Completed LP Path of Exile Beta: I want to be a machoman

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update 6: where RPG heroes come from


We return to the Rocky Climb and head straight north with our new ice skill, who will volunteer?


The skeletons are the first I guess, they're not too bright. As we swing, the tip of the staff changes, I now understand why the skill is called Glacial Hammer!


The skill is pretty sweet, a skeleton archer boss goes down so quickly there's nothing of interest to note. His items suck too.


Continuing north, we manage to level up (+7% fire resistance) but there's no real hordes to stop us anymore.We vendure down the narrow pathway, a real rocky climb.


Pretty quickly we find the entrance to the next area... a prison. Hongda's not here to rescue anyone or to do an in-game tutorial, his only objective is to kill Brutus.


Is anybody here? Since Diablo 2 had prisons with skeletons and we've just faced skeletons, maybe this area will be different.


Nope, here come the skeletons.


It's an abandoned prison after all, everyone must've been released for good behavior.


We find a gold ring, which is a pretty cool item as its base modifier is increased rarity. I'm thinking we should finally craft our first item.


Not far is a waypoint back to town, let's do this.


Apparently these orbs have a chance to create a rare item too.


We only get a magic item, in all my crafting I've been kind of unlucky. Crafting is a huge part of this game and will probably create fits within many players.


Back in the prison, we also find some human type of enemies. This guy would have more luck eating my flesh if he didn't have just 1 ally.


We continue exploring and mix things up a little bit. Zombies are only good at reaching you in numbers so you can deploy an AoE skill.


On the next level, more of the same. I'm starting to think this tutorial mission is quite bland.


Hey someone left a rare item on the floor, or dropped it after shattering into ice. I hope no one minds that I pick it up.


Continuing forward, we find spell-casting skeletons. They look pretty sweet and add to the challenge a little bit. The area is actually the same level as me so the one hit kills are gone.


A better armor drops, might as well use it. Why not identify our loot.


The rare axe is really good actually. Its base damage is the same as the staff and it adds to our gem level, so let's use it. The armor had really bad modifiers though.


I'm forced to switch skills again since I have an axe, but guess who's back to killing in one hit?



The righteous rage fuels me! Even the skeleton mages die in 1 shot.


The axe is very nice, it swings faster and has a different feel to it.


The whole sequence goes so fast, I don't even notice I level up. It really goes fast when you're on the same level as the area. +10 strength.


And I mean really fast. I'm definitively learning what this tutorial area is trying to teach me, whatever it is.


A blood trail leads the way to the next area, is this a sign the story arc has reached a close?


Kinda quiet here, not a single monster...


Whoa, here is Brutus, one on one.


His arms look like battering rams or something, better be careful.


I'm ready for him though. He simply doesn't hit hard enough to require much strategy from me.


Hit and chug, hit and chug.


On the other hand,he drops 2 rares. Well 3 rares in this run is just as much as I got in the LP up to here, that counts for something.


The next area suggests we won't come out in a rosy town with plenty of side-quests.


And I was so convinced the prison was there to establish me as an anti-hero in a cinematic character-driven world!
I'm now really confused about my identity. Well time to go to town.


In town, the townsfolk are as thankful as always. Tarkleigh, I'm going to kill you last.

next update: back to the start

This looks... interesting. I heard about it some time ago, but it didn't really look like anything special.
Or maybe I'm starved for something new in the diablo clone department.

Looks like it will go open beta quite soon-ish.
Not saying I would scoff at a friendly invite, though. Nudge nudge.

There are no friend invites yet, not that I know of.

edit: Actually there are friend invites but even I have to get lucky to get them. Any beta member can be lucky and get a friend invite key, it's random. So weird.

Well, it's fitting that a game with random loot drops has random friend invites as well

If the developers are still following this lp, I say that they should hurry up and launch the finished version of this game as soon as possible, it looks awesome.
Continue with the lp, good sir.

Well, this game seems to be the best H'n'S since Diablo 2. And there will be more skills, areas, affixes... They are doing a very good job.
BTW - great LP, continue please.

Even I am tempted to play this.. M:

So where is my fucking beta key?

update 7: back to the start
And we're back to the start of a brand new edition of the PoE LP, BRB SMS.



Ok, now we're back for good. We start as always picking a new skill, how shall we maim those weaker than us, with lightning perchance?


Maybe with fire. This one was mighty tempting but we're really not focused on defense with Hongda.


Ah there we go, Leap Slam. Since we already have a few AoE skills, this will give us something different.


A whopping 1 Gb+ patch has been installed that improves on many small things in the game. I'll try to spot them.


The passive skill tree has been revamped with a few new skills and improved graphics. They look great, but take longer to recognize at a glance.


We waste no time to try Leap Slam. The monsters also waste no time to introduce me to the new patch. They seem to hit harder, and as for those shamans, either they're completely new or at least their fire shield is new. A single goatman isn't a problem, but 4 of them keeping you tied up can be.


Where did they come from? I count 6 now in addition to the shaman. I have to be super careful. That's what happens when I'm not over-leveled anymore, but I think it may be more than that. (gruesome shaman death not shown)


More than once, I was forced to bash keys to drink potions, these fights definitively keep the blood running. My problem is that I'm too slow and every skill seems to have a setup time.


The area is also rich in bosses and rares. So far, it doesn't have much in common with the start of the game.


Hey the ass shooters are back! except now they spawn out of the ground 5 at a time. Also level up, +10 str.


We follow the road since the region is quite large. Here must be the 3rd rare I got on this map alone, but it's useless. Someone wants to create a ranger?


I'm getting really annoyed at the tough fights I go through and I blame my axe for that. It swings so slowly and it misses a lot. Let's have a look at the stats, 69% oh dear, Honga usually doesn't have such a bad batting average.



Not long after I get a spanking new rare long sword. Amazingly it's a two handed long sword, which I believe is the correct terminology. Upon identifying it, it becomes so much more. Take a loot at every one of those stats, nothing is wasted. This is what I call a good find. I never saw Hongda as a sword kind of guy, but let's equip this.


"My Lady, I will protect you with my honor and if I must, with my sword". Hongda can be a real gentlemen too, unlike some other men.


At the end of our road, we only find a dead brahmin. Where to go?


As we head south, we notice the familiar sight of sand and the smell of the sea. It's the beach again, except it's now filled with jungle felines too.


If there was one picture to summarize this LP, it would be this. Hongda coming down from the heavens to strike his unsuspecting foes.


Sometimes my inner LARPer takes over when I least expect it. I haven't taken a dump in a while, a really epic dump. This RPG would be perfect if it had houses and party banter when camping.


Back to somersaulting through the air, the beach doesn't pose the same difficulty as earlier mobs. I think that the goatmen were known to gang up on you and with the shamans it was a very effective strategy.


What do we have here? A very rare orb I think. I ask the chat but no one responds.


We arrive at the end of this map finally as the beach turns into a spooky ship graveyard. Looks like someone will have to do some cleaning, next time. (promises to start with an early skill selection!)

next update: not robots

I bet you regret going for the popamole life regen now, huh?

Actually they nerfed ma generic life regen from 1.0% to 0.5%

But I regret nothing, I got a ton of life increase passives along the way and I enter every fight with full health, the way a cinematic experience is meant to be played.

Hey, in case you guys haven't heard - they're making the game public for the weekend, that'll be a server stress test. A chance for all of us to get a taste of the game, unless the servers fail, of course. In which case there'd probably be another stress test on upgraded hardware.

update 7: not robots

In the last update, we left the comfort of the beach one last time to enter the Ship Graveyard. What will this vibrant ecosystem contain? Probably not robots.


Not a robot, but a pleasant surprise. This man wants to talk to us.


He gives us a quest. That's the friendliest graveyard I've been to yet.


As we walk, we are assaulted by ghost pirates. Unfortunately, the other restless dead of the area don't have any fetch quests to solve their problems. Bummer.


Don't worry, there's still flesh and bone enemies to kill. Freshly slain is one of those weird chickens, and he dropped a great shield. It is a shield however...


I level up (+10 strength) and get myself carried away killing the new fauna. Those weird sea-creatures from the underwater caves are back too. They either really like me or really hate me.


The ghost pirates thought are just misunderstood, they're quite friendly to you if you also happen to be a ghost.


The fun is over quick though, we find the next area entrance. Through my recent metagaming powers I've acquired from the AoD demo, I know this is not where the quest item is located so let's go to town quickly.


Someone happens to have a quest for me. Kill Merveil? I guess now Merveil's Chosen will really hate me.


Let's have some fun and use some orbs to craft magic items. Let's use orbs of chance which apparently can create rare items. First, an orb of chance on a gold ring, I love to enchant those. The result sucks.


I had found a great belt too and the orb of chance makes it that much nicer!


Finally, we use an orb of alteration to get new mods on that gold ring. The results are better this time. Disappointed on the whole that we still didn't get rares.


Back into the graveyard, we find the proper entrance quickly and head inside.


Is it too late to give peace a chance?


A very intriguing skill gem drops. My AoE skills haven't performed as well as they should and since I now use a sword and half of them don't forget anymore, why not give Cleave a try?


The skill turns out to be good, it had exactly what the others were missing, speed.


It doesn't kill in one shot, but you can now manage crowds better, and isn't that the point of AoE skills?


Without Cleave, maybe the Chosen's ability to slow me down would've mattered.


Well we find a slave girl, she looks like a quest trigger.


We walk out with the Allflame not having to face any battle or anything...


And we learn why. "Captain" Fairgraves is nothing but a dirty, lying pirate. He wants our soul and intends to fight for it.


He conveniently summons some minions. Being a ghost must be cool, you get to teleport and stuff.


Right now I need to concentrate on a way to get rid of the minions, if only I was skilled in crowd control...


Wait a minute, I am!


Fairgrave is quickly reduced to being all alone against me. And I intend to show him his new title of "Eternal" is just as misleading as his first.


He's dead, while we leveled. If anything took anyone else's life essence, it was us. YEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.


Back in town, we pick our new skill. I may not a mace right now but I'm a bit short on idea. And the reward for quest the completion, what is it?


A skill point. We're now unofficially known as Hongda the Skull Cracker. Of course, cracking skulls with swords is somewhat difficult, so that's why we strike repeatedly in the same area.


The way forward looks very bright, except for Merveil.

next update: Swan Song

And yes, this weekend everyone is invited! Below is a link to the website for how it works.
http://www.pathofexile.com/publicweekend/

If we have enough people, then maybe we could actually all gather a huge stomping party and kill Merveil together.

Well, I, for one, will be trying it out. Unless the servers keep crashing, which they probably will.

I wonder how that will go. Their own website says there will be lag. I may have to make a new character to play in the same league as the weekend testers.

I'll be definitely checking it out this weekend, registered some time ago but so far no luck.

For anyone wanting to join this weekend, I'm Renegen, hardcore league.

do they have more than 2 acts now?

Nope. but I asked that question in the chat and a dev said they are working on act 3.

Well, in my effort to build an extremely survivable character, I neglected to give my Templar elemental resistances. And thus, his hardcore run was ended at level 31, Act 1 on Cruel, where he charged a hero Goatman Shaman, and got oneshotted by its fire shield exploding. And I was so close to the passive that grants resistance when using a shield and allows for spell blocking.

Come to think of it, it was poetic justice, since that build cheesed the hell out of the same fire shield skill.

Heh, ended up losing my HC Ranger at 45 despite Ruthless feel easier to do than Cruel. It probably helped that I was active in global chat at the time (With all six of the people in A2-R) and was partially distracted as I died in three lightning hits from three separate (No time to heal, even with two insta potions) mages in Sin-3. Admittedly, I only had 552 hp and 15% LR, so I was definitely vulnerable there, but I just didn't expect to enter a room and be dead in half a second with little chance to escape.]

Rangers (Bows in general) are completely fucking overpowered when it comes to damage, though. At least it feels that way. Sure, it costs 31 mana for each lightning arrow, but three to four of those and I can clear 20+ mobs on ruthless easy.

Tell me about overpowered. My strategy was to put up my fire shield, charge in, and watch as everything dies to the shield explosion. Not to mention my double-supported infernal strike twoshotting hero monsters.

By the way, was I the only person constantly overleveled in this game? It started at the beginning of Act 2 in Normal, and only seemed to have equalized near the end of Act 1 Cruel, after I intentionally rushed through a bunch of areas. It feels like the area levelling speed is balanced for zero exploration and just following the road.

update 7: swan song
And so a ghost pirate betrayed us. This just got personal.


We're back into the Ship Graveyard and here we ready ourselves for one last one last Hurrah, one last drive into enemy territory.


Our quest is to kill Merveil and anything that stand in her way.


Not that it will be difficult. This run was just before the free weekend and new patch.


Yes, this is ancient history. So pay attention kiddos.


Let it be remembered that Hongda broke the game so badly, they had to make cruel difficulty the new normal.


It was tiring work, of course. Hondga here enters the Coves. Hopefully Merveil isn't far so that he can go relax right after.


If he is to take a vacation here, he must first clear out the area of all life. There, serenity at last.


Besides the lovely zombies, we have these crabs back for more. Nothing is more fun than a crab with 2 hp bars that's also a boss.


Shiny. I'm such a sucker for energy shield items.


It's pretty good. Back when drops weren't nerfed to make things harder for Hongda. Sorry everyone.


This is what happens when you apply the wrong sun screen.


Well that and a sword trust.


The zombies are really perfect for a few sweeps of the sword. This was also nerfed.


I uh, don't really recall how I lost so much life so fast. It must be pride, that's it.


There's one good item from the boss and it's not because of its modifiers. I have the feeling I won't be the last person to obsess over a perfectly slotted item.


As for our level up, I think I will go for this passive next. Knock back is very useful.


As we advance, a sleeping dragon seems to guard the way. This area would've been much more dangerous a few thousand years ago.


It's an entrance! Looks like the dragon was too fat to make it through the cave door and died there. The end of the dragon age did not come gracefully.


An excuse to go to town presents itself. More rewards hopefully.


We get our first support gem. These gems are great, they can turn your favourite skill into a nightmare of trying to have it fit with every support gem you collect.


We'll just take some more life leetch.


We leave the last town waypoint behind us. This is it, the final push into the darkness. May the fire in my heart guide the way.


Merveil knows how to be evil. Besides disciples, she also has spiders for company.


So many chopped limbs. Sweep comes into form against these many-leged creatures.


The kill animations are actually pretty sweet.


A new crab boss. This one has no barbs and at his height is probably unable to slit throats.


I am only coming to the realization this is a war of extermination, a war to determine that humans dominate this place now and forever.


Let's proceed to the next area, the cavern of anger. If anyone has paid attention to the in-game text on why it is named so, tell me.


The pirates are back. They must be really mad that uh, they can't build boats to take the seas.


Merveil's chosen are still here and are stronger than ever. It's quite scary to get frozen like this.


We continue killing, hoping to get to level 16 so that I could equip the executioner's casque before I take Merveil.


Hongda can smell her stench, she's so near. The final battle is so close.


But I really must get to level 16 first.


Success! And we find a 2 handed mace finally?


This level up will be used to get this awesome passive too. Merveil won't even get close to me.


Merveil will sing her final song.... next time!

next update : the promised land

For the record, this LP is famous enough for Renegen to get random thumbs up from people in-game.