Intention to Compete: Path of Exile
I hear by announcing my intentions to enter! You have till this timer here reaches zero to make your intent to compete known. You can find more information about the requirements for entering into this contest including the prizes in this post.
Background
I’ve been playing Path of Exile for a number of years now off and on ( my profile ). I’ve always enjoyed the league side of things. While I do have over 600 hours a game like this changes so often and from league to league that you are constantly needing to evolve and learn or relearn things. In reality for a game like this that is not a lot.
I have always been a casual solo player in softcore leagues. So playing in hardcore will require a massive playstyle difference then I am used to. I’ve always been push forward and even use death as a tactic. Due to this, I have some very bad habits I’ll need to break and some game mechanics that I never learned properly as I never needed to.
I’ve mainly avoided hardcore in the past due to power or internet issues popping up a couple of times a week. Due to this, I’ll give hardcore a couple of deaths but I’m mainly interested in enjoying the league.
I always try and make some time at the start of leagues as I really just love that start and racing. Since this contest is going on for a full week I feel that fits perfectly with how much time I expect to put in.
Abyss League
In Abyss league I was really hoping to find more time to play but that just never happened. I even wrote back in December about my goals for Abyss and a short review of it. I just could never find the free time to make it happen.
I leveled in softcore a Shadow Glacial Cascades Mine build to 83. This was done well over a weeks’ time as I play rather casual. It was a really fun league and I also played solo for the entirety of it. Which is how I enjoy the game.
Running maps has to be the best part for me. In fact, if you ask almost anyone who plays path of exiles its maps! I did not get to experience most of the changes made to maps this league so a lot of those mechanics will be rather new to me going forward.
Bestiary League
We are still a bit far out to see all the changes and nerfs this next league will bring. As such I am not 100% sure what I’ll be playing as. I was not even aware we were this close to the league ending till I read about this contest to play in hardcore.
In the past, I have enjoyed playing as my league starter as one of these setups:
- Pizza Sticks
- Glacial Cascades Mine
- Firestorm
I tend to play classes:
- Witch
- Shadow
- Marauder
I will be taking my time and going slow. Since this is not a race to highest dead. Instead the highest living I don’t see there a need to rush. In fact, I might play different classes depending on how things go. I’ll be taking lots of breaks and getting sleep. Those who will be forgoing those I wish you luck and don’t mess up due to being tired!
I’ve never been into live streaming so I’ll just be making some written blogs as updates about my deaths, progression, and anything else I find noteworthy.
If you have never played Path of Exile before it is free to play. They are funded by selling cosmetics, stash upgrades (bank), and things like character slots. Even with this business model, they are rather generous with how many characters you can have for free, and the amount of bank space you get. They endlessly make new amazing content that changes up the game and each league you are left asking yourself “how are they going to top this.” Yet, somehow they always create something even more amazing than the last one!
Information
Screenshots taken and content written by @enjar for my enter into Poecomp
I've never really got into POE though I've picked it up a few times. I always thought it was a dungeon crawler like Diablo and such, but sounds like I may have been missing the point of the game?
Diablo is child’s play compared to this! This league (session) is about capturing beats and at some point sacrificing them. I’ve not read much about up and coming league but it’s just even more crazy then last one! https://www.pathofexile.com/bestiary.There still 10 days to go and I’m sure a lot more information to come out.
They have been moving further and further away from Diablo style of things. While they still have acts they removed difficulties content changes enough as you are leveling up. On top of that there a little smaller things like major and minor gods.
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Some of maps i have in standard they are consumed on use.
Instead of doing rifts where you just control how hard they are here you do maps. You have to loot diffrent maps and there over hundred i want say these days. The higher the tier the harder it is the better chance at better drops. You can modify maps a bit to remove things you don't like about them. Combine lower ones to make higher tier one. It is a much more diverse system. Then there elder and shape effects which i never got into learning about that change things up even more. On top of that you can even trigger different things in them and leagues often change how maps work as well.
You still kill massive amounts of creatures looking for drops. In game currency you use to try and rolls stats, socket number, socket colors, socket links. There is not going up to vender like you do in D3 and just buying items with bloodshards or the likes.
Unlike D3 you are not lock into needing to have unique(legendary) in every slot. A good yellow item with right stats goes much further than a really bad legendary. There are no set bonus granted there are sets that are made to work well with other pieces from it.
Game knowable which I really lack goes forever and a day here. People every league create new and amazing builds to play. New gems get added, different ways of thinking how things interact or play off each other happen.
The contest itself is for hardcore only. So once you die that toon is dead and no longer in hardcore. You get to start over with whatever was left in your bank.
Hi @enjar! I wish you the best of luck (and the best of skill, since that probably has a lot more to do with it) for much success in all your gaming. I
Thanks, a lot of skill and game knowledge goes very far! This will be quite a challenge for me. Hardcore is very unforgiving if you make a mistake.
Good luck @enjar! I'm rooting for you! I don't have the time for these sorts of games, so I will play vicariously through you. Don't let me down! Keep us updated on your progress!
Thanks i'm just doing it for some fun. Some heavy hitters are starting to show up and i don't play hardcore. So dealing with permadeath will be interesting.
Great entry post, Enjar.
Its good to see you've identified some of your potential weaknesses.
To race, you need to go quick; but to stay alive, you need to know when to slow it right down.
As you mentioned, the new content somewhat dulls the edge your experience provides.
We're in for a great race; thanks for being a part of it.
I look forward to some funny rips! Nothing like some game changes and over confidence to cause some deaths within the first few moments.
They don't hurt. The deaths on days 3-7 are going to be the heart breakers.
very good post