Ok, tried launching POE fir the first time. Lost 8 hours straight.
The maps are nothing special but they are sized in my sweet spot of ’hey, let’s just play another one’.
The game can be super obscure, with often small perplexing details that as a new player fly over my head. For example, money is shit, everything is traded in identification scrolls. And parts of scrolls stack to make a real one. And the fucking merchants kept changing what they gave me for my wares, having apparently decided that scroll parts were yesterday’s trend. Then I discovered I could resell what they gave me for scroll parts
...
It’s not so complicated, just convoluted and I can’t explain shit at 5pm.
Storytelling is a wreck though, big ass fail. Subs are a little too fast, there is zero exposition and somehow the game expect you to care or understand when suddenly important characters appear. Who the fuck is Piety or why everybody know her is beyond me. When did the invasion by the Kumai (sp ?) happen ? No idea.
Is it viable or interesting to have a character that goes one handed AND dual wield or is it nonsense ? I built a duellist but a few hours into the game I’m annoyed to see I basically made my usual tank. I mean, not to be too anal, but I’m playing a duellist that jump on his enemies with a huge ass shield and an axe
Quick tips:
Are you using an item filter? If not, go to the
poe site, under the "GAME" tab click "Item Filters", then click on the first option in the list (should read:
NeverSink1- Regular Softcore) and then in the upper right corner click on "follow". Once in the game, under the Options menu, click on UI -> scroll to the bottom and you should see a drop down option where the filter you just "followed" appears. Click on it, save settings, and now drops and items should stand out depending on the value. This serves 2 purposes, first, so you can ignore most items that drop and aren't useful (anything that sells for scroll fragments isn't worth picking up), and 2 you can learn about what types of items and currencies are more valuable thanks to the improved visibility.
Story is kind of an afterthought, yes. You can click on conversations again and there are audio logs in the wild. Anything with voice acting should keep playing after you click on it even if you move and go on your way. Characters aren't particularly interesting, but some lore is cool.
You should play in a way which you find interesting. Your character is a combination of gem skills, support gems, passive abilities and eventually your ascendancy class and decisions you make there. In regards to the passive skill tree, your objective should be to pick the notables (the ones with the golden circle around them) that compliment the playstyle you are going for. For example, you'll see some Attack Speed, Dual Wielding and Block nodes near the Duelist area, but they are a bit bunched up. so it's recommended you specialize in a certain skill considering you get a limited amount of resources, and the most powerful nodes are the big ones which are usually further away from the starting areas in each class. But nothing is really stopping you with weapon swap from having both, especially if both use the same main attack it shouldn't really matter. There are definitely builds out there that do weapon swaps often.
As for how to pick your skills, you've no doubt been pushed along by the quest rewards which usually give you options that compliment each other. As for how to round up your character, it's really not that different from other games in the genre. You should be powering up your main skill with support gems as a priority. As you progress in the game, you'll start to see items with more sockets, and especially more linked sockets that you should take advantage of. A good rule of thumb is: Acts 1 and 2 you should have your main ability and a support gem. Around Act 3 you will see 3 linked and 4 linked items, and you should make sure you are filling those slots. For example, you can start with the Double Strike ability linkes with a melee physical damage support gem. Once you get more sockets, you can choose gems like maim, or faster attacks, or added fire damage to put an elemental spin to it. Gems usually are color coded according to main attribute they are linked to, and that determines their requirements as you level up.
As you can see, Duelist sits in the tree in between the Marauder (STR based class) and the Ranger (DEX based), so both STR and DEX based attacks make sense. You are not limited to this of course, but getting anywhere else in the tree like the INT areas is costly and you'd probably only do it if you have something really specific in mind.
As far as the rest of your abilities, it's recommended you spread about between support, defensive and mobility skills. Think about the space you'll have to work with and the number of sockets in each position. If you are using a double handed weapon like a sword or axe these can usually have 5 or even 6 linked sockets, so you want your more powerful ability in that item with the most supporting gems. Your chest armor can have up to 6 linked sockets as well and most people put their main abilities there. But if you are using a one handed sword and shield or 2 one handers, those usually can only accommodate 3 sockets, so unless the particular item has some special text that improves socketed gems, you more likely want to use that room for less crucial abilities.
So, going sword and shield is perfectly fine. I imagine you are using Leap Slam as your mobility skill, and it can even be your main skill if you support it well with damage and attack speed. Then I would recommend using your other item sockets like helmet, boots, gloves to put stuff that buffs your damage and defenses. Later on in the game you'll get Heralds, which are active permanent buffs to damage, then you'll also get auras that boost a variety of things like damage and attack speed or mana regeneration, and you can use support gems to reduce the amount of mana they reserve or consume, or other fun stuff. You'll also eventually get totems and golems, which are useful companions that for little cost can provide buffs and damage and can be supported differently. The game in general holds your hand offering you stuff that makes sense at that point in the game, but don't forget you can also go to the vendors in Act I,III, Siosa in the Library, Act 6, etc. and check their other tabs for more gems.
You want a good combination of damage and survivability when you are navigating the passive skill tree. If you see, on your way to the special nodes, you'll see clusters of extra health scattered that you can pick without feeling that you have to pick all the ones you see. As for your items, if you are going warrior then focus on items with life, resistances, extra damage and the right sockets. Be sure to check the tooltips constantly and your character sheet to see where your attack and defense is at. That way you can see what kind of changes to items or skills affect your damage and defenses the best.
You were talking about currency and almost everything has a good use, so don't diss or ignore the small shards and fragments (except identify scroll fragments, eww, just get rid of those). At first you'll get tons of alteration orbs or orbs of augmentation that will be useful up to the endgame. Then you'll get some Alchemy orbs and Chaos Orbs and eventually other valuable stuff. Don't be afraid to experiment and see what they do, but there is no reason to overspend them in the early game either as you'll replace your items on the regular. Better saved to do some light crafting later on if there is just one piece you can't find. I know they seem like a lot at first (they are) but once you start to get familiar with them, you can use them more efficiently.
Here is an example: Say you just can't find a good sword that improves your damage, or if you find something it doesn't have the right sockets and you absolutely need 4 red linked. Maybe you find a white item that has the correct sockets on the vendor or looting, but obviously it has no modifiers that do damage. A good thing to do would be to use an alchemy orb on that white item (they are rare, but not so much so that you shouldn't use them every now and then) and see if you can get a decent upgrade. OR better yet, check the Essences you have picked from metamorph bosses and encased monsters. Those guarantee the item you are trying to craft will have at least one thing you absolutely need and are a very good option for early game crafting. On the other hand, using your Chaos Orbs to try and reroll one item over and over is very difficult due to the amount of affixes it can roll and not recommended, and Chaos Orbs are a much more valuable currency.
I can probably go on forever, but if you just take your time I'm sure you'll become familiar with all the stuff and how it comes together. I've been playing since the beta launched and there are a million things I don't understand or mechanics I missed and have no clue about, but none of it has really hindered my ability to do successful builds and have fun. Most of the depth in the game is to really squeeze that last 10%-20% for the top challenges and mechanics.
Now to go into everyone's ignore list ;P