Could someone see if I have a good loadout?

I'm new. I played templar as a caster until act 2 and it felt too easy (I love to be challenged) so I started a new character on the lower loot mode as I figured that would make me have to use the best of a bad selection of items but I'm just melting anything. I just started act 5 and I'm only keeping going because I've been told it gets harder. To me the game is a bit boring because nothing is a threat to me, I don't know whether I've been lucky with items (I don't think I have, I don't know whats good or bad). For example, the end boss of act 4 I was dodging his abilities, then I wondered if I needed to even bother so I just stood there mashing W and he just died. Could someone see if I've been abnormally lucky? I'm playing 2h barbarian, going for 2h and fire damage.

I'm really not flexing, I've just talked to people and they don't believe I find it too easy, but it seems like a common sentiment among what I've seen

Game doesnt really pick up until act 9 and 10 for a lot of first time players if they have a somewhat functional build. And then maps are another story.

However your characters are hidden. You need to unhide them in privacy settings.

Oh damn, I assumed it would be unhidden as default. I think I just unhid it now?

Act 9 and 10 you say? Seems a shame to feel like most of the game is a slog before it gets 'good'. I don't know what maps are, I assume it's something to stack difficulty modifiers on? Which sound great to me. Maybe most people enjoy it this way before end game, I just always go for the hard modes early on any games I play. I'll keep at it for sure, just feels like a waste of content to me personally. The game is fun outside of that, I like the mechanics and lore.

Acts are 1% of the game. Everyone plays for post campaign grinding. This game is more of a knowledge check than anything honestly. If you know the game well you are exploding screens and deleting bosses but the uber bosses and t17 maps still give a lot of builds a lot of trouble.

You arent alone in your criticism of the campaign though. A campaign skip or more engaging campaign has been high on a lot of peoples request list for literal years now.

If you really want a big challenge in acts there is a player run league going on now run by a larger streamer named Zizaran. The acts have massively increased damage in addition to certain boss and miniboss encounters having things not in the base campaign that make it extremely difficult.

And just taking a quick glance at both trees you will likely fall off hard in the late acts and early maps.

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Craigycraigy wrote:

Seems a shame to feel like most of the game is a slog before it gets 'good'

Guilds can complete the campaign within hours of new league release.
If you would like a challenge, beat the campaign in under 3 hours... as stated it's only 1% of the game.
You have not felt the true challenge of this game, keep going and you will hit walls.

Progressing through the campaign can depend on the build and skill.
If you don't have the skills you are reliant on gear and build to carry you.
If you have mad skills you can survive on a sub-par build, which seems to be where you are.
But i'll await in eager anticipation for you to hit maps, they go from t1-5 white (easy) t6-10 (medium) t11-16 (hard) t17s for the optimal builds.

Good luck exile, I have faith in you.

Thanks guys, that's reassuring. I can't wait to get to the hard parts, I don't feel punished at all yet. End game sounds like I'll eat my words, and I hope I do! :D

There are learning spikes but they start like after act 4.

Dont assume that game is too easy, just play it and see how far you can get.

Also try gauntlet and/or Ruthless.

The axe you have is pretty amazing for SSF Ruthless level 50, it's probably making things a lot easier. Some people complete act 10 while still on a white or blue weapon. You also seem to have found some good support gems, which helps a lot in ruthless.

Player level makes a pretty big difference in POE. If you are finding things too easy you may be over levelling. Often people will play 2 or more player levels under the zone level while levelling. It's fine to go above this, especially in ruthless, but if you are finding it too easy you probably want to be further along in the campaign progression. Level 49 would put you around act 6 boss.

Ruthless does make the game more challenging with scarcity, but if you are looking for more of a challenge skill wise you can try playing hardcore modes. The gauntlet is running for 5 more day, this is a SSF HC mode where a lot of difficulty has been added. There is not as much scarcity as Ruthless, but if you are looking for a challenge I suggest you give it a try. You can join by clicking in the private league section panel under your character selection.