Archmage is NOT the Problem

Now do one on crossbows for us.. show GGG how bad they butchered crossbows.
It fucking sucks that as a Gemling Attribute stacker my godly ass crossbow doesn't compare to a goddamn quarterstaffs for a Merc..

The problem is that PoE 2 is still PoE 1 in the endgame. It means range zoomy no-aim needed brainless spam every projectile build, because breach, because of deli, because of 1 portal, because of the game still designed around trading. Slow = generate less resources = less buying power = no progress.

Nerfing archmage won't solve anything, people would just play the next ranged brainless aim everywhere kill everywhere build, because that is the most effective way to play trade league. And then the next nerfs happen, then people would just play the other one, and the other one, until no builds can replicate PoE 1 playstyle, but what happens with the content ? Are we going to still playing PoE 1 endgame content in PoE 2 ?

What happen with the more methodical combat approach ? I'm lvl 96 Invoker in SSF with CI attribute stacking and for sure I don't have any method beside pressing my Storm Wave and exploding all breach mobs 4 screens away. If I don't do this, I'd be dead, swarmed by 100 Breach mobs with 10 that can laser me from Brazil, 5 that can hit the ground out of my sight and suddenly things explode on my feet, or being pushed back from Canada to Jordan by deli mobs that invulnerable in first few second while also have absurd amount of stun / ailment threshold.

And if don't add any of those content into my node, I lose loot, even in SSF. And the loot is some exalts and maybe one chaos or regal, to gamble mods on an item that most likely to roll tier 1 mod. Add some golds to gamble in Alva that 95% of the time having useless mods.

Pinnacle bosses ? Yea, that seems a good idea when you need hours of grinding to collect the key, then you realize you only have 1 ticket / 1 chance.

Gutting a certain archetype because its popular and deemed "too strong" is overlooking a more glaring issue. While the resources that players need to make Archmage MoM is not cheap and players rightfully allowed to feel powerful with that much investment, it should not just simply "tHiS BuILd ToO StROnG, NuRF pLEs". Make the game much much more fair to every archetype, this is the time to do it, don't make PoE 2 become PoE 1 with added dodge roll and upgraded graphic.

On other note, I agree that Archamage is not the problem. The problem imo are MoM replacing your health pool, and +level mod overlooking other mods. Should have add flat damage mods roll to spell, while restricting +4 and +5 on ilvl 81 or 83 bases.

agree, but there is no flat dmg for spell in poe 2 (i don't think i miss that, i always see attack tag).

i mean ggg remove this ( compare to poe 1) for a reason, but i don't know why.

about gears scaling ( weapon), the issue i mean is crafting option ( but i remember johnatan saying they add more option during ea and after).

for example for my wand+focus, a +4 lvl and +2 lvl is baseline for what i'm looking for, than mini +90% and +50% spell dmg, and +100 mana on both, and at least oen with +60% mana regen.at this point it's minimum, nothing crazy just baseline.

and something more like cast speed or +60% ligth dmg.

that's a lot of thing for hoping found a random drop, or regal+ex+chaos craft...way too much , easier to farm couple of divin and buy it , and it's for sure good stuff but nothing crazy.

balance beetwen archmage power and stuff power is ok i mean.

and whith betwilder2, yes i think same about slow/fast it's in hach/slash dna, loot more for have a chance to drop the good or for make money to buy it, so only way for drop more is to kill more, and for kill more you need to kill fast, ...etc

all about slow is good start too reach endgame and now start to complain that's it's too difficult for one million pretext which have no sense in this kind of game.

and even in early mapping most of the mob are in swarm and have a lot more move speed n atk speed than player..

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coolmodi#5438 wrote:

+level is just too strong and feels too strong. It's a must have stat and every weapon, including every unique, without is trash. The scaling is so strong you can't pass it up

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Snorkle_uk#0761 wrote:

thats the whole point of them, to make casters gear dependant

+level comes on top and does not bring parity here. In fact, it's so strong that even alone it already makes a weapon ok. My weapon has basically +level, some %dmg and that's it. The +level is the main thing and is worth more than any other stat because it doesn't even have a DR, the opposite actually.

and if you have % physical damage on your 2H weapon for your big smashy melee guy? Or % physical damage on your bow or crossbow for your pewpew character?


these are must have stats. you must have a good weapon. its an action loot game, looting a good weapon is an essential part of that right? do you think having + to skills is more important for casters than having an attack weapon that has damage on it is for attack builds?





i dont rly know if i think archmage is a problem or not, but that is a niche within spell casting. having a spellcasting weapon isnt, its kind of fundamental to being a spellcaster surely? its a different consideration when it comes to balance. one is how powerful a subset of spell casters using a specific mechanic are to other spell casters? the other is how important is gear to spell casters in general?

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Axterix13#5693 wrote:

Oh, I think you're underestimating Shock. There's a reason why minion builds run a single storm sorc with the "shock doesn't go away due to ignite" gem. There's a reason Monks build up the magnitude for it. Not hard to get like a straight up 50% damage multiplier on a boss with it. And, well, if Archmage is doubling your damage, guess what happens when you take that resulting 200% and make the boss take 50% more? Yeah, you're now at 300%. But then there's double shock, which is its own multiplier. So now you're at 450%.

Then there's things like Monks double (or more) stacking the Bell...

Also, Archmage doesn't allow you to scale defense to get it. Rather, Archmage has synergy with an overpowered defense, but at the same time, that defense cuts mana regen in half, which severely limits Archmage. You basically have to go all in if you want to combine MoM and Archmage. It is a huge investment, and bringing Archmage into balance (which would probably take cutting it down to 1/3rd or 1/4th of its current power) would also help make going the MoM route more costly, and consequently, more balanced. But even without MoM, Archmage is busted.

Double shock does not multiply itself. Shock is increased damage taken. Increased damage taken is additive with all sources of increased/reduced damage taken. Double shock is literally just that. Double the shock value, that is your new increased damage taken.

i think the weapon "need" side is more for leveling or campaign, not end game / mapping.

honestly in poe1 i never really care about weapon when play spellcaster before lvl60+,
lvl gem is enough, here in poe2 a +lvl make a real difference during campagn.

after, in mapping/endgame a weapon in both game (1&2) is very important.(and expansiv in trade(20+ div)

Mirror builds should be OP, scaling Archmage Spark requires ungodly amount of currency to to make something that's good at mapping, bossing with good defences — and this is not unique to poe2. Spark is still trash early game, and actually good midgame compared to poe1

I agree. Not long after seeing items with +level drop, I realized this is going to be a huge problem. GGG, too inspired by D2 it seems, have painted themselves into a corner they said multiple times they want to avoid.

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If a mod (item/skill/support) is so powerful it feels mandatory, it's bad game design.

+# to skill level is practically mandatory. Well played. Same goes, to a lesser extent, for movement speed on boots, spirit on amulet/body, and arguably magic find on anything.

Would be funny if it wasn't sad, but GGG have then created more problems with something like the Widowhail. That unique is the sole reason we can't have anything better than a +2 on quivers. It makes a +2 into a +8 easily (already better than any other bow, they only roll up to +5) and it may be possible to reach +9 or +10 with insane jewels.

Seems to me spark is the problem not archmage. W/o archmage I doubt my eye of winter build could kill anything. Spark needs toned down where it cant blindly cover like 3 screen around you. It also costs far less than eye of winter and most of spam spells.

Yep.

I would use a item level 20 +Levels to Lightning Spells staff/wand over a item level 50 one just for the +Levels.

Same reason I would wear a pair of item level 30 Boots over item level 70 for the +20% Movement Speed.

+Levels and Movement Speed must be removed as affixes that roll on non-uniques and the game balanced around not having these, because they are mandatory stats that make or break a slot.