The folks at Grinding Gear Games have done a fantastic job with their free-to-play (except your time) action RPG, Path of Exile. They are consistently tweaking things and have recently released their second expansion, Forsaken Masters. Like their last expansion, Sacrifice of the Vaal, Forsaken Masters (FM) adds new content and changes the overall game in some fundamental ways. FM adds the idea that there are 7 Exiled Masters running around Wraeclast that the player can encounter and can undertake missions to help. The missions might be to recover something, protect something, kill something, etc.
Completing missions will give you favor with that master and get enough and they will level up (up to level 8). At level 3, you will unlock a hideout for your character that is basically your own town area to use as a home-base. Okay, great, Path of Exile now has player homes. However, the key here is that each Master also comes with their own inventory of goods you can buy and can help you modify your existing equipment to add additional "affixes" to make them better. All great. It should be noted that the Master missions are not easy and do require you to play in different ways than you may have in the past (you can't just tank your way through all of them).
Alongside the release of FM, Path of Exile has also added two new challenge leagues, Beyond and Rampage. Rampage is a standard league (you die and can resurrect and keep progressing) where as you string kills together you get more and more outrageous effects. Beyond is the new hardcore league (you die and your journey is done - character transfers to the standard league) where if you kill a large number of monsters in close proximity to each other, a portal may open that brings 4 over-powered demons through to Wraeclast. This mechanic adds a big challenge as the portal could open at any time (often at the least advantageous time for you). I can easily see the Beyond portal mechanic making its way into the regular Path of Exile game after the Beyond league ends. So Beyond is hardcore and has demons popping out all over the place - how can a newbie (which I pretty much am as well) survive and compete?
Well I have a couple suggestions:
- Play multiple characters. I have found it good to run a character through most of Act I (up to or after killing Brutus). Then start another character and run them to the same point. This means if you die trying to kill Merveil you will not have to start over from the very beginning.
- Plan ahead. Save items that look decent for characters at or below your current level but are best for a different build/character class. This will make it easier to level up your 2nd and 3rd characters. For instance I found Meginord's Girdle unique with my 2nd character and built a Marauder around it and a rare staff I had in my stash - that character is now my highest level one in Beyond after only a few hours playing.
- If you tend to go face-first into fights and tank your way through, load up on life and resistances early. The Marauder I mentioned is currently running over 800 life at level 24 (which is good for me) and helps keep me alive when I have to wade in with heavy strikes.
- Don't be afraid to run away and come back later (or just leave). You don't have to kill everything on screen and in some cases it's best if you don't try. Especially in some of the Haku missions as they are best if you just speed run to the spirit and high-tail it out of there.
I still have a lot to learn and am worried whether or not I can actually get myself out of normal difficulty with any of my Beyond league characters, but I am having a great time trying. If you haven't played Path of Exile or have not been back in a while, now is a good time to give it another shot. The Forsaken Masters expansion gets 5 Mick Happies. See you in Wraeclast.
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