The aspect that spoils the impression of the game the most. (updated)

I am having a blast doing my own thing. Having a build that is as fast and powerful as a Mageblood/Headhunter one on a fraction of the budget (seriously, I don't think it even costs 30 divines) is quite a treat. Yes, I am a glass cannon in the end but who cares. I can make a tank character later on with the tons of currency I've gathered.

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moonretealoud#1487 wrote:

I don't know if I'll be able to create even one new build in this new world that can develop from scratch to a hero without being a glass-cannon, but also without being limited to 2kk DPS in mirror tier gear because it doesn't use stacking.

There's no shame in surfing youtube and/or the forums for builds that AREN'T expensive, even maxed out, yet do exactly what you want them to....without attribute stacking, just to gather new ideas that you can then transfer to new things. In truth, the game has never been in a better state for that sort of thing; it is simply not the reality that non-meta builds require mirrors and mirrors of gear or have no defenses.

The gear that you can get from SIMPLE crafting methods - the genesis tree, essences, fractured bases, crafting bench, tattoos for the passive tree, etc - is sooooo much more powerful and accessible than ever before, and practically free. The "difficulty" increases you mention haven't even come close to keeping up with the power given to us in the form of skill buffs and gear buffs.

The days of...really ANY build barely scraping a million or two million dps, while also being paper thin without 100s of divines hasn't been the reality of PoE in quite a long time, I would even say years. We are in the golden age of low-cost exploratory build strength...plenty of damage at uber-killing levels, while also having decent and workable defenses...provided you aren't limiting yourself by expecting 100s of millions of damage and completely unkillable all rolled into one package, which is the absolute extreme minority of builds and unnecessary. Yes....strength stackers or accuracy stackers will do it better and push it farther, sure....but at the point where they start to pull ahead, your non-stacking build will already have the power and comfort to tackle anything the game throws at you.

Strength stacking is only an issue because of the way spell damage interacts with it.

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Strength stacking is only an issue because of the way spell damage interacts with it.

I don't even really think there's any issue.....its incredibly expensive to gear up a proper strength stacker to the degree and numbers that people see in videos.

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

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Johny_Snow#4778 wrote:

Strength stacking is only an issue because of the way spell damage interacts with it.

I don't even really think there's any issue.....its incredibly expensive to gear up a proper strength stacker to the degree and numbers that people see in videos.

1. There's a super-powerful mechanic that's been known for a long time.
2. Players actively use it.
3. Demand for items for this mechanic is extremely high.
4. Prices for items for this mechanic are increasing exponentially.
5. "Well, it's expensive enough, so it's fine."

And the fact that there are no other mechanics in the game that can compare to this one is ignored, because "why bother? Everything's fine as is."

I don't care what numbers someone's using in videos. The game should be playable without videos or pre-made builds from content creators. The fact that you can get to quest Exarch and Eater on anything is just the bare minimum. If a build can't match even 10% of the power of "meta 10div builds" even with 500+div gear, then that needs to be fixed. But for some unknown reason, the opposite is happening, and 10div builds are getting stronger with each league, while long-weak builds are left to fester.