it’s basically such a rare item that that people with tens of thousands of hours of game time rarely see one drop organically. (they can be farmed in different ways though, that’s how I usually get mine) like lottery chances basically
It duplicates an item exactly. PoE was all about RNGesus. I can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head (and it got way more complicated over the game’s life), but each rare (yellow colored) item can have 6 magical effects, 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes. Each of those effects can have a tier from 1-11 (different for some effects), and each of those tiers has its own range of numbers. So a truly amazing item has a super, super low chance to spawn (because getting 6 of the effects [and the right effects at that] to be tier 1 is hard enough, and then getting the max number within that tier takes even more sacrifices to rngesus).
Just as an example, let’s say you wanted the ‘super super best’ armor you could get. First, you’d have to be playing at a really high monster level so that items have a chance to spawn the tier 1 effect (monster level=item level when dropped, and you need minimum item levels for high tier drops). Then you’d have to get lucky and have the right chest armor drop (because even at high monster levels, you can get the worst of the worst armors. So give or take a 1 in whatever chance for the armor, then a 1 in 20 chance for the right armor… Then you’d have to get the right effects, so that’s a whatever in whatever combination calculation (I can’t be arsed for that math, but let’s just assume it’s not too bad, so like a 1 in 300 chance), then each of those effects you’ll want to be tier 1, which means for each effect there’s between a 1 in 3 chance to a 1 in 11 chance (some effects only have a few tiers) to get that, then you’ll want each of those effects to be at the max number for that tier, so grab your ankles and prepare for even more chances with a wide range…
See why I don’t want to do the math? To get really, really good items is a really, really low chance. That means that if you have a really good item, it’s going to be wanted by everyone else. Cue the dilemma: if you sell it, you’ll make money, but you only have the one opportunity to sell it. If you could somehow duplicate it… well, sweet money, baby! So a mirror let’s you duplicate an amazing item without losing the original. There was a famous dagger with spell modifications (most items are either melee based or magic based, but a dagger can have effects that boost either, which means you have even less chance of getting what effects you want) that a fella would charge beaucoups of money for, after you already had obtained a mirror of your own, and he would get the money, because the dagger was just that rare and valuable. Probably something like 1 in a billion chance of something that good dropping, so it was much easier to save money and trade for the duplicated dagger.
Oh, and an item that was a duplicate couldn’t be duplicated again (it was ‘mirrored’), only the original item could be duplicated.
The mirror? Of course. It’s a drop, and a rare drop, which made it valuable in and of itself, but PoE was brilliant in making its currency have intrinsic value in both use and rarity. HC folks were grinding for the best gear as well, but obviously there were factors that made the best gear even more rare. Having a duplicated amazing item was still a great thing for hardcore folks.
This is a really, really bad explanation, written colloquially and informally. The wiki was amazing and crafted by folks both technically brilliant and with great understanding of how to present information.
Yeah, I played from the end of the open beta until nearly poe2 came out. I was always an on-and-off player, and actually hated the emphasis on path-of-trading that it became. SSF was basically what I would do until high tiers when it was impossible to progress without trading.
I also much preferred the early game, before it became a spamfest gotta-go-fast run. New spells and mechanics were cool, but power creep was insane. I still fondly remember struggling to beat the boss of act iii, and god, that feeling when they added the fourth act, and then totally revamped everything for the ten act story… ggg was freaking amazing.
I respect that. I also typically play SSF, I have 9k hours in the first game, even went to exilecon. definitely try act 4 in poe 2 if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s a return to early game golden gameplay. probably the best campaign act in any ARPG.
I agree with everything you said for the most part. now I just play at my own pace, I hate racing or being rushed just to get a slightly better trade market price. I try to avoid using PoB until i’ve already “maxed” the character by my own means.
I always encouraged friends to avoid reading anything or looking up guides until the first character stalled out. The most fun has always been the hair brained discussions about wtf is going on as you experience a game for the first time.
I will admit though, after reading through a few build guides, you do start to see how the numbers fit together, and then it’s a whole new world of fun as you start putting together ideas about life equivalence and stacking bonuses. I remember being able to download the character planner and then things just got wild.
I have been avoiding poe2. Poe wasn’t as bad as the old school mmos, but I definitely fall too far into games and come out months later. Nowadays I definitely prefer games that are easy to pick up and put down, and have a definitive ending, which hurts, because story and not playing for hours on end means you forget nuances, and a lot of my classic ‘grindy rpg but really good story’ ones need way too much time in a single sitting. I’m becoming the silly nonce who plays games I’ve already played because I can remember their stories despite long gaps between playing.
Anyway. Avoiding poe2 because I know I’ll have to invest time I don’t have to have fun, and I really disliked the inability to play parts of the game that they phase out. I’ll never know what the background of the elder and the shaper were, or how that red haired chick with a name starting with z was involved, because I took a break for their introduction. That was what really ended my love for poe.
Dude. I played it when I was just getting into the emotional aspects of being a teenager, and mission 3 just hits you in the face. The desperation to rescue the six containers was real.
World of Warcraft. I was really addicted to it for a few years but it really helped me get over a lot of the social anxiety issues that I had. I went from being really shy and barely interacting with other people in that game to being elected to take over a 60+ person guild by the time I was done with it. That confidence carried over into real life when I went back to school and began my career.
Both Psychonauts games had this exact same dopamine release. I spent all of my time playing both as they both came out right around the time of a close family member dying and the games were my outlet for those emotions at the time. Very special games to me.
How it changed my life: I have a much deeper appreciation to go into nature and feel more confident
Also having that deeper understanding to put together an earth quake survival kit.like you never know if you have to bail and you just gotta be ready to evacuate and survive.
Other games: Titan fall 2. I bawled at the end. I’m just now playing it through again. And I’m not one to replay a game but I would with that one given the bond. Never thought I’d cry at a game but that one …that one was special for me.
That’s fantastic. It’s a survival game ? I remember loving to roam the ashlands in Morrowind and that might have contributed to my tendency to walk everywhere. But nature itself, I’m not sure. I remember fondly the lush hills of Cyrodiil, the enchanted woods of Albion (Fable), but I don’t think any of these really turned me on nature as much as having an edible, strapping on my trekking shoes and getting lost in the forest around my home
Yup it’s a survival game but it has a peaceful option in it so you can just set it to roam and build to your heart’s content.
Elden ring as well has some similar breathtaking moments. not that any of that can be replicated in our earth nature but it is a game that I think of when I think of a beautiful game to play for just sitting there and beholding artist effort and content.
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (the first one). This one was my complete entrance to the RPG games and i was so soaked into the atmosphere and the characters. And well of course Witcher 3. For me the best game ever. Setting, characters, story, choises…
I actually found Lemmings to be a game that changed my life. I played it just before I became a professional programmer. Solving Lemmings puzzles is not exactly like programming, but it does teach you that there is a solution and if you just keep persistently trying different shit, you will eventually solve the problem. Also, it actually helps to be high as a kite all the time.
A Plague Tale: Requiem.
I wouldn’t say it changed my life, but I couldn’t get myself to play another game for some time after both Plague Tale games back-to-back.
Tale of a brother, and sister l, barely surviving in a dangerous world. You’re using stealth to avoid the infected, to avoid the people taking advantage of the plague and those who are scared and lashing out.
And then you got a giant mechanical spider in a western magic rat powers by the pope.
I don’t even mind the second disk because without it, it was shaping up to be 300 hours long and tedious. As it is, I think it wraps things up nicely without leaving too many threads hanging. What a fantastic game! It’s the only PSX game I still have a physical copy of.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne