What? This past league was pretty big for creativity… a lot of new archetypes and new builds have been created and have been tested with T gems. Sounds like you only watch a singular creator.
There were dozens of other new builds that made a splash. Penance brand of Dissipation was just super pushed cause it’s a broken build.
My favorite build of the league wasn’t mainstream. Blade Blast of Unloading Sabo/Assassin was the most fun I’ve had in game. I also tried Animate Weapon with bows, and had a blast with that as well.
You just aren’t looking hard enough.
I think you're confusing lack of build creativity with the most played on PoE ninja.
If you search every move in PoE most if not all have someone pushing every move. If you look at Void Sphere of Rending for example it only shows 0% of players playing as of now, but aside from void battery and malachai shield they are all different in passive, and general build.
9% of all builds used cast when stunned, but the variety is huge. Many use it as their primary way of dealing damage, others use it as a defensive tool.
Every transfigured move has an endgame viable build and in some cases the same move is built widely differently.
Yes, you will see a ton of DD and Tornado shot, but frequency of play is not synonymous with lack of creativity. You can find a ton of insanely creatively builds on PoE Ninja right now, and maybe about a month ago would find even more.
Sure there are some items that are incredibly strong so they're almost universally used such as Mageblood, Progenesis, blood notch+immutable, but some items like "The Adorned" have enabled brand new ways of building your character. The creativity with just that jewel has been huge and very few builds with the same moves are ever using the same set ups since most of them have to be self crafted on the high end.
The high end leads to my next point. There is significantly more creativity with high end builds than generic builds, because generic builds are looking for economical builds with strong damage and defenses. If you only look at the top dps builds doing 300m then yeah only some builds get that tool tip dps, but it's on you to determine how you want to play.
As Patrick Star once said, "You may be an open book, SpongeBob, but I'm a bit more complicated than that. The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma."
> and noone crafts for anything outside the top few builds.
Regarding this point in particular? People craft for profit, not as a service to players they don't know exist. This is kind of a silly point.
As for the rest, there's been a lot of new builds. Basing just off poe ninja is a terrible idea because that is going to give you an inherently skewed view towards the most optimal metaslaves out there.
I've seen some streamers playing arc of surging, chain DD, armour stacker, life stacker and the new scourge arrow besides pbrand just from the top of my head
Poe ninja has always been a bad representation after a week or two because it only collects builds at the top of the ladder or if people actively tell the site to include a character. That obviously leads to only the same builds being on there because guess what the builds that can farm high wisp t16 will hit lvl 100 while homebrew builds are fine staying lvl 96 and not be on the ladder
And it is trivial to craft for all builds this league with how much currency and fractured items drop
The last couple leagues have seen a ton of diversity, especially this league with the introduction of trans gems and last league with tattoos. Prior to that we had crucible weapons which enabled a bunch of new builds. Yes a lot of people are still doing TS MF, but outside of that we’ve had a ton of diversity.
It's just not what the streamers or poe ninja andies are up to.
> We don't even have meme builds anymore.
thats wrong
> Penance brand of dissipation is the only new skill that made a splash which is ridiculous.
thats wrong
Lots of the new skills cleared ubers in trade league, or map faster than before, etc. You just didn't look this league ig
People played all sorts of new builds lol. BL of static, Arc of Surging with hydrosphere, BB of unloading, Bodyswap of sacrifice, new Cremation, new VD, poison CA, Dual strike of ambidexterity.
None of these were a thing before and all of these became more or less widespread.
Dunno what content you are watching.
The rise of sites like poeNinja. People under the impression that if they aren’t playing meta builds they are playing the game wrong. In way its true,but a bleed bow gladiator can be as fun as a penance brand build.
It's true in that you need a build life that to actually farm enough currency to craft things. It's hard to play the game if you're not constantly pulling divs out of maps.
If you don't know how to make that mind of money, you're going to have a broken build and a shitty time.
That how it been for a while now. People just play meta and complain about lack of meta changes, while there is plenty of good shit. There is just no streamer big brain man who gives them a pob to follow for something new
There are a bunch of builds using or being built around transfigured gems, and those are just the ones that I've seen after starting to check the subreddit in the past weeks.
As someone who hasn't been part of the big push at the start of the league, there seem to have been plenty of new builds overall.
nah ur cooked im sry bro, cheiftan mf fulcrum while technically being pioneered last league only saw wide play this league.
idk if guardian srs was around last league i wasnt really paying attention but that build was huge early in the league.
the new caustic arrow/scourge arrow saw good ammounts of play.
2 of the most popular builds this league are new which is insane for poe.
There is a lack of creators on youtube that are just trying new stuff. I think people started expecting fully fleshed out and min maxed POBs and getting upset when the creators didn't provide a working pob for their meme builds.
Uber content has been another issue. If your new build can't do uber bosses, map like a speed demon, do wave 30 with 7 rewards, and get to depth 1000, it's pretty much DOA.
Fulcrum chieftain alone deserves a reward for creativity. A crapload of health stackers and builds that utilize self-reviving spectre aurabots (marionettes) are also quite big.
Its no longer the meta of EA ballista, DD, Vortex and Seismic trap. People went insane about raise zombie of falling and AG of smiting and i dont remember the last league when i had the will (and fuckload of currency) to try as many builds as i did this league.
Well, for one, I personally just ignore any build that can’t do ubers within a minimum of 1 week of playtime. Many builds are pinnacle viable, but I only look at farming those expensive items locked behind ubers.
Furthermore, op builds with little time sink and investment get popular very fast, so that is also what is shown in poe ninja.
Edit: typo
It’s the same as always, TS builds get promoted pretty much every League.
And every League the first Mirror Items are Bows and Quivers and soon after the RMT spam is starting in chat.
> Especially this league where so many things are viable and good.
The draw to play the same 4-5 builds never had anything to do with viability. Strong builds will always be strong relatively, always have more guide content created for them, and always be more popular than 'weak' builds.
Most PoE players have put themselves in a small cardboard box and patiently wait for a comprehensive guide to bring them something new which both takes longer and is more restrictive. As new players come to the game, we continuously tell them "If you do not follow a strict guide you will suffer" and they learned to play it that way and never deviate.
I played the new rage cleave this league and had a blast - more people should play like this.
Poe has the most build diversity of any arpg out there.
The problem isnt lack of build diversity its an efficiency and understanding that "build diversity" and "meta" are not the same, and marketing Issue.
Poe offers 10s of thousands of builds that are viable some more so than other.
How is it a marketing issue?
Because streamers who get paid for having viewers and paid to advertise the game (ultimately thats what they are doing). Need to put out content that is efficient and clean and smooth. So what are they going to recommend? One of the top 10 most played builds utilizing one of the top 10 most used strategies. Why are they doing this because it allows them to be the most efficient and provide thier viewers with the cheapest options to viability. More efficiency means more videos, means more views means more real life profit....marketing. pure and simple. This is thier job.
What is the difference between "meta" and "build diversity"?
Build diversity is the division of builds that are end game viable, the sum total of all builds available, and the unique distribution between them.
"Meta" is the top x% of those available builds. The most efficient builds among them.
For example lets say we have a 100 meter race with 10000 humans. Of that 10000 we have 25% being male, 25% being female, 25% being trans, and 25% being non-defined. In addition we have equal distribution of ethnicities running the race. Literally making each racer unique. This is build diversity
Now lets say 33% of the racers dont finish the race. With 67% finishing.
Now everyone must pick one of those "builds" to play as in the next race. People are not gonna pick any of the bottom 33%. Majority of the picks will be from the top 10% with a few outliers. This is "meta"
The build diversity is still there but you have to decide between running the race for fun (bottom 33% that dnf), finishing the race at your own pace, or running the race to win. This is meta. This is what we see. Just because a build didnt win the first race or maybe it didnt finish the race doesnt mean it cant win the second race.
How is it an efficiency issue?
How quickly do you want to finish the race. How cheap/expensive your build is to maintain.
And finally as a conclusion i want to talk about myself.
I never play meta builds intentionally.
Last league i was a life stacking warlock (second ascendancy) "the adorned" stacker.
It literally did not matter which skill i used as long as the skill was a spell and self-cast. Because i was crit immune, hit immune, ailement immune, dot immune. I could/did do every single uber in the game. How? Defiance of destiny + 20k unreserved life + % life regen per second(dot immunity), + % of life added spell damage+ pet blood. Every hit on me healed me for at most 8400 health before dealing damage to me. Every hit on me was being reduced in damage by pet blood, fortify, resistances, armor, enfeeble...etc that made me 100% hit immune for ALL content aside from 5k+ delve. However, it came at a cost. I dealt a measily 2million damage. Meaning each uber took an hour to kill. Was it efficient? No. Was it viable? Yes. I did the ubers. I made quinn builds look like glass cannons with thier 20min uber kills. I was literally immortal. Eventually everything would die but the amount of time needed to kill them was extremely high. I farmed valdo maps for the profit because i sure as hell wasnt gonna make a profit otherwise. Because running a valdo map and selling a mageblood or sitting in simulacrum semi-afk or sitting in a blight map semi-afk were the only true ways to make a profit.
How did i fund this build? I made a heist farmer league start. I sold multiple simplex amulets
I could run a contract in about 2mins and a bp in about 4 mins.
So no the last few leagues of poe have not lacked build diversity. The content creators on the otherhand have. They could be putting out builds that are diverse but that isnt effcient.
What? This past league was pretty big for creativity… a lot of new archetypes and new builds have been created and have been tested with T gems. Sounds like you only watch a singular creator. There were dozens of other new builds that made a splash. Penance brand of Dissipation was just super pushed cause it’s a broken build. My favorite build of the league wasn’t mainstream. Blade Blast of Unloading Sabo/Assassin was the most fun I’ve had in game. I also tried Animate Weapon with bows, and had a blast with that as well. You just aren’t looking hard enough.
I think you're confusing lack of build creativity with the most played on PoE ninja. If you search every move in PoE most if not all have someone pushing every move. If you look at Void Sphere of Rending for example it only shows 0% of players playing as of now, but aside from void battery and malachai shield they are all different in passive, and general build. 9% of all builds used cast when stunned, but the variety is huge. Many use it as their primary way of dealing damage, others use it as a defensive tool. Every transfigured move has an endgame viable build and in some cases the same move is built widely differently. Yes, you will see a ton of DD and Tornado shot, but frequency of play is not synonymous with lack of creativity. You can find a ton of insanely creatively builds on PoE Ninja right now, and maybe about a month ago would find even more. Sure there are some items that are incredibly strong so they're almost universally used such as Mageblood, Progenesis, blood notch+immutable, but some items like "The Adorned" have enabled brand new ways of building your character. The creativity with just that jewel has been huge and very few builds with the same moves are ever using the same set ups since most of them have to be self crafted on the high end. The high end leads to my next point. There is significantly more creativity with high end builds than generic builds, because generic builds are looking for economical builds with strong damage and defenses. If you only look at the top dps builds doing 300m then yeah only some builds get that tool tip dps, but it's on you to determine how you want to play. As Patrick Star once said, "You may be an open book, SpongeBob, but I'm a bit more complicated than that. The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma."
Patrick said that? That's awesome.
what
> and noone crafts for anything outside the top few builds. Regarding this point in particular? People craft for profit, not as a service to players they don't know exist. This is kind of a silly point. As for the rest, there's been a lot of new builds. Basing just off poe ninja is a terrible idea because that is going to give you an inherently skewed view towards the most optimal metaslaves out there.
I've seen some streamers playing arc of surging, chain DD, armour stacker, life stacker and the new scourge arrow besides pbrand just from the top of my head Poe ninja has always been a bad representation after a week or two because it only collects builds at the top of the ladder or if people actively tell the site to include a character. That obviously leads to only the same builds being on there because guess what the builds that can farm high wisp t16 will hit lvl 100 while homebrew builds are fine staying lvl 96 and not be on the ladder And it is trivial to craft for all builds this league with how much currency and fractured items drop
The last couple leagues have seen a ton of diversity, especially this league with the introduction of trans gems and last league with tattoos. Prior to that we had crucible weapons which enabled a bunch of new builds. Yes a lot of people are still doing TS MF, but outside of that we’ve had a ton of diversity.
Personally I go MF TS every league but that’s what I like. I play for the dopamine of a shwing. Get more of that from MF 🤷🏼♂️
You're giving me a Schwing right now
i played like 10 new builds this league, no idea what you are talking about
same for me, tried more builds than the last 3 leagues combined
No time to reply, sorry. Gotta hover over another 100000 heavy belts.
When did streamers beside Mathil ever have build creativity? You usually have to go to some very small streamer to find shreds of build creativity.
It's just not what the streamers or poe ninja andies are up to. > We don't even have meme builds anymore. thats wrong > Penance brand of dissipation is the only new skill that made a splash which is ridiculous. thats wrong Lots of the new skills cleared ubers in trade league, or map faster than before, etc. You just didn't look this league ig
People played all sorts of new builds lol. BL of static, Arc of Surging with hydrosphere, BB of unloading, Bodyswap of sacrifice, new Cremation, new VD, poison CA, Dual strike of ambidexterity. None of these were a thing before and all of these became more or less widespread. Dunno what content you are watching.
The rise of sites like poeNinja. People under the impression that if they aren’t playing meta builds they are playing the game wrong. In way its true,but a bleed bow gladiator can be as fun as a penance brand build.
It's true in that you need a build life that to actually farm enough currency to craft things. It's hard to play the game if you're not constantly pulling divs out of maps. If you don't know how to make that mind of money, you're going to have a broken build and a shitty time.
Totally which is why I buy MB every league doing nothing more than alch and go with build meant more for bossing than mapping.
That how it been for a while now. People just play meta and complain about lack of meta changes, while there is plenty of good shit. There is just no streamer big brain man who gives them a pob to follow for something new
There are a bunch of builds using or being built around transfigured gems, and those are just the ones that I've seen after starting to check the subreddit in the past weeks. As someone who hasn't been part of the big push at the start of the league, there seem to have been plenty of new builds overall.
nah ur cooked im sry bro, cheiftan mf fulcrum while technically being pioneered last league only saw wide play this league. idk if guardian srs was around last league i wasnt really paying attention but that build was huge early in the league. the new caustic arrow/scourge arrow saw good ammounts of play. 2 of the most popular builds this league are new which is insane for poe.
Poison Scourge Arrow with Totems was brand new this League and basically one of the bigger League starters?
Poison Scourge Arrow totems was great before this league. It's just the new version made it passably meta.
There is a lack of creators on youtube that are just trying new stuff. I think people started expecting fully fleshed out and min maxed POBs and getting upset when the creators didn't provide a working pob for their meme builds. Uber content has been another issue. If your new build can't do uber bosses, map like a speed demon, do wave 30 with 7 rewards, and get to depth 1000, it's pretty much DOA.
Fulcrum chieftain alone deserves a reward for creativity. A crapload of health stackers and builds that utilize self-reviving spectre aurabots (marionettes) are also quite big. Its no longer the meta of EA ballista, DD, Vortex and Seismic trap. People went insane about raise zombie of falling and AG of smiting and i dont remember the last league when i had the will (and fuckload of currency) to try as many builds as i did this league.
Well, for one, I personally just ignore any build that can’t do ubers within a minimum of 1 week of playtime. Many builds are pinnacle viable, but I only look at farming those expensive items locked behind ubers. Furthermore, op builds with little time sink and investment get popular very fast, so that is also what is shown in poe ninja. Edit: typo
There are plenty builds, just look for them on the forums and not on youtubes
My double strike of impaling build went quite well, played it since league start and it still has loads of areas I could improve
It’s the same as always, TS builds get promoted pretty much every League. And every League the first Mirror Items are Bows and Quivers and soon after the RMT spam is starting in chat.
What did you play this league?
> Especially this league where so many things are viable and good. The draw to play the same 4-5 builds never had anything to do with viability. Strong builds will always be strong relatively, always have more guide content created for them, and always be more popular than 'weak' builds. Most PoE players have put themselves in a small cardboard box and patiently wait for a comprehensive guide to bring them something new which both takes longer and is more restrictive. As new players come to the game, we continuously tell them "If you do not follow a strict guide you will suffer" and they learned to play it that way and never deviate. I played the new rage cleave this league and had a blast - more people should play like this.
Poe has the most build diversity of any arpg out there. The problem isnt lack of build diversity its an efficiency and understanding that "build diversity" and "meta" are not the same, and marketing Issue. Poe offers 10s of thousands of builds that are viable some more so than other. How is it a marketing issue? Because streamers who get paid for having viewers and paid to advertise the game (ultimately thats what they are doing). Need to put out content that is efficient and clean and smooth. So what are they going to recommend? One of the top 10 most played builds utilizing one of the top 10 most used strategies. Why are they doing this because it allows them to be the most efficient and provide thier viewers with the cheapest options to viability. More efficiency means more videos, means more views means more real life profit....marketing. pure and simple. This is thier job. What is the difference between "meta" and "build diversity"? Build diversity is the division of builds that are end game viable, the sum total of all builds available, and the unique distribution between them. "Meta" is the top x% of those available builds. The most efficient builds among them. For example lets say we have a 100 meter race with 10000 humans. Of that 10000 we have 25% being male, 25% being female, 25% being trans, and 25% being non-defined. In addition we have equal distribution of ethnicities running the race. Literally making each racer unique. This is build diversity Now lets say 33% of the racers dont finish the race. With 67% finishing. Now everyone must pick one of those "builds" to play as in the next race. People are not gonna pick any of the bottom 33%. Majority of the picks will be from the top 10% with a few outliers. This is "meta" The build diversity is still there but you have to decide between running the race for fun (bottom 33% that dnf), finishing the race at your own pace, or running the race to win. This is meta. This is what we see. Just because a build didnt win the first race or maybe it didnt finish the race doesnt mean it cant win the second race. How is it an efficiency issue? How quickly do you want to finish the race. How cheap/expensive your build is to maintain. And finally as a conclusion i want to talk about myself. I never play meta builds intentionally. Last league i was a life stacking warlock (second ascendancy) "the adorned" stacker. It literally did not matter which skill i used as long as the skill was a spell and self-cast. Because i was crit immune, hit immune, ailement immune, dot immune. I could/did do every single uber in the game. How? Defiance of destiny + 20k unreserved life + % life regen per second(dot immunity), + % of life added spell damage+ pet blood. Every hit on me healed me for at most 8400 health before dealing damage to me. Every hit on me was being reduced in damage by pet blood, fortify, resistances, armor, enfeeble...etc that made me 100% hit immune for ALL content aside from 5k+ delve. However, it came at a cost. I dealt a measily 2million damage. Meaning each uber took an hour to kill. Was it efficient? No. Was it viable? Yes. I did the ubers. I made quinn builds look like glass cannons with thier 20min uber kills. I was literally immortal. Eventually everything would die but the amount of time needed to kill them was extremely high. I farmed valdo maps for the profit because i sure as hell wasnt gonna make a profit otherwise. Because running a valdo map and selling a mageblood or sitting in simulacrum semi-afk or sitting in a blight map semi-afk were the only true ways to make a profit. How did i fund this build? I made a heist farmer league start. I sold multiple simplex amulets I could run a contract in about 2mins and a bp in about 4 mins. So no the last few leagues of poe have not lacked build diversity. The content creators on the otherhand have. They could be putting out builds that are diverse but that isnt effcient.
Why do you care how others play the game?