Path of Exile

My flurry/reave char was killing red quite handily, adds and all, with just a 4link flurry. Having a high attack speed and getting used to the charge/release can make a big difference it damage output on flurry.

Speaking of higher standards, Uber Elder down to my wild strike inquisitor! Felt easier than doing it on my Jugg for the most part.

Guess I picked a good league to run a barrage build (well single target anyway). Changes in skills post they want to reduce the amount of damage barrage gets from extra arrows.

It was necessary I think, barrage was still the best even after the helm enchant nerf. It's still going to be insanely good, but at least it sounds like there are options now.

Here's hopin. Or at least they bring up the 50 different shit-tier skills up to their level.

Bring back LL-RF spork totem mf chars! Next league = closed beta flashback!

Also, my disintegrator char is falling apart before I even get him high enough lvl to use his gear. 23 chaos rolls on his helm and literally didn't hit anything even close to being usable because the stupid ass elder mods are apparently massively weighted over anything else, and the boots/amulet for him aren't really complete items either.

Just some bad luck. Gotta bring at least 100c!

Yeah I need to sell the belt or gloves for that. I might spam them in some trade channels and stuff tomorrow and see if I get any offers instead of just relying on poe.trade

Try posting on their official website trading forums too

I've done that with a few good items i've rolled in previous leagues and never gotten a response on anything so I kind of gave up on the trading forums.

Mid lab DC, blah.

It's gotta happen to everyone at least once a league.

Leave it to me to break the lab. Went back to do the lab I started last night. 3rd phase open up on Izaro which at this point is nothing. Soon as I hit the key the phase despawns, traps, Izaro everything. No key loot, turned loot on/off show all to be sure. Nothing. Still let me into the ascendancy which was odd. Didn't care about the loot but still odd.

You should get on their QA team!

I exalted 5% armor onto my amulet this morning...

I'm really tempted to try PoE again for like the 4th or 5th time. ARPGs are probably one of, if not my favorite genre of video-games, but PoE just doesn't seem to have a natural "progression" to any of the builds I've ever attempted. Almost everything seems aimed/designed for end-game, but my character feels like a worthless turd on the way there, so I never make it and end up back in Diablo 3.

Diablo 3 seems to do a much better job at seeing your character "evolve" in power - where you may start with a firebats build through your 20-40s, moving to a gargantuan build until your 50s, and then finally capping it off with a zombie dogs build until you hit 70 and start working on end-game uniques/sets/etc. Everything in PoE seems designed around perfect color 6-linked items, full access to every skill, ascendancy, etc. The issue I always run into with this game is the journey to those builds fucking sucks in the interim, because your character mostly hits like a wet-noodle, doesn't have much in the way of defense, and just generally feels useless. It isn't nearly as "natural" as Diablo 3s system.

So, I guess my question is does anyone have any sort of suggestions to circumvent this in PoE? Is this just how the game is designed and I'd have to tough it out in order to get to the real meat and potatoes of the game, or are there builds out there that have a better flow to them? I've tried a couple of the "season starter" builds that I found on YouTube, but those don't seem to be helping and I'm running into the same issue where most of what the prescribe still seems aimed at the end-game. I'd love a "dps while moving" style build, as those are some of my favorites in the genre, but anything that gives me the sense of progression without the feeling of a useless character would be fantastic as PoE is a game that has a ton of great ideas.

Getting your ascendancies while levelling kind of gives you a lot of power during your progression. Also, there's a lot of newer league mechanics that help bridge that gap, with essences and bestiary crafting. My first char didn't have a 6-link til level 80 something. There's a high chance that the weakness is due to build issues; many of us veterans don't struggle a lot with the levelling process. Trading with other players for gear while levelling also helps fill in gaps.

I don't know about before, but now the game of acts 1-10 is just a small portion of the game that starts with mapping. A lot of people aren't really looking to progress thru it as much as just get thru it as a requirement.