Need help with game difficulty in the early missions (second run/POTD/Upscale)

[aran_linvail]

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!

[Nights86]

these early encounters are designed to teach you non lethal ways

 

goretti street is cleared after dealing with the mob boss, diplomatically or no, the other thugs will disappear upon returning to the area

 

the excavation mobs are placed in such a way that you can sneak past them into the ruins, deal with the adra pillar and come out and they'll be gone. The fights inside the ruins are either sneakable through or doable by a party of 3 with proper tactics

Edited December 27, 2018 by Nights86

[guildwriter]

The game has gone through several difficulty tuning passes since that video.  What you see now is the new normal and there are a lot of builds that no longer work as well or as intended with the changes.  I wouldn't judge your play ability on what you encounter on the first island on PotD upscaled personally.  Characters that work well later on will struggle a lot in the earlier phase.

 

My tips:

• Get level 4 before you hit the excavation site.  This should be possible if you explore everywhere and resolve all the quests in Port Maje non violently.  Getting access to PL2 will help some builds quite a bit.
• If you aren't using grenades and other consumables, start playing around with them.  You group composition lacks mass CC at this point which will make fights tricky.
• Don't feel bad if you have to stealth past some groups.  You can stealth the entire island if need be.  I do this a lot on my solo runs as many of my characters simply don't have the tools at levels 1-4 but can take apart the rest of the game once they do.

[Marigoldran]

Chanters.  Get chanters at the local tavern and summon tank your way through the fights.  

 

A party of 3 Chanters has no problems with either of those fights.  

[aran_linvail]

Thank you all for the helpful advice. I made it through!

 

these early encounters are designed to teach you non lethal ways

 

goretti street is cleared after dealing with the mob boss, diplomatically or no, the other thugs will disappear upon returning to the area

 

the excavation mobs are placed in such a way that you can sneak past them into the ruins, deal with the adra pillar and come out and they'll be gone. The fights inside the ruins are either sneakable through or doable by a party of 3 with proper tactics

 

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 game has gone through several difficulty tuning passes since that video.  What you see now is the new normal and there are a lot of builds that no longer work as well or as intended with the changes.  I wouldn't judge your play ability on what you encounter on the first island on PotD upscaled personally.  Characters that work well later on will struggle a lot in the earlier phase.

 

My tips:

• Get level 4 before you hit the excavation site.  This should be possible if you explore everywhere and resolve all the quests in Port Maje non violently.  Getting access to PL2 will help some builds quite a bit.
• If you aren't using grenades and other consumables, start playing around with them.  You group composition lacks mass CC at this point which will make fights tricky.
• Don't feel bad if you have to stealth past some groups.  You can stealth the entire island if need be.  I do this a lot on my solo runs as many of my characters simply don't have the tools at levels 1-4 but can take apart the rest of the game once they do.

 

 

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.

 

Chanters.  Get chanters at the local tavern and summon tank your way through the fights.  

 

A party of 3 Chanters has no problems with either of those fights.  

 

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!

[Marigoldran]

No limit. Just make some for the early game, but you'll discover quickly that nothing is as noobishly effective as a team of chanters or chanter/paladins (with the occasional monk thrown in).  

Edited December 28, 2018 by Marigoldran

[Guest Psychovampiric Shield]

There are two things that can be combined and abused to reduce difficulty to arbitrarily low level. The first is baiting and splitting groups of enemies with trap chain. If you set up a trap, nearby enemies will get alerted and depart to investigate, and by adjusting distance between the trap and enemies, you can adjust number of enemies that will get alerted to whatever number you desire and can manage. Furthermore, when they start moving, you can retreat and set up another trap, which will cause the first trap to disappear into your inventory and enemies to move to the second trap, third, fourth etc., until they are sufficiently far away from the rest of their group to be safely ambushed and murdered. Note that on Gorecci street, you first have to show yourself to thugs (and make them turn red), otherwise they will not respond to trap laying.

The second trick is based on the fact that most enemies are unable to engage, i.e. they will not make disengagement attacks when you move away from them, and that melee attacks on one hand take some time to complete and on the other hand will miss if, by the time they are completed, distance between attacked and defender exceeds attack's range. That means you can attack enemies with melee weapons and when their attack animation begins, stop and step back a little, which will cause them to miss. For example, boars at the digsite have nasty special attacks, but you can reduce damage to literally zero by stepping away when they start "casting" them.

Edited December 28, 2018 by Psychovampiric Shield