Path of Exile upcoming league Delirium adds jewel system to expand passive tree further

[Deleted member 25888]

I've been sucked in to POE a few times over the past few years but my main issue is that actually playing a build feels kinda boring. I do like the making of builds and stuff like that for sure, though.

But in the end, the actual gameplay is me just spamming 1-2 abilities and watch things die. It's possible the gameplay changes somewhat but I've watched enough streamers to see that it doesn't seem to. Correct me if I am missing something important about lategame.

 

[MrH]

I've put about 1000 hours into the game since the beta and IMO the last thing this game needs is a bigger skill tree.

 

[Tya]

That's a lot less interesting. I guess the picture is flashy.

Click to shrink...

Eh, I'd say they are dumbing it down a bit so people aren't scared off by it. There is a substantial amount of depth on the skill tree. You and I could start out with the idea of playing the exact same class, with the exact same ascendancy (build defining archetype), with the exact same main skill and end up with drastically different skill trees and characters that function very differently.

 

[werezompire]

I've been sucked in to POE a few times over the past few years but my main issue is that actually playing a build feels kinda boring. I do like the making of builds and stuff like that for sure, though.

But in the end, the actual gameplay is me just spamming 1-2 abilities and watch things die. It's possible the gameplay changes somewhat but I've watched enough streamers to see that it doesn't seem to. Correct me if I am missing something important about lategame.

Click to shrink...

That's pretty much these kinds of games in general, but I have found that some builds are a lot more fun to me than others. Like this league, I had a lot of fun with a dual wielding viper strike build - I'd use an ability to turn invisible (elusive - raises dodge, spell dodge, and move speed), run into the middle of an enemy pack, start hitting them with my poison attacks (which generates a poison minion), and then when I built up enough poison (sometimes only takes a hit or two in the endgame), I'd activate a poison chaos aura and then active the invisible ability again and run through mobs of enemies and watch them die. Another build I had fun with this league was a Whispering Ice build (it's a unique, but it's easy to get even in SSF) where you hold a button and then a storm of ice rains over half the screen (thanks to using the Spell Cascade support) for several seconds. It's unusual compared to most abilities because it scales directly with your Intelligence so you build your passive tree & equipment choices very differently than you would normally.

Conversely, I've had builds that worked great on paper, but just weren't very fun to actually play so I scrapped them.

I will say that in general, the game gets more interesting the further you are.

 

[TheIlliterati]

I played this years ago, but I never got why people complain about the complexity. Just choose a direction and go. If you're playing a certain archetype, you're not going to be bothered with 90% of the board, just what concerns your actual character. I'm sure it can be minmaxed to death but most causal people like me won't even play it that long. I should go back sometime since its changed a great deal.

 

[Deleted member 25888]

That's pretty much these kinds of games in general, but I have found that some builds are a lot more fun to me than others. Like this league, I had a lot of fun with a dual wielding viper strike build - I'd use an ability to turn invisible (elusive - raises dodge, spell dodge, and move speed), run into the middle of an enemy pack, start hitting them with my poison attacks (which generates a poison minion), and then when I built up enough poison (sometimes only takes a hit or two in the endgame), I'd activate a poison chaos aura and then active the invisible ability again and run through mobs of enemies and watch them die. Another build I had fun with this league was a Whispering Ice build (it's a unique, but it's easy to get even in SSF) where you hold a button and then a storm of ice rains over half the screen (thanks to using the Spell Cascade support) for several seconds. It's unusual compared to most abilities because it scales directly with your Intelligence so you build your passive tree & equipment choices very differently than you would normally.

Conversely, I've had builds that worked great on paper, but just weren't very fun to actually play so I scrapped them.

I will say that in general, the game gets more interesting the further you are.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Emmz]

That's a lot less interesting. I guess the picture is flashy.

Click to shrink...

What if I told you that the strongest build in the game for the last 3 months involved pathing to as many strength nodes as you possibly could?

 

[Chromie]

What if I told you that the strongest build in the game for the last 3 months involved pathing to as many strength nodes as you possibly could?

Click to shrink...

🤷‍♀️

Doesn't matter to me much. I've tried PoE several times and have always dropped it.

 

[Jolkien]

Yet another league that looks quite excellent that puts other aRPG to shame. I honestly have no idea how GGG manage to make such meaty content drop 4 times per years. I'd figure they'd slow down eventually but they keep getting more and more refined.

 

[Emmz]

🤷‍♀️

Doesn't matter to me much. I've tried PoE several times and have always dropped it.

Click to shrink...

Your original question was "how many of them are just +5 strength or something boring?" The point was to illustrate one of the game's greatest strengths: that you can't just look at that tree and say that it's full of boring filler nodes. Even the "filler" nodes have significant hidden depth to them. There's a reason people are still playing PoE 7 years after its release and nobody will remember what Wolcen is in 2 months.

Depth. All of those complex systems that look intractably complex or boring at first glance coming together to allow the engaged player to build a strength-stacking CI Baron Geofri's Sanctuary Zombiemancer delver.

I played like 15 hours recently (got to act 5 lvl 45 or something) and those are my exact same feelings.

Leveling feels like it takes ages for a game youre supposed to reset every 3 months (I actually stopped because I was sorta-kinda liking it but not loving it so if im going to jump on the new season I might aswell stop now because replaying these first 4 acts is already filling me with dread, let alone replaying 10 acts) and I HATE that you can only respec point by point and that its a limited resource to even do it.

Also, and not to rag on anyone, but my limited exposure to PoE fans (I mean hardcore fans) is that they are very pushy and very "no no you see its GOOD that it doesnt have those quality of life things modern games have" about it. I guess you could say that about any hardcore fanbase I guess but it just makes me not want to get into it more tbh.

Click to shrink...

People have leveled fresh characters from 1 to 100 in under 15 hours. This is a game where if you go on its subreddit, a substantial contingent of players is begging GGG to double or triple the leveling time.

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

 

[Tya]

What if I told you that the strongest build in the game for the last 3 months involved pathing to as many strength nodes as you possibly could?

Click to shrink...

A person who has barely played the game or looked at the skill tree would have no idea what that even means.

"OMG. Stack strength. What an amazing concept!"

I think a lot of PoE vets lose track of what new players see when looking at the game.

 

[Uthred]

This is one of the worst takes i've heard on playing PoE. The single best thing PoE has over other ARPG's is the currency system.

Click to shrink...

I'd very strongly disagree that its the single best thing about the game. It's needlessly obtuse and the fact that the most popular mods/overlays/macro for the game are all about adding some usable QOL to the trading system should be evidence enough that its far from the best thing about the game. Having to use third party tools and sites doesnt add anything to the experience other than wasted time.

 

[Telaso]

I'd very strongly disagree that its the single best thing about the game. It's needlessly obtuse and the fact that the most popular mods/overlays/macro for the game are all about adding some usable QOL to the trading system should be evidence enough that its far from the best thing about the game. Having to use third party tools and sites doesnt add anything to the experience other than wasted time.

Click to shrink...

Seems to me you took my post about the items being strictly for trading purposes only. The fact that there is no "gold" in this game is what makes it great. If you are into trading you need to learn if its worth doing the trade or using the item. I'm the type of person who likes to craft my own end game gear too. The fact others are willing to trade currencies so I can craft items even more is what makes it great.

I am getting the vibe that i'm one of the few people on this site that actually spend most of my time doing the absolute end game of PoE....

 

[Dokkaebi G0SU]

I just started Poe because I wanted an arpg due to the hype around wolcen. Played wolcen for a little and didn't like it. Looked up other Arpgs that weren't d3 and came across Poe. Now I am trying 3 Different builds in metamorph league as a brand new player. It's really exciting and the depth is insane. Also, the game really helps you understand what each thing does. So it's not that bad and the skill tree seems like you choose a connected path, so it's not like at lvl 90 I can just choose any random passive skill I want to make things complicated.

gonna try and learn how to use the path builder, but right now I am just trying to learn how to optimize gems, find better loot and see how part 2 unfolds.
Game is soooooo much better than d3. I'm mad at myself I never played this earlier.

 

[Jakisthe]

Is the talent tree just deeply unimpressive stat boosts or are they more mechanically interesting?

 

[A Strong Latte]

This is the only game where people figure out the best thing to do is to "just get stats" on a tree with hundreds of options, ie the "pathing to strength nodes" and everyone scratches their chin going ahh yess what a brilliant design instead of wondering why the stupid thing is bloated with crap worse than plus 5 str.

When everyone realised stats was the best option in DOTA 2 valve took the stat boost choice out of the game. Because they realised picking stats was no longer a choice but an obligation.

 

[LCGeek]

Yet another league that looks quite excellent that puts other aRPG to shame. I honestly have no idea how GGG manage to make such meaty content drop 4 times per years. I'd figure they'd slow down eventually but they keep getting more and more refined.

Click to shrink...

Chris Wilson and other have GGG have gone in to why they have modular approach to improving the game. They even came up with the league system based on play data. They give a fuck about deadlines and keep the game refreshing.

If you told the younger me I'd be playing arpgs that have tower defense mechanics with a decent bossing system would've straight laughed to death and made a money bet.

Seems to me you took my post about the items being strictly for trading purposes only. The fact that there is no "gold" in this game is what makes it great. If you are into trading you need to learn if its worth doing the trade or using the item. I'm the type of person who likes to craft my own end game gear too. The fact others are willing to trade currencies so I can craft items even more is what makes it great.

I am getting the vibe that i'm one of the few people on this site that actually spend most of my time doing the absolute end game of PoE....

Click to shrink...

I craft a lot myself so do not worry we exist. My main clan mate got me in to poe and it was great sharing this league with so some wow classic converts we made before they got hyped up for the bwl expansion.

Vaal orbs and catalysts are like crack to me right now.

Is the talent tree just deeply unimpressive stat boosts or are they more mechanically interesting?

Click to shrink...

I find big nodes are huge as they aren't always stat boosters. I'm a totem whore and some have odd effects like one of mine means I can never critical strike and enemy but they can never evade me either. Another passive can block my crit multiplier while increasing my element damage a ton, iirc. That's the problem with that critiques it's not merely stats.

Then comes even more useful passives you get from doing your trials of ascendancy. You can look them up in some fashion or another. With Poe2 and this new league it will become even more insane in the options we get.

 

[Dark_Castle]

As a big PoE fan, I'm not gonna lie, at this point, I would prefer a league just focusing on quality of life changes and revamps, changes to existing to items and mechanics and make them better, focusing on making the gameplay experience better, than adding new shit into it. Talking about performance issues, stash tab improvements, trade, lab and enchants, myriads of crappy uniques and skills that could use love, and ascendancies changes, which seem to be none in 3.10. The passive tree is already massive, I'm not that excited for so many more notables compared to if there are just a few more keystones instead.

Granted, GGG is doing some of these and they want to add new things to advertise their games but personally for what I want as a long time PoE player, there's a bit of a mismatch. It speaks a lot when the most happy part I read about the new 3.10 update page is the parts about atlas improvement instead of the league mechanics or new items. In short, GGG is doing a lot of vertical improvements of the game, focusing on adding, adding and adding. For me, I want them to do more horizontal improvements, adding, deducting, changing. There are so many mechanics in the game that does not need to be in the game anymore, like tormented spirits for example, and those can go. Content bloat is an issue that needs to be avoided.

Sometimes, less is more. More options is also not always a good thing, choice paralysis is a real thing.

 

[Anoxida]

There's a reason people are still playing PoE 7 years after its release and nobody will remember what Wolcen is in 2 months.

Click to shrink...

While I agree that there's definitely a reason why PoE is still going so strong 7 years in I dont think Wolcen is going anywhere. Sales have been stellar and if they keep improving the game and fix all the bugs it'll be successful for a long time. There's a huge market for an ARPG that isnt as complex and daunting as PoE. Not sure why so many PoE players feel the need to put Wolcen down every chance they get.

 

[fulltimepanda]

Is the talent tree just deeply unimpressive stat boosts or are they more mechanically interesting?

Click to shrink...

Quite mechanically interesting. Take a look at the wiki page for the keystone passives - https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Keystone. Most builds have a few of these in mind and are designed to path out to them, picking up significant boosts on the way.

You add ascendancies, timeless legion jewels, annointments and the jewels from this league which extends the tree ontop.

 

[Stixitnu]

Sonofabitch. I'm in.

 

[Shadow]

I'm always scared of tree skills like this. I always mess them up. I don't really like following guides or anything because I want to be unique, not a set path that everyone else is doing. Now they're even adding more. I guess it's fun for people who want a skill simulator.

I love hack n slash, but it's too much for me, and which is why I haven't played it yet. If they added unlimited free respec then maybe I'd jump in as I know screwing up the build wouldn't matter in the end. I guess I should just stick to Diablo, Grimdawn and Torchlight series for hack n slash.

 

[Dark_Castle]

You are not realistically looking at this at all. A NEW player to PoE is not going to have this mindset in the slightest. They are going to spend all their points when they get them and try to make their character more powerfu as they go along. Some of them will even need to spend points as they go as well because they won't have a very good character because, as he said, it is actually pretty easy to fuck up. Lots of skill gems drop and even more gear, so yes it is entirely possible to experiment with stuff before you complete the story.

Click to shrink...

Nah, since 3.7 Legion, the current passive tree is filled brimmed with strong nodes. You have to deliberately go out of your to make a build with passive tree that sucks donkey dick, and if you know how to read and apply common sense (like if you're playing an attack build, you don't go all the way to witch's area and take spell damage nodes unless you really know what you're doing). it's noob proof as long as you don't be idiot. And orb of regrets is becoming cheaper and cheaper. And finally passive tree is only one part of your build. Ascendancy and gear also play major role to builds.

 

[Terra Torment]

What do you folks think of the story? I find it hard to follow. I get that we're supposed to be exiled from an evil empire but I'm confused about most of the other details.

 

[Jakisthe]

Quite mechanically interesting. Take a look at the wiki page for the keystone passives - https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Keystone. Most builds have a few of these in mind and are designed to path out to them, picking up significant boosts on the way.

You add ascendancies, timeless legion jewels, annointments and the jewels from this league which extends the tree ontop.

Click to shrink...

Huh - no kidding. That's considerably more fun than I had remembered when I first inspected that colossal tree.

 

[diablogg]

What do you folks think of the story? I find it hard to follow. I get that we're supposed to be exiled from an evil empire but I'm confused about most of the other details.

Click to shrink...

I find the "plot" of the story to be pretty hard to make out in the early goings and relatively uninteresting until later on (it gets interesting to me during the "YOU are being selfish!" boss act.) What I do enjoy is the characters and their arcs. Zanas arc is great (when it was easier to do Shaper/Elder -_-), Nikos hello and goodbye messages are actually pretty messed up, Einhar is a goof. I also like some of the lore in the game, the Labyrinth lore and what it unlocked was really great imo.

 

[Kentsui]

The not being able to respec concerns are way overblown IMO.

Sure fully respecing a character to do something on the opposite end (warrior to caster) might be tricky, but there are enough options in the same realm that therie is always quite a bit of diversity at your disposal without starting fresh.
Last league I started with a Life/Lightning wielding character and only into maps did I switch to a Energy Shield/Ice character all that with a few fuck-ups on my part doing the transition, and I had more than enough at my disposal to do so.

The game throws at you quite a bit of respec points during the campain, you'll find some currency to do so on the way and if you're really stuck, vendors will exchange them for other currencies, and if it's cheaper you can always trade with other players.

As for the new gems that alter the skill tree they fit in the realm of min/maxing or creating unique characters from scratch with a specific idea in mind, if that's not for you, or too complicated, with the current state of the game, you'll be more than fine with the standard tree for your build to do everything in the game.

 

[Pyros Eien]

What do you folks think of the story? I find it hard to follow. I get that we're supposed to be exiled from an evil empire but I'm confused about most of the other details.

Click to shrink...

The main story is pretty simple to follow, you've been exiled and you're looking to go back and kick some ass, but the events surrounding it which puts it in perspective in the world are definitely not very well presented and generally require you chat with random people a bunch to get it.

I personally like the subdued story style though, it's a bit like Dark Souls where your immediate goals are easy enough to understand but if you want to grasp the entire thing you need to invest some time into it and make some connections. Most areas in the game have one or several interactive item that tells a story about the world(quite often from a long time in the past, but it remains relevant due to the game having you fight a number of things that aren't really natural).

This fits well with the gameplay too, where instead of constantly being stopped for cutscenes like Diablo3 or other games do it, you just can keep playing and keep killing stuff if you don't care. There's a few "cutscenes" where you have to wait for a boss to finish his speech before you can fight, but it's not nearly as bad as the constant stops you'd get from D3 story mode(luckily you can just do adventure mode after that).

Mind you the story isn't particularly good or anything. It's fairly standard fare, just with different esthetic choices.

 

[Yuntu]

That's correct. Leagues generally last about 3 months, have a new league gimmick (in this one - it's the delirium mists & these special jewels that let you create new passive tree branches), and everyone starts off fresh (no using old characters or old gear). After leagues end, all your league characters and items are transferred to standard mode where you can play them for as long as you like.

As someone who has played Path of Exile for a while, it takes me about 20 hours to reach endgame (complete all 10 story acts and level up to say LV70-75) in a brand new SSF (solo-self found so no buying good stuff from other players) league if I'm taking my time (doing the league content, doing all the important sidequests, plotting out my character as I go). People who know how to speedrun it can do it in under 5 hours if they focus on just getting to endgame ASAP. If you're brand new to the game, but a competent Action/RPG player, you should be able to do it in under 30 hours, especially if you're in a trade league where you can "cheat" and trade for good leveling gear. It's certainly doable to do this once every 3 months, but if you just want to play one character for a long time, you can just stick to standard mode.

Click to shrink...

Correct, you cannot bring old chars into a new ladder season. The whole point of ladders are economy wipes because within 1-2 months even casual players can be doing any endgame stuff and almost items become worthless unless you find a godly rare, you 6-link something or you find certain meta uniques. Also the ladders sort of work as a beta test for content, if it ends up being good it gets added to the "core" game and "standard" chars can use it.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. That means I wont bother with leagues then, I generally dislike starting a new character in such games so I will just play through the story then.

Not really that much of a fan of "endgame" anyways. Still prefer finite content unless its like a proper MMO (as in WoW, FF14 etc.).

 

[Deleted member 8852]

Cool, looking forward to jumping in again. The Atlas changes sound promising as well.

 

[Deleted member 28474]

The skill tree isn't as overwhelming as it initially seems. If you are playing a pretty straightforward build it is pretty clear from where you start what you should be focusing on. The thing that makes it interesting is as you get better you can be creative and 'travel' to different areas of the tree creating really unique builds.

You don't need to play a weird build. Just start with simple stuff and pay attention to the passives you are taking. Over time you might play a different build and know that there is a notable or keystone passive that would totally change what you are working on, then you can build toward it and see how it goes. Or just use Path of Building beforehand. It becomes "smaller" the more you get into it, knowing what you want to do.

Personally I greatly prefer this way of playing. You can end up doing some pretty wild, synergistic shit.

 

[Serious Sam]

ah yes, the good ol skill tree.

Click to shrink...

The thing that completely put me off from playing PoE. More is not always better.

 

[KKRT]

Damn the Hollow Palm jewel sounds so good. I'll definitely will be doing a Gladiator or Elementalist with it.

 

[IMBCIT]

Been slacking in leagues since they announced PoE2 but this league looks like a lot of fun.

Any ETA on a dev manifesto? Wondering what they are going to nerf/buff this league. Need to start thinking of stsrter builds.

 

[Darkstorne]

They have addressed this in PoE2 exile con videos. Look them up. You can see PoE2 and those improvements in play and they are probably going to be even better by the time it comes out.

Click to shrink...

Just watched some videos of it, and you're absolutely right! Thank you! This is amazing to see =D

 

[danowat]

The tree is nowhere near as intimidating as it seems on first look.

That said, Path of building is pretty much mandatory to use if you are in anyway intending to do anything other than use build guides, and having to rely on an external application is a bit of a ball ache for a lot of people.

 

[Brick]

I like Path of Exile. I'll usually log 50 or so hours each league, which isn't a ton, but enough to have a good time.

For me (again, FOR ME), it's getting way too complex. There's way too many systems. With the decision to constantly fold more and more league mechanics into the game, everything feels so bloated. Expanding the passive skill tree with more and more gems seems like a headache that I don't know if I want to deal with. l know people more hardcore than me will love the added complexity, but for me, this sounds like a good time to take a break, maybe until PoE2.

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

At this point I'm expecting loot to begin dropping smaller skill trees that slot into the skill trees.