Mod descriptor on Venarius' Astrolabe is misleading

Venarius' Astrolabe states that:

The stars are aligned if you have 6 Influence types among other Equipped Items

Since the Influence sources are not specified, Eldritch Influences from the Searing Exarch and Eater of Worlds should contribute to this counter.

However, they do not, with the effect being limited to only Shaper, Elder and Conqueror Influences, without outlining as much.

Either this is unintended, and Eldritch Influences were supposed to count, or the mod descriptor is very poorly phrased.

Thank you for the reply Mark. Seems I've misread things.

Though I must say, it is rather confusing, at least for me, that Eldritch mods don't classify the item as Influenced, considering they add a special icon to the item's header in the exact same way Influences do, as well as a special visual effect to the item's model.

This issue for me also extends to Fractured and Synthesised items.

May I suggest debating with the team about some other way or new piece of UI to convey this information? One that is visually clear insofar what constitutes an Influence, what does not, and the limitations of what each "tag" imposes on the item e.g.: Eldtrich Implicit Items cannot have Influences, etc.

Much like myself, I can see other players running into this issue, and though I did look through the Wiki for information, I didn't happen to find the ones you linked. My fault entirely, sure, but that running into this issue because someone didn't bump into the right webpage is an understandable source of frustration.

I believe the reason for the icons in the header is to show that the item can't be further modified in the same class of ways except in special cases. Fractured and synthesized items are the same way; you can't use an influence exalt on a synthesized item, nor can you fracture an influenced item.

This doesn't apply to eldritch implicits, which are excluded by influenced items but *not* by fractured or synthesized items. I think a different UI element for eldritch implicits may improve readability, though I think the item display window is already pretty overloaded with elements.

even taking into account the official explanation - it is STILL misleading. players KNOW it because they were told it over time, but it does not explain itself sufficiently. i doubt there is a single line of text explaining what 'synthesised' means, why essences ignore meta mods (and what meta mods are in the first place) etc etc

for a new player, not someone who plays this game for 10 years, these words have barely any meaning, are not explained anywhere and even items themselves lack a simple line of text i.e.: 'has Hunter influence' (yeah, has the icon - but.. there are icons that are not influences so it kinda isnt it, right?)

for someone slowly boiled - yeah, it kinda makes some sense. but when presented at once - it is a mess, something incomprehensible without wiki, quite large wiki

the icons, the outlines (more and more of 'special' effects around items, that no longer make them special, just blurry) - it is just one giant 'system' for new players

POE1 is beyond saving at this point, but POE2 will quickly share the same fate given that systems are added to it instead of building on top of existing ones. 'league currencies' are a design trap i kinda hoped POE2 would not stumble but oh well

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

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Exactly. I'm like a broken record saying that from all the things GGG copies from others games, a comprehensive in-game help section is so overdue that it's insane that they made an entire(?) game before it.

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sidtherat#1310 wrote:

even taking into account the official explanation - it is STILL misleading. players KNOW it because they were told it over time, but it does not explain itself sufficiently. i doubt there is a single line of text explaining what 'synthesised' means, why essences ignore meta mods (and what meta mods are in the first place) etc etc

Poor examples. "Meta mod" is a term coined by crafters and players, NOT by the mods themselves. Why should the game have to add anything to identify them other then the fact that they are found later in the story and describe exactly what they do?

The essence / chaos thing (and to a lesser extent, annuls and stuff) ignoring the "meta mods" is something you learn when you screw it up once, but even that makes logical sense. Those mods do NOT apply fracture to any part of the item, and since fracture has been a part of this game for a long long time now, that's the only explanation you need. Everything else is again....people lacking in logical thinking.

Ex: "Prefixes cannot be changed" is a suffix. If you use an item that changes suffixes, it stands to reason that it would change THAT mod and therefore invalidate it. Why would it be any other way?

And yes, synthesized items I believe ARE described in the game. Not well, but its there. Even if its just through the "synthesized" mod tag on the implicits. That fits the pattern for all other specially modded items.


Those are all separate from this lack of clarity on eldritch influence. The fact that the wording "influence" is literally used to describe those mods within the game and orbs used for it......yet they are not considered influence is ridiculous.



***All this does NOT mean that things need to be more clear. There is so much in this game that can and SHOULD be far more clear WITHIN THE GAME. Not on a wiki outside of the game.

essence: 'reforges a rare item guaranteeing one modifier'
harvest: 'reforge a rare item with random modifiers ...'
fossil: 'reforges a rare item with random modifiers'

explain me why, using ONLY resources in game, why harvest works with meta-mods and other two - do not

the wording is the same, the mechanic isnt. it is all past-story stuff that people playing 10years+ had a chance to witness and absorb when GGG changed stuff

new players are given 3 mechanics with the exact same wording and.. they get 3 different behaviours. it is indefensible and bringing back ancient history is enforcing this point, not invalidating it


'meta-mod' is Bestiary wording on Wild Bristle Matron. but there is no dictionary what meta mods are. you have to find it on wiki (there is not even a line with advanced tooltip next to it)


prefixes cannot be changed works fine with harvest, why i cannot use essence on it? why i have to waste 2divs to learn that it doesnt work?

(and do not even start with cannot roll attack/caster and how wildly different chaos/annul/scour work on that)


'strand crafting' is yet another half-baked system (nice in theory, extremely abusable in practice) - i bet the current usage of 'use reroling method that DOES NOT eat strands' wasnt the envisioned one. and ofc it never explains this stuff on the lid.

exploration and discovery is cool - there are games that do that. POE even does it in some aspects (scaling skills, the crazy ones, is very satisfying to unravel). but the legendary 'words have a strict meaning' rule is full of holes and is absolutely impossible to learn by just playing the game. there is NOTHING in game that will tell you not to waste 2 divs on a metamod -> essence craft.

that stuff with influences - yep, same story