it’s basically such a rare item that that people with tens of thousands of hours of game time rarely see one drop organically. (they can be farmed in different ways though, that’s how I usually get mine) like lottery chances basically
It duplicates an item exactly. PoE was all about RNGesus. I can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head (and it got way more complicated over the game’s life), but each rare (yellow colored) item can have 6 magical effects, 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes. Each of those effects can have a tier from 1-11 (different for some effects), and each of those tiers has its own range of numbers. So a truly amazing item has a super, super low chance to spawn (because getting 6 of the effects [and the right effects at that] to be tier 1 is hard enough, and then getting the max number within that tier takes even more sacrifices to rngesus).
Just as an example, let’s say you wanted the ‘super super best’ armor you could get. First, you’d have to be playing at a really high monster level so that items have a chance to spawn the tier 1 effect (monster level=item level when dropped, and you need minimum item levels for high tier drops). Then you’d have to get lucky and have the right chest armor drop (because even at high monster levels, you can get the worst of the worst armors. So give or take a 1 in whatever chance for the armor, then a 1 in 20 chance for the right armor… Then you’d have to get the right effects, so that’s a whatever in whatever combination calculation (I can’t be arsed for that math, but let’s just assume it’s not too bad, so like a 1 in 300 chance), then each of those effects you’ll want to be tier 1, which means for each effect there’s between a 1 in 3 chance to a 1 in 11 chance (some effects only have a few tiers) to get that, then you’ll want each of those effects to be at the max number for that tier, so grab your ankles and prepare for even more chances with a wide range…
See why I don’t want to do the math? To get really, really good items is a really, really low chance. That means that if you have a really good item, it’s going to be wanted by everyone else. Cue the dilemma: if you sell it, you’ll make money, but you only have the one opportunity to sell it. If you could somehow duplicate it… well, sweet money, baby! So a mirror let’s you duplicate an amazing item without losing the original. There was a famous dagger with spell modifications (most items are either melee based or magic based, but a dagger can have effects that boost either, which means you have even less chance of getting what effects you want) that a fella would charge beaucoups of money for, after you already had obtained a mirror of your own, and he would get the money, because the dagger was just that rare and valuable. Probably something like 1 in a billion chance of something that good dropping, so it was much easier to save money and trade for the duplicated dagger.
Oh, and an item that was a duplicate couldn’t be duplicated again (it was ‘mirrored’), only the original item could be duplicated.
This is a really, really bad explanation, written colloquially and informally. The wiki was amazing and crafted by folks both technically brilliant and with great understanding of how to present information.
Yeah, I played from the end of the open beta until nearly poe2 came out. I was always an on-and-off player, and actually hated the emphasis on path-of-trading that it became. SSF was basically what I would do until high tiers when it was impossible to progress without trading.
I also much preferred the early game, before it became a spamfest gotta-go-fast run. New spells and mechanics were cool, but power creep was insane. I still fondly remember struggling to beat the boss of act iii, and god, that feeling when they added the fourth act, and then totally revamped everything for the ten act story… ggg was freaking amazing.
The mirror? Of course. It’s a drop, and a rare drop, which made it valuable in and of itself, but PoE was brilliant in making its currency have intrinsic value in both use and rarity. HC folks were grinding for the best gear as well, but obviously there were factors that made the best gear even more rare. Having a duplicated amazing item was still a great thing for hardcore folks.
lol when the mirror finally drops in Path of Exile
I don’t have many hours in PoE compared to many others but back in the days I did find a mirror. Probably still have it on my PoE account.
What’s the mirror?
it’s basically such a rare item that that people with tens of thousands of hours of game time rarely see one drop organically. (they can be farmed in different ways though, that’s how I usually get mine) like lottery chances basically
But what does it do?
It duplicates an item exactly. PoE was all about RNGesus. I can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head (and it got way more complicated over the game’s life), but each rare (yellow colored) item can have 6 magical effects, 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes. Each of those effects can have a tier from 1-11 (different for some effects), and each of those tiers has its own range of numbers. So a truly amazing item has a super, super low chance to spawn (because getting 6 of the effects [and the right effects at that] to be tier 1 is hard enough, and then getting the max number within that tier takes even more sacrifices to rngesus).
Just as an example, let’s say you wanted the ‘super super best’ armor you could get. First, you’d have to be playing at a really high monster level so that items have a chance to spawn the tier 1 effect (monster level=item level when dropped, and you need minimum item levels for high tier drops). Then you’d have to get lucky and have the right chest armor drop (because even at high monster levels, you can get the worst of the worst armors. So give or take a 1 in whatever chance for the armor, then a 1 in 20 chance for the right armor… Then you’d have to get the right effects, so that’s a whatever in whatever combination calculation (I can’t be arsed for that math, but let’s just assume it’s not too bad, so like a 1 in 300 chance), then each of those effects you’ll want to be tier 1, which means for each effect there’s between a 1 in 3 chance to a 1 in 11 chance (some effects only have a few tiers) to get that, then you’ll want each of those effects to be at the max number for that tier, so grab your ankles and prepare for even more chances with a wide range…
See why I don’t want to do the math? To get really, really good items is a really, really low chance. That means that if you have a really good item, it’s going to be wanted by everyone else. Cue the dilemma: if you sell it, you’ll make money, but you only have the one opportunity to sell it. If you could somehow duplicate it… well, sweet money, baby! So a mirror let’s you duplicate an amazing item without losing the original. There was a famous dagger with spell modifications (most items are either melee based or magic based, but a dagger can have effects that boost either, which means you have even less chance of getting what effects you want) that a fella would charge beaucoups of money for, after you already had obtained a mirror of your own, and he would get the money, because the dagger was just that rare and valuable. Probably something like 1 in a billion chance of something that good dropping, so it was much easier to save money and trade for the duplicated dagger.
Oh, and an item that was a duplicate couldn’t be duplicated again (it was ‘mirrored’), only the original item could be duplicated.
hoooooly - you know this guy poe’s - he wrote a guide lol. kudos!
This is a really, really bad explanation, written colloquially and informally. The wiki was amazing and crafted by folks both technically brilliant and with great understanding of how to present information.
lol now this is a true poe player
Yeah, I played from the end of the open beta until nearly poe2 came out. I was always an on-and-off player, and actually hated the emphasis on path-of-trading that it became. SSF was basically what I would do until high tiers when it was impossible to progress without trading.
I also much preferred the early game, before it became a spamfest gotta-go-fast run. New spells and mechanics were cool, but power creep was insane. I still fondly remember struggling to beat the boss of act iii, and god, that feeling when they added the fourth act, and then totally revamped everything for the ten act story… ggg was freaking amazing.
Did folks make use of this in HC?
The mirror? Of course. It’s a drop, and a rare drop, which made it valuable in and of itself, but PoE was brilliant in making its currency have intrinsic value in both use and rarity. HC folks were grinding for the best gear as well, but obviously there were factors that made the best gear even more rare. Having a duplicated amazing item was still a great thing for hardcore folks.