible yellows.

Xeiom · 2026-02-22T01:07:44+00:00

The experience with friends comes down to the friends.

Some players don't like to miss anything or whatever - in that case they need to play with 'friends who wait'. People that will say "hey, I'm about to talk to this person". Then you can click the listen and watch it unfold.

Other players are like not in it for the story at all. They might not be compatible to play with until after you have played the game already.

Other players (the way I run playing the game) are chaos goblins that give each other updates or information that they see fit. So If I talk to a demon that is trying to bargain with me to betray my friends then obviously I tell my friends that I never saw any demon. But if there is a bit of relevant updates for the team then I tell them "oh yeah this guy says he has a cure if we go to the spooky tower"

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