Well, a combination of DXVK, wine and dxvk-cache-pool was used to try and play Path of Exile. The problem seems to be that I can't have any pre-built caches due to them not existing. Seems like a GTX 660 isn't really used anymore and if I want to play a game I will have to have DXVK build its own cache.

Until then, I'm stuck with a stuttery mess of a game due to Path of Exile having a rather many levels. A full playthrough will be necessary until it starts working smoothly.

Ouchy.

Fun game, but the inability to respec killed it for me.

@Root you can respec. You get 14 skill refund points per character. Plus, an Orb of Regret gives you another one, so just need to farm (or buy) those.

The whole point of the game though is making your build in a certain way so each choice matters, so respecing is generally used to go from a temporary skilltree to a final one (eg. Slightly different tree for levelling vs endgame).

I usually just make a new character if I want to change something drastic though.

@RememberMe Huge time investment for trying different builds that probably won't work. So it's either cookie cutter or a gamble. 😕

Also, good endgame/pvp builds generally suck for leveling. So.

I very much dislike the design choice. Games are supposed to be fun, and that just isn't.

@Root huge time investment -> agreed if you manually try out combinations on the skilltree in-game. The way around that is to base your build off a build guide if you don't know the game's mechanics very well (because there are tons of mechanics which are overwhelming for noobs like me) - currently I'm running an Incinerate Elementalist from a guide on the net that I've tweaked to do stuff the way I want to. The other way is to use an application called Path of Building that lets you theory-craft a build. Just theory-crafted one and the stats look good, can't wait to try it out in-game.

Good endgame/PvP suck for levelling -> true for some skills which is why you get those 14 refund points by default so that you can switch your build after you reach a certain point. You can level with a different set of skills. Also false for others (like Incinerate).

Supposed to be fun -> making builds and trying them out is the main reason I like PoE, a sort of metagame over the base ARPG mechanics.

@RememberMe. Basing a build of a build guide is basically cookie cutter with frosting. lol
Theorycrafting is neat, I admit, but if it fails... wasted time. Why not just let people respec? There are different classes, and people will want multiple of the same class with different builds anyway, so it's not like it would reduce replayability. The choice just seems arbitrarily restrictive, and ruins the fun. One wrong decision and you can ruin your character -- or force yourself to farm orbs of regret that automatically merge into a different item once you have more than 7 or so. For that matter, why can't you break apart the next-higher tier into orbs of regret? Right, that would allow respeccing.

Stupid design decision is stupid and ruins the fun.

For contrast, look at how WoW approached it. I really enjoyed their respeccing, apart from a lack of talents anyway. You could respec whenever you wanted by spending gold. The more often you respecced, the more costly, with the price resetting to 1g every month. That way the price more or less aligned with your level of dedication (casual vs whatever vs hardcore), which is more or less in line with your amount of gold. Good balancing. This allowed you to experiment with little risk, and to change specs when absolutely needed, such as for a raid, or to use an epic drop that only benefitted e.g. fire mages. It allowed you to continually enjoy your character. PoE, by contrast, requires hours and hours of grinding. New toon? Same content. Every time.

@Root getting into the game is hard though, build guides are the best way for that. Cookie cutter yes, but you learn a lot.

I don't think orbs merge like that, they just stack. Converting orbs in PoE is usually done via trading eg. chaos to regret orbs https://currency.poe.trade/search/...

I actually like the emphasis on minimal respeccing, maybe because I got my start on Diablo 2 and never played WoW. I feel it's like XCOM's Ironman mode - it makes choices feel more impactful and planning more important. I guess that's part of the main draw of games like XCOM/PoE for me. If I want to be able to try out stuff really easily then I'll just play something else, like Borderlands 2. Heck, PoE has other issues like terrible narrative, but then that's not really what the game's for, I would just play Baldur's Gate or Deus Ex or something if I wanted that.

Grinding - I have never done it, I usually trade to buy what I need for a build to work.

@RememberMe Fair enough. If it's something you like, by all means enjoy it 😋