Yesterday I decided to give Microsoft $25 to access Avowed early. Essentially I noticed that Battle.Net was showing it as available through Gamepass but only the Deluxe edition could start playing early. I would honestly love to see Microsoft migrate all of the Gamepass PC games over to the Battle.net launcher, because really it feels like a better interface than essentially going through the Microsoft store via the Xbox app. Essentially Avowed is what if Obsidian made their own Elder Scrolls Game, this time set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity. So far it feels very Morrowind to me, in that you are arriving on the docks of a far flung destination… filled with all sorts of creepy fungus growing everywhere. I am playing a melee character so far and the combat feels pretty enjoyable.
I got my first companion, which is essentially a Shark dude straight out of the Tigersharks Cartoon. Essentially we are adventuring together out of convenience at the moment, but I assume some events are going to happen that bind us together going forward. I know there are other companions but right now I am digging Kai because he gives me the ability to burn things down, since I am not going down the magical route. I believe I can make my own firebombs eventually out if this plant that I occasionally find laying around. One of the objectives of the tutorial area was to shoot one of those plants down so it fell onto some vines and burned it to open up a new area, which makes me think at some point I can use the same plant to do the same thing in other areas.
I’ve not made it super far but I am enjoying it. There are these adorable Aye Aye meets Lemur meets Cat things all over the island that sort of purr when you get close to them. Unfortunately this particular one meets a grim fate in the opening cinematic. I’ve heard this is around a 40 hour campaign start to finish, which seems fairly reasonable. It is open world, but open world within the confines of a fixed map level so there are is a lot of exploration, but it doesn’t really let you stray too far off the beaten path. I am hoping at some point I find a companion with some healing spells because right now I am having to chug a lot of healing potions to keep topped off after combat. I specced into this thing that heals back 50% of the damage that was dealt after combat, but that still makes a lot of the fights a battle of attrition.
Over in Pohx League I did a safehouse and got one of the crafting benches that allow you to swap one Divination Card for another random one. The first one I turned in was nothing special, but the second one landed me a Brother’s Gift card which I immediately turned in for 5 Divine Orbs. I’ve not been terribly wealthy during Pohx league, but then again I have not really focused on trying to make currency. Given that it is a private league, everything costs way more than it would during a normal league economy. This is especially noticeable on the currency exchange, because buying relatively simple things… like a Tainted Fusing for example costs around 50 Chaos each. Gemcutter’s Prisms similarly are really expensive so I figure at some point I am just going to chain run a lot of Labyrinth to get gems upgraded. I purchased every single Ice Trap of Hollowness in the entire league and have been leveling them all to 20 so that I can attempt to corrupt a 21/20% gem.
Immediately after turning in the Brother’s Gift card, I took four of those Divine Orbs and converted them into an Omen of Connections. Now that these exist in the game, this is more often than not who I end up getting my six-linked chest. I was running a Ritual/Einhar Atlas quite a bit trying to get either this or a Black Morrigan so I could use beast crafting to do the same thing. The new Gem that I have mixed in is Cold Penetration and lord does it make a massive difference. I also added Bonechill to my Skitterbots and together I am dishing out a ton more damage. I bought this chestpiece ages ago and I had been throwing fusings at it in vain thinking that either I would six-link it the old fashioned way or I would earn enough currency to do it the easy way. I’ve since corrupted my old one and got a white socket on it, so I will probably throw the first tainted fusings at it trying to six-link it so I can sell it for a decent profit.
I am pretty happy with my progress in Pohx league and honestly… would be fine if I don’t make it any further. I’ve completed 110 out of 115 maps, with the remaining 5 maps all being uniques. I will probably start using Singular Scouting Reports when I get Kirac missions to try for the remaining maps since I can’t really afford to buy any of them off the market right now. I’ve finished two of my voidstones, and I might make a run at Uber Elder and Maven, but I am in no rush to do either. If they happen organically it is cool, but I am not necessarily going to push my way through it. I still do not love bossing and I also feel way too squishy to reasonable deal with the damage output from those encounters. I would essentially have to perform both of them perfectly… and I can’t say I have ever done that. I did however do a no-death Eater of Worlds which made me happy. Searing Exarch though was a complete and total mess, which is funny because as Righteous Fire that fight is a cakewalk.
I say I am happy with my progress in Pohx League in large part because I know come the 20th I will not be playing it anymore. Yesterday GGG released the full trailer for the Legacy of Phrecia Event and with it came the start date of February 20th. Which gives me eight days of undivided attention before Monster Hunter Wilds comes out and I tag out to play that with friends. I have no clue at all what I am going to play. Right now I am leaning towards either doing Poison Summon Raging Spirits on Servant of Arakali Shadow or try and build something Righteous Fire themed on either Ancestral Commander Marauder or maybe Polytheist Templar. The problem with that last one is I do not think there are four ascendancies that will help me out… Scavenger Scion could probably also work. If I do go RF, I will probably wait to see what ideas Pohx has before going down that path. I am also somewhat interested in 100% melee with Behemoth Marauder.
Have you played any of Avowed yet? Are you going to be joining the nonsense of the Legacy of Phrecia Event in Path of Exile? Drop me a line below with your thoughts.
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