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[Kaathe]

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[Nico]

....let's just say that most players consider the campaign as the boring part and the Atlas of the Worlds as the actual part of the game they want to play. Especially the boss fights in the endgame can be really challenging, with lots of mechanics. Most players just rush through the campaign, since it's just plain boring.

In the Atlas you can also decide which types of content you want to see more often and which one you don't want to see and even improve the content you like. You could say that you can customize your Atlas of the Worlds experience to your liking. But it mostly has an impact on the mechanics that are on the maps, it won't change the most basic parts of the combat. Though you will need an at least decent build to stand a chance in the Atlas.

Though I fear that the number of buttons you press is mostly decided by the build you're using, not where you are in the game.

Also, pre Atlas you probably won't even need any special stash tabs. What's the use of a maps stash tab, one of the most popular stash tabs, if you don't even have maps yet?

[Hiroko]

No, thats basically the evolution of the game combat and build-progression from about act3-6 depending on build all the way through campaign (aka the tutorial) and through end-game. There are some builds that evolve more than others, or are only possible at all after build-enabling items, but for the most part.... if you follow a build, its going to be a cookie cutter experience. If you want to evolve your build, don't follow a build - make your own.

As a D3 vet myself, this was also the case for D3. About half way through campaign you have all or nearly all of your unlocks, with a cookie cutter leveling build that works on any gear and then cookie cutter builds for whenever you get enough set pieces to make the switch. D3's combat felt a bit better during the gearing-up part, but poe late end game (if you get there) is much better, but more importantly the end game itself is night and day in favor of poe.

ps, don't buy mtx on any game until you've played it enough to know you want to keep playing long-term.

[NoLandsLie]

They need to just accept campaign is terrible and give us Atlas from the get go. Maybe POE2 might have a better campaign but right now it is just stat padding on GGG's part to continue mandating the campaign.

[Lil Bunny]

Gameplay: The part where you press the same buttons to kill stuff probably won't change, only the damage output will differ. If you're looking for a game that requires you to use multiple skills, like a combo or something, you definitely don't want PoE. Having a 1 skill focus game is actually a QoL people find in builds. Only a few people prefer multiple button skill builds as in the end game content, when you farm for stuff, you want to kill stuff as fast as possible. There are a number of builds that require 2 buttons, but going further than that would probably hurt farming. End-game "maps" only provide you with 6 tries each. So you can't fail more than 6 times and therefore, you want a build that can survive and clear the content you choose reliably. Hence, a focus on 1 or 2 skills that can clear packs of mobs in a small amount of time.

I cannot stress how important it is to clear mobs as fast as possible. If you wan't an example, you can search for "deli breach beyond farming poe" and see for yourself the number of mobs you have to kill.

[Dark Exile]

The "story" pre act 5 was used as a gauge to see if your character could even attempt endgame.

After that we got more acts and PoB so its little more than filler content for what you'll really be doing, i haven't paid attention to it in years, it would be nice if they added a skip story feature like MH did but that will likely never happen.

So does the game get better, yes x100, but you have to slog through the story first.

[Stone]

hmmm. I cant sit still on one build. I always change up every few acts.. and try new stuff.. PoE has way more versatility than Diablo..

[Angrypillow]

Originally posted by Guardian Kaathe:

Originally posted by Stone:

hmmm. I cant sit still on one build. I always change up every few acts.. and try new stuff.. PoE has way more versatility than Diablo..

It seems like I'm pretty locked into my build while in diablo 3 I could change skills in a few clicks, including passives

While you need orbs of regret to change nodes on the actual tree, the skills themselves can be changed by simply swapping out the gem you are using.

[Hiroko]

Originally posted by AngryPillow:

Originally posted by Guardian Kaathe:

It seems like I'm pretty locked into my build while in diablo 3 I could change skills in a few clicks, including passives

While you need orbs of regret to change nodes on the actual tree, the skills themselves can be changed by simply swapping out the gem you are using.

and changing the socket colors where needed
easy with most gear, pita with anything above 4-link
though for a new player still in campaign, probably A) confusing af and B) expensive for anything above 2-link

[Pickles]

The game does not start until you finish the story and get to maps. You are playing the tutorial. The atlas map system is very deep and by far the best part of the game.

[Angrypillow]

Originally posted by Pickles:

The game does not start until you finish the story and get to maps. You are playing the tutorial. The atlas map system is very deep and by far the best part of the game.

I wish POE had some sort of "adventure mode" like D3 for this very reason. Having to slog through the campaign each time you make a new character is obnoxious.

[Dusty!]

Most people slam through campaign in 4 hours to get to maps. In softcore, there is no death penalty until level 90+, so you can just keep throwing your body at bosses until they bleed to death.

There are no drop table upgrades in campaign. So the simple answer is no. You are not engaging in trade, map mechanics, bossing, building et cetera if you remain in campaign for 15 hours.

The campaign is more or less dead content that just serves to block you from mapping. The Ilvl on campaign caps out at 67 so you can't even accidentally get a god fracture drop on the gear because the good fractures all require ilvl 74 gear (tier 7) to drop less than 0.025% of the time. They buffed the northern forest to have like a 3% chance to reward tabula rasa (early game item) on fourth hit, but even farming that is waste of time because you can just buy a 6link piece of trash gear for 1c from another player.

[Ghin]

The game starts when you get to maps, sort of like the paragon system. Usually I have most of the same garbage gear on the entire time while going to level 70. After that it really opens up and you get to tinker with things.

[acirb]

Originally posted by Dusty:

Most people slam through campaign in 4 hours to get to maps. In softcore, there is no death penalty until level 90+, so you can just keep throwing your body at bosses until they bleed to death.

There are no drop table upgrades in campaign. So the simple answer is no. You are not engaging in trade, map mechanics, bossing, building et cetera if you remain in campaign for 15 hours.

The campaign is more or less dead content that just serves to block you from mapping. The Ilvl on campaign caps out at 67 so you can't even accidentally get a god fracture drop on the gear because the good fractures all require ilvl 74 gear (tier 7) to drop less than 0.025% of the time. They buffed the northern forest to have like a 3% chance to reward tabula rasa (early game item) on fourth hit, but even farming that is waste of time because you can just buy a 6link piece of trash gear for 1c from another player.

4 hours to beat a campaign could place you in the Top 10 of all players.
https://www.speedrun.com/poe?h=A10_PtsLab-3-23-Marauder&x=wkp99g82-rn14xkpn.lr3zjpml-dlo3wojl.z198eo4q

Even 6-8 hours is pretty fast.

For a new player, 20-40 hours if a good time to beat the campaign. A lot of people enjoy reading the lore and exploring places.

Yes, the game does get way better in maps, but a new player doesn't need to rush to get there. Even some long time players are just starting this league, not everyone has reached maps yet.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Guardian Kaathe:

...
I'm a veteran of Diablo 3 and it always felt like I'm progressing in that game. I also feel like with the ptr changes coming to diablo 4 making it more like 3, diablo 4 will likely become my go to ARPG.

So please tell me, if I keep playing PoE will the gameplay evolve at all? Or is this everything the game has to offer?

I also bought a bunch of stash tabs in the sale and feel like I wasted my money

PoE is the most complicated pile of game mechanics in the ARPG genre of games.

What that means in terms of "progression feedback" is that it's just not possible to predict what ever user's experience is going to be in that regard until it happens..

To get an idea of where the base game places those moments, look at the item vendor in your current town/hub for that Act. How many sockets do you commonly find in their pages? And... there ya go - That's where the game is more-or-less designed to open up that "progression feedback" you're looking for. But, some powerful/good builds barely even feel that, anymore.

The vast bulk of PoE's content comes after the main story campaign. That is where the "challenge" is, where the gear and skills are actually "important choices" and where "player skill" (usually/kinda-sorta :)) makes a big difference in how far that particular character and build can be pushed. The "Campaign" is... tiny. It's barely even a prelude to the rest of the game and what players can do.

So, in that light, being in Act 8 is like just getting ready to leave Act 1 in Diablo 3. A whole smorgasbord of content lies further ahead. All the previous League mechanics that have made it into Standard are waiting for you to push their own end-game and storylines, too...

Push through and then run some maps when you get to the Atlas content to get a "feel" for progression. Overcome your deficiencies in gear/skills/etc, then complete those Maps you had trouble with to see how the game can reward you with that feeling of progression.

The Campaign is just... no longer a good example of how the bulk of gameplay actually... "feels" anymore. It works to get players through the basics, so in that sense it's like a long "tutorial" more than even a prelude to the rest of the game.

[Dovah]

Act 1-10 is just the tutorial. normaly takes 4-8 houers to clear than the real game starts