Is Path of Exile too complicated?
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EDIT: I looked through this forum section and despite it being called "Path of Exile 1 Gameplay Help and Discussions" a lot of it seems to be people asking about Path of Exile 2. Just for clarity, my post is about Path of Exile 1.
I'm not a new player to Path of Exile. I've had the account for years and made several character though only one has ever reached maps. I tend to play in stints. It's an honest question seeking an honest answer because I genuinely need help. I'm entering the phase now where I'm close to stopping again because the game seems too complex for me. At first I think I know what I'm doing, but anytime I try to make my own character I always end up hitting a wall. The only success I've ever had is by following other people's builds, but where's the fun in that? I'm essentially just taking steps and making few independent decisions. So many things seem out of reach. I've watched YouTube videos about character building and they don't say anything I don't already know. Damage, resistance, hp, etc. Yet when I try my hand at it, I end up with a character who sucks in the late stage of the campaign and respeccing a character in POE is hell unless there's some major update. Not only that, but when I look at some of the builds that other people make, it's usually a huge WTF moment for me because they are nowhere close to what I'd make. A guy will tell you that it's a pure physical damage build but then skip the physical damage in the skill tree. Then when he explains it I'm suddenly back in math class. I understand that in games, there are tier levels among players and some players are god tier math elementals who spend days plotting and planning but it seems like that's exactly who the target audience is. This is not a complaining post, I'm not here to argue. I want to be wrong because I genuinely do love this game and I do love the complexity of the passive tree and the skill gem system, I just don't know how to go about playing and finishing this game without following someone's builds. It feels like things should be more common sense, but apparently investing in X even though it seems to make perfect sense isn't a good idea because of Y later in the game, but how is one supposed to know any of this? S.O.S. Last edited by Scoundrelus#0570 on Jan 24, 2025, 9:19:17 PM Last bumped on Jan 25, 2025, 1:18:20 PM
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Yeah i get this. Got similar experience but reach a littel bit further.
On my own i reach like T5 maps but then it starts to hit the wall. For first time i reached t16 was on SRS build i folowed but i didnt like the gameplay. So i tried RF by Pohx and it was great. For the first time i reached lvl100 and managed to go further in game that before. And after that i tried ice nova frost bolts hiero because it was "one buttor easy build" but it wasnt. Also power siphon locust mine tricster - similar but experienced same thig - at mapping it is just not that good as others say it is. Then i tried Gladiator but same story. Dunno what exackly happens but i think that despite all the mechanics the dex on player is crudial - what i mean by that is how you move and locate yourself againts mobs, watch for all aoe and degens, etc. And that part is just too much for me without a practice. Dunno really. I guess it is a little bit confusing on what and how some parts of that game works. |
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There are three tiers of difficulty, in my opinion. The game slowly moves away from player skill to gear checks as difficulty ramps up.
Campaign, which is accessible for any player and almost any fun build work. Even if you're not great at the game you can still brute-force your way through since bosses don't regen. Still harder than most other ARPGs. Maps, where you need to commit to the grind. Possibly even invest at least on a couple of stash tabs. Fun builds stop working and you need to min-max your damage/resilience. Not fun for casuals. Skill is negated by game knowledge (that often needs to come from outside the game) and grinding at this point. Although I'd say you can still compensate a sub-par build with some skill to a degree. Uber content, only for hardcore players who put a lot of time into grinding and learning the game. I don't think skill can save you here, only strong builds. |
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" You see thats the problem. Those buidls i tried before - hiero and power locust trckstr - supposed to be THOSE builds. But they arent. With RF i managed to farm many mobs i couldnt previously. I only didnt kill Shaper yet but i will try it eventually. But on other builds they just dont work as they were told they work. I hope im not overcomplicating this, eng is not my native lng. |
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" Did you have all the items, skill tree passives, etc that those builds demand? I've never followed a guide, because it takes away all the fun for me (although, if there's a next league I might, just to get to the content for once), but those builds work because not only I've seen them in Youtube videos but I've also partnered with them a couple of times. Like I went to do an Endless Conflict with some guy with a TS build and he cleared the entire arena in 3 seconds. To give you an example. I tried to make my own STR stacking Ice Crash build. Managed to get 2M damage with T1 STR in all my gear, attribute catalysts in all jewelry with +all attributes and T1-T2 STR, warlord influence for %STR, 2 cold to the core, damage per STR on gloves... All that for 2M damage. Looked up a guide to see what was I doing wrong... Well, the author used a couple of uniques that I didn't and also used mirrored rings that gave him even more STR. Anyway, with a few differences that didn't seem like a big deal to me he got 300M damage while I had 2M and we were both STR stacking Ice Crash builds. That's why uber content feels so prohibitive for the majority of the playerbase. It's meant to be exclusive. For those who commit time and grind to get there. I forgot which percentage it was but the vast majority of players don't get lvl100, don't get all the 40 achievements, etc. And a lot of those who do, often get carried by people in the minority%. In short: The game is quite versatile with content. It gives you a relatively smooth campaign to enjoy the game's universe and build variety and, even though it ends on a cliffhanger (that leads to the end-game content), you can stop playing right there. You technically beat the game. But if you enjoyed your build you can put it to the test in the Atlas and play a much harder version of the game. Focused much more on grinding and theorycrafting. And once you kill the Maven you can be done with it. But, if you want an even bigger challenge, you can try to do the seasonal challenges and thus the uber content and see if you can put your build to the limit. It's a different philosophy. Most other ARPGs have little incentive to keep playing after the campaign, although the difficulty progression is much more smooth. But, at some point, the challenge ends and there's no point to keep on playing. In PoE1 you can stop at any point but you have higher and higher challenges to put your build and game knowledge to the test. It's just my opinion though, maybe I'm just overthinking it. |
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"There are a few things you need to make your own builds: Game knowledge, technically not much required for SC. Math understanding, technically not much required. Mindset (min-maxing) and/or tools (Path of Building). "Min-maxing is critically important and can easily turn a dysfunctional build into a functioning one. Whether you pick something or not is determined by min-maxing and not anything else. "If you use PoB "wisely" you dont need deep math understanding. "Unless you do something simple with a powerful start then this (or getting lucky) is required for normal humans to make good builds. "Also my impression is that parts of the game are intentionally convoluted in design to create an "optimization" profile so that it becomes difficult to make good builds. "If you pick a strong "starting point" its much easier to make a working build. Example: If you play HC then Toxic Rain Ballista is far superior to Lightning Arrow. This is intrinsic. So if you were to pick Lightning Arrow you will likely either suffer bad DPS (cant kill anything) or bad survival (RIP all the time). "My impression is that its intentional that "common fluff-sense" is commonly usurped by the way uniques (etc) are designed. So "common fluff-sense" should rather be ignored and instead use a min-maxing mindset. No wonder it's lost, it's in the middle of the jungle!
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