After spending 500 hours in the game, I started noticing an issue with legendary items.
Once you reach the endgame, you basically forget about 90% of the crafting system because everything gets replaced by legendaries. You stop paying attention to item bases or their unique properties — all you’re doing is hunting for T6-T7 affixes.
This issue has become even more noticeable in the latest cycle, especially with the introduction of guaranteed crafting for specific affixes, which takes away much of the purpose of crafting itself. (This is particularly obvious when looking at online builds where 90% of the gear consists of legendaries with just one useful affix.)
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I actually came up with a possible solution to this problem — though I admit it could make the gameplay loop more complex for some players.
The idea is to flip how Legendary Potential works.
What do I mean? Instead of transferring affixes from a rare item onto a unique — do it the other way around, similar to how it works with set items (even though barely anyone uses that system right now).
This would allow players to grab that key “build-enabling” mod from a unique item — while keeping much more flexibility in crafting:
• You’d still be able to roll for a good base,
• Add experimental affixes,
• Seal affixes you want, etc.
In the end, the final item would remain unique — but with more depth and customization. It would make characters feel stronger and create new opportunities for the in-game economy (or even RMT — which I don’t support — if it ever comes back).
Of course, this is not the solution — just one possible way to address the issue (though for some players, it might not even feel like a problem at all).
Apologies if anything I wrote was unclear. English is not my native language, and I used ChatGPT to help translate my thoughts.
I’d be really interested to hear what you think about this
Most Uniques are trash without LP that’s why everyone is hunting for 2+LP uniques because at or 3 LP uniques become better then perfect bases you craft with just adding on top what you already have.
It’s just a normal thing for this kind of games that there is a loothunt and a BiS system in place so you can always chase down whatever you think you need. Then again the game is so easy (if you play a half baked usefull build) that reaching 600C isn’t an issue and the main problem isn’t the gear or minmaxing but keeping the motivation untill you hit 300C+.
Uniques don’t exist in all bases. So in many cases, having a right base T7 exalted item is better than a random 4LP unique that does little for your build.
That is why you very rarely (if ever) see any build that is all legendaries. Because in many cases, having a legendary is worse.
In most builds you run 3-4 exalted pieces. Sometimes with a crafted set affix in them.
In some builds you even only run just 1-2 legendaries.
Some Uniques have exclusive bases which are part of why the unique is exciting and good
Things like Sealing are meant to be mutually exclusive with legendary items (same as Champion and Set Affixes).
This would be very strong for certain uniques that only have ones speicfic important affix and possibly be useless or bad for uniques that are good as a whole with multipels affixes coming together.
I think this could be a nice optional thing (maybe a specific woven echo that does it this way, instead of the “regular” way. So people can choose if they wanna do it for a specifc Item.
But I personally think the legendary system is not in as a bad state as many people make it to be. I think Set and Champion Affixes already are doing a decent job, we just need more of these and possibly buff some of them more and add more.
We just need more competition for Legendaries.
(crafted) Set and Champion Items are essentially exalted items in most cases (maybe rare early in progression).
I think once sets are i na better place (they need a bit mroe buffs) and we get enough champion affixes for almost every build or archetype this will get a lot better on its own already.
Maybe also add new Woven Echoes that make Champion Affix crafting a bit easier and determinsitic, because its very very hard to get a specific champion affix on a specific sub type.
???
Seriously?
That was true in 0.8, but it hasn’t been for years.
Look at the builds on lastepochtools. For 1.2.5, no build uses less than 4 legendaries. There is 1 build with “only” (ah ah) 4, 3 builds with just 5. The overwhelming majority has between 6 and 9. 3 builds use 10, 3 others use 11.
Results would be similar if you extend to all builds for 1.2.
Last Epoch has become legendaries-only at least since 1.1, probably 1.0. Hopefully the new systems will change that, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Edit: OK, I misread your post, you said 3-4 EXALTED, not legendaries. That sounds about correct. And, in my opinion, a real shame. Uniques should be used scarcily, just for their special effects.
Uniques should be unique. The droprate for uniques is out of hand for a long time. They are to easy to get in general and to hard to get with more then 2LP. There is nothing unique about an item rarity that drops every other minute.
Me and my friend are mostly playing characters in the levelrange of 70 to 90.
Due to this we can’t use some online guides, due to those listing the most powerful items at level 85+. Which feels good… we have a lot more variety then just the most powerful items and are building our own builds, like the weak poison-summon barbarian.
We enjoy much more variety!
Like other games much more content seems to be ‘before’ reaching max level. In this case for me it is before 85.
And that’s not an issue if my friend and I replay story and hardcore often. Because getting legendary on the way to 85 is the way how to use them, how they are balanced.
Though, story is very unbalanced nowadays and THIS made legendary with their level requirements not shine in the only place most of them should shine!
That’s my experiences, personal opinion. Offline and duo gameplay only - no market.
People forgets that finding the right exalt with a the right base and decent tier of affixes is almost impossible. Or an exalted that can be crafted in what you desire.
That’s why people use slammed 2LP legendaries. Ironically it’s much easier to achieve
Why would it be ironic? Unless you mean in the sense of the Alanis Morissette song, where none of what she lists is ironic at all.
Slammed 2LP legendaries are easier to achieve than the right exalted base with the right affixes, because it’s not as good. And things that aren’t as good should be easier to get than things which are better.
They aren’t a “tier below”. In fact, you get unique drops with LP much before you get exalted drops (outside of Nemesis) and you can slam rares into them even in the middle of the campign. A legendary doesn’t need T6+ affixes.
Exalteds, legendaries, sets and champion gear are all supposed to be the same tier (as in, power level). Most builds should have some of each and that’s what EHG is trying to balance out.
Agreed. Acquisition of that right T7 exalted item with the right base though is a major issue. Target-farmable uniques are a vastly easier method. Which is the core issue of that system.
Also design wise there’s a major issue existing. For example there is not a single situation where a built wouldn’t be better off with a unique body armour, relic or amulet. Those 3 slots are never exalted items end-game, hence the immense effort needed to get a exalted base with the exalted affixes is so unlikely to achieve before getting a simply better chest-piece that it’s nigh never done.
Exalted items in those slots are solely ‘stand in’ items but never BiS.
That’s a design error from EHG.
For these slots a rework is already mandated, either for the existing unique pieces to allow exalted items to be more powerful potentially in some cases. For the bases in those slots used to provide an upside compared to a unique or a core rework of the full system.
The last is the biggest effort and unlikely, but I wanted to mention it anyway.
Always minimum 3. And the change for that number to not be higher is miniscule beyond that, usually a sign of a messy unintended and unsupported build which is very very sub-par.
I would love if it were different… but sadly isn’t.
The set affixes are a nice implementation, agreed.
Set items themselves are throwaway now though, with very very few exceptions. Made them completely useless comparatively. A common issue with set items. Either BiS or worthless, barely ever anything in-between.
For champion Affixes… the majority is garbage, absolutely worthless to even consider using. And if you need one it’s a nightmare to get on the proper base with the proper tier with the proper affix combination. They are garbage currently. Same issue which talismans in PoE have, had and likely always will have into the future as that system is deprecated there completely after several tries for a re-work which all failed.
The same will happen with Champion affixes unless major reworks are done in how they’re handled.
Set affixes are slam material for the specific uniques in that slot, not for crafted gear.
I would love to agree, but sadly not.
The set affixes made sets meaningless.
The champion affixes expedite the showcase of drop issues in the game unfitting to the provided position on the market. They’re badly designed… like the whole drop-/crafting-system in conjunction to each other.
For example, albeit those things need to be unified before they grow out of hand.
How many echoes should we need to remember the individual crafting recipes for and then having to run them individually for a singular try to repeat over and over?
There’s a reason why very few double-corruptions of items, gems or alternative gems are produced on PoE. Nobody likes the way it’s setup, only a miniscule amount of people use it since it’s RNG-heavy and prone to lead to frustration for a progression themed mechanic. It’s pure gamble hence and gamble is to be excempted from the core progression but instead to be a alternative improved way to access extra power rather then solely needed one.
Agreed, 100%.
The irony of it is that uniques are supposed to be the ‘pinnacle of power’ for specific areas. Instead they’ve become a crutch to alleviate the issues related to the drop mechanic.
That is very ironic… using those ‘really special’ items as a method to circumvent atrocious drop-rates for core items.
Which already showcases the issue of the design for them?
Nonsensical after all to get those before having any means to use them. Why do they drop there? Why can you access them before their ‘proper’ positioning?
Once again a bad design aspect. That’s 101 game design even.
And that works how well?
And do you think after years of trying to get that handled and not managing it even remotely that suddenly EHG will get the eureka moment and solve it overnight?
Are we supposed to wait until 2030 for a proper baseline setup mandatory for 1.0? Or 2035? How about never?
It’s a mess, shouldn’t be a mess and the strategies simply need to be re-evaluated there.
That is a crazy take. All the campion affixes are very specific and are only used on very specific kind of builds, bu they are all incredibly powerful.
What holds them back right now is how hard they are to get on a good item. So its very hard to get them on a competetive item that can rival a crafted legendary or something similar.
But from a pure power level they are actually insane.
Set Affixes cannot be legendary crafted (slammed), so no they are still mainyl used for Exalted Gear for actual use.
I agree that Woven Echoes maybe need more clear desc. and explanation of what each individual Woven Echo does, so you don’t have to remember everything.
But
Depending on what other crafting options are introduced for Woven Echoes they serve very different purposes than Double-Corrupt in PoE.
Double Corrupt in PoE are literally the last step for min-maxing and you usually don’t do that randomly during any point of your progression but rather in high endgame.
Many Woven Echoes are not that much high endgame and can be used during mid character progression.
Also I think you severely underestimate how many people use double corrupt. It does come decently late in progression so there is a large portion of players who might never use it at all, but all players that each a certain point in progression will eventually do it. In a trade environment people might buy the end result and not do it themselves tough.
You can already use them. Like I said, you don’t have to slam exalted gear in LP uniques, you can slam rares. And you can already do that during the campaign.
So you do have the means to use them and they’re properly positioned.
I’d say that works decently well already given that pretty much every build uses both exalteds and legendaries and plenty also use set affixes.
Champion affixes are less used, but they’re new and not yet properly balanced. But the idea is still there.
I don’t know how long you are arround but this specific problem is the overall problemLE suffers from since forever. To me it looks like they have no targets they want to reach and only set goalposts they can move arround like they want to.
It’s a bit like a friends journey to loose weight. He had a bet that he’ll never loose weight. Then he shaved bald, cut nails and took a leak and lost weight comparing before and after and won the bet.
if EHG want to make it they need to set hard targets they aim for instead of watering down everything they touch.
They’re also very build-specific, like many uniques tbh, so if there isnt one that suits your build then you wouldn’t care about them.
Personally I’m not overly fond of them as it’s nigh on impossible to get a relevant champion affix on a decent base with useable affixes let alone useable exalted affixes.
That is my feeling exactly on them. I almost never care about them but glance at them in case they might actually be worth it, and every time I’m disappointed.
Yeah, i might use them while levelling but they feel as useful or relevant as a Red Ring/Ravenous Void for me (given I don’t spend enough time in high corruption farming for them so they might as well not exist).
If I could craft them onto a useful base that would be different.
Which is what makes em really useless.
Because you can’t acquisition them reliably they aren’t used, even on the builds which would make them a viable use.
Which as you mention… is a problem.
Ah, my bad, that’s how much I interacted with this system that it went right over my head.
But that’s a ‘me’ thing there.
Which ones? You mean re-rolling LP uniques? Or do you mean shattering sets?
Leftover are the rune prison Complex for experimental slamming… which can fail and is simply another step into ‘Oh no, my RNG can ruin my item’ beyond the baseline crafting system mess.
Then we got the Oerden’s Watch to switch Attributes.
Cemetery of Reweaving, which is useless.
And the Gauntlet of Strife which is absolute end-game for unique re-rolling.
And that’s it.
EHG makes the exact same mistake as GGG did years ago by now.
‘Here, have this lovely mechanic and you need to run it individually over and over again for the crafting result’.
Once again… temple… lab… those things are generally hated to be run. Not because the mechanics inside are bad, the contrary… but because it’s annoying.
Comparatively the acquisition and usage formerly was a mess too… but that got itemized.
So, what’s the solution for solving this issue? Itemized specific runes acquired from that place. Instead of the crafting station you use there you get that rune, when you use that rune it does open the menu for picking the results.
This way you can run it on the side, acquire it and have it at the ready when needed… rather then ‘Ugh… I really don’t wanna run this content now but I’m forced to run this specific one since I can only craft on things when I do it at that exact moment rather then anytime else’.
Player agency. Something kinda weak in LE still.
You have access to it at the moment you enter maps.
There’s nodes specifically dedicated to Alva and the temple on the Atlas passives.
Those passives are also very very early on reachable.
If you progress normally in the Atlas you’ll likely get your first double-corruption or double-gem-corruption temple in T4-5… which is the equivalent of 200c in LE roughly.
Mhmm… and a ‘Core of the Mountain’ clearly wouldn’t improve the defense abilities of that build now, wouldn’t it? With 2 LP for %health and the DoT echo damage.
T4 dungeon, true… but Sentinel which has no issues with mitigation for the first phase and the result has a 12% chance to happen to drop. Which means a ~1 in 8 chance. 1 LP 1 in 7 so 56 times total running amount to acquire. The only issue would be 2 LP with a 1224 count of runs commonly needed.
As for the Affixes on it? The base armor from the exalted base is made up reasonably well with the increased armor Affix on it.
The all Attributes doesn’t only improve Vitality but provides up to 80% inc damage to the throw anyway, making up for the sealed Affix entirely.
The endurance is stronger then the armor since Void Knight is a life based build.
Together with % health which leans into the vitality stat after all as well and the rare Affix on it the outcome is better then that exalted chestpiece which not only has a top-tier base… and a fitting rare exalted Affix… but also a fitting high tier sealed Affix to boot.
Expecting someone to find the same item would be nonsensical, you can play 500 hours as CoF and not find that one at all. In that time you’ll have a core with at least 1 LP, and in CoF likely 2 LP.
And that’s not even mentioning the 3 second damage immunity after being hit… which is massive.
Since when can you use rares on uniques? That’s new, the mechanic is limited to exalted items as much as I know.
So you can’t do it during the campaign, outside of Nemesis gear, which is unfitting for the campaign.
You can only do it at level 90.
Why do I ignore Nemesis?
Campaign progression was already easy before implementation and a discussion point.
Nemesis makes acquisition of items vastly beyond the expected power level of the campaign content possible.
Nemesis is badly positioned or badly designed hence. Pick your choice.
So since exalteds are solely acquisitioned around Monolith level 90 naturally and legendaries are supposed to be at the same level as exalteds this would necessitate LP to only start dropping at level 90 monoliths in that case.
You once again ignore the basically ‘mandated Legendary slots’.
Uniques are meant to be build defining items. Things which are used to acquire otherwise not seen combinations of effects. Be it changes in how mechanisms work or Affixes otherwise not possible to be acquired in that specific slot.
If every single character can get unique relic more reliable then a decent exalted one then that makes exalted relics worthless entirely.
They hence lost their position, they don’t compete with uniques there… there is not even a remote competition available.
And set affixes are not sets, they are a crafting mechanic. It’s like saying the steering wheel of a car makes the whole car.
Sets are dead, exceptions apply for BiS items. Which is the counterside of sets where they are so powerful that nothing else can compare.
You get either/or. The set shattering solely introduced some extra crafting options for present items, it did nothing about the classic set mechanic.
Acquisition rate of proper bases with proper affixes is so poor that they’re reliably meaningless.
Only long… loooong term players will get a good piece with them they can use. Relying on anything else would be detrimental.
That system was not supposed to only bring a boon to min-max players but is supposed to enhance to option range of items in end-game.
They have the same issue as exiled mages dropping experimental affix items. Without the glyph and rune those mages are relatively worthless for those drops, aren’t they?
Same with champions.
Rate is roughly the same for a viable item. If mages are useless… so are Champions.
EHG learned literally nothing from exiled mages related to drops… which I mentioned before 1.2 even released that this system will have the exact same issues. And here we are… surprise surprise.
Yes, sadly so, it feels ever more like that.
Blind man wandering around the ARPG landscape and rather then having skill they have sheer luck.
It’s like a random streamer getting large not because they follow the strict rules of positioning themselves properly with fixed schedules and in a place where other streamer will log off so overflow happens and proper presentation with clear-cut content showcase and so on… but simply because they had no clue but some large guy raided them once and 20000 people suddenly were there… with 200 staying and hence breaching the threshold to be ‘visible enough’.
It’s the same shit. Lack of skill, massive luck.
Exactly.
If you could acquisition them in a reliable way then they would be in reliable use.
You really do use the term “useless” very inflationary
No offense but this shows me that you really do not see the grand picture and the reason why and how they implemented all these new systems.
Set Crafting and Champion Affixes were introduced to rival legendary items, because they are mutually exclusive with legendaries. Did they fully achieve that yet? No, but I think they are completely on the right path and itemization in LE is great.
Farsight Turtle would be the most prelevant one, that is very easy, not very rare and very early applciable, ocne you ahve a decent 1LP Unique you can use this already for potential 2LP+ gambles.
Also EHG does it very very different then GGG, many of the Woven Echeos do not need to be run over and over and over again, because you can use the rewards indefinitely or multiples times with multiples items.
Oerden’s Watch can be incredibly good evne early one. It is rare but you also do not need to use it very often.
Cemetery of Reweaving is not useless? I am not sure but evey time you talk about something it is always very black & white, either something is good or useless.
Some thigns do not need to be the best most amazing things in the world to still serve a purpose.
Also I was not only taling about craftin Woven Echoes, there are many more good Woven Echeos which have a purpose durign early and midgame and many can be used for endgame strategies.
Just because you have access to it, doesn’t mean that is the time when you effectively use it, especially in large quantities. At that point your gems are level 17, 18 with possibly not even 20% quality not even level 20/20
