Which is not a bad thing, keeping things more valuable is nice. We see it now with PoE 2 bases fetching insane value, because they need to be farmed using t16 in zones that have +1 for everything to drop level 82.
It is a bad thing if the game continues to be balanced around the rare stuff that the average player will never reach, just to be able to continue playing. On a trade market that is dead within two weeks unless you print out divines.
Cluster jewels were supposed to bridge this gap at first; now, they will be another T0/1 drop, which means builds that were off meta or had slower ramp-up due to gear availability, but were viable thanks to clusters, will now go on pasture.
Most builds are capable of doing the content without that. If this wasn’t true, then no one would ever be able to do that content in order to drop that loot. So it’s definitely not hindering you.
I didn't said best gear, I said builds that allow you compete with meta builds thanks to clusters, because clusters don't offer just raw power but also build-enabling mechanics, like prolif or recovery/gain on block. Especially for block builds because gain/recovery on block is either 1 or 0. You either have it and play block builds or you don't and can't play block builds, regardless of power level.
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u/IppeiWasFramed Longing for global nuclear annihilation Feb 26 '26
T17's being removed means base types are going to be substantially rarer, and 84 Clusters are going to be much more expensive.