Path of Exile

[arus2001]

I played a little bit the other day. Character was only in the mid-30s, but god, shit felt slow. Bad enough I went like 3-4 levels and didn't find a single gear upgrade, nevermind how cumbersome the inventory system is practically forcing town trips every 5 minutes.

[Karbuncle]

I played a little bit the other day. Character was only in the mid-30s, but god, shit felt slow. Bad enough I went like 3-4 levels and didn't find a single gear upgrade, nevermind how cumbersome the inventory system is practically forcing town trips every 5 minutes.

I had the same issue, apparently you're doing it wrong and the game is more a trading simulator where you just get weapon/armor upgrades from Combination trading your junk to the NPC's for upgraded/rng items. theres a huge list on the Wiki to help get you started, someone posted it for me a while back but I can't find it.

I'm paraphrasing but theres you can trade something like an Old shitty dagger + some of those materials you keep getting for another random dagger of equal (or greater) value. It make finding direct upgrades a bit simpler early in the game... idk how much that fits into endgame, I didn't quite make it that long.

[Tricen]

You generally don't worry a whole lot about gear til around the 60s. You can trade fairly easily for lvling legendaries, or whatever they are called. They can carry you pretty far. Usually a spectral throw build or a cyclone build is the go to for starting out.

[arus2001]

I had the same issue, apparently you're doing it wrong and the game is more a trading simulator where you just get weapon/armor upgrades from Combination trading your junk to the NPC's for upgraded/rng items. theres a huge list on the Wiki to help get you started, someone posted it for me a while back but I can't find it.

I'm paraphrasing but theres you can trade something like an Old shitty dagger + some of those materials you keep getting for another random dagger of equal (or greater) value. It make finding direct upgrades a bit simpler early in the game... idk how much that fits into endgame, I didn't quite make it that long.

I found something about vendoring a full item level set to get chaos/regal orbs. Dunno if that's what you meant or not. Unfortunately, don't think that can apply to the level I'm at for the moment.

[Viq]

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vendor_recipe_system

That has all the known vendor recipes. While the Chaos recipe is one of the most important in the game, it's not needed early. The ones you want to know are:

Skill gem + Iron Ring = Resistance ring of element matching the skill gem.
Need resistances early on? Don't have to wait for gear to drop. Make your own ice resist rings going into Merveil. Make your own lightning res rings going into Veritas, etc.

White boots + Quicksilver Flask + Orb of Augmentation = 10% movespeed boots
Again, if you aren't having luck getting movespeed boots to drop or show up on the vendor, just make 'em.

3 flasks of same tier = 1 flask of the next tier
Situationally useful depending on your luck, but since the compressed flask levels a few patches back this one can come in handy.

Blue wand/scepter + Orb of Alteration + Resistance ring = Wand/scepter with +1 level to gems of the color matching the ring used
When playing a caster, this is an absolute must. Do it as early as possible, and don't worry about a weapon again until 60+

Any weapon + magic or rare Rustic Sash + Blacksmith's Whetstone = blue weapon with 40-69% increased physical damage
Easy and very cheap way to make sure you always have a level-appropriate weapon as a melee or bow character


Anyway, if the game feels slow then you are probably playing slowly. That's totally fine, especially if you are just starting out. Some tips to move a little faster:
- Don't stop to kill everything. Only kill packs of 3+ mobs, and keep moving. The exp from most areas isn't that good anyway, so you can always make it up later in more efficient zones (Ledge, Docks, Dried Lake, etc).
- Movespeed boots. Check the vendor when you go to town. ID any blue or yellow boots you find. If you still don't have luck, use the vendor recipe to make some. These make a huge difference.
- Use your movement skill early and often. Leap Slam, Whirling Daggers, and Flame Dash are spectacular for getting around quickly. If you are having mana issues, stick a Blood Magic gem on your movement skill, and don't level up the gem to keep the cost down. You don't need the damage from it, just the mobility.
- Constantly be popping Quicksilver Flask. When leveling up, I almost always run at least two QS flasks. Alternatively, you can try to roll movespeed on your health flasks too, but that can be a costly venture.
- At level 4, start using a gem that passively augments your damage, even if it's not going to be a staple of your build. Flame Totem and Fire Trap, especially linked to Added Lightning or Added Cold, will carry you on their own. If you are using your main skill of choice along with it, you'll be burning through zones without having to stop at all.

If I think of anything else, I'll try to edit it in here.

[arus2001]

The gearing process being overly complicated made Act 4 harder than it probably should've been. There is a unique mob in Belly of the Beast 1 that pretty much 2-shot me with rapid fire projectiles. Some other bosses weren't too far off, where being a ranger, I was doing a hell of a lot of stutter stepping to just try and survive and do SOME damage. Either way, the inability to really take a hit, in part because I'm wearing shit from 10-20 levels ago, sucked.

[Tricen]

Man fine I'll start playing again Any chance anyone has a storm cloud bow I could borrow for lvling?

[Viq]

The gearing process being overly complicated made Act 4 harder than it probably should've been. There is a unique mob in Belly of the Beast 1 that pretty much 2-shot me with rapid fire projectiles. Some other bosses weren't too far off, where being a ranger, I was doing a hell of a lot of stutter stepping to just try and survive and do SOME damage. Either way, the inability to really take a hit, in part because I'm wearing shit from 10-20 levels ago, sucked.

What difficulty was this? If you are taking that much damage on normal or cruel, it is likely your passives and resists that are lacking. Are your resists capped? How much life% do you have on the passive tree? Assuming you are going evasion as a Ranger, do you have Acrobatics yet?

[arus2001]

Been working up on this build, but was only in Normal. I'm around 43. Far as the tree goes, I'm almost done with this phase of the build. Like 5 points to go. Peeking at my resists in Cruel, I'm 25/12/1/-20. Guessing that one belly mob was using chaos attacks, but who knows. Current life is 1209 and I do have Acrobatics.

[Viq]

There was your problem on Bone Queen. She does almost exclusively lightning damage, and you have no lightning res. Whatever you have on your rings is probably garbage compared to what you should be able to make just tossing some alterations on a handful of rings with decent base resistance. Capped resistances (fire/ice/lightning) are absolutely the top defensive priority of every character. Chaos res is more complicated to handle, but it's not worth worrying about until maps at the earliest.

[Wulfgang]

I took two characters to 82+ in Warbands during my first foray into the game and a few others into the 50-80 range. Reaver Ranger was one of my favorites; RIDICULOUS mobility with Whirling Blades spam which lets you keep Vaal Reave up forever (and Vaal Reave hits damn near everything on the screen). It's just tough to play PoE solo for long periods of time, particularly once you hit the mapping grind (even with the increased higher map drop rates).

[arus2001]

Nearing the end of A4 in Cruel. Not looking forward to those fights since my resists are still spotty.

Also, is there something I can do with the excess skill gems I have/will never use? Almost have a tab full of them and individually they only vendor an ID scroll scrap.

[Zeb]

Most are worthless unless they have quality. Sell the ones with quality. High% to people and low % use the vendor recipe to get gemcutter prisms.

There are 3 that are drop only and worth a bit more, Enlighten, Empower and um, the other one.

[Dakk-Siren]

No shame in body throwing daresso koam and mali. Act 4s power creep is insane compared to the other three. Once you get past it life is easier. You can easily farm merc ledge in act 1 til 60+.

[Day]

Patch broke my Contagion/ED character ;;

[Wulfgang]

Most are worthless unless they have quality. Sell the ones with quality. High% to people and low % use the vendor recipe to get gemcutter prisms.

There are 3 that are drop only and worth a bit more, Enlighten, Empower and um, the other one.

Portal?

[Indalecia]

The gearing process being overly complicated made Act 4 harder than it probably should've been. There is a unique mob in Belly of the Beast 1 that pretty much 2-shot me with rapid fire projectiles.

I see someone found the Bone Queen.

I'm playing an Army Necromancer (I know, I know, contain your shock) I did...11-56 I think, on the same gear set. Played Firestorm ele until mid-50's and switching to Necromaner. Because of my work shift, I tried to get 90 before I started shift again, but hey, got 85. Already planning my next build.

Hit me up if you need anything specific.

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/...ang/characters

Currently overcapped on all resists, sitting at ~42% chaos resist. Build is finished, just working my way to jewel slots at this point to fill in more minion life/damage stuffs.

Next build is going to be a Oro-Flicker Elementalist. Cue the epilepsy.

Portal?

Empower, Enhance, Enlighten

[arus2001]

Haven't played in a few days, but I guess if I "need" anything, it'd be gear with the right sockets and such to better align with the build I earlier linked. Plus a couple of the rarer gems, I suppose. Think I chipped away to 63 in Edge since I got to Merciless. Not liking the post-60 EXP loss, though. Of said Edge runs, usually went untouched or barely damaged, but one time some pack just up and obliterated me (wasn't a post-death thing like fire explosion or that clanky DoT). Think I'll try to poke my head in later tonight.

Vensmuth is my ranger, and your profile there was set private.

[Indalecia]

I had no idea that it was set to private, thanks for letting me know. Should be visible now.

XP wise, I like grabbing people and spamming dried lake to mid-70's for mooolah and xp. Then building up map supply. The goal is having a crapload of Alchs/Alts/chance orbs by endgame to use on crafting maps/boxes. Chaos will come naturally once in lake/maps from chaos recipe. Vaal gems are really nice too.

Another thing to do is saving all %quality flasks and gems that drop. Trading a total of 40% gives a glassblower bauble and gemcutter's prism, respectively.

[arus2001]

Okay, so, just started into A2 and I had a pack of mobs literally drop like 15 rare boots. Is that somehow common? D: