Same like everyone else here, have been playing POE for awhile now (i think about 40 hours in games). Everything progressing slowly because im sticking to SSF non HC, so getting gear is a bit tricky. Based on changelog, i saw ballista totem got some changes, and 2 classes i never play before are scion and templar. So in my mind, there is like an idea to combine bone skill tree or something.
It was such hard long journey, and it still only a beginning.
https://www.pathofexile.com/account/vie ... charactersPhase 1 : Act 1 - 5
I didnt have problem for first of the act, gear was plenty and it seem like there arent much emphasize on getting resist capped. I think i switching around skill like 20 times just to find bow skill that fit for ballista totem. I picked up point blank because i think enemy going melee on totem for sure gonna take more damage, then i grabbed all + 1 totem on duelist and ranger. At this point, i was aiming for ancenstral spirit and the templar ascendancy that add another totem. But then i realized that i dont like passive gameplay, so i changed the plan to go for weird combo of STR build + Iron Grip as it have easy +life node.
Phase 2 : Act 6 - 10.
Then it hit me hard, that I need to get my resist capped. As i was lazy to upgrade my gear (been using like random unique). Then i try to remember all good suffix / prefix for rare just to get resist cap. This one more struggled, but i kind moving forward once i got a decent bow with decent pdps. At this point i changed my plan to go for marauder starting point first, so i can respec my point to go deep into ranger (i dont think any duelist skill is ok for my plan)
Phase 3 : Early Mapping
Just reached this last weekend (in fact i kileed kitava at end of sunday). This is probably a point where i struggled the most. No matter any setup i made, i feel like sluggish, failed so badly to even clearing tier 2 map. I have been skipping metamorph fight because it was painful and i was just rushing to get my level high so i can get enough point for my hard decision. MAJOR RESPEC!. So i reconnect the node toward marauder (it was through ranger last time) and i respec my marauder starting point ascendancy for elementalist.Then i switched to run triple herald for insane damage boost. Now finally i having must easier time
Lesson learnt :
If you stubborn want to play SSF, you either need to be able to play multiple character or start with good starting class that doesnt required much gear. Then i think you need to decide about defensive layer and understand how to scale your damage. My idea of going physical with fire conversion was failed badly because i cant find decent gear with physical damage, thus going for flat elemental damage source solved my problem at least for now.
Future plan :
I would need to wait until i finish uber lab to do any major decision. So far I feel like i dont use totem much to its potential, thus im probably will switch my marauder ascendancy to slayer instead. I could respec to jump duelist starting point, although i might rewire some marauder starting area so that i can more bow / crit nodes. I dont think i can tackle awakener, so i probably will just try to tackle each of league content i missed for their endgame bosses.