Interesting self-imposed restrictions

[Baron Pampa]

I've lost my saves with few nice complete playthroughs, and I'd like to have a completely finished game by the time PoE 2 is up. However, the game got quite easy over time, and I know most of the content by heart. What self imposed restrictions do you have to suggest, to get a man creative again and cause him some problems?

I've tried:

-no Vancian casters party. Things get quite different, it's fun, but I already did it.
-huge leveling delays. A must for me, as after Caed Nua you can outlevel the content very fast

I'm not into:

-Ironman
-Smaller party. I like the banter

Any thoughts? What do you do to keep the game fun?

[Arsene Lupin]

No buffs/debuffs. Makes the combat simpler and more difficult.

 

I've done the SL1/naked challenge run for Dark Souls, and it was pretty fun. Not sure if something similar might be possible for PoE (IE never level up, never change starting equipment, etc.)

[Baron Pampa]

Have you tried it? Most of the active abilities inflict statuses, have you considered i.e. Knockdown a debuff?

[Arsene Lupin]

Yes, I've tried it. No, I don't consider knockdown a debuff. Nor do I count any effects that are part of weapons/armor.

 

So, basically, it's just avoiding buff/debuff spells and abilities.

 

For example, abilities that temporarily increase health or endurance or accuracy (like Infuse with Vital Essence); those that apply negative status (and only negative statuses) like Fetid Caress, those that increase or decrease stats (IE any +/i perception or might or whatever) and so on. The idea being that you ONLY use the active spells/abilities that deal direct damage or restoration abilities/spells.

[AlexKidd]

Play drunk. Suddendly story mode poses a serious challenge.

[Lotti Fuehrscheim]

> Play drunk. Suddendly story mode poses a serious challenge.

 

I was wiped in story mode by the dragon at the bottom of Caed Nua.

 

It was the only fight where the AI didn't manage to win on its own, and I had to apply some tactics myself after the reload.

[firkraag888]

No storms spells. So basically no druids

[vanyel54]

Yeah too much storms ruins every fight.

Actually, i challenge myself by playing each class in a trio (potd) :
- Actual run : druid/priest/ranger. Really too easy, the duid buffed by the priest blow it all.
- Next run : i think wizard/barbarian/cipher. No priest will be a big (and painful) step forward
- And after : monk/chanter/paladin

[Mygaffer]

Try running with a four man party, any composition. Helps restore balance without delaying your levels.

[Jojobobo]

I do solo, PotD, Expert and no re-specing (re-specing wasn't included in the base game so I choose to ignore it). I thought about trying for Ironman at some point, but I think you'd have to play so cautiously that it wouldn't feel rewarding for me personally.

[champy]

I'm playing the game with a steering wheel. 

[Tigranes]

Things I've done in the past:

 

-> Scaled down XP gain. This one is big, because so much of POE's power progression is level-based, and 1 or 2 levels can be the difference between mindless stomping of enemies and having to think and maximise your accuracy/debuffs. Sadly there's no easy way to do this, so I tend to regularly console edit the party's XP down. (Oh, it looks like you're already doing it.)

 

-> Smaller parties and ironman are the best ways to get a different and cool playing experience - and at this point, you've already heard all the banter, so isn't it more important to have a fresh experience? Up to you, I guess.

 

-> Themed parties. I'm currently playing a Level One party in Icewind Dale, a party that never levels up - and it's great fun. (Sadly, you can't do this with POE because of how it ties accuracy to leveling.) But you can think of an antimagic party that hates spellcasters and even magical scrolls, or mages that recreate AD&D's specialisations (i.e. they cannot use a certain school of magic).

 

A no pause game, though everything on slow mode?

[Baron Pampa]

Thank you for the input. At the moment I'm trying a 3-people team and it's good, forces me to rethink the tactics