In PoE 3.23 Currency Farming, What do You Need to Know?
New Season: Affliction
Path of Exile ushered in a new season, Affliction, with many changes in December. In the season, you'll cleanse the Viridian Wildwood of its Affliction, earn valuable rewards, and learn the ancient ways of the Azmeri Wanderers. Path of Exile’s December expansion introduces the Affliction challenge league, three new Wildwood Ascendancy Classes, the return of the Ultimatum League, over a hundred new Transfigured Gems, and much more.
A large amount of changes also included some gameplay changes. For farming players who have already adapted to the previous season's gameplay and want to continue farming currency in the new season, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the features of Affliction. I'm going to introduce you to Affliction.
Wisps
“In the Affliction League, you will encounter Sacred Wisps that beckon you to enter overgrown passageways that lead to the Viridian Wildwood. A vile Affliction has covered this forest with a foreboding darkness. You'll need to uncover the forest's mysteries to put a stop to the source of the Affliction.” -- Grinding Gear Games.
A key mechanic for the new season: Wisps.
There are three types of Wisps, differentiated by color: purple, yellow, and blue.
Purple
Increases the number of item drops after killing monsters;
Yellow
Increases the number of various currency drops after killing a monster;
Blue
Increases the rarity of items dropped after killing a monster.
Wildwood Ascendancy Classes
Affliction has many more secrets waiting to be explored by the player, for example, new alpha battles and ascendancy classes. Players also have the chance to find Azmeri Wanderers and complete their quests, which will give them access to the Wildwood Ascendancy ability.
Enter the Wildwood → Fight against monsters → Find NPCs → Unlock Wildwood Ascendancy classes
Warden of the Maji
So far, the Warden of the Maji seems to be working very well in the early stages of the new rel ease. It takes up a potion slot, and you can get a powerful attack ability from extracts. And if you choose this Ascension profession, you'll get a 50% elemental resistance and 30% movement speed bonus in the early stages, when helmets and boots don't have skills inserted. This comes in very handy for pre-exploration.
“The Warden of Eaves can teach you to become a Warden of the Maji, a powerful class that takes advantage of wilderness knowledge. Wardens of the Maji can coat their weapons with Tinctures, granting them special bonuses. For example, the Ironwood Tincture always stuns enemies on full life and the Oakbranch Tincture is a great finisher for bosses.
A Warden of the Maji has many other wilderness abilities such as Barkskin, which causes Bark to grow all over your body, increasing armor. As you take damage, the Bark temporarily falls off, increasing your evasion.”
Warlock of the Mists
As stated in the game's official description, this class allows you to summon monsters to fight on your behalf. However, player feedback suggests that the attacking ability of this class is insufficient and is more effective in a supportive role.
“The Breaker of Oaths can teach you to become a Warlock of the Mists, a class specializing in the darker arts of the Azmeri. One powerful ability you can choose is Blood Hunt, which lets you consume corpses to gain more damage and protection against monsters that share a creature type with the corpse. The Breaker of Oaths can sell you additional corpses of exotic types, and these can also be used as powerful spectres. The Warlock of the Mists also gets access to many other abilities including a trio of new curse skills.”
Wildwood Primalist
A handy late-strength sublimation. There are three main features.
- Extra Backpack: Path of Exile has its extra backpack now;
- Battle Cry: similar to Diablo 2, you can rummage through corpses to find props;
- Extra spell slots: free to put in spells purchased from NPCs.
“The Primal Huntress can teach you to become a Wildwood Primalist. Unlike the other new ascendancy classes, the Primal Huntress lets you customize your tree using Charms that have randomly generated skills from the regular ascendancy classes. Charms are attribute-aligned magic items that can have up to two random modifiers on them.
Wildwood Primalists get access to other powerful abilities, such as a small extra backpack, or the ability to use warcries to cause corpses to drop extra items.”
The Return of Ultimatum
Ultimatum has replaced the original Catalyst and all its associated mechanics, which is undoubtedly good news for farming currency, who wouldn't like to double their earnings?
“Ultimatum is finally going core. The Trialmaster has returned and will offer you a choice to undertake a deadly Vaal trial in exchange for great rewards. If you defeat the trial, he offers to go double or nothing with you. Do you take the risk and go for an even better reward? Or do you lock in the winnings you have already earned? We've done a full rebalance of Ultimatum and have added many new modifiers, Atlas passive skills, Keystones, and rewards including both new and reworked Uniques.”
Base System Simplification
Consolidating and simplifying pre-existing mechanisms makes it easier to shape newly created accounts, which also facilitates more efficient currency farming.
“Alternate Quality Gems, Labyrinth Helmet Enchantments, and Unique Threshold Jewels have been combined into a new system called Transfigured Gems - alternative versions of existing skill gems that have different functionality and balance. There are over a hundred of these, such as Frost Bomb of Instability, Detonate Dead of Scavenging, Raise Zombie of Falling, Firestorm of Meteors, and many more.
The Divine Font at the end of the Eternal Labyrinth has been changed to a gem crafting device that can create Transfigured Gems, add quality or experience to gems, sacrifice a gem for one or more Treasure Keys, exchange Support Gems for Exceptional Support Gems like Empower or Enlighten, and more.”
Conclusion
Affliction's optimization changes not only enhance the player's gaming experience but also provide convenience in farming currency. Grinding Gear Games has removed many previously cumbersome and complicated systems, demonstrating their commitment to putting players first, which is why they are so highly praised. From the perspective of currency farming, the threshold has been lowered due to the new season of the Wildwood Ascendancy Classes. The efficiency of map brushing has also greatly improved, making it a favorable season for currency farming. The quality of PoE's new season is undoubtedly excellent, which also increases our anticipation for PoE 2.