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So, who else plays Path of Exile (in closed beta, going open here very soon)


Sairven

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Note: There's a TLDR with videos for better explanation than my poor attempt. :P

 

Edit: Derp, forgot to include a link to the website <_<: https://www.pathofexile.com/

 

Path of Exile is pretty much a "hardcore" ARPG made my hardcore ARPG gamers for hardcore ARPG gamers. It's basically Diablo 2.5 (or, what most people end up saying once they've played it: What D3 should have been).

 

It's been in development for more than 5 years, and man... It is extremely fun. I pretty much dropped out of the STEP community because of this game.

 

Speaking of which, fans of STEP should really consider giving this game a go when it hits Open Beta. It will be 100% free-to-play with micro-transactions to fund the developer. I'll let you think about that last bit for a few line breaks...

 

 

There is no pay-to-win. At all. The only micro-transactions are cosmetics and utility. You can buy more stash space and extra character slots (utility (by the way, you all ready get space for 24 character slots off the bat, for freeeee)), and the cosmetics are literally cosmetic, no "use" beyond... being cosmetic lol. Stuff like Extra Gore (you can all ready get extra gore from some Uniques (thing Legendaries, except worthwhile. And oh, btw, a level 8 legendary can still be useful, if not integral, at level 74+).

 

The game doesn't hand-hold. At all. This is a very niche game, and the developers intend to keep it that way. Oh, something kicked your **** in? Too bad, BAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

As far as gameplay goes, think Diablo 2 meets Final Fantasy 7's materia system with a revamped and way better Final Fantasy 10 passive skill tree. The Passive Skill Tree is daunting when you first look on it, but after you fail misserably on your first character, you get the hang of it. Also note that the Passive Skill Tree is just that: Passives. Your actual skills come in the form of Skill Gems that you can socket into corresponding sockets on your gear (materia system). More on that in the videos

 

 

TLDR:

The best way to explain the game, and what really ends up selling it for people, are the Build of the Week videos Chris makes about beta testers' builds. 

 

Latest build. The guy doesn't really do anything except explode on enemies for ridiculous damage XD

 

Character build that's built around a low-level unique:

 

Build showing off wild stuff you can pull off via the passive skill tree and cleaver use of active skills and support gems

 

There's 15 in total. If you're not all ready drooling, feel free to cycle through their videos.

 

 

As the game is an indie game, it's not going to look like the prettiest thing possible. I love STEP for making my Skyrim look amazing. Path of Exile's gameplay more than makes up for the lack of graphics.

 

There will be 3 acts when the game hits Open Beta. There's a 4th planned act, and the dev intends to release at least 1 per year (or less than a year if the game is a success). Right now it's in Closed Beta. You can get into closed beta for $10. But since OB is so close, there's really no point. There will be a character and stash wipe when OB hits anyway.

 

Open Beta will probably hit mid December. I honestly wish they would have pushed the date to February because of all the AAA games that get released this time of year. Open Beta has a release now, AND they pushed it past the AAA games release window! 23 January 2013 is when Open Beta comes out FTW ( https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/58436 )And Dragonborn is coming.................... I'll be playing PoE once OB hits until the inevitable Unofficial Patch comes for that. XD But after that point, I dunno. Haha.

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Just judging from the videos' date=' the graphics still look very decent. I hadn't heard of this game till now. I loved the Diablo series and that style of game play (except D3...pretty disappointing), so I really look forward to trying PoE out.[/quote']

PoE might just be the game for you then. PoE's biggest inflow of players was "thanks" to the mediocrity of D3.

 

Biggest selling point for me was build diversity. There's so many things which are viable that you literally cannot ask "Is [this] viable?" Like the videos show: one build simply uses fists, another goes out of its way to stay on low life, and the other only uses weapons to explode in things faces. XD

 

The game has spoilt me. Skyrim's trees pale in comparison, even though they work for what it's meant to do.

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I still need to get Torchlight 2. I loved the first one (and, consequentially, all the stuff those devs have done. Most especially the 2000+ hours I played of the first Diablo O__O).

 

I've heard it's a bit easy though.

 

But eh... I've never seen ARPGs as bastions of grand difficulty. Their very nature is to make things simplistically easy after a while.

 

Like, right now in PoE, I've managed to create the most easy-mode character ever. It's a lightning spells/crit shadow. My crit chance is ~39% (which is VERY high in PoE, btw), so enemies are always affected by the Shocked status ailment, which increases damage done to them by 40% for each stack (stacks up to 3, for a total of +120% damage.... Yeeeaaaah!). On that note, crits give a better chance of inflicting status ailments (Shocked, Ignited, Freeze). But I also have a 25% chance to inflict Shocked on simple lightning damage thanks to passives.

 

All I do is use Sparks and Arc totem (sets down a totem that uses that skill, Arc is basically Chain Lightning) like a madman. Things die. 'nuff said.

 

I really need to record myself going through a map sometime. It's just ridiculous.

 

Sparks [active skill] + Fork [support gem](projectile splits in two when it hits an enemy) + Faster Projectiles [support gem](Sparks fly around for 3.5 seconds. Simple "physics". faster = more distance before disipating = more damage ftw. Oh, and dangerous to those with epilepsy] + Increased Critical Damage [support gem] (more damage when I crit... and I crit often XD).

 

I think I will record myself today. It's very gear-dependent, though. Got lucky with 6 out of 10 pieces of gear.

 

 

****. I love Path of Exile. But it makes playing other games so difficult now. This indie developer did a good job.

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