Path of Exile Questions Thread - January 05, 2021

I miss it like a warm, comfortable body next to me on a cold, chilly night. I miss it like a good dog misses their human when they're gone. I miss it like...

You get the point.

Winter Orb literally gave me a 30% nerf to enjoyment of path of exile post nerf. No skill I've ever played after the nerfs came close to peak Winter Orb fun.

Was it overtuned? Probably....OVERTUNED IN HAVING FUN THAT IS.

But seriously, yeah, it was probably a bit too strong. But I miss the days of Elementalist winter orb running toxic sewers and literally blowing up everything screens away.

I'll never have a love like this again. And I've been playing since closed beta.

Blade Vortex is an okay rebound, I guess.

Please, GGG. Buff Winter Orb.

submitted by /u/devious1
[link] [comments]

PlayStation now has a Golden Blade base

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 10:05 AM PST

submitted by /u/benjo1990
[link] [comments]

3.13.0 Livestream Twitch Drops

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 12:51 PM PST

submitted by /u/tnadneP
[link] [comments]

My guess for next league name is Maelstorm. Siren was teased on Bex last post, and both Siren and Maelstorm are in the poem “The Odyssey”. Plus the new unique boots.

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 04:10 AM PST

submitted by /u/ppdalla
[link] [comments]

I wrote a long reply on why gambling, and loot boxes in particular, are bad...

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 01:42 AM PST

So, inside some other post, I was asked why gambling is bad... My reply ended up being really detailed, so I'll promote it to a post of its own (just copy-pasting it here; no new words)... [Note: list of 3 points about loot boxes at the end...]

(I work at a company that sells gambling services... I see how the sausage is made...)

By the way, I love PoE and GGG. Still, loot boxes are bad.

I personally get to see the statistics side of oddsmaking. It's always about suckering you out of your money, because by definition all you are doing is paying more money as the price of getting less money (on average), but you also need to feel like you have a chance at getting the upper hand, even though in the long run you don't.

For example, sometimes, if you're really "good" at betting, you just end up working for the oddsmaker on a bad deal. It's really hard for them sometimes to get the odds perfectly right (although the profit margin still takes care of 99.9% of punters). So, if you're a professional gambler making a regular profit, what's basically happening is that you are investing an enormous amount of time and expertise to try and make tiny profits at the margins, and the bookmaker monitors your activity and learns about the market from you, at what ends up being a lower cost than if they hired experts to give them the same info on a salary. Plus you constantly run high risks! Which is why my company is full of ex-gamblers who were able to make a profit for a while, and intelligent enough to realise that they were still getting a bad deal, and come to the company and offer their services directly. (For another way gambling companies guarantee their own profits by passing on the risk to gamblers, research "balancing the books": yes, a professional gambler could make some profits this way, but if you're possibly making profits by taking on a risk that a large gambling corporation wants to get rid of, do you really think you're getting a good deal, especially considering how much time and expertise you sink into the activity? EDIT: more info)

The only way I know of to make a consistent and considerable profit off gambling is when a pro gambler is allowed to make a profit off other gamblers, in a move that a company makes to increase total amounts played. So, for one person to profit, many others are being seriously scammed, and the company is safely skimming its percentages off the top.

There are many different ways a gambling company presents bad deals to you, hoping that your intuition misfires about one of them and you decide to throw away your money. Examples... There are single bets, of course. But then there are also combinations, and these screw with your intuition--you can convince yourself based on a narrative (e.g. team 1 wins first half, team 2 comes back in second half), where in fact the actual hard cold odds are against you. There is "cash out" where you take a fraction of a likely-seeming win early (but at a loss), which of course simply taxes you for your risk aversion. There are "systems", creating more and more complex bets, until you convince yourself you've set up the perfect deal, and yet the company's profit margin keeps growing the more complex you make it.

Anyway, those are the parts I work on as a software guy. (By the way, this isn't the worst thing in the world, it's not as bad, as, say, the military industry or the military itself, or say religions or banks, because at some level gambling is voluntary. And making gambling illegal is a terrible idea-we should fight it through education, not prohibition. Still, I only work there because I'm currently a completely non-creative software grunt (and currently satisfied with that). If I get to the point of pursuing higher-level jobs, I'll look elsewhere.)

But the most nefarious part of all is the psychological work they pull on you. That's not my area of expertise, so if you want it explained you need to look elsewhere (recommended book: Thinking Fast and Slow--it's not about gambling, it's about psychology). They are constantly doing things to 1) give you false hope and 2) artificially trigger some pleasure response in you.

E.g. most people are naturally risk averse and loss averse, e.g. losing $10 brings more pain than winning $10 brings pleasure. In reality, a gamble is about paying, say, $10 to win an average of, say, $9, so that's a terrible and painful deal. In addition to all the advertising and bright colours and encouraging sounds and making you read success stories and all the other psychological manipulations, they can also straight up befuddle you with numbers. So, losing $10 brings more pain than winning $10 brings pleasure, but what if you pay $10 but you're not really at a risk of losing that much, because on average you win $9 back, so you're only really risking a single $, and yet if you get lucky you won't win a mere $10 but millions? Suddenly that sounds good, right? Risk $1 to win $10000000? Of course not: you're still risking $10 and taking $1 losses on average each time you play, and the high rewards are vanishingly rare and built into that average.

That's it about gambling for money. On loot boxes I'm no expert, but, beyond the basic problems (encouraging addiction, exploiting minors who beg money from parents and don't understand how they're throwing it away, generating gambling "pleasure" while giving you "bits" instead of any real value, etc), I can point out a couple of extra scummy aspects:

They can say "the box costs 30 points but all the possible rewards are worth at least 50, the average reward is worth 70 and the best is worth 400"... really??? Those prices are completely arbitrary... Who says the footprints are "worth" 50 or some random hideout decoration is "worth" 200? Talking about average microtransaction point values in a loot box is completely misleading.
Either you (a) lose on the statistics of getting complete sets or you lose on (b) being psychologically manipulated into buying extra stuff you didn't actually want so much (or (c) you just lose by getting useless stuff). Let's say you decide to pick up a couple of boxes and see what you get before buying more stuff. You might just get useless stuff, of course (case c). But what if you get the body armour or wings? Now you might say "I'll get more boxes to complete the set". But the chances of getting any one part of a set are not anywhere near as bad as your chances of completing a set (like map lab trials, but much worse because loot boxes contain many more items), so you are getting totally fleeced (case a). Alternatively you could go "oh look, I got x in the box, I'll buy matching items y and z from the shop later" so you think you got x cheap and y and z at normal prices. But you are being manipulated into buying y and z. Would you really have bought x and y and z from the shop if there had been no loot box? Only rarely. The rest of the time you are overspending (case b).
Loot box gifts are another scummy behaviour, considering people don't have good intuitions about statistics. Most of us get bad results from the gifted boxes, but some will get lucky. Those of us who are already gambling on loot boxes won't be affected by the outcome of a few extra boxes. Those who wouldn't ever buy them normally, and get bad results, who cares. But those who wouldn't normally buy them but get lucky a few times in a row might decide it's a good deal after all. So, it's manipulating us psychologically in a way that is statistically designed to fail at no cost most times and succeed sometimes, which makes money. (While also giving everybody holiday presents or race prizes, making the company appear generous.)

submitted by /u/sesquipedalias
[link] [comments]

Let us Germans use ÖÄÜß please!

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 10:08 AM PST

Hello,

almost all languages get their symbols, hieroglyphs and such. Yet we Germans can't either use ÖÄÜß in our names and since a league or two sometimes not even on chat anymore (getting an error about encoding). Please, show us some love. Let us use our just 4 special chars. Other languages get to use much much more.

thank you!

submitted by /u/Exportforce
[link] [comments]

I have hard evidence that the new endgame and league in 3.13 is Kalandra themed

Posted: 04 Jan 2021 06:07 PM PST

Bex posted this a few weeks ago:

"The fun thing about teasers is that they can happen at any time. They may already be right in front of you. Who can say?

^{Me but I won't}"

The biggest hint is right in front of us. Kalandra makes us think of what? Mirrors. Mirrors do what? Reflect stuff.

The league that's coming out is 3.13.

The 1 is a mirror, reflecting a 3 on each side.

Our game universe is a reflection created by Kalandra to imprison threats like Elder, Sirus, etc. By killing them we have made it almost safe to approach/release our demiplane.

The Challenge league (confirmed to be a kill stuff league) will revolve around killing the threats Kalandra has targeted to make it safe to interact with us further.

Eventually the endgame (probably following a similar premise) will allow us to glimpse and interact with the real world outside the mirror.

Hard predict, the expac name is confirmed to not be on the band list, but the league name is on the list. Since it's a huge update I figure it would be one of the top 5 names at least.

Expansion name: Mirror of Worlds

League name: Requiem

submitted by /u/Daneruu
[link] [comments]

Top 3 nerfs in 3.13 - your predictions

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 02:55 AM PST

Like tittle say :) . Post your 3 predictions and how long you play PoE :)

My 3 predictions:

Assasin Noxious Strike and Toxic Delivery - strong nerf
Syndicate Operative - rework
Call of Steel on Slam skill - rework/fix

(playing PoE since 2013)

submitted by /u/i_MW
[link] [comments]

Man, time really flies. What do you miss from the "good old days"?

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 12:23 PM PST

submitted by /u/Anonymus1921xD
[link] [comments]

Please let attack skills use Pinpoint

Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:35 PM PST

I mean

Come on

submitted by /u/SyrupBuccaneer
[link] [comments]

Dear SSFers, how do you deal with grand heist marker cost?

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 11:21 AM PST

So, if you hunt for replicas, higher ones cost a fortune, I pick up every marker in maps, unveil only wings (without unveiling rooms) with Gianna (my favourite rogue), but 45% discount isn't enough...

Ideally you want to do low lvl gems and replicas and 80+ lvl other blueprints, but as blueprints are very rare you can't chose.

Do you roll your gear for reduced cost? or it's not worth it?

submitted by /u/di359
[link] [comments]

PoE run for Awesome Games Done Quick? (AGDQ on Twitch)

Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:59 PM PST

So I know it was a rule previously that they would not allow online-only games for Awesome Games Done Quick on Twitch, you had to have at least local (or virtual) LAN capability.

With the Destiny 2 (PC) Raid run and the D3 3 person (PC version) run, it seems the rules have changed. Is anyone trying to get PoE into a GDQ category? We have an amazing racing community, between racers, casters, and events. Having a showing at the largest yearly speedrun event would be awesome. Something like a A5 or even A10 Kitava.

Is there a still rule that I dont know of that prevents PoE from getting a spot?

submitted by /u/Ezch
[link] [comments]

Let's play fill in the blank: All [redacted] revealed

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 11:29 AM PST

Im guessing "Harvest Crafts" and "New end game bosses"

submitted by /u/soamaven
[link] [comments]

ED/C vs VD SS at league start

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 04:54 AM PST

Waiting for patch notes until I make my final decision on which to do for the upcoming league. I've not played either at all and want to give one of them a try and there's a few things I would like to know:

Which has smoother levelling;

Which is easier to gear, both during the story and during endgame progression;

Which has better damage and damage potential, both during the story and endgame;

How each build performs with a somewhat low budget (~10ex)

If anyone has other suggestions on good starters then I'm all ears as I'm somewhat experienced but have a bad time picking a good league starter build. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

submitted by /u/TheDankestToast
[link] [comments]

Does mouse DPI matter for a game like POE?

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 12:23 PM PST

Just wondering if you guys have any tips for better mouse control for the game. I have a logitech Hero mouse and tinkering around with the speed of it, but can't decide on whether slower or faster is better for a game like POE. I want to train myself to use something that's pretty optimal in terms of both accuracy and speed

Thanks

submitted by /u/Nevzat666
[link] [comments]

Which Mine has the strongest single target?

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 07:02 AM PST

Hey, so I was looking to make a boss killing character and I was curious out of the top mines which one has the best boss killing capacity.

I would say if you feel a particular mine is pretty good AoE and ST and you're not sacrificing much on one end or the other feel free to mention that as well. But I'm mostly interesting in boss killing.

The mines that have come to mind are Glacial Cascade, Pyroclast, Arc, Toxic Rain, and Ball Lightning, but I'm just unsure which has the highest ST potential out of them.

If possible I think I'd like to stay away from Pyroclast because I feel like it kinda feels like shit mapping with it, until you get that ring at least?

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

submitted by /u/LookingForPlayerTwoo
[link] [comments]

Mines vs Totems

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 10:45 AM PST

Ok so I've been playing since Bestiary and I've done SOME of the end game content. I feel like this league i should be able to push further into the end game and complete all content. I'm trying to settle on a starter build - either mines or totems.

Fundamentally mines and totems seem very similar, but with different defensive perks..kindof like two sides of the same coin. I love having high damage and not worrying about reflect.

If I go totems, I'll likely go GC and revamp one of my more successful builds to do it. Hiero or Scion.

For mines I'm not sure what skill. I did a BL miner last league (my first mines build) and it was a TON of fun.

So here's the question...is there a hard yes or no answer on what is better? Totems or mines? Is there a big difference in top end damage/survivability/budget? Is there a clear winner or just a stylistic preference?

View Poll

submitted by /u/bricktangle42
[link] [comments]

League start saboteur build (traper vs miner)

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 03:10 AM PST

I was wondering how a trapper build would fare with no budget whatsoever at league start (first week) compared to a miner with no budget.

Lets assume all they have is tabula and crappy rares with life/resists.

For traps I was thinking of Lightning trap or Arc trap. And for mines I was thinking Ball lightning and Arc mine.

How would those builds do if anyone has played traps? Are mines just that much better?

submitted by /u/SaboteurArcMines
[link] [comments]

One of my hopes for 3.13: Occultist changes

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 01:37 PM PST

With the curse changes that shipped in 3.12 I was (perhaps wrongly) expecting some kind of adjustment to Occultist to go along with them. Since 3.7, Occultist has pretty much been relegated to the typical Cold DoT/Bane playstyle (the second of which got indirectly nerfed in 3.12), with some consideration in hardcore/ssf for the defensive benefits.

Instead, the curse rework seemingly amounted to very little gameplay or balance changes. We got a new skill out of it, bane was nerfed, and marks got more annoying to use but more effective on bosses. Occultist received no changes.

If there's any larger ascendancy changes in 3.13, I would really like to see Occultist become more cohesive, instead of the mismatched group of nodes it is right now. I don't think there's a drought of potential either. There could be interactions with doom, blasphemy, or some unique mechanic related to curse stacking beyond malediction.

submitted by /u/Weirdiolio
[link] [comments]

Primeval Sanctuary - Hideout showcase

Posted: 05 Jan 2021 06:42 AM PST