Early Access Feedback - [Feedback] Time to Retire "Cast on Critical" in Patch 0.5 - Forum

" thegm963#6343 wrote: In poe, it's not ideal, but at the end of the day it doesn't really hurt your fun. You can play the most off-meta build and still efficiently clear and farm 100% of current content. At the same time it's easy to f*** up your build, especially if you relatively new to the game. Maybe it's better now, but during 0.1 this was definitely a thing. /---------- Also right now the is no much good alternatives to CoC/CoA and any other trigger spitit gems for casters. I think that is a problem. We had Archmage in 0.1 as additional endgame juice but right now it's just slurping mana without any significant return so it feels like that even Trinity or Elemental Conflux is better. Even tho, this might not justify to get additional spirit on gear for the sake of relatively mid damage boost. I dunno. Create some endgame spirit gem for example that utilizes Infusion comsuption mechanic that would provide some benefits, if you still double down on those Infusions (Imo I am not a fan of Infusions) My 0.4 leaguestarter: Lightning Spear Amazon https://poe.ninja/poe2/profile/default_mp3-9394/vaal/character/fava_amazonls Last edited by default_mp3#9394 on May 7, 2026, 6:09:38 AM	Posted by default_mp3#9394 on May 7, 2026, 6:06:19 AM Quote this Post
But casters don't need an alternative. You don't need to use COC/coea even endgame. I created a monk invoker to be a triggered caster and dropped all the triggers bells because I got tired of the visual spam. Used the spirit for Archmage, Blink, and Mana Remnants instead and had zero issues with t16 abyss + breach over runs	Posted by AbyssianOne#1625 on May 7, 2026, 11:10:39 AM Quote this Post
" thegm963#6343 wrote: " Legioona#1076 wrote: " daxtrovian#4477 wrote: Not sure why we are still discussing this. No gem should be 37% of the top population. If it is, thats a balance issue. Think of it from the perspective of other competitive games, god forgive me for mentioning this abomination but imagine if League of Legends a player character was picked 37% of the entire games It would be hotfixed immediately that day. This is the only argument that should be needed, together with the current daily player maximum of 8,653. If this doesn't yet ring a bell for you, imagine POE 2 where 100% of players are playing a certain gem, and would the player count of that POE 2 be more or less than 8,653. Most certainly it would be less. Why? Because not everyone wants to play that certain gem. Everyone who would not want to play that gem, would not play. If this doesn't yet ring a bell, google image search "survivor bias" and try to figure out where the airplane armor should be put. This is an underlying and fundamental issue at play. ARPGS traditionally devolve into mindless and repeatable farming. People will obviously try to make that as efficient and painless as possible. POE is complicated enough to push like 9/10 of players to just copy popular guides to build their characters. If CoC gets nerfed to the ground, then the 37% will pick and play the next 1 button screen clearing cookie cutter build. You d need to fundamentally change the game to avoid this. Also, poe is not an MMO, there is no hardcore pve, there is no pvp like in LOL. A broken build in a pvp game would be extremely harmful for said game. In poe, it's not ideal, but at the end of the day it doesn't really hurt your fun. You can play the most off-meta build and still efficiently clear and farm 100% of current content. Balancing is not any harder in PVE than PVP. GGG has all the data it needs to balance all builds so that no build has above 5% pick rate. The math isn't hard - if a gem is used <1%, buff it. If it's above 6%, nerf it. The balancing cycle needs to be quite rapid, and if so, fairly soon the game will be balanced. Every new league shuffles the numbers a lot, but the principle still works. And do remember: player count is the only objective metric for fun. If the count is low, game is not objectively fun, regardless of what subjective opinions people have about the game or its gameplay.	Posted by Legioona#1076 on May 7, 2026, 1:28:07 PM Quote this Post
" Legioona#1076 wrote: And do remember: player count is the only objective metric for fun. Jonathan mentioned that player count at the START of a new league is what counts and GGG wants to see that metric grow league after league. Last edited by CharlesJT#7681 on May 12, 2026, 1:58:46 PM	Posted by CharlesJT#7681 on May 12, 2026, 1:57:19 PM Quote this Post
Jonathan and Mark, I'm surprised CoC was not touched in 0.5?	Posted by CharlesJT#7681 on May 24, 2026, 6:15:03 AM Quote this Post
" CharlesJT#7681 wrote: Jonathan and Mark, I'm surprised CoC was not touched in 0.5? Yea but most of your suggestions is implemented in 0.5.0. Don't expect everything to be changed in a patch.	Posted by Faclana#1854 on May 24, 2026, 6:26:39 AM Quote this Post
" Faclana#1854 wrote: Yea but most of your suggestions is implemented in 0.5.0. Don't expect everything to be changed in a patch. I'm glad to see nerfs to ES and gem levels, but still think CoC also needs to be addressed in 0.5.0.	Posted by CharlesJT#7681 on May 24, 2026, 8:42:19 AM Quote this Post