Spock
1661
Thanks for the replies! Glad I asked about the skill tree.
The barter system for trading is cool! Paying for something with a Scroll of Wisdom feels like a real weighty cost, at least right now.
Also, when I see items on the ground, their color of course indicates rarity. But they also have little colored dots to the right of their names. I think those indicate what socket(s) if any those items have. Right? Pretty nifty UI feature.
My summoner croaked because I wasn’t paying attention. Needed to have moved her out of the laser totems.
Yes, and if there are little bars connecting the sockets that means there are links between the sockets, which is super important. Also, the colors of the sockets are displayed, which is nice.
I reached Act 2! Yay!
So I decided to go back to Act 1, and find out why one of the town people was going to let me create my own base. I created the place, claimed the hideout, and clicked on Daily mission. That sounds interesting. I ended up in a cave full of bears. None of which I could kill with my skills. And I couldn’t portal out. Wow. What a way to die.
Was there a way for me to tell what this “daily mission” entailed, and that I was too low level for it? Or as a hardcore character, should I just avoid these kinds of things in the future completely?
That sucks, sorry to hear it. I’ve caught myself many a time paying too much attention to whatever the minions are doing, and not enough to my personal self. Poison clouds are especially bad, and as you found out, searing bond and similar effects.
Argh, that’s rough, and right after a big win against Merveil too! Those are the Master missions, and they’re useful for leveling up the Masters in your base so that they’ll offer you more crafting options. What you want to do is check the zone level right after you go into the mission (bring up the map overlay, tab if you’ve not changed the default, and it’ll say in the upper right what the level is). Generally it’ll be somewhere around a multiple of ten of the master level. So if the guy who gave you the mission is level 3, the zone level will be in the 30s. You can get out of those missions, but only by using the portal back where you entered. I wouldn’t give up on them entirely, but (as you now know) it’s a good idea to wait on them until you’re in the same general level range.
Yep, poison clouds are the worst as a summoner.
So, maps: I’m guessing I want to do them kinda whenever now that I’ve unlocked them, just not leaving them until I’m more than +5?
One level to go until superzombies!
Sounds like everyone is having a good time with their toons, so yay!
I’m still rocking my Incinerate Templar. Not much has changed - he’s still melting faces, and he is still zooming through the game. Earlier today I dispatched Piety and Dominus in A3C. I have not one, but two “stop bleeding” flasks to make sure I don’t screw up the Dominus fight. He’s level 56 now and I’m about to head off to do A4C.
Speaking of Master missions, I found out you need to be in Cruel to do them. I found that out by having my character who was in Normal take and try to do a Daily mission. The game informed me I couldn’t do that. So there was a daily mission wasted. :/ Also, one of the hardest times I have had with my current toon was doing one of the daily missions. I think I had to kill something like 50 spiders. I almost didn’t realize I was getting super poisoned - until I saw my health dropping like a rock (and my health potions not doing a whole lot to fix it!). That was about as close as I’ve gotten to dying so far.
I think if I make it to Merciless that will be my first toon that has made it that far. So that would be cool.
Bateau
1668
http://pathofexilebuilds.com/exppenaltycalc.php or http://poetools.com/experience-penalty/
Until you build up a base of maps or get tired of running the same tilesets over and over, I suggest you stick to the lowest level that still gives you full XP (check with the calc I linked). I try to run all my maps at least transmuted + augmented to get 2 mods on them (use alts on them if you don’t like the mods) and increase IIQ and IIR slightly this way, for 74+ I use alchemy (previously I started doing this at 72 when I was building up a base) and for 75+ or 76+ I use chisel+alch + chaos to reroll them if needed.
I think I have roughly 50 68-71 maps that I’m not using for anything except crafting so if you need to get started hit me up ingame.
Ah hah, good tips. I just ground out 68 on A3 Piety + Library (I was low on scrolls, leave me alone!) runs. Now I have superzombies – and they are super! – and I think I’ll go murder Dominus and at least plow through the Mines in A4.
Though using the tools it looks like I don’t really want to start mapping until 75-76, so maybe I’ll grind out Piety for a while yet. She does drop a shitload of rares – like 8 per kill – and it’s a really, really easy run.
Spock
1670
Wow, I didn’t know about linked sockets (and “support gems”) until I read your post and then googled linked sockets. Another nice innovation! I like that this game does some things differently.
Bateau
1671
@ Adam: there’s no reason not to start mapping as soon as you can. If you’re worried that you’ll deplete your map pool - that simply doesn’t happen in lower tiers. You’ll also get far more loot from the maps than by grinding piety. Afaik world piety is subject to diminishing returns on loot drops as you gain levels but the maps are not. I suggest you still power on to a4 to get that extra skill point though.
Spock
1672
So I joined the final hour of a temporary league just for the heck of it. I guess it was a Hardcore league, because my character was Hardcore. I made it to level 5 without dying, but then the league ended, and I guess I had to make level 7 to get any reward points. What do those points earn you, anyway?
Also, my “main” seems to be on Warbands. Should I have started in the default league instead?
Lastly: how do I tell what rank I have on Warbands or Hardcore? I see the Ladder, but I can’t figure out how to see my own ranking on it.
Thanks!
Points in races earn you item rewards, it’s something like 5 or 10 points for the first reward, then 25, etc, with 1000 getting the top tier item I think. These items then show up in your stash once rewards are made available (I assume it’s instantly in the permanent leagues, temporary challenge leagues like tempest/warbands it’s like 1 month in or something like that). Also, just participating gets you entries into drawings for things like alternate art items.
I think if you’re not in the top 10 on the ladder or whatever it is that shows up you can only see your rank by going to the official forums and searching it there, but I’m repeating from an unknown source, seems likely though.
As for what league to start in, it may as well be warbands, once warbands ends your characters will move to the standard league anyway. Warbands has those extra loot pinata guys running around to give you a better chance at finding your own loot and I assume that by now prices in the standard league are probably stupidly inflated for gear (I don’t play standard so it’s just an assumption). In the challenge leagues you’ll actually be able to afford to buy a decent item or 3 without too much currency or ridiculous luck on loot drops.
@Spock: I’ve heard people talking about the Warbands (in the Warbands league) as not too fun - in the early game, the warband guys can be overpowered, and late game, they don’t seem to give enough to make it worth killing them, so they’re just an annoyance. But I suppose it boils down to them being extra loot pinatas, and it’s not a hardcore league, so who cares if they smush you once or twice.
Regarding prices, I’ve also heard that in the Standard league prices are way high, due to the amount of currency floating around there, so yeah, if you’re just starting out, Warbands seems like a reasonable place to play.
As for my guy, RIP Incinerate Templar, level 61. I was so happy I’d made it to Merciless - blew through Act 1 and was in Act 2, doing the Chamber of Sins level 2 - the boss at the end - Fidelitas I think his name is - had some terrible mod (Arsonist’s Grip?) that made him do not only insane lightning damage, but AOE fireballs. And though I should have known better, I did not have my resists maxed out, so after feinting around a few times, I tried to run past him to get better positioning and he offed me through a combination of lightning/fire. Sadly, I took a pair of unique boots that cost me 8 chaos with me into Standard.
Oh well, I can try again! This time, I’m definitely maxing my resists when I hit Merciless.
You can see the overall season rewards and how much progress you’ve made in the current season by going here: https://www.pathofexile.com/seasons. Sometimes individual races have additional rewards, and you can see those if you click on the link for that race in the calendar at the bottom.
Ouch, that sucks. Those Tormented Spirit guys can be really dangerous, both in terms of the mods they give to other monsters, and because they tend to run off and chasing them can lead you into bad situations. One of those Arsonists almost killed one of my Sarahs in that same zone, though I think it was a rare necromancer rather than Fidelitus. Better luck on the next round!
You’ll want to read up on vendor recipes as well. Most items give alteration shards based on their properties, when vendored. Some items are special and give other things. e.g. RGB linked item (regardless of rarity) gives a chromatic orb.
Also, for those getting into mapping: yes there are experience penalities if you overlevel a map tier. Skill gems still accrue experience at a non penalized rate. Because map looting is so much better than running most areas this means that running maps below your experience range is something people do a lot. Getting a sustainable map pool is still the first order of business, of course.
If I can just get to a level where I can do maps…dying seems to be the one thing I’m very good at !
Spock
1678
Thanks to all for the replies on Warbands. I don’t recall choosing Warbands; it seemed to be the default when I started my new witch. She’s now level 10, incidentally.
Do you guys do these three-hour events? Can I enter them with existing characters, or do you always create a new one for them?
@Charlatan: You made it to level 61 on Hardcore in Merciless? Without dying? That’s pretty impressive!
Hardcore in POE rewards knowledge of the game more than anything else IMO. There’s a ton of stuff that will straight up murder you if you don’t know it’s coming and plan/react accordingly.
PantsVZ
1680
Who thought it was a good idea that Vaal gems can’t be triggered? c’mon man.
