Boeroer

There's a bug. One Handed Weapons all have only 1 sec recovery while they should have 3. That gives you the impression that two handers suck because their recovery is correctly implemented but very long compared to the actual recovery of all one handers. Only a few very light one handers shoud have this short recovery, but it was applied to all one handers accidentially. There will be a patch for the beta soon which will solve this issue. https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/931663699093307392 Whooha! There where multiple ninjas!

Paladin (I used a Bleak Walker) with FoD + monk's Lighting Strikes is good. Shapeshifter with Wildstrike Shock + Lightning Strikes is good as well. Skald + Devoted or rogue or berserker (= more melee crits) is good. Transmuter/Barbarian or Transmuter/Monk (aka Ogre/barb or Ogre monk) is fun as well. Ogre's stat boosts stack with Frenzy's stat boosts! Same with Helwalker's MIG boost + Ogre's Might bonus. Tons of MIG and CON. You just have to make sure your penetration is high enough or enemies' DR has to be lowered. Because the Ogre has fixed clubs and can't switch weapons. Maybe Transmuter/Priest could also be nice if the Ogre can use the priest spells to summon the divine weapon. There's a lot more to try.

I agree with Gromnir's post in all except the point about universal talents. Hold shift in the combat log is indeed a very good thing! The bug with the 1-handed weapons recovery explains why casters and two handed guys felt so underpowered while my dual wielders attacked with nearly zero recovery in breastplate. I was already thinking "what the heck do I need Swift Strikes for?".

That's really neat. Thanks!

"Arkemyr's Smooth Scaling" obviously!

Yes, crit combined with 130% multiplicative damage (when penetr. is a lot higher than armor) is really devastating now. Another reason why the Devoted is very strong compared to some other melee classes atm (gets +penetr. and +crits).

It's very nice to reduce enemies' health by 50% if they walked into two traps. There are few active abilities that can take away 25% of health. I also noticed that sometimes two enemies get hit by the same trap. "Double trap" basically. And it's obviously worse for the enemy - because they can't detect and disarm traps (at least I didn't meet any that could) while I can simply disarm and use them afterwards.

I have to say the new trap implementation so far is really nice. They are dangerous and you can lure enemies into traps that are not your own. And they're really helpful to win fights now (which seem to be harder now). Causing an injury on a tough foe is very satisfying and helpful. Thumbs up! I also like that most of them are visible now. Makes you really watch out in dungeons which makes my nerves tickle. Also thumbs up for the new grimoires. Now please make Deep Pockets accessible for single class wizards.

If you know what you are looking for you can see every physical trap. By the way my MC with 16 PER and 0 mechanics finds more traps than the mercenary rogue with 14 PER and 7 mechanics. Traps are very nasty now - also for the enemy!

I swapped the initial wizard with a Bleak Walker/Shattered Pillar and now the game is a lot easier. Offensive casting needs some tweaks. Casting times are too long when compared to the high melee attack speed and misses occur too often. Remember we start with lvl 6 characters, not lvl 1. Casting for 6 secs (wit the high risk of getting interrupted) and then missing all enemies is really bad. In 6 secs I sometimes kill 3 enemies with FoD + Lightning Strikes... Also Zealous Endurance as passive buff combined with thick armor feels very powerful. The numbers of the penetration system have to get tweaked. 30% is too low it seems. The powergamer in me combined high DR with DR buffs with a lot of healing and guess what happens.

It also didn't work in PoE1 by design. In that case Novice's Suffering. I wanted to try out Lightning Strikes + Wildstrike Shock but couldn't... yet. Maybe Fury + Lightning Strikes is fun. Did anybody check if you can summon the Long Pain while shifted?

Chanter is a great class in PoE, from beginning to end, if you know how to play him (and adapt your playstyle to his slower pace). But Chanter in the beta starts with phrases - which lets you open combat with an invocation. I start every combat with either Killers or Hel Hyraf (lowering armor is so beneficial right now). And I feel my Skald/Berserker constantly gets new phrases because of crits (berserkers have some stuff that lets them crit quite often). I yet have to find out if Carnage-crits really work with this, too. Because Carnage got changed and now doesn't use weapon damage anymore but raw damage. Maybe those crits don't produce phrases... Beckoner with Skeletons and the ability to break down a skeleton into two lesser skeletons can really fill the map. Too bad there's no Spark the Souls of the Righteous in the beta. And no Heart of Fury (friendly-fire berserker could really skyrocket his HoF attacks with the help of skeletons).

Try a cipher or rogue with Firebrand.

Good to know all my whining is heard.

Right. Comes last after all other rolls (at least in the combat log).

And still single classes are boring to level because there are not enough abilites in each tier to choose from (because talents got removed and now it's only a few abilites). Honestly: where is the fun to always pick 2 out of 3 abilites in one tier? Now, instead of inventing a lot of new abilites to remove that problem I'd say make more abilites universal (preferably those that were universal talents before - seriously Deep Pockets only for rogues?) so that the pool for every class is bigger - without inventing anything new.

I certainly don't.

Yes, now grazing has become another tactical element you can add (and which is important). I'm still not sure but I think I like that despite my initial feeling about it. Those early gauntlets are golden! Hope they also put them into the early finished game. About PoE's grazing being too powerful with CC effects: right. If you grazed with a paralyze or petrifiy it's still a very powerful debuff - only shorter. I once suggested that afflictions should come in stages so that a graze would not only shorten the duration but would also apply a weaker form of affliction. Let's say Sickened is the weaker form of Weakened for example.

The thing is that monks with Torment's Reach are much better when dual wielding (because the Cone damage is not based on your weapon damage and you get twice the AoE damage from the Full Attack then). But in general Firebrand is a great tool for monks (and other classes) until you get durgan steel.

Yes, casting times are generally too long. I understand why they expanded casting times - but you have to boost the effect then else it's not worth to cast a spell. I also like the new grimoire "system". Way more exiting to find grimoires now.

Yes, it is different: read my post above. Single classes will suck unless you invent a whole lot of additional specific abilites (which is hard to do and not necessary). It would be so easy to add a few general abilities which everybody can take and it would cost so little. It doesn't mess up your multiclasses. Multiclassing can be used to mix really specific abilites that are core to the classes that you mix. But why on earth should you multicalss just for getting Two Handed Style and nothing else for example? It's easy to learn how to swing with both hands - nothing that cries out "look, i have to be tied to the fighter because this is fighter business".

And this is the source of most problems in gaming nowadays: taking the player by the hand as if he's a five-year old - preventing that he makes his own experiences. I don't mean that things don't have to be explained. THey should be. PoE did a poor job explaining how things worked. But game designers turning into helicopter parents when it comes to level-ups can't be the solution. You prevent gimpy builds but at the same time you prevent choice, creativity and thinking out-of-th-box. And in the long run you also prevent fun and gimp replay value (like a lot). Where's the problem when a caster has to give up a spell in order to use a shield better? It's like trading a passive bonus for an active ability. If I wanted to build a tanky single class wizard I could use weapon & shield together with the defensive buffs and make myself sturdy while I sling some spells. Sure, not as many spells as a wizard who put all points into spells - but at least I stay alive. Why not? What's unfair about that? Why do I have to be forced to multiclass with a fighter just in order to use a shield better? I pay for that with later spells and not getting the most pwoerful ones. Now that is unfair I'd say.

Activating the modal for maces seems to be a no brainer. Especially when using Carnage.

Don't want to sound rude, but that's nonsense. Some general or "generic" abilities like gunner, weapon & shield, Two Handed Style and whatnot (those things that everybody can learn without doing a whole apprenticeship) could be made accessible to all classes easily without harming multiclassing at all. At the same time specific abilities should be really unique, interesting and tied to the core of the class. Like rangers getting stuff like Predator's Sense, Paladins getting Flames of Devotion, Fighters getting Armored Grace and so on. Can't see how a general Weapon & Shield ability would break multiclassing. It only adds options for single classes (important) and also multiclassing char (maybe less important, but still nice).

I agree. At the moment it feels a bit like the Benny Hill Show. Also enemies are disengaging and repositioning all the time like somebody put some really itching powder into their underpants.