Many of uniques seem to have been designed to help your next characters go faster through the game. That being said, there are good uniques that are higher level items.
If it wasn't low stats + some penalty, or if there was some sort of crafting we could do with them, then maybe they'd get some use, but i feel insulted that some of these items and stats were even allowed to be in the game. I'm fine with seeing all these rares with poor stats, but it hurts so much more when you get real excited for... a shiny turd on the screen, and you're quickly conditioned to hate them.
Tbh i have 2 Pages of uniques looted Not a Single 1 is viable for any Build in the endgame. I use to to Level up new character and thats it. I make more selling white stuff to gamblers
After 30 hours my first unique fell off the map in act 2 tower level... fucking lame. It made me stop playing for a while. It seems like some uniques work well with specific builds
Uniques fall into a few categories: 1. Completely Useless: These are objectively terrible items. May be useful for very low-level characters, but only briefly. May be used in some off-the-wall, niche autist build. Typically have negative aspects that far outweigh their benefits or have such low base stats & scaling that they simply can't be used in-depth. These items mostly exist to fill the pool of Uniques as well as to become vendor trash in the form of Chance Shards. 2. Bad: Items that will see more playtime in a league, but aren't necessarily 'good' items. They typically have better scaling or less negatives than 'Useless' uniques, making them more viable for leveling, or their special sauce mechanic leaves them open to more build diversity. These will typically net you 1 Exalt, but most people still disenchant these for Chance Shards. 3. Good: Items that a lot of builds will share and are genuinely 'good' items. They will typically have lower scaling and base stats than rares, but unique mechanic is so beneficial that it offsets the lack of defenses (or adds it in other ways). They don't necessarily define a build, but they can and do enhance certain builds, or are an equivalent pick to a rare of similar level. 4. Build-Defining: Items that will completely make or break a build, right down to the individual rolls of their affixes. Builds are often built around these items specifically for their unique mechanic, or take advantage of that mechanic to scale their build into endgame. They may completely convert damage, are one-of-a-kind for what enchantments they offer that item-type (like Spirit on a shield), or synergize with another unique item or spell to create an entirely new effect/defense/style. 5. God-like: The most desired uniques. They will take what 'Build-Defining' uniques do and amplify them in ways that break the game, or enhance a build in such a way that make its ceiling exponential. They can be the sole item carrying a build, or the last piece of a build's puzzle. Not many people will see them without the use of trade, and still then - most can't afford them. Think: Temporalis. PoE is a game that, as you tackle harder and harder content, the rewards scale multiplicatively. While you may not encounter many uniques (or any) during your playthrough of the campaign, that will quickly change the moment you hit maps, and get much more frequent as you increase their difficulty. When you combine difficulty, 'quantity of items', and 'rarity of items' on maps, you can be at a point where *most* of the loot dropping is uniques. The campaign is a tutorial. If you push through and make it to mapping, and your build can handle it, the real game begins. If your build can't handle it, there are a plethora of builds online that are incredibly affordable, easy to follow, and able to tackle even the hardest difficulties with ease. They're a great stepping stone to understanding the depth and complexity that this game has to offer. And while there is a lot of depth - trust me, it's very vertical (especially the sequel). As you move through the content and endgame mechanics you'll learn them step-by-step, as well as what makes a build good, how to juice out your maps, how to optimize a build and its itemization. And then you'll see some synergy you hadn't seen before, and you'll get an itch to try it out for yourself. So you make a new character, but now with the wealth and knowledge of your previous one, and you do it again - but this time, faster, and more meaningfully. And the cycle repeats. 10/10
Many of uniques seem to have been designed to help your next characters go faster through the game. That being said, there are good uniques that are higher level items.
Basically all the uniques I've found so far are trash. Very disappointing.
There are about 15 I've seen that have some value. Other than that I dislike many. Since most are just lack luster and have poor base stats/level caps
If it wasn't low stats + some penalty, or if there was some sort of crafting we could do with them, then maybe they'd get some use, but i feel insulted that some of these items and stats were even allowed to be in the game. I'm fine with seeing all these rares with poor stats, but it hurts so much more when you get real excited for... a shiny turd on the screen, and you're quickly conditioned to hate them.
Unique are there for user to collect and ggg makes money buy selling +10 dollar stash tab
Tbh i have 2 Pages of uniques looted Not a Single 1 is viable for any Build in the endgame. I use to to Level up new character and thats it. I make more selling white stuff to gamblers
Just disenchant it to get orb of chance
After 30 hours my first unique fell off the map in act 2 tower level... fucking lame. It made me stop playing for a while. It seems like some uniques work well with specific builds
Shouldn't let it get you down too much. Most uniques arnt really worth it anyways
Uniques fall into a few categories:
1. Completely Useless: These are objectively terrible items. May be useful for very low-level characters, but only briefly. May be used in some off-the-wall, niche autist build. Typically have negative aspects that far outweigh their benefits or have such low base stats & scaling that they simply can't be used in-depth. These items mostly exist to fill the pool of Uniques as well as to become vendor trash in the form of Chance Shards.
2. Bad: Items that will see more playtime in a league, but aren't necessarily 'good' items. They typically have better scaling or less negatives than 'Useless' uniques, making them more viable for leveling, or their special sauce mechanic leaves them open to more build diversity. These will typically net you 1 Exalt, but most people still disenchant these for Chance Shards.
3. Good: Items that a lot of builds will share and are genuinely 'good' items. They will typically have lower scaling and base stats than rares, but unique mechanic is so beneficial that it offsets the lack of defenses (or adds it in other ways). They don't necessarily define a build, but they can and do enhance certain builds, or are an equivalent pick to a rare of similar level.
4. Build-Defining: Items that will completely make or break a build, right down to the individual rolls of their affixes. Builds are often built around these items specifically for their unique mechanic, or take advantage of that mechanic to scale their build into endgame. They may completely convert damage, are one-of-a-kind for what enchantments they offer that item-type (like Spirit on a shield), or synergize with another unique item or spell to create an entirely new effect/defense/style.
5. God-like: The most desired uniques. They will take what 'Build-Defining' uniques do and amplify them in ways that break the game, or enhance a build in such a way that make its ceiling exponential. They can be the sole item carrying a build, or the last piece of a build's puzzle. Not many people will see them without the use of trade, and still then - most can't afford them. Think: Temporalis.
PoE is a game that, as you tackle harder and harder content, the rewards scale multiplicatively. While you may not encounter many uniques (or any) during your playthrough of the campaign, that will quickly change the moment you hit maps, and get much more frequent as you increase their difficulty. When you combine difficulty, 'quantity of items', and 'rarity of items' on maps, you can be at a point where *most* of the loot dropping is uniques.
The campaign is a tutorial. If you push through and make it to mapping, and your build can handle it, the real game begins. If your build can't handle it, there are a plethora of builds online that are incredibly affordable, easy to follow, and able to tackle even the hardest difficulties with ease. They're a great stepping stone to understanding the depth and complexity that this game has to offer. And while there is a lot of depth - trust me, it's very vertical (especially the sequel). As you move through the content and endgame mechanics you'll learn them step-by-step, as well as what makes a build good, how to juice out your maps, how to optimize a build and its itemization.
And then you'll see some synergy you hadn't seen before, and you'll get an itch to try it out for yourself. So you make a new character, but now with the wealth and knowledge of your previous one, and you do it again - but this time, faster, and more meaningfully. And the cycle repeats. 10/10
120hrs in act 6? Mhh....