What do you wish you knew when you started?

[CybrSlydr]

Hey folks! I've been a backer of the game for a while, but not OG, but never played it much. I tried it back in BETA but it didn't make much sense and I dropped it.

 

I'm just now starting up again with a fresh play through with a male flame Godlike Fighter. I apologize to you mon/max folk who see my class and race and shudder - I just picked it because it looked cool. Lol

 

Now I get to the heart of the matter. I just got to Defiance City, so pretty early. I'm here to ask you folks, if in my place, what would you have wished you knew? No spoilers, please! I mostly mean in the way of game mechanics and how things work.

 

Thank you!

Edited January 24, 2016 by CybrSlydr

[HawkSoft]

Nothing really.

 

I scrapped my first 2 or 3 parties when I couldn't make them work and settled on a support paladin for my *real* play-through.

I enjoyed the process of exploration and discovery, of being cautious (afraid even) of every new monster type.

 

Now I know the game and the setting I read strategy guides/class builds but usually avoid walk-throughs except when I hit a brick wall.

 

Enjoy your first visit to Defiance Bay and make it special.

[AndreaColombo]

I wished I knew how to build an optimized single-target DPS machine, because that's how like my main to be. It took me months of playing until I figured out the mechanics well enough to make a build to my liking, and I'm still perfecting it as I learn new things. POE sure has some fair deal of mechanical depth

[Faldorn]

One thing that I found out the hard way was that most of the priests' (offensive) spells have an incredibly short range. On my first (incomplete) playthrough, I had a priest as my main character. Besides the fact that I didn't really know anything about the lore (especially concerning deities) apart from what you see in the description texts, which made me choose Eothas and didn't fit very well roleplay-wise, that was really something that I wish I had known earlier. Before starting, I was set on playing a rather offensive priest build, not the support-oriented type that fits this class best in the game.

 

While it sure was great fun to spam offensive priest spells like pillar of faith with two priests at the same time (my main char and Durance, whom I kept on quite a while), that always led to my priests standing in front in the thick of the battle and taking quite a beating.

 

Of course I could have figured that out earlier, as I am sure I read the low spell range issue (which I know is intentional) somewhere. That might have been on the forums though...

 

On a side note: I am sure this will not really help you with what you're asking, but maybe some people might find it interesting...

[HawkSoft]

In my view Paladins are the closest PoE class to AD&D clerics (most of my Infinity Engine protagonists were clerics of some kind).

You can build them in many different ways to suit your play style.

 

The PoE Priest class stands on its own and doesn't try to mimic the AD&D cleric.

[CybrSlydr]

One thing that I found out the hard way was that most of the priests' (offensive) spells have an incredibly short range. On my first (incomplete) playthrough, I had a priest as my main character. Besides the fact that I didn't really know anything about the lore (especially concerning deities) apart from what you see in the description texts, which made me choose Eothas and didn't fit very well roleplay-wise, that was really something that I wish I had known earlier. Before starting, I was set on playing a rather offensive priest build, not the support-oriented type that fits this class best in the game.

 

While it sure was great fun to spam offensive priest spells like pillar of faith with two priests at the same time (my main char and Durance, whom I kept on quite a while), that always led to my priests standing in front in the thick of the battle and taking quite a beating.

 

Of course I could have figured that out earlier, as I am sure I read the low spell range issue (which I know is intentional) somewhere. That might have been on the forums though...

 

On a side note: I am sure this will not really help you with what you're asking, but maybe some people might find it interesting...

I wasn't thinking my particular class/race combo or anything, just anything that folks were like, "Man, if I knew that back then..." kind of thing.  This thread isn't just to help me, it's to help anyone else who may check it out. 

[PrimeJunta]

I dunno really, I've gotten the biggest kicks out of exploring how they work. If I knew all that from day one I would've lost that.

 

If you want one piece of advice, it's this: the game is actually easy. You just have to figure out how to play it.

[Boeroer]

Now I know somtehing: I wish I knew before that all these gold plate npcs are totally unimportant. I'm no backer so I didn't know anything about this fuzz. At the beginning I clicked every one of them and thought "Whooha! All that text has to be important somehow". Man - I wasted so much time. 

[delfador]

What I wish I knew: classes are very flexible & can be built in different ways. And don't listen to the often-linked-to over-min/max'd guide on Steam .

 

Any class can use any kind of equipment, and most talents are the same between classes. So if you want to make a tanky character, or a DPS using some particular weapon style, go for it. Odds are it will work. Same thing if you want Resolve or some other conversation stat. Higher level magic equipment opens up a lot of possibilities. Most classes get plenty of talents. So if you want, say, a shapeshifting druid that's also caster, it will work just fine. Maybe your priest starts out tanky, but you go for lighter armor over time as you get more spells. Totally works. There are lots of good build guides in here, like from Boeroer and AndreaColombo.

 

Another thing: around level 5 or so, things might seem hard. You have access to a lot of areas, but many will be designed for higher level. Once you get to about level 7, a lot more opens up.

[divadnothsa]

The Deflection stat is good for tanky builds. That wasn't very clear to me when i played the first time.

 

[HawkSoft]

Another thing: around level 5 or so, things might seem hard. You have access to a lot of areas, but many will be designed for higher level. Once you get to about level 7, a lot more opens up.

On your first run levels 1-2 can be quite tough too, especially if you go bear hunting solo…

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

The value of debuffs, especially status effects like blinded, sickened, weakened, etc. You have to really get in the weeds of the numbers to realize how effective they are and what a big difference they make. It's not something you really need to understand unless you're playing on PotD but once you do it can make even the toughest fights a relative cakewalk.

 

The utility of priest and druid spells. You get so many of them at once it's hard to process them all or realize when they're useful.

 

Edit: for an example, look at Blinded status effect. It gives -20 accuracy, -20 Deflection, -20 reflex, -2 move speed, -4 Perception. And the level 1 Cipher power Eyestrike applies it in an AoE. Hit opponents with that and they'll start grazing and missing you and you'll start hitting and critting them. Stack that with some other debuff and you've functionally ended the fight.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

[Wolken3156]

The PoE Priest class stands on its own and doesn't try to mimic the AD&D cleric.

Eh, Priests actually do have a lot in common with their DnD counterparts. They're just as unkillable with their buffs and they have some good CC spells in their repertoire as well. Its totally possible to build them as tanks or melee attackers. It may not be ideal, but they are possible. Heck, melee Priests are extremely viable since it helps patch up their limited offensive presence during early game.

 

I'm just now starting up again with a fresh play through with a male flame Godlike Fighter. I apologize to you mon/max folk who see my class and race and shudder - I just picked it because it looked cool. Lol

Race isn't really all that big of a deal, I actually make a lot of humans in my party, which is a terrible race anyway. But I don't even care!

 

That said though, Fire Godlike is actually a really good race for a Fighter due to the Retaliation ability and the nice extra DR they get.

[DreamWayfarer]

I wish I knew the Interfering uniqye weapon property stacked. Then I would have played a support Barbarian much earlier. Or that I understood earlier how speed buffs worked.

[Boeroer]

Did you mean Disorienting (-5 defense on hit)? Or really Interfering (-5 ACC on hit)? Both do stack by the way.

[DreamWayfarer]

Did you mean Disorienting (-5 defense on hit)? Or really Interfering (-5 ACC on hit)? Both do stack by the way.

Disorienting, but my point stands .

[Boeroer]

Yeah, as I said.

 

I did a test with 6 barbs - two of them with disorienting weapons (White Spire, Vile Loner's Lace) and one with interfering (Lost Theyn's Reach) and it complements each other really well. You cause massive debuffs to defenses AND accuracy.