How to FIX the XP Penalty

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Lonnie455Rich#2087 wrote:

I wouldn't say lvl 100 requires a huge time commitment either. If you just don't die you can get there pretty fast. Its roughly around 900k-1m kills.

try that on something else than Lightning Strike or Volcanic Fissure of the Snaking and youll see that it kinda actually takes a huge time commitment when your build doesnt auto-kill 2 screens around you

differences between builds is outlandish and what looks 'fine' from meta-player perspective turns into something barely achievable if you leave the meta boat, even if you build it properly

most players pick a skill they think theyll like and some of these choices end up being Scorching Ray or Blast Rain

you wont get to 100 fast with these builds even if dying is not a problem

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

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Out of all the skills you could've picked, you pick a fire spell and a bow skill which are the cheapest and most straight forward to build for clearspeed/coverage?

I love how it's always "the meta is so evil" followed by something like that. Especially when the meta is only a popularity contest of videos/streams to begin with rather than a representation of what's good.

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

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Lonnie455Rich#2087 wrote:

I wouldn't say lvl 100 requires a huge time commitment either. If you just don't die you can get there pretty fast. Its roughly around 900k-1m kills.

try that on something else than Lightning Strike or Volcanic Fissure of the Snaking and youll see that it kinda actually takes a huge time commitment when your build doesnt auto-kill 2 screens around you

differences between builds is outlandish and what looks 'fine' from meta-player perspective turns into something barely achievable if you leave the meta boat, even if you build it properly

most players pick a skill they think theyll like and some of these choices end up being Scorching Ray or Blast Rain

you wont get to 100 fast with these builds even if dying is not a problem

My first 100 this league was zenith jugg farming destructive play.

I farmed 1x 99 and 1x 98 on dual strike of ambi the league before in hc and ripped both of them in t17s. Could have easily hit 100 farming destructive play + jun.

It is so much easier to hit 100 in hc because you are mindful of what can kill your build instead of just stacking 5 bad mods in a map with revenants or cannibals and 6 portaling it

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Scarletsword#4354 wrote:

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

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Out of all the skills you could've picked, you pick a fire spell and a bow skill which are the cheapest and most straight forward to build for clearspeed/coverage?

I love how it's always "the meta is so evil" followed by something like that. Especially when the meta is only a popularity contest of videos/streams to begin with rather than a representation of what's good.

i did not pick a 'fire spell and a bow skill'. Ive precisely selected Scorching Ray and Blast Rain

if your idea of well made game is 'here are 20 skills, play this one, the rest sucks' - so be it.

but it isnt my idea.

tell me how exactly you want a Scorching Ray build to match EE LS Trickster in clearspeed, or in fact - anything

the meta IS evil. some 'meta builds' are overhyped turds, but most meta builds are just the strongest builds and not by few % but by an order of magnitude


claiming that getting to 100 doesnt take much time while playing a) lots of hours b) the most efficient builds actually does not make it true for the majority of cases

and yes, anyone can pick the meta build and have it easier - but again, then why even create the filler skills? Blast Rains, Sweeps, Cleaves etc - when there is a clear progression of skill power and an obvious best choice in pretty much any archetype


Dual Strike of Ambidexterity is numerically busted. Repeat the same feat with Double Strike of Impaling and tell me that it took you comparable time..

You know, Sweep actually has lots of clearing potential, nevermind the 700% damage effectiveness. Same with Cleave of Rage. If you want a clear speed build it's actually rather decent, all the more so if you slap HH on it.

There are certainly skills that aren't good for fast clear and leveling, but that honestly has nothing to do with meta or not. MSoZ is about as meta as it gets and clearspeed isn't exactly it's strong point.

Sweep has no clearing potential if you put it side by side with Lightning Strike

all the 'clearspeed tricks' (explody prolif whatever) you can do with Lightning Strike as well.
but nothing makes up for Sweep being a mid-sized player-centered circle and LS spewing projectiles across two screens

i do not mind boss killing potential, we are talking about 100 being easy to get to by casually killing 1M of mobs.

Sweep or Cleave play in completely different realm than LS. same tiering can be found with pretty much any archetype you name

it doesnt matter if you can make Cleave into a good well-rounder or a boss killer. for this particular issue: XP gain, certain skills make it FAR easier than others
it isnt universal, it doesnt apply to all archetypes and even if you pick LS - it is still A LOT of hours for a non-full-time gamer. months of real life


a sweet bonus: LS thanks to 'hit twice' has higher damage effectiveness than Sweep

You were talking about meta builds in general just one post prior, now it's only LS. That's two different statements. I mean, yeah, LS has pretty decent clear. That doesn't apply to all meta skills though.

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

tell me how exactly you want a Scorching Ray build to match EE LS Trickster in clearspeed, or in fact - anything

Ah yes, the classic “if it’s not meta, it’s trash” take.
Nobody’s saying Scorching Ray mirrors LS Trickster in every way, it’s a different playstyle, and a complete different ability but pretending it can’t match or even beat it just shows you haven’t seen it done.

CaptainLance9 literally uses Scorching Ray as a core single-target tool in his RF builds, and his setup performs just as well as your beloved LS, even from day one. So there you go as you wanted an example of scorching ray being more than just a meme.

He constantly experiments with random ideas that end up outperforming the so-called meta. I bring him up because he's a good example that “meta” is mostly hype.

The meta isn’t a measure of power, it’s a popularity contest. Plenty of builds can match or beat the meta, but that takes more than just blindly copy-pasting whatever streamer x plays. It takes actual game knowledge.
Too often, players complain something’s too hard while using a "meta" build, usually one they barely understand. Wrong gear, wrong tree, but hey, the PoB said it’s good, right?

And yeah, not every skill is supposed to be top-tier, some are for leveling or utilit, but assuming something like Blast Rain or anything currently “non-meta” can’t perform on par or outperform LS, or be any good just means you’ve never actually tried or lack game experience outside the copy-paste box.

LS isn’t the standard. It’s just what’s trending.

Try thinking outside the YouTube feed. You might find the game’s a lot deeper than you thought.

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

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There's no difference if you pick a specific skill or not. Scorching Ray uses the same scaling as ignite, causes burn and interacts with Maven boots, RF and CWC/CWS/CWDT trigger setups.

Blast Rain has the same story. It's a bow skill. It has access to Manaforged Arrows like any other build.

Is the difficulty now to run magic T16 dunes with breach+shrines?

Also, LS is not nearly as crazy for clear as you're making it out to be or are you at least talking about Sebk's Vaal LS version? I'd understand if you'd pick a skill with actual good scaling designed for clear like Kinetic Blast of Clustering or Exsanguinate but the Trickster LS version doesn't even have any of the clear stuff without sacrificing all the Trickster benefits.

You need to stop with the youtube meta nonsense.

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johnnysd#1172 wrote:

How to FIX the XP Penalty
IMO the penalty is WAY too harsh especially since so many one shot mechanics exist.

There is already a fix in the game: