aran_linvail

Thank you all for the helpful advice. I made it through! Indeed! I have to admit I was stuck to a "completionist" mentality of killing everything on the way. I managed to clear both areas with the above advice. There was a rather difficult, but enjoyable fight in the excavation dungeon that would have been difficult to sneak past. The difficulty does seems to drop slightly after Port Maje. I guess as the talents and gear build up the curve will smooth out. I am grateful for an overall more difficult POTD, as long as there is a way forward. I have watched quite a few of the pre-May/July Build/Guides and it appears POTD was more of a testing ground back then as opposed to a tough challenge. I read PoE 1 POTD is still vastly harder however. Is there a limit to how many throw-away tavern heroes can be constructed? I did see a video somewhere of a multi-chanter summon spam. I have to admit I find building heroes for a particular encounter rather cheesy, but I suppose I might have to resort to that later in the game. Thanks again guys!

Before I sound like a complete nub, I have completed pretty much all pre DLC content on classic difficulty and have to say the game is outstanding. That being said, I found 90% of the fights too easy. The only enjoyable difficulty comes from 3-4 level higher opponents. So, having spent the holidays reading guides and theory crafting, I decided to give POTD a shot, with extensive Bereth blessings and Upscale (All)... I am utterly destroyed after Port Maje - Restoring Order or the excavation is proving impossible for my (Votary)/Eder/Xoti to progress. Has POTD been MASSIVELY re-adjusted? I mean LOOK at this video!!!: (I find Sin Tee's guides very meticulous and am following some of his builds) He is fighting 1 boar and a couple of Wyrms at the excavation. I find 2-3 boards, all of which are 3 levels higher! What is going on here? How does one do POTD/Upscale these days? What am I doing wrong? Apologies for the panic and thanks in advance!