What videogames have you been playing? version 1.22: What's with that plural?

[Sarin]

Boneshatter was not nerfed!

On the other hand, I've just noticed that all masteries reducing reservation costs for specific aura were removed. Huge nerf across the board.

 

[Birdjaguar]

On the other hand, I've just noticed that all masteries reducing reservation costs for specific aura were removed. Huge nerf across the board.

That is a nerf, but I don't usually use those nodes anyway.

 

[Takhisis]

Time to put in another hour's worth of San Andreas grinding - I did get some driving school and flying school missions in, but they're just boring. And they don't even make for good listening because they keep rebooting the radio.

It turns out that, as with all education, the reward for passing your tests is… more tests! At least I opened up Las Venturas, where there is… oh dear, a motorcycling school.

So...anything interesting? PoE is kind of "should I, shouldn't I..." for me.

Please don't encourage him.

 

[Synobun]

It turns out that, as with all education, the reward for passing your tests is… more tests! At least I opened up Las Venturas, where there is… oh dear, a motorcycling school.

Huh.

I... don't think I have ever done a single test from that. I don't think I even know where it is. Or that it even existed.

 

[Kyriakos]

I played a civIII scenario, about the war between the rising of Islam powers, and Byzantine,Sassanid etc.
But it was a bit too easy (more importantly, the Sassanids only ever lost one city, while I regained everything lost after the first 20 turns and then was comfortably winning with roughly double the power of the islamists, to the point that I side-conquered south-dunabian Bulgaria while at it).
Still, the map was great and clearly a lot of love went into making the scenario. Maybe the intended setting was the absolute hardest (?).

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Long Dark
I'm still not clear on what "Tales" are. Are they mini-Episodes? Or challenges? Or enhancements to the traditional survival game?

The latter. They're like challenges, within a survival game.

I can also confirm that you can be stalked by more than one wolf at a time. This actually keeps happening to me ever since starting this new game in Milton.

That's cool. I always thought using that to my advantage felt like an exploit.

 

[PhroX]

On the other hand, I've just noticed that all masteries reducing reservation costs for specific aura were removed. Huge nerf across the board.

That is a nerf, but I don't usually use those nodes anyway.

The mana reservation nodes became really important when GGG went around nerfing defences, as they enabled the combination of Determination, Grace (or occasionally Discipline) and Defiance Banner, plus an offensive aura. For many characters, this was the only way to get good defences without a huge investment, so a lot of people were using them. And I certainly don't have an issue with GGG trying to diversify peoples builds by making highly popular things less strong if there are good alternatives. But when it comes to defences, for many characters, there simply aren't good alternatives to auras for building defences, so it's a big nerf. There is a new mastery in mana node for reservation efficiency, but mana is of little use, doubly so for builds that have high reservation, so it's a big passive tax just to keep defences. Particularly seeing as the rebalance of Caterina's drops is almost certainly a nerf to the drop rate of Diadem, one of the best items for resolving reservation and mana issues.

(As an aside, oh how I wish mana was good again, Archmage was such a fun thing to build around....)

I was kinda on the fence as to whether I wanted to play this league - right now Last Epoch is scratching my ARPG itch quite nicely and I'm not one of those people who only play said genre - and these patch notes, both in terms of the nerfs, and the seeming lack of doing much interesting with skills, has pushed me away from PoE. I'm certainly not giving up the game forever, I'll probably be back for the subsequent league, but I'll likely give this one a pass.

 

[EgonSpengler]

The Long Dark

I started my new Survival run last night. Stalker difficulty; Blizzard Walker, Snow Walker, and Cold Fusion feats; random starting zone. I spawned on Timberwolf Mountain, just past dawn. I really dislike that the game puts your opening zone onscreen now. It used to be you could open your map, if you really wanted to know. As @Sommerswerd mentioned above, the spawn points have changed, and I really didn't know where I was for a minute, which was exciting. I was up on the hill behind the Mountaineer's Cabin.

Timberwolf Mountain is much less fruitful without a hacksaw, so after checking the Mountaineer's Cabin and the fishing hut and not finding one, I retreated to Pleasant Valley. I briefly considered going to Ash Canyon, but chickened out. I went into the hatch late in the day (the regular one at the bottom of the rope, not one of the new ones) and decided to stay there overnight. I did find a hacksaw in the bunker, but I haven't decided whether to head back up to T'Wolf Mtn and Ash Canyon immediately or stay down here and explore Pleasant Valley first. I was surprised to find that the underground bunker wasn't quite warm enough. I started to read a book and was interrupted because I was starting to freeze. I don't know if that's a change to the bunker's ambient temperature, of if I've always had sufficient clothing before going inside that one. Another nit to pick with TLD: It won't let you read in bed.

Anyway, that was it for last night. Could only play for about an hour.

 

[Sommerswerd]

@EgonSpengler You chose to spawn at Timberwolf Mountain? Why? I mean, especially if you were going to head for Pleasant Valley anyway...

The Long Dark

Still in Milton on my Stalker run. BTW using feats Efficient Machine, Cold Fusion Snow Walker. I used to use Expert Trapper a lot but I find it to be a waste since traps are already a little OP at Trappers Cabin in Mystery Lake. Once I get a snowball rolling with traps I am easily catching 5 or 6 rabbits a day even without using the Expert Trapper feat. At Trapper's Cabin it quickly gets to the point where I have to build campfires outside just to keep up with all the meat I have to cook and I am stockpiling cooked rabbit meat in the snow outside the cabin. As an aside, I still think that the developers should nerf that ability by having wolves (or crows) come and steal meat that you leave outside in the snow or on the porch. Its kinda looney that you can just leave meat outside and no animals come take it.
In any case, last night I cleaned out Bank Manager's house where I found a lantern and then most of the rest of the cars in downtown Milton, occasionally having to jump in the care to hide from passing wolves. Then I cleaned out a couple more houses and headed for the Church. I searched all the cars on the road to the Church and then searched the Church. I got stalked by wolves both to and from the Church, because, of course I did, but I only had to fight a wolf once. It managed to finish off my ragged jeans, so I was walking around in long johns until I finally found some work pants in one of the houses and combat boots IIRC, in a couple of the car-trunks. I also found one of those nice wool toque hats with the Canadian flag on it. Something that I am noticing this time around, is that when I find an item in any type of container, whether its a car-trunk or a glove compartment or locker or drawer etc., there is so far never more than one item in any given container. I could have sworn that on Stalker you could previously find multiple items in a container sometimes.

The game also did an update, which changed the artwork on the icons for starting fires in stoves. It appears to be a purely aesthetic change. I was reminded of something last night... why Gray Mother's is such a nice base. It has that 6 burner wood stove. I was able to cook up all that doe meat so quickly, whereas at the Camp office, cooking your meat/fish takes forever on that single burner stove, and the similar in Trapper's Cabin with the two burner stove, which is why I generally resort to making campfires outdoors.

I still haven't found a gun, so I can't go to large bridge on the Northeast corner of the map to face the bear. I usually just shoot him once, then wait him out in one of the cars until he bleeds out. It always feels a little cheezy, like an exploit, but it works so whatevs. I think the way it works with the moose is actually better, since they won't bleed out, no matter how many times you wound them. On the one hand, the earlier I kill the bear, the sooner I can cure the hide so I can possibly get some use out of it before its time to leave Milton. I always try to take all the meat, just because there is so much that it seems like a big waste not to, but its obviously a pain, since its way too much to carry in just one or two trips... then on top of that, you can't eat it all, because its got parasite risk until you get to cooking level 5, so on the other hand it can be beneficial to wait until reaching cooking level 5 so you can eat all the meat without any risk. The catch of course, is that cooking that huge amount of bear meat is a great way to boost your cooking skill.

I guess the next stop should be Paradise Farm, no point in going to the trailer yet, since I don't have anything to craft until the guts i got from the rabbit and deer cure. I'm anticipating that they probably changed the location of the key to the farmhouse... which is inexplicably necessary to enter the house, despite the fact that I have both a tool box and a crowbar I've actually found a bunch of revolver ammo, so I can start killing off some of these pesky wolves once I find a revolver. If there isn't a gun at the Paradise Farmhouse, I am probably going to have to go to the bridge to search all those cars for one, which of course, means facing that bear... with no gun. Maybe they mercifully moved the bear off the bridge in the update?

 

[EgonSpengler]

@EgonSpengler You chose to spawn at Timberwolf Mountain? Why? I mean, especially if you were going to head for Pleasant Valley anyway...

The Long Dark

I started my new Survival run last night. Stalker difficulty; Blizzard Walker, Snow Walker, and Cold Fusion feats; random starting zone.

T'Wolf isn't bad if you can find a hacksaw quickly. It's not great without a hacksaw, though. If I'd spawned further up the map, I'd probably have gone to Ash Canyon, but since I was so close to the Mountaineer's Cabin, I just went to Pleasant Valley.

btw, I don't know if you've watched the Signal Void video yet, but the reward for completing it sounds like something you'd use.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The mana reservation nodes became really important when GGG went around nerfing defences, as they enabled the combination of Determination, Grace (or occasionally Discipline) and Defiance Banner, plus an offensive aura. For many characters, this was the only way to get good defences without a huge investment, so a lot of people were using them. And I certainly don't have an issue with GGG trying to diversify peoples builds by making highly popular things less strong if there are good alternatives. But when it comes to defences, for many characters, there simply aren't good alternatives to auras for building defences, so it's a big nerf. There is a new mastery in mana node for reservation efficiency, but mana is of little use, doubly so for builds that have high reservation, so it's a big passive tax just to keep defences. Particularly seeing as the rebalance of Caterina's drops is almost certainly a nerf to the drop rate of Diadem, one of the best items for resolving reservation and mana issues.

(As an aside, oh how I wish mana was good again, Archmage was such a fun thing to build around....)

I was kinda on the fence as to whether I wanted to play this league - right now Last Epoch is scratching my ARPG itch quite nicely and I'm not one of those people who only play said genre - and these patch notes, both in terms of the nerfs, and the seeming lack of doing much interesting with skills, has pushed me away from PoE. I'm certainly not giving up the game forever, I'll probably be back for the subsequent league, but I'll likely give this one a pass.

I'm going to play for the weapon crafting. If nothing else, I will play for the currency to buy over powered swords and axes for standard. I really like the whole idea of weapon trees. Shields too. It creates a "legendary lineage" for weapons. As a melee only player, I get to ignore many of the nerfs GGG makes. The big news though is what I expect will be the POE2 beta in Q3 and the launch in Q4.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Cattail facts and health benefits

Typha latifolia also known as Cattail, Lesser Bulrush, Lesser Reed-Mace, Nail- Rod, Narrow-Leaf Cattail, Narrow leaf Cattail, Reed-Mace, Small Reed-Mace and Small Bulrush is actually a slender perennial aquatic emergent plant native throughout the temperate northern hemisphere. Although many of us probably have seen cattails growing on the edges of lakes and marshes and have never considered that it can be a very valuable addition to your diet, as it provides a wealth of unique nutrients and medicinal properties, many of which have been trusted on for hundreds of years.

Nutritional value of Cattail, Narrow Leaf Shoots

Serving Size: 1 shoot 19.0g
Calories 5 Kcal.

Proximity	Amount	% DV
Water	17.6 g	N/D
Energy	5 Kcal	N/D
Energy	20 kJ	N/D
Protein	0.22 g	0.44%​
Ash	0.2 g	N/D
Carbohydrate	0.98 g	0.75%​
Total dietary Fiber	0.9 g	2.37%​
Total Sugars	0.04 g	N/D
Sucrose	0.01 g	N/D
Glucose (dextrose)	0.01 g	N/D
Fructose	0.01 g	N/D

Minerals	Amount	% DV
Calcium, Ca	10 mg	1.00%​
Iron, Fe	0.17 mg	2.13%​
Magnesium, Mg	12 mg	2.86%​
Phosphorus, P	9 mg	1.29%​
Potassium, K	59 mg	1.26%​
Sodium, Na	21 mg	1.40%​
Zinc, Zn	0.05 mg	0.45%​
Copper, Cu	0.008 mg	0.89%​
Manganese, Mn	0.144 mg	6.26%​
Selenium, Se	0.1 µg	0.18%​

Fat soluble Vitamins
Water soluble Vitamins
Vitamins	Amount	% DV
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)	0.004 mg	0.33%​
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)	0.005 mg	0.38%​
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)	0.084 mg	0.53%​
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)	0.044 mg	0.88%​
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)	0.023 mg	1.77%​
Folate, food	1 µg	N/D
Folate, DEF	1 µg	N/D
Choline	4.5 mg	0.82%​
Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid)	0.1 mg	0.11%​
Vitamin A, IU	2 IU	N/D
Beta Carotene	1 µg	N/D
Betaine	0.2 mg	N/D
Lutein + zeaxanthin	14 µg	N/D
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)	4.3 µg	3.58%​

*Above mentioned Percent Daily Values (%DVs) are based on 2,000 calorie diet intake. Daily values (DVs) may be different depending upon your daily calorie needs. Mentioned values are recommended by a U.S. Department of Agriculture. They are not healthbenefitstimes.com recommendations. Calculations are based on average age of 19 to 50 years and weighs 194 lbs.

Mmm...

 

[Sommerswerd]

Cattail facts and health benefits

Mmm...

In the game, a single one doesn't give you many calories but since they are typically found in bunches you can of course snag a few at a time. I definitely pick these stalks up whenever I find them unless I am in some kind of danger... I do usually leave the heads behind as they are only useful as kindling. They have saved my butt from taking starvation damage (or losing my "well fed" bonus) on more than one occasion. They're great because they are lightweight compared to other food sources, don't require any cooking or other preparation, don't give off any scent, and don't spoil or otherwise lose condition. They also give that satisfying crunch-crunch-crunch sound effect that is unique to cattail stalks.

They're the game's perfect superfood . I only wish the game would let you designate a number of them to eat at a time, since you need to eat like 10 of them to make a significant increase in your calorie meter. Continuously spam clicking them one at a time is a little tedious.

 

[PhroX]

I'm going to play for the weapon crafting. If nothing else, I will play for the currency to buy over powered swords and axes for standard. I really like the whole idea of weapon trees. Shields too. It creates a "legendary lineage" for weapons. As a melee only player, I get to ignore many of the nerfs GGG makes. The big news though is what I expect will be the POE2 beta in Q3 and the launch in Q4.

Seems to me that these nerfs hit melee hardest, as they have the most need for defences.

 

[Sarin]

I'll wait for more info, but seems to me I'll try out an interesting variant of Cyclone build. Dual claw, low life impale Champion. If my guesstimates are correct, I should be able to leverage instant leech and claw life gain on hit to effectively get around 250 life per hit, at about 15 hits per second if not more, on top of regular 20% life per second leech. Combined with low life at 55% life and Petrified Blood, I should be able to heal anything that doesn't one-shot me pretty much instantly.

 

[EgonSpengler]

In the game, a single one doesn't give you many calories but since they are typically found in bunches you can of course snag a few at a time. I definitely pick these stalks up whenever I find them unless I am in some kind of danger... I do usually leave the heads behind as they are only useful as kindling. They have saved my butt from taking starvation damage (or losing my "well fed" bonus) on more than one occasion. They're great because they are lightweight compared to other food sources, don't require any cooking or other preparation, don't give off any scent, and don't spoil or otherwise lose condition. They also give that satisfying crunch-crunch-crunch sound effect that is unique to cattail stalks.

They're the game's perfect superfood . I only wish the game would let you designate a number of them to eat at a time, since you need to eat like 10 of them to make a significant increase in your calorie meter. Continuously spam clicking them one at a time is a little tedious.

I think some folks have actually counted how many there are in a game. I think you can survive a few hundred days just on cattails. 15 a day gets you your full recommended daily allowance of manganese!

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'll wait for more info, but seems to me I'll try out an interesting variant of Cyclone build. Dual claw, low life impale Champion. If my guesstimates are correct, I should be able to leverage instant leech and claw life gain on hit to effectively get around 250 life per hit, at about 15 hits per second if not more, on top of regular 20% life per second leech. Combined with low life at 55% life and Petrified Blood, I should be able to heal anything that doesn't one-shot me pretty much instantly.

That sounds pretty interesting!

 

[Sarin]

That sounds pretty interesting!

The main question is DPS. I need to squeeze at least 20000 damage per hit without impale to make full use of the leech, assuming I get about 6k max life. It's quite doable, I believe, but if it scales well enough into endgame, that's yet to be seen. Great thing is, a new life mastery that gives 15% increased life if there's no life modifier on body armour enables me to effectively use Bronn's Lithe, with its whooping +5 level, 10% increased attack speed and up to +100% increased damage (depending on roll) for movement skills, which includes Cyclone. That's crazy good.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The main question is DPS. I need to squeeze at least 20000 damage per hit without impale to make full use of the leech, assuming I get about 6k max life. It's quite doable, I believe, but if it scales well enough into endgame, that's yet to be seen. Great thing is, a new life mastery that gives 15% increased life if there's no life modifier on body armour enables me to effectively use Bronn's Lithe, with its whooping +5 level, 10% increased attack speed and up to +100% increased damage (depending on roll) for movement skills, which includes Cyclone. That's crazy good.

You know so much more about such things than I do. I have collected lots of claws in standard, but never used them. I should probably. What other melee skills do you see as interesting for this league?

 

[Sarin]

You know so much more about such things than I do. I have collected lots of claws in standard, but never used them. I should probably. What other melee skills do you see as interesting for this league?

Basically anything with poison. Although it lost some power, the new unique amulet, coupled with Golden Rule jewel, could be functional immortality as long as you manage to avoid actual one-shots. Unless it's somehow capped, some people have already brainstormed builds with million+ life gain per second, no kidding.

Then there's another possible use for Cyclone, as a trigger for Prismatic Burst. New support gem, casts a random element explosion on melee hit. But until the gems are released, there's no way to know if it'll be worth it.