I don't get it

[Quadsword]

I've been grabbing as many damage increasing passives for my tempest monk as I can (without neglecting my defenses) and I'm stacked with lightning damage boosting gear... and yet despite all that, my damage output is falling off a cliff and I'm not even out of act 2.

I compared my build with others and the node distribution isn't that different nor are the gear mods and yet they're melting through hordes of enemies like it's nothing. I don't have any exalts or divines so I can't just go on the trading market to buy better gear (not that I have any desire to do that anyway since I don't feel like whispering 20 people and waiting ages only to get no reply).

[donut32]

act2 normal? check vendors every level or gamble for upgrades. probably just your gear is old

[hitem]

grind, gamble and craft some items (invest your currency to roll some). game has not been out for long so just a few more weeks and u will have exactly the same economy as you have now. focus on defenses and learn mechanics :) thats about it!

[Deso]

Sounds like you put a really bad combination of support gems. Check if any of them is reducing your dps

[Dregora]

Skills and associated skill gems matter A LOT. And be sure to use the proper skills. Just using one skill at that level isn't gonna help you.

[PhilipJayFry]

Whispering 20 people and waiting ages is common way to get upgrades in poe, its balanced that way. Its not a bug - its a feature.

[DirtyMick]

Tempest flurry melts trash mobs with a decent weapon. You must have a garbo weapon, that's all. You dont even need the bell, but it does make melting bosses even faster. I think a crackling quarterstaff would be what,you want at your level. Throw two storm runes in, and you're good to go. Make sure you don't have a bunch of extra fire/cold damage on your weapon if you're using lightning infusion support gem, cuz that will cut it by 50%. I like martial tempo, with lightning infusion, but there's a bunch of options, I just don't remember which ones are tier2 supports.

[DirtyMick]

Originally posted by PhilipJayFry:

Whispering 20 people and waiting ages is common way to get upgrades in poe, its balanced that way. Its not a bug - its a feature.

So weird, i usually get a response on first or second try. Are you sure yall aren't whispering people who are offline or afk? It says on the site if they are.

[12]

The hard fact is you are going to struggle as a monk on harder content until you have enough spirit to run herald of ice and herald of thunder together. Make sure you stick to a build guide and use the right skills for the right encounters. Nodes are only multiplicative of your base, so if your gear is bad the result will be bad

[Quadsword]

Originally posted by 12:

Nodes are only multiplicative of your base, so if your gear is bad the result will be bad

So basically my choices are a) ram my head against a brick wall until the game finally spits out some good gear (I never ever see crackling quarterstaves drop) or b) go the RMT route because I have nothing I can trade for. Cool.

[DaveDecay]

Originally posted by Quadsword:

Originally posted by 12:

Nodes are only multiplicative of your base, so if your gear is bad the result will be bad

So basically my choices are a) ram my head against a brick wall until the game finally spits out some good gear (I never ever see crackling quarterstaves drop) or b) go the RMT route because I have nothing I can trade for. Cool.

You are not too far off. A far as I'm concerned, the overall character power is way to dependent on gear and the gear drops are trash. So if you get unlucky you will struggle, if you get lucky you will play easy mode. The game is way too much RNG at the moment, I hope it will change!

[Quadsword]

Originally posted by DaveDecay:

Originally posted by Quadsword:

So basically my choices are a) ram my head against a brick wall until the game finally spits out some good gear (I never ever see crackling quarterstaves drop) or b) go the RMT route because I have nothing I can trade for. Cool.

You are not too far off. A far as I'm concerned, the overall character power is way to dependent on gear and the gear drops are trash. So if you get unlucky you will struggle, if you get lucky you will play easy mode. The game is way too much RNG at the moment, I hope it will change!

I heard rumors the devs may be intentionally nerfing gear drop rates in order to push more people towards RMT. I really hope that's not true.

[Dregora]

Originally posted by Quadsword:

Originally posted by DaveDecay:

You are not too far off. A far as I'm concerned, the overall character power is way to dependent on gear and the gear drops are trash. So if you get unlucky you will struggle, if you get lucky you will play easy mode. The game is way too much RNG at the moment, I hope it will change!

I heard rumors the devs may be intentionally nerfing gear drop rates in order to push more people towards RMT. I really hope that's not true.

It's not true, it's just people having a hate boner for them spreading rumors.

[Dregora]

Originally posted by Quadsword:

Originally posted by 12:

Nodes are only multiplicative of your base, so if your gear is bad the result will be bad

So basically my choices are a) ram my head against a brick wall until the game finally spits out some good gear (I never ever see crackling quarterstaves drop) or b) go the RMT route because I have nothing I can trade for. Cool.

You don't specifically need a crackling quarterstave, especially not during the early phase of the game. Go with the highest base weapon dmg quarterstaff and decent stats.

Melee weapons are incredibly reliant on it.

[DaveDecay]

Originally posted by Quadsword:

Originally posted by DaveDecay:

You are not too far off. A far as I'm concerned, the overall character power is way to dependent on gear and the gear drops are trash. So if you get unlucky you will struggle, if you get lucky you will play easy mode. The game is way too much RNG at the moment, I hope it will change!

I heard rumors the devs may be intentionally nerfing gear drop rates in order to push more people towards RMT. I really hope that's not true.

I once heard that Santa Claus is real!!!

Don't believe everything you hear. I don't mean to be rude, but that rumor sound very unlikely and unless there is substantial evidence I would disregard that completely!

[Quadsword]

Originally posted by Dregora:

Originally posted by Quadsword:

So basically my choices are a) ram my head against a brick wall until the game finally spits out some good gear (I never ever see crackling quarterstaves drop) or b) go the RMT route because I have nothing I can trade for. Cool.

You don't specifically need a crackling quarterstave, especially not during the early phase of the game. Go with the highest base weapon dmg quarterstaff and decent stats.

Melee weapons are incredibly reliant on it.

Getting one is going to be kind of difficult because the shop doesn't have any good staves and I don't have any currency I could use to trade. Well, RIP me, I guess.